Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2, nor claim to.
Chapter Eleven: Secret Curses:
"Motivation, such an aggravation. Accusations, don't know how to take them. Inspirations, getting hard to fake it. Concentrations, never hard to break it. Situation, never what you want it to be!" Sum 41: Motivation
"Come on, Sauske! We're going to be late!" Sakura shouted back, as her brother sprinted to keep up. She kept running though, praying to make it to school on time.
After a minute of running, Sauske had finally caught up. He was still tucking in his shirt as he ran, and Sakura could easily tell he was at least half-asleep. After a moment, he was back to looking normal as always, although a little tired.
"Something wrong?" Sakura asked. "I've never seen you oversleep before."
"A nightmare, that's all. I couldn't really sleep after it."
"Oh, okay." Sakura said calmly, as they dashed across the street. As her brother hopped back up, she glanced up again. "What was it about?"
Sauske said nothing.
A moment passed, before Sakura looked up. "Sauske? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing." He said very calmly, but continually avoided looking his sister in the eyes. "What about you? You overslept too."
"Aw, you already know what I'm going to say. It's that same stupid dream with the wolf. I want to know what yours was."
Sauske said nothing again.
"Don't make me come up there!" Sakura shouted, drawing her sword. "I was kind enough to explain mine, so you better tell me yours!"
"Fine!" Sauske said suddenly, without looking at his sister. "It was a giant muffin! Are you happy now?!"
"Sauske, you are the lamest liar I have ever known! Now what was it really about?!"
Sauske smirked secretly, before stifling it. "All right, Sakura, you got me. I was really dreaming about that time I slipped off the roof."
Sakura continued her run along her brother, shaking her head. "Sauske?" The boy didn't glance to her. "Why aren't you looking at me?"
The boy gulped, stumbling a step, before catching himself and continuing to run. "I don't know what you mean by that," he said cheerfully, smiling and rubbing the back of his head as he looked over at his sister on the ground.
Now it was Sakura's turn to smirk. She stared up at him with her piercing yellow-green eyes, and quickly she knew she had him. He stared back, trying to eek out a smile under her gaze. "Sauske? Why do I get the feeling your lying to me?"
The boy already knew it was over. Just because he understood why his sister's gaze was so powerful didn't mean it made it any less creepy. Those eyes seemed to stare straight to his soul, cutting off any ability to lie. "Well, um, the thing is, uh, well, you know, uh . . ." Sauske pulled himself together, turning back to where he was running on the chain link fence, "it was Aki."
Sakura blinked. "Aki? You mean that Chinese girl from . . ." Sauske cut her off by nodding. "Why? What happened?"
"What do you think? You're the one who told me she wanted to kill me!"
Sakura sighed, shaking her head. "Yeah, I did, but you beat her so easily! How can you get worried when you barely had to try?"
"Because I was trying." Sauske said clearly, noting the school quickly approaching. "If I hadn't gotten lucky enough to just barely avoid the attacks she had made, I would have lost pretty early. That first punch really hurt."
"Well, you could always use . . ." Sakura was cut off before she could finish.
"NO!" Sauske shouted loudly, staring down at his sister, before jumping off the fence as it came to an end. He took a breath for a minute, before continuing. "I don't want to use that. It's safe for you, but I can't control it . . . I wish I never said yes to learning that."
Sakura sighed. "Yeah, say that if you want, but you have to admit. . ." her voice faded a bit, as Sauske glanced over, waiting for her to finish. Sakura just paused, smiling.
"Well? I have to admit what?"
"You have to admit," Sakura began, smiling a little more, "it's good knowing there won't be anyone you can't protect when you let loose; you're almost invincible. Right?"
Sauske paused as the raced into the schoolyard, slowing to a brisk walk. Then, he nodded, sighing. "At least there's one good thing about it."
- - -
"Hey, Ganko!" Sauske said happily as she walked up to him, Mayu, and Hojo as they sat at the base of the normal tree. "Did you find out anything?"
Mayu and Hojo glanced over at Sauske as the girl in glasses took a seat with them, placing her lunch onto the ground. "Yes, Sauske, I did." She reached behind herself, pulling up her school bag, and drawing a large book out of the inside. The title was Cats of the World.
