You might say it was the last chapter, cause I haven't added any new chapters for 4 or 5 years...
I know, that kind of sucks, because I ended up becoming one of those fanfiction writers that has a long series going that ends up stopping in the middle of the GOOD part.
You really don't know how guilty I feel about that...
So posting this story at was an attempt for me to get back into my own story,because I seriously want to finish it, but my track record isn't very great.
So basically, I plan on writing more on this series, but please don't time me... and wish me luck. :)
Thanks for reading,
Shikoku 3
Spatulas and Bandannas by Shikoku and Hiroshima
Chapter Seventeen: Friendship Restored?
Let's see where were we... Oh, yeah. Ryoga and Mousse were fighting. Mousse was mad. Ryoga was getting nervous. Mousse seriously wanted to do some bodily harm to Ryoga's person. Ryoga didn't want Mousse to do that, but he didn't really want to hurt Mousse either... not too much at least. Ryoga felt sorry for Mousse.
Right at this moment, Mousse was biding his time, regaining some of his strength to take on Ryoga again. In other words, he was psyching himself up for the fight, in essence, pulling a 'Ranma', blowing up his confidence (ego) and drawing strength from it. His version of blowing up his ego, however, consisted of telling himself that he had FINALLY won Shampoo's love! (No, the blows to the head DIDN'T knock his screws loose, he'd always been delusional, but then, so was everyone else...)
Mousse started glowing with chi as he mentally pumped himself up. He could DO this! He could WIN against the Evil Hibiki who had taken his love from him! And as a result of this train of thought, he started laughing manically.
Everyone else sweatdropped, not understanding what he was laughing at.
"He's lost it..." Akane commented.
"I don't think he ever HAD it..." This was weird, even for Ranma.
Even Ryoga paused to look at him funny. "Are you okay?" He asked.
Mousse just kept laughing, apparently not having heard him over the laughter.
"Mousse lights on, but nobody home..." said Shampoo as she watched the myopic young Chinese man laugh hysterically at something only he found funny. She wondered if she should throw Mousse one of her special weapons, then curiosity got the best of her, and she decided to see if Mousse could actually beat Ryoga in this state.
Ukyo tapped Ryoga on the shoulder. "Maybe you should just hit him..." she suggested. Mousse was really starting to worry her...
Ryoga blinked, then shrugged. It was the best suggestion he had.
So he did.
Mousse went out like a light.
Everyone sweatdropped. That had been the WEIRDEST fight they'd ever seen. Oh well, it was over now so everybody started going home, Akane and Ranma included.
The only ones that DIDN'T go home were Ryoga, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Cologne. Concerned, Ryoga went up to Mousse to make sure he didn't kill him...
Unexpectedly, Mousse was awake and started struggling to get
up... "This... isn't... over... yet..." he said, through
great effort. Then he saw Shampoo staring at him... "Sh-
Shampoo..." And he stopped moving or talking.
Ukyo blinked. "I think he fainted..."
Ryoga poked him. Yep, Mousse was unconscious.
"Stupid Mousse." Shampoo muttered, shaking her head. She then turned and walked off.
As she walked away, a small nagging feeling in the back of her head wanted her to turn around and make sure Mousse was alright, but since her great-grandmother was there hopping on her staff to keep up with her, Shampoo decided it would be better if she let him be...
"Well... think we should leave him here?" Ukyo asked Ryoga as the two amazon females walked off.
Ryoga stared at the fallen Mousse, looking as if he were mentally debating with himself. "Well... he's still MY friend, even if I'm not his... I'd feel terrible if we left him here without anyone..."
Ukyo nodded. "I guess we should take him home then, ne?" She paused. "Wait, does he HAVE a home?"
"Uh... Ucchan... can he stay with us for awhile?" Ryoga asked.
The young chef thought it over. "I dunno Ryo-chan... I'm not sure if I want a homicidal maniac living under my roof... Then again, he IS our friend..." She sighed, lost in indecision.
"Why don't we at least take him there till he's okay?'
"Uh... I guess so." Ukyo shrugged, then helped Ryoga sling Mousse onto the Lost Boy's back. "You ok?" she asked him.
"Who me?" the lost boy looked at Ukyo blankly. He was so slow sometimes...
Ukyo rolled her eyes, smiling rather fondly at him. "Of course you, ya jackass." she answered, lightly poking his nose. "I worry about ya, ya know." She grinned.
"You do?" Ryoga seemed amazed at that... and pleased. He was blushing quite nicely.
Ukyo giggled at his blush, but her own cheeks were a nice pink color. "I do." she nodded. "Now c'mon, let's go home." She smiled at him, then turned and lead him off.
Ryoga nodded and followed, still smiling to himself along the way.
Ukyo and Ryoga soon arrived home, finally after a rough and interesting day for them. Ryoga deposited the unconscious Mousse on the seat of one of Ukyo's booths. Ukyo, meanwhile, started making them both some okonomiyaki. They were both starving.
