Mousse sighed in frustration as he cleaned the tables of the Cat Café. He was looking pretty beat up and he had yet to take a shower to clean himself of sweat, dirt, and blood. With helping out at the restaurant, chasing Shampoo, and trying to defeat and/or kill Ranma, he hardly had found the time to train. That morning he had tried to make up for lost time. He actually felt himself getting a little stronger...

But then while he was training with one of his chain weapons with a clamp at the end of it, he snagged it inside a bush and when he pulled it out the clamp had been cut off. Mousse put the cloth he was cleaning with away and took out a broom from the broom closet, 'Kind of funny, though. That cut was pretty clean... and my chains aren't easily broken. Hmm.'

His mind wandered back to his training in a secluded spot in Nerima. Ranma had shown up and as usual, Mousse had jumped at the chance at trying to beat him. Unfortunately, he hadn't improved that much from a relatively small training period and was quickly beaten. The last thing he heard Ranma say before he went out cold from that battle was, "There has to be someone besides that punk Yusuke who can teach me those techniques..."

Much as Mousse hated to admit it, that single statement had him worried. Ranma was already stronger than him, but for him to get even stronger and with an even wider range of techniques, Mousse wouldn't stand a chance. Shampoo would be lost to him. He couldn't let that happen.

'I have to get stronger somehow. Ohh... Curse that old ghoul for teaching him so much!' he thought.

He noticed a package sitting on the counter that he hadn't noticed before. He blinked and approached the counter. He picked up the package, 'Hmm. For Mousse. Doesn't say who it's from...'

His eyes glazed over for a moment as his heart lifted high in hope, 'Could it be from Shampoo? Has she finally figured out her feelings for me?'

He opened the package eagerly and found a box of teriyaki. His stomach rumbled, 'Well, after that training and fight with Ranma I am pretty hungry. Oh, Shampoo... This is so considerate of you.'

He ate happily. The teriyaki was the most delicious he had ever tasted, yet...

'Something tastes... a little strange. It's so good, but...' Mousse pondered.

He thought carefully as he plopped another one into his mouth, 'Shampoo wouldn't poison me...'

He chewed slowly feeling a little suspicious of what he was eating. He couldn't be sure it really was from Shampoo and with all the unusual spices there were around the restaurant, it helped that he had knowledge of when food had been "tainted". He spit the teriyaki he had in his mouth out and threw what little of the teriyaki there was left out. He cursed silently to himself, realizing that he came to his conclusion a little too late. He already had a significant amount of the poisoned food in his system, 'Stupid, stupid, stupid! I'm SO stupid!'

Mousse ran into the kitchen and began searching the contents of each and every last spice that could be used as a poison. Everything checked out. Neither Shampoo nor Cologne could've poisoned him. He wasn't sure what kind of poison was circulating through him, whether it was lethal or not and what the antidote could be. He needed help. He bolted out of the kitchen and started to exit the restaurant, having almost run over the diminuitive form of Cologne. He sighed in relief at seeing her, "You have to help me, I..."

Cologne looked up at him and groaned softly, "You've been poisoned."

Mousse didn't question the old one's ways and nodded, "Yes, I..."

"It's not lethal. Look, boy, I don't have the time to sort this mess out. Orders for delivery are being made left and right. Shampoo and I have our hands full. An extra hand would've been nice, but you just had to get yourself poisoned. So, now I'm working overtime. I'll help you later if I have the time. But for now... Move it," Cologne said.

She hopped swiftly to the counter and picked up several delivery cases of ramen. Mousse started to say something, but feeling a sudden and horrible bout of illness was unable to say anything. Cologne glared at him, "Not in the restaurant, you fool!"

She carefully balanced the ramen and using her staff knocked Mousse out the backdoor where he promptly threw up.

"Uggggghhhh..."

Cologne took off to make the deliveries. Mousse's stomach lurched again, 'What did I do to deserve this? It might take her hours before her hands are free... What am I going to do?'

He needed to lie down, but not wanting to end up getting hit with the staff again when Cologne came back and found out that he had thrown up in the restaurant, would have to find somewhere else. He wandered miserably through the streets of Nerima, sick, weak, still dirty, and tired. He'd probably have been hungry, too if the poison hadn't killed his appetite. The spirit of Ryouga looked down at Mousse, 'He looks like he's in pretty bad shape...'

Botan cringed as she witnessed the Chinese boy throw up, "Ryouga, I think he needs a doctor. You could..."

"Help him? I don't know, Botan. I don't like this guy," Ryouga muttered.

Botan looked at him curiously, "Oh? Why not?"

"Because he put Akane in danger more than just a couple of times! And he's a coward! A chicken! And every time, I thought he was helping me, he wasn't! He was just using me to help himself!" Ryouga said.