"What are you looking for, Sauske?" Mayu asked, turning back to him, while Hojo leaned closer to the book, trying to see what Ganko was looking for. Ganko, ignoring the others, continued to flip through the pages, until she stopped at one particular entry.
"Here it is, Sauske." Ganko said, placing the book down in between them, and turning it around so it was right side up to Sauske. On one page, there was a large color picture of a cat. Not just any cat, however.
Sauske looked at the picture, and confirmed his suspicion. "Yeah, Ganko, this is it."
The cat was walking slowly across a log, several feet above whoever was photographing it, looking down curiously. The cat was a few feet wide, with gray and brown mixed in its fur. There was a long tail, what looked like very sharp teeth and claws, and most important of all, the small black tufts of fur extending back off its ears. Sauske stared at this for another few seconds, before nodding his head. "Yeah, Ganko, this is exactly it. Except for the color."
"What is it?!" Hojo asked, staring down at it, and tired of his friends not explaining things.
Ganko sighed, leaning back, and pushing her glasses back up onto her face. "It's a lynx. A North American predator that lives in Western United States and Canada, mostly in forests and mountainous areas. Sauske thinks he saw one."
"I did see one, Ganko!" Sauske replied, now on the defensive. "The thing is, it had blue fur in spots too. Not just brown and gray."
"And I'm telling you, Sauske, that that isn't possible. They don't look like that, and they don't live around here. It's just too far fetched."
"Far fetched?" Sauske asked back, staring at her. "Do you have any idea where we live? The central hub of all weirdness! You especially ought to know that. Your parents ought to have told you all about their old principal. The one with the palm tree on his head!"
"I thought that was a myth." Mayu asked, to witch Hojo shook his head.
"Nope, that was real. But we've had a few principals since then, and fortunately, the one we have now is much saner than he used to be."
"Fine, I'll admit that, Sauske, but where would it have come from?" Ganko asked, returning the conversation to where it began.
"Well, maybe it escaped from a zoo, and that Chinese couple found it?"
Ganko shook her head. "No chance. I thought of that, and looked up anything about an escaped lynx. The last one that might have been close by was three that escaped in China. And it was over twenty years ago."
"So, they could have had baby lynxes or something." Sauske fired back.
"Wrong again." Ganko replied, shaking her head a second time, before brushing her short black hair out of her eyes. "Two of them were found in two weeks, and returned. The third was found a year later, having drowned in some pond up in the mountains by a local village. I checked other things too, Sauske, and nothing made it appear that there even could be a cat like that in Japan. Sorry, Sauske, but there's nothing I could think of to make it work out. I just don't believe this is what you saw."
"I know what I saw, Ganko." Sauske replied coolly, shutting the book.
Ganko sighed. "When I see it, I'll believe you. Mayu, deal the cards."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure."
- - -
"Sauske! Hurry up! I don't want to be late!" Sakura shouted from the front gate as her brother hustled to reach her in time.
"All right, all right, let's go then!" he said, as they began to run towards home. Sauske jumped up onto the fence, and noticed a blue sheath begin to appear around his sister. Slowly, her pace began to increase, and with the thinner crowd on the sidewalk, began to run faster than Sauske could without losing his balance. Of course, Keira easily shot past them both and disappeared up ahead on her run home, but that was a given.
Sakura didn't even pause to notice Naruto as she bolted past. The blond boy shouted something as Sauske ran past, but her brain didn't register it, and she kept running.
Sauske ignored the blond boy running up behind him, shouting for him to stop, and kept sprinting to keep up with his sister. If they didn't arrive home together, he might get grounded more. And that couldn't happen.
"SAUSKE! STOP RUNNING AND FIGHT ME!" Naruto shouted, running along the sidewalk, but barely able to dodge through even the small crowd near there. Seeing only one alternative, he leapt up, landing onto the fence. "IF YOU THINK I CAN'T FOLLOW YOU, YOU'RE WRO-AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Naruto shouted as he fell sideways, down towards the water below at the bottom of the ditch.
Sauske heard a very satisfying splash, and kept running without looking back. After a moment, though, he felt another tremble in the metal as someone jumped up onto the fence, and then the vibrations of another person running behind him, and catching up. "Shoot! Naruto's still going!" Sauske kept running, picking up speed, and slowly the tides turned as the boy began to pull away from his predator.