"Ok, now that I have your undivided attention," Ukyo started as she mixed up the batter. "just HOW did you turn human again?" She looked to Ryoga with an eyebrow raised.
Ryoga settled himself at his accustomed place on the stool facing her. "Dr. Tofu." He answered. "He figured out a way to negate the Cat Tongue Pressure Point thingie by using an Old Man Tokyo Pressure Point thingie."
Surprised, Ukyo paused in her stirring. "Really? Hey that's great!" she exclaimed, then suddenly leaned over the heating grill and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. "I'm so happy for you!"
Ryoga's eyes widened and he started blushing like mad. "Gee... is it?" he laughed nervously, returning the hug.
Ukyo pulled back to the other side of the grill, but she was grinning. "Of course it is sugar! Now you're not stuck in pig form any more." she said, going back to her stirring. "And you can finally help with that mountain of dishes." She tossed a dish rag at him in a teasing manner.
"Oh... yeah..." said Ryoga catching the rag. He was just about to get started on the first dirty dish, when they heard a groan coming from the booth Mousse was zonked out on.
The young chef glanced over at the booth as she poured her batter onto the grill. "Sounds like 'Sleeping Beauty' is waking up." She started putting on toppings. "Go check on him, will you hon?" she asked Ryoga.
"Uh, okay..." Ryoga carefully made his way toward Mousse, and peered over at him as the Chinese martial artist woke up.
Goggily, Mousse came into wakefulness. The first thought that popped into his mind was: 'where am I?' He sat up quickly and looked around, searching his surroundings. Unfortunately though, since he wasn't wearing his glasses, he couldn't SEE his surroundings.
"You're at the 'Ucchan', an okinomiyaki restaurant." Ryoga informed him. "Ucchan and I took you here after you passed out."
Mousse blinked and looked around, then he pulled out his glasses and looked around again. Seeing that he didn't appear to be in any real danger (Ryoga wasn't in 'KILL' mode) he relaxed some. "Uh... thanks..." he muttered.
"Uh... no problem..." Ryoga was surprised that Mousse didn't seem hostile. He wasn't sure what to do now...
Well, Mousse WOULD'VE been hostile but right now he was just in too much pain to care. He laid back down with a heavy sigh and threw one bruised and bleeding arm over his eyes. All he wanted at the moment, was a long hot bath and a soft bed to lie in where he could sleep for the next zillion years. Ryoga had done such a job on him, he was completely exhausted and in NO shape to even lift a FINGER in battle.
Well, Ryoga wouldn't have figured THAT out, but fortunately, Ukyo was there. Finally completing her okinomiyaki, she tossed them to several plates and brought them over to the booth the boys had taken over.
"Here you go sugars, eat up. Then Mousse can take a nice hot bath, while Ryo-chan and I find him a soft bed to crash on..."
Mousse blinked as the delicious aroma of food wafted to his nose. He stomach practically roared. He hadn't realized how hungry he was before now. He sat up and looked over the wonderful creation Ukyo had brought him. "This's for ME?" he asked in wonder, his mouth watering severely."Oh thank you, Ukyo! Thank you!" He immediately drove into the food and wolfed down half of it in no time flat.
"Hmm... better make more..." Ukyo mumbled to herself, amazed at Mousse's voracious appetite.
"Hey! Don't eat them all!" Ryoga complained and the feeding frenzy began.
Ukyo chuckled to herself, pleased to see that the two boys appreciated her creations. She gleefully went back behind her grill to add to them.
She had to do some fast cooking to keep up with the two boy's appetites. Eventually, though she DID manage to stuff the two young males as well as feeding herself. Boy was she good!
"Ready for that bath now, sugar?" Ukyo asked, Mousse, who was looking a bit drowsy after overeating.
Mousse turned his half lidded gaze to the young chef. "Oh what? Uhm..." He shook his head, trying to wake up. "Uh, yeah. Yeah I am. Lead the way." He pushed himself from the bench seat to stand before her. He teetered a bit, but managed to stay upright.
Ryoga, seeing Mousse's problem went to help him. Together, the three of them made their way up to the apartment above the restaurant, specifically the bathroom.
Ukyo instructed Ryoga to help Mousse undress and to get him into the bath. Meanwhile, the young chef went and set up an extra bedroll in the storeroom that served as Ryoga's bedroom.
Before long, the Chinese martial artist was relaxing in the tub and Ryoga and Ukyo were alone again.
The Lost Boy was up to his elbows in hot soapy water and Ukyo stood next to him, a drying towel in her grasp. "Wanna play poker again tonight?" she asked him as she put away the dish she'd been drying.
"Okay," said Ryoga, not sure if he wanted to be alone with Mousse yet. He was still wondering if Mousse wanted to kill him or not, even after he and Ukyo were being so nice to him.
Ukyo nodded. "We'll talk to Mousse tomorrow, after we've all had good sleep." she said.
"Sounds good." said Ryoga, hoping she was right.