Mousse fell to the ground unconscious from exerting himself while he was sick from the poison. Botan looked back at Ryouga and sighed, "Well, it's up to you."

Ryouga floated down to Mousse and glared at him, thinking, 'Why should I help him? He's never really helped me.'

The egg tinged a faint red for a moment, unbeknownst to Ryouga. He frowned, 'He does look pretty lonely lying there, though... I wonder how come that Shampoo girl he likes so much isn't helping him?'

He thought for a moment, 'Oh... She doesn't really like him, does she? Come to think of it, nobody really likes him...'

Botan watched him silently as several expressions crossed his face: anger, consideration, and... sadness? Sympathy...

"I know what it's like to not have any friends. To be all alone," Ryouga whispered.

'I could be your friend. When I come back to life... Maybe you can change for the better,' he thought.

The red tinge from the spirit beast egg vanished. Ryouga possessed Mousse's unconscious body. He looked up at Botan, "Uhh... Could you..."

Botan wiped some small tears from her eyes and smiled, "Sure thing, Ryouga!"

She guided him to Dr. Tofu's clinic. Ryouga glanced at her, "Were you crying?"

A sweatdrop ran down the back of Botan's head and she smiled sheepishly, "No, I... Well, all right. Maybe just a little. It's just... sad... what you said back there."

"Sorry."

Botan waved her hands, "Oh no, don't be."

Ryouga stopped at the clinic, "It's not really that sad, you know. I mean, it couldn't be any worse than what you have to go through. Guiding the spirits of the dead... I don't think I could do that. And you're always so cheerful..."

Botan's face fell, 'You have no idea...'

Ryouga didn't have the opportunity to say anymore when Dr. Tofu came out of the medical room. His last patient left the clinic. Dr. Tofu looked at Mousse and smiled slightly, "Hey, there."

'Finally, he's here... Wait a minute. Mousse... He's unconscious. Hmm...'

Ryouga didn't seem to notice the sudden look of suspicion that appeared on Dr. Tofu's face, "Doctor, he... I don't feel so good."

Dr. Tofu nodded, "Yes, I gathered as much..."

Ryouga was unprepared for what happened next. Dr. Tofu had grabbed a small white bottle lying on the top of his bookshelf and had splashed the contents onto him. Mousse's human body transformed into a duck and Ryouga was forced out of him. He was somewhat shocked to find that his spirit had suddenly turned into a little black pig. Botan stared at Ryouga, shocked and confused, "That is very odd. How can your curse carry on to the..."

Dr. Tofu bowed, "I bear you no ill will, spirit. I know you have no malicious intent, but you need to move on. Find peace and rest easy."

Ryouga blinked and snorted piggie noises at Botan, 'Oh... I can't speak.'

"Don't worry about it, Ryouga. He can't see you, I know. This doctor... He has a highly developed aura of spirit energy. He could probably sense your presence in that boy."

Ryouga gestured with his hooves unhappily. Botan sweatdropped as she tried to decipher what he was trying to say. She guessed he was wondering why he had just transformed, "I honestly don't know how you got like that, Ryouga. I think it has something to do with the water he splashed on you."

Botan thought for a moment as she studied the white bottle carefully, "Ah... Holy water. Well, I guess that explains it. Because you're a spirit, ordinary water would have no effect on you. You would stay in your normal form and in essence be curse-free. But holy water is no ordinary water. It can come in direct contact with a spirit. A weak, evil spirit usually suffers severe damage from coming in contact with holy water. Good spirits usually have nothing to fear from holy water except for getting soaked and possibly catching a cold..."

Ryouga blinked several times. Botan giggled to herself, imagining what he was thinking, "Yes, spirits can catch colds. But that's about all they can catch. Spirits possessing bodies are immediately expelled from the body when splashed with holy water and I believe that was what Dr. Tofu was intending. However, when the holy water splashed you, not only did it expel you from the body, but it also reactivated your curse. But... I think I can fix that."

Botan looked around and was satisfied to find that Dr. Tofu had gone to fetch some hot water to change Mousse back to normal. Casually, she transferred herself from the spirit to the living and grabbed the white bottle. She heated it up with some spirit energy and then threw it onto Ryouga's spirit. Ryouga was back to normal, much to his relief, "Thanks a lot, Botan. I thought I was going to be stuck like that, forever."

Botan smiled and then gasped as she looked at Ryouga's spirit beast egg. Ryouga followed her shocked gaze to the egg. It was glowing golden and there was a small crack in it. Ryouga gaped, "Ah no! MY EGG! It's cracked! I'm never going to come back to life! My life... IT'S OVER! I'll never see..."

"Err, Ryouga...," Botan began.

"Why do all the bad things happen to me? Just when I thought my luck was finally changing!" Ryouga wailed.