Sakura kept running, spying a big turn up ahead, noting every tiny obstacle to dodge, and bolted between and around every one, flawlessly racing to the end of the street, and making an almost ninety degree turn on a dime, before bolting down the road again.
Sauske saw the turn coming, but wasn't ready to turn that well on a fence, so he cut the corner, jumping from one fence to the other, landing on the fence with a loud CHANG!, and sprinting down along it. With the distance that his twenty foot leap cut off, he was now next to his sister, but quickly he began to fall behind a few feet. There was a sudden lurch in the fence.
"EEEEEEEE!" a voice shouted, followed by the sound of someone crashing into the fence Sauske was running on. Sauske didn't look back again, even though the voice was decidedly more . . . feminine that Naruto's normal voice. But it wasn't important, so he kept running.
The girl, now clinging to the fence to keep herself from falling into the water below, pulled herself up and over, before dropping down onto the solid sidewalk. She sat there for a moment, before pounding her fists on the ground as Sauske escaped down the road. After a moment, he was gone from sight.
- - -
Sakura was first home, but Sauske was able to arrive only second later, bursting in as Sakura calmly entered. Both panted in the hall as they removed their shoes, and then shouted, "WE'RE HOME!" together.
Akane walked past the front hall. "Oh, you're home already?" The two children looked up at her questioningly. "Oh well, you can get started on your homework, then." She continued out of the room, and into the kitchen.
She looked through a few things, before the sound of her children running up the steps to their rooms resounded through the walls. Akane sighed; he probably had it. She walked back there, entering as the very last student walked out the door. Ranma was putting away some training equipment, smiling to himself.
"Oh, what are you so happy about?" Akane asked, walking over to him.
He glanced up, surprised, his smile fading into fear for a split second, before it returned. "Oh, hi Akane. It was just, uh, that Recca kid. He's really starting to improve. I'm happy for 'im."
She stuck out her hand, palm up.
"What is it, Akane?" Ranma asked tentatively, still smiling.
"Ranma, just give it to me."
"What are you talkin' about?" Ranma continued, the fear starting to reappear on his face.
"You said I could pick dinner out. Now give me that card so I can make it right!"
Ranma began to sweat really badly. "What makes you think I got it?"
"Ranma." Akane said angrily.
"Well, if you want it that badly . . ." Ranma began pulling it out of his pocket, "YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH ME!" Immediately, he bolted out of the dojo, Akane on his heels in a second.
In one leap, Ranma hopped up onto a nearby fence, running from his wife, who was now also running along the fence, although a bit more precariously. He turned back to see her.
Akane's raven blue hair fluttered in the wind, as did the small folds in the cloth of her martial arts uniform. Her face, while originally still angry, was starting to calm as she enjoyed her training. Suddenly, she looked pale. "Ranma! Look . . ."
Ranma turned back, and blacked out.
" . . . out." Akane finished calmly, as Ranma smashed into a low tree branch. "Jeeze, you're supposed to be the expert martial artist around here, but you're still an idiot." She reached down into his pocket, feeling around for a card with her fingers. "Well, I guess I better drag you back now." Her nail caught on a small index card in his pocket, which she pulled out. "Finally!" she said happily, pulling out her absolutely favorite meal to cook, written out by her sister. Standing back up, she flipped the card over.
On the front, there was a large "BOGUS!" stamped on the front.
"GOTCHA!" Ranma shouted, leaping up and grabbing her in a bear hug from behind. Akane almost screamed from shock, but quickly calmed down. "What did I always tell you?"
The woman sighed. "I know, I know, never turn you back to an opponent. Can I have the card back now?"
"After one thing." Ranma said calmly, leaning over her shoulder, and using one of his hands to gently turn her face towards his. She didn't resist, and slowly, they kissed for several seconds, before breaking apart.
Akane paused for a moment. "Well, can I have it back now?!"
Ranma shook his head. "Not until you do one thing."
"And what was that just now?"
"A break." Ranma said happily. "Now, run the fence back to home, and you get the card."
Akane groaned loudly.