The egg glowed more intensely and cracked in a few more places. Botan sweatdropped and shoved the egg into Ryouga's hands, "Ryouga!"

"Now, I'll never get to tell Aka..."

He was suddenly overwhelmed by a bright golden light. The egg had hatched.

Botan spoke softly through the light, "Good luck..."

Mousse groaned softly.

He does look pretty lonely lying there...

His mind was clouded in darkness and even in his semi-conscious state he knew that the voice was... out of place.

I wonder how come that Shampoo girl he likes so much isn't helping him? Oh... She doesn't really like him, does she? Come to think of it, nobody really likes him.

'H-huh? What's that voice? Have I gone insane? What does it mean nobody likes me?'

I know what it's like to not have any friends.

Mousse's thoughts halted for a moment. The words from the voice echoed in his mind a little while.

'I... That voice. It's... right. I've spent so much time chasing Shampoo. I didn't even think about making friends.'

To be all alone.

'But I don't think... I'm not...'

All alone...

'Stop it! Shut up! I... I don't want to be alone...'

The echoing of those two heart-wrenching words drove Mousse mad.

'Shut up, shut up, shut up! I... I can't believe this... I'm talking back to a voice in my head. I really have gone insane...'

He felt so sick and at that time, he wasn't entirely too sure it was all from the poison.

Alone...

Mousse hadn't fully come to, but he was briefly aware of a few tears that had fallen from his closed eyes.

I could be your friend.

'Be friends with a strange voice in MY head?'

When I come back to life...

'Wait a minute. What? Am I... channeling someone? Who is this? What do you want?'

He didn't receive an answer and like what the voice had previously said it was repeated in his mind. It frustrated him to no end. And the last words he heard from the voice before he was conscious...

Maybe you can change for the better.

'Change... how?' Mousse wondered.

His eyes shot open and he was instantly met with intense nausea. Dr. Tofu handed him a waste basket. Mousse threw up in it. As soon as he had finished, Dr. Tofu put it down and greeted him, "Hey, there. Mousse, right?"

Mousse glanced at Dr. Tofu dazedly, "Y-yeah. I'm Mousse. Where... am I? The last thing I remember I had passed out on the ground."

"Well, I am Dr. Tofu and you're at my clinic. As for how you got here, a concerned soul found you and took you to me," he said.

"Oh. Do you know who it was?" Mousse asked.

Dr. Tofu smiled, "No. That person had left."

"Too bad. Listen... umm... doctor? Would you mind if I stayed here a while? I'm not feeling very well and I don't have a place where I can rest," Mousse said.

Dr. Tofu frowned, 'He doesn't have a place? What about that place where he... works? That doesn't necessarily means he stays there as well. ...'

A feeling of guilt found itself resting in his stomach and he smiled uneasily, "Of course! Stay here as long as you like!"

Mousse sighed and laid on the bed, "Thanks..."

Dr. Tofu studied his new patient carefully, 'He doesn't seem like a bad young man, but... Kidnapping... and Kasumi... That's wrong. I wonder if he feels guilty for what he's done?'

He waited for Mousse to again finish throwing up. He knew Mousse was poisoned and with the very poison that boy had given Ranma. He knew because he was the one who had set it all up to make sure that Kasumi's kidnapper didn't go unpunished.

"I had a patient in here a few days ago. She had to stay for a while, too. Apparently, someone had kidnapped her... held her for ransom even, I think. Something the kidnapper had used caused her to have an allergic reaction. It was pretty severe."

He watched a flash of guilt cross Mousse's features. Mousse was sincerely concerned, "Is she... all right?"

"Oh, yes. She's doing fine, now. She was lucky that she got here as quick as she did. She could've... died, otherwise," Dr. Tofu said.

Knots formed inside of Mousse, serving to make his nausea worse. He grabbed the waste basket at the side of his bed and threw up again. Involuntarily, tears streamed down his cheeks as his guilt overwhelmed him, 'What if she had died?'

Dr. Tofu sat on the side of the bed, "Kidnapping is wrong. Poor young woman. She's such a nice, caring individual. It really makes my blood run cold. The thought that someone could be so heartless to even think of causing her such grief."

Mousse rubbed at his eyes as discreetly as he could, "Sorry... I'm so sorry..."

Dr. Tofu played innocent, "Oh, don't be sorry. You can't help that you're sick. I could get you something..."

Mousse got up shakily, "No. I don't deserve your kindness. I was the one... I kidnapped that woman. I was the one... who almost got her killed. I... I didn't mean for it to go so far... I..."

He ran towards the window, ready to make his exit. Dr. Tofu stopped him, grabbing him by the wrist. He turned Mousse to face him, "No. Stay. Your pain shows that you are truly not a heartless person. I want you to talk with me a while."

Mousse choked back a few sobs, not wanting to look unmanly in front of a complete stranger. He nodded slowly and returned to the bed. Dr. Tofu grabbed a heavily sealed bowl from off the edge of one of his sinks, "But first, I want you to eat this. It'll make you feel better."

Mousse looked at the bowl and a hint of recognition of it's contents. Everything clicked, "That's the antidote to the poison."

"Yes."

"The same poison I used on Ranma."

"It's karma."

Mousse sighed and his stomach felt weak again, "You poisoned me, didn't you?"

Dr. Tofu nodded, "Yes, but I promise I had full intention of curing you of it afterwards."

"I believe you. I deserved this," Mousse said.

Dr. Tofu protected himself against the smell of the antidote and gave a spoon to Mousse. Mousse groaned softly and forced himself to eat the bowl. Dr. Tofu started working on a few pressure points on Mousse's body, "To prevent you from going unconscious. You've done enough of that for one day."

"Thank you."

Mousse finished off the bowl, having only gagged five times. The stuff really did taste horrible. He felt a lot better than he had before, though.

"Tell me why you did it."

Mousse looked over at Dr. Tofu, "Well... it all started when Yusuke broke my glasses. He punched me in the face! For no good reason at all! Sure, I had thought he was Ranma at the time, but I hadn't actually attacked him yet!"

Dr. Tofu listened, nodding his head, "Well, that Yusuke seems to be quite the ruffian, but he does have a good heart. He was the one who brought... Kasumi... here."

Mousse didn't feel as angry at the "Tendo boy" as he had before, "It costs a lot of money for me to replace my glasses. They usually hold up pretty good and I'm always careful when I'm wearing them in battle. I just... hadn't expected Yusuke to do that, so I couldn't dodge in time."

Dr. Tofu thought for a moment, "But you work at that restaurant, don't you? Surely, you could've..."

"Well, I... don't get paid," Mousse began.

Dr. Tofu blinked in surprise, "What? You don't get paid? But that's... that's like slavery!"

Mousse looked a little offended, "Hey! I'm not a slave! I'm a warrior! I..."

He calmed down a little bit, remembering where he was and figuring that Dr. Tofu might not know that much about Chinese Amazons. He sighed, "I get to stay at the Cat Café for working there. It's... free room and board. Sometimes, if I have the time, I'll do extra things... like work at a circus for money. I usually spend that on gifts for Shampoo and weapons. I didn't have any money on me and I'm as bli..."

He crossed his arms and grumbled, "I can barely see anything without my glasses. I have an extra, extra strong prescription. Which is why they cost so much."

"So, you held Kasumi for ransom," Dr. Tofu said.

"Well, actually... I was going to kidnap Yusuke's mother, but since I didn't have my glasses on, I ended up kidnapping... Kasumi. I wasn't really thinking about it at the time, I guess. I mean, I figured all was fair. Yusuke was the one who broke my glasses, afterall. It's only right that he should pay for them," Mousse told him.

"But two wrongs don't make a right," Dr. Tofu replied.

Mousse sighed, "You're right. I feel horrible, but I really didn't know what else to do."

"Don't you have family that could've helped you out?" Dr. Tofu asked.

Mousse shook his head, "The entire Amazon village is my family, but... I'm... I'm not very well-liked."

"I see. Well, what about friends? I'm sure you...," Dr. Tofu started.

Mousse lowered his head sadly, "I... don't have any friends."

He closed his eyes and inhaled sharply, 'I can't believe it took me this long to realize that... To realize how lonely I really am. I've been such a fool... A blind fool.'

Dr. Tofu frowned, 'So, that's it. Hmm...'

Mousse stayed silent for a while, "I'm sorry..."

Dr. Tofu pulled himself away from his thoughts, "You shouldn't be apologizing to me. You should apologize to Kasumi."

Mousse nodded and sighed, getting off the bed. Dr. Tofu stopped him before he left out the door, "And Mousse... If you're ever feeling troubled, don't be afraid to stop on by and have a talk with me. You might have to wait, if I'm seeing patients, but I'm willing to listen to what you have to say."

Mousse bowed, "Thank you, Dr. Tofu. You're too kind, but... I appreciate it."

He left for the Tendo Dojo, for once not chasing after Shampoo or attempting to defeat Ranma.

Ryouga blinked to get all of the bright light out of his eyes. He felt somewhat disoriented, but after a few moments his vision cleared. He looked around him. Botan was nowhere to be found and something told him... He wasn't in Nerima anymore. He was on a long, narrow bridge surrounded by golden clouds.

The ever-so repeated cry of, "WHERE AM I NOW?" rang through the new place. Following it was a small, low grunt that hadn't come from Ryouga at all...

"YaYa..."