- - -
Sakura grabbed her sword. She was so glad to get her homework done early, racing downstairs to practice for tomorrow's tryouts for a while. Sure, she was skipping her chores, but that could wait a minute or so.
- - -
Sauske sighed as he shook his head, talking to Keira. "Sorry, but he's not here. I lost him on the way here."
"Stupid Naruto!" Keira thought to herself. "The one time I have to get something back to Hibiki-san, he doesn't show up."
"Sorry to make things worse for you." Sauske said, rubbing the back of his head.
Keira looked up, shocked, before shaking her head. "No, it's no problem. I'm sure he's wandering around somewhere nearby."
- - -
Sakura happily began practicing, swinging around the koi pond. This was a good spot for her to practice; it was a beautiful day, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. She swung hard down, before turning the wooden sword, and slashing across. Turning, she continued her attacks along the rocks on the edge of the pond. It was slippery there, but she wasn't worried. It wasn't like there was anything to distract her.
"SO LONG, SAUSKE-KUN!"
- - -
"WHAAAAAAAA!" SPLOOOSH!
Sauske and Keira immediately turned towards the back of the house as the scream came. Instinctively, they ran for the other side of the dojo, and out through the door. Racing through the halls, Sauske ran up to the sliding panels, throwing them open.
Keira was immediately next to him, gazing out. She thought something gray zoomed away in the corner of her eye, but when she glanced towards it, there was nothing there. "Sauske, what is it?"
The boy noticed a sword floating on top of the water, and quickly turned Keira around and walked her back towards the dojo. "Eh, uh, well, it was probably nothing. Besides, if you want to find Naruto, you better get going. He's going to be going home as soon as he realizes we're not sparring today."
Keira nodded, running back out and disappearing through the door. Sauske paused for a moment, before walking out to the pond, fishing out the sword. "All right, Sakura, you can come out. Keira's gone."
As the boy turned back, he noticed his sister, in her cursed form, crouching behind the wall. She looked up to him. "I'll go start a bath." Sauske said, walking into the house, followed quickly by the clicking sound of his sister's feet.
- - -
Kite sighed as he glanced down over the fence. There was his brother's orange clothes floating gently on the surface of the water. "Jeeze, Naruto, do I have to help you everything?" Reaching onto the top of the fence, he leapt up, and slid down into the water, crashing into the cold stream at the bottom, the water level high enough to revert him to his cursed form. There, Kite gathered everything up.
- - -
Keira raced down the streets, looking for any sign of Naruto or Kite, or anyone who might help her find them. She just wished her mother hadn't chosen today to force her to return a book she had borrowed from Akari. Then again, Sauske was grounded, and that meant he'd have a lot of stuff to do before he could spend time with friends.
Suddenly, she noticed someone up ahead, carrying something in their arms. It looked like a young, slightly small, pinkish-red haired boy walking down the road. And while the uniforms were similar to Furinkan's, it looked like a Kolhotz High uniform too. They were almost the same, anyway. Best of all, there was a patch on the boy's bag saying "Kolhotz High Rules!" That was the same school as Naruto and Kite. Maybe he knew where they were!
"Hey, you! Can I talk to you?!" Keira shouted as she raced down the street towards the boy.
The pink-red haired boy looked back carefully, before noticing who it was who was shouting at him. Then, he took off running.
"Hey! Wait! I just want to ask you something!" Keira shouted, trying to catch up. Unfortunately, the crowd was too thick for her to keep an eye on him perfectly. Then, he dodged down a different street, and disappeared.
Keira turned down the corner, and searched the new street with her eyes. The boy was gone. After another moment of searching, she sighed. "Well, I guess I better just start running to their home. It'll be easier than trying to find them." With that, Keira began running to the Hibiki residence.
Behind an alley wall, the redhead sighed, clutching the second, and stupider, half of the problem. "Jeeze, that was close. What would have happened if she actually caught up to us?"
- - -
Akane cleared the dishes from dinner as everyone began to relax. Sakura had been reminded of her chores after coming out of her bath several hours ago, but neither her nor Ranma grounded her any more days. Things were getting quiet, and Akane knew better than to let something like that go to waste.
Suddenly, the silence was broken by a ringing phone. Akane rushed over, snatching it up. "Hello?"
"AKANE! GUESS WHO?!"
Akane slowly placed the receiver next to her ear. "Hi Nabiki." There was a giggle on the other end of the line. "You seem happy."
"Oh, and why wouldn't I be happy?"
Akane sighed. "Never mind. So, what are you calling for?"
"Just to let you know you're getting more family tomorrow."
"Meaning?"
"We're going to be back tomorrow!"
"She's way too happy right now. They've just . . ." Akane paused, then shuddered. "Better not think about that."
"Think about what?"
Akane immediately clamped her mouth shut for a moment. "Oh, nothing."
"Okay."
"So, when are you getting back?"
"Well, the plane is landing early tomorrow morning, so we should be back before lunch."
"Great! I'll make you some special welcome back food!"
"But we decided to grab something to eat at the airport, so we won't want lunch." Akane rolled her eyes. Nabiki continued from the other end of the line. "So, how are things there?"
"Pretty ordinary. Especially Joseph." Akane could hear her sister sigh on the other end of the line. "The only new thing around here is Shampoo and Mousse have moved back to Nerima, and we've run out of soap again. Oh, and Sauske's engaged, Amazon law, blahdy blah blah, you know."
There was a pause on the other side. "You seem to be taking it really well."
"Well, I'm screaming on the inside, but outside, things are pretty calm."
"You'll have to tell us about it."
"Oh, don't worry, I will." Akane muttered.
"Well, Brandon says hi."
"Tell him no practical jokes until after the fiancée thing is straightened out."
"No . . . what do you mean, 'straightened out'?"
"Like I said, I'll explain it when you get here."
"Well, all right then, bye."
"Bye, Nabiki." After a click was heard on the other end of the line, Akane hung up the phone.
Next Chapter: Nabiki and Brandon finally return, and Sakura goes to kendo tryouts.
Well, there's chapter eleven. I hope this one turned out good too; it started off as filler, and it wasn't very good, so I rewrote part of it, and I like it a lot more. The action part of this story is coming back soon, so just hold out a little more. Big stuff happening soon.
Anyway, on with the reviews:
Sleepingbear: I'm glad you thought things were going well. And I hadn't even thought that when I called the chapter "Taking Flight", but now I wish I had sent somebody flying. Oh well.
Mousse
Age: 39
Occupation: Unemployed, but starting a new, unnamed restaurant
Strength: 2 – 3
Stamina: 4
Speed: 2
Ki: 1
Aura: 1
Special Techniques: ?
Mousse, Like Shampoo, has changed a minimal amount since he first appeared in Ranma's life. Appearance: almost no change. He still has his goofy, extra-thick glasses, his long black hair, and the white robes he always wears. His martial arts strength has increased, along with his speed, but how much this has helped him is unclear, since he has only just returned to Nerima.
Mousse has changed emotionally, a little. He no longer has the endless outward hatred for Ranma, and is on somewhat friendly terms with most everyone else. Since he has won Shampoo's heart, most of his reason for hating everyone is gone. He doesn't necessarily like Ranma, but he does respect him, and a trust is growing between them.
He still believes in Amazon laws, now more than before, since that was what got him Shampoo, although Ranma, and therefor Shampoo, won't let him talk about it. So his tendency is to continue to apply the laws to his children, which Shampoo does as well. Then again, the fact that they have left their village to live in Japan, even with others of their own village, is a sign that their following of the laws is slightly lax, relative to in China.
As was mentioned before in Shampoo's profile, Mousse's life with Shampoo has been far beyond excellent. Since the laws brought an end to the engagement between Shampoo and Ranma, both of them returned home with their honor. There, they only became that much better respected with their amazing tales and powerful discoveries. Even Cologne accepted Shampoo and Mousse, after seeing how truly happy she was. Also, his family, with a side note on their second, and youngest, daughter, his four children may be the four best children he could have ever hoped for.
His children a very much a part of his life. He has focused his own training on his oldest son and youngest daughter, who have both chosen to fight through a mastery of hidden weapons, and has passed much of his skills on to both of them. But all four of his children are learning from him, just as all four learn from their mother.
Ultimately, Mousse, like his wife, is far beyond content. He is ecstatic with his life. He has a wife whom he loves more than ever, four children whom he loves just as much as Shampoo, and a bright and promising future in Japan.