Inside the bathroom, Mousse tried to keep from falling asleep as he soaked in the bath. The hot water was thoroughly relaxing him and all his tight muscles. He'd already caught himself nodding off a couple times, so maybe it was best if he got out now.
He painfully pushed himself to his feet, then started to dry off. He thought about his predicament with Ryoga and Ukyo and remembered the decision he'd come to. He'd wait 'til tomorrow since right now he was too tired to get into any arguments and even too tired to be mad. Tomorrow was better he was sure, right now was time to sleep and to heal.
Exhausted, he dragged himself to the spare bedroom, and all but collapsed on the spare bedroll. He was asleep before he could even mentally kiss his Shampoo good night.
The next morning came too fast for Ryoga, as he stumbled down the stairs to the greeting of Ukyo cooking breakfast. The lost boy was so tired, he didn't even worry that he would get lost as he made his way to the stools in front of Ukyo's stove.
Ukyo glanced at the Lost Boy from where she was frying her okonomiyaki. She was mildly surprised he'd made it downstairs. "'Morning, Hibiki." she greeted, placing a plate with a large stack of food on it in front of him.
"Morning," Ryoga mumbled before devouring his breakfast, as if he hadn't had the same thing the night before.
Ukyo didn't seem to notice. Traveling around with him for so long, she'd gotten used to his monster appetite and now she didn't pay it any attention. In fact, if Ryoga DIDN'T inhale his food, Ukyo would assume there was something wrong with him.
Their morning was almost a typical morning for them, until Mousse finally came down the stairs...
The male amazon stumbled down the stairs and sleepily wandered around the grill to the side Ryoga was sitting on. He yawned hugely after he'd seated himself. At the moment, he REALLY didn't look up to arguing.
Ukyo started making some okonomiyaki for the myopic, young man.
And silence rained down on them, as Mousse ate.
The young chef watched the amazon and Lost Boy eat in silence. Thinking it over, she decided to take it apon herself to breach the conversation that was undoubtibly on all their minds.
Looking between the two boys, she decided to wait 'til they were finished so she'd have their complete attention.
The boys ate on, not even noticing she had something on her mind.
Meanwhile, Ukyo started cleaning up a bit, putting away unnecessary ingredients and scrapping off the grill.
Ryoga decided to help her.
Ukyo gave him a surprised look, but just tossed a damp rag to him so he could wipe off the less caked on parts of the grill.
The silence in the room was tangible enough to grab.
Mousse finally finished and laid his chopsticks across his plate. "Thank you Ukyo Kuonji, it was delicious." he said.
Ryoga eyed Mousse suspiciously wondering if this was where Mousse was going to attack him, again...
"Don't worry Ryoga Hibiki," Mousse said, as if he had read the Lost Boy's mind. "I'm not going to attack you. Especially here." He indicated Ukyo's restaurant with a wave of his hand. "What I want, however, is only to talk."
Ryoga blinked. "So talk..."
Mousse paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. He'd been so tired last night that he hadn't been able to formulate what he wanted to say before he'd collapsed and fallen deeply asleep.
Ukyo and Ryoga gave each other curious looks, but let Mousse think. In the meantime, the young chef turned off her grill and finished cleaning up the counter. She stacked up the plates to be taken back into the kitchen for later washing.
When she was done, Mousse finally spoke. "Why did you take me here?" He asked, figuring that was a good place to start.
Ukyo tossed her rag onto the grill. "Well, partly because we don't know where you live, or even IF you have a place to live, and partly because... well... you ARE our friend..." She shrugged.
"Even if you haven't been ACTING like it," Ryoga added.
Mousse nodded. "I see..." He didn't say anything for a moment or two, but then finally asked the question which answer of, he had been dreading. "Where did Shampoo go?"
The brunette shrugged. "Probably back to the Cat Café with that old hag of a great-grandmother." she answered. "Whydo you ask?"
"And she just... left me there... unconscious? When I was trying to fight for her?" Mousse could believe it, but he wouldn't let himself.
"I guess so." Ukyo said, shrugging again.
Mousse looked like he was either about to blow up andkill something... or cry.
Ryoga and Ukyo were far from being heartless and they really felt for the guy. They knew how head-over-heels the amazon was for the frosty babe with the killer bicycle. Walking around the counter, they sat on either side of Mousse and patted him on the back reassuringly.
They really DID want to stay friends with him.
Mousse cleared his throat, and taking off his glasses wiped his eyes. He didn't actually start bawling right then and there, but he came close. "Thank you..."
Ukyo and Ryoga smiled and patiently waited for him get himself under control. They had all day.
Mousse finally did. "But... why did YOU stay with me, when she didn't?"
"Dunno why Shampoo didn't stay," Ryoga answered. "But we couldn't just LEAVE you there... s'not right..."
"Even after I tried to kill you?" Mousse seemed dumfounded by Ryoga and Ukyo's actions.
Ryoga shrugged. "Well... yeah." he answered.
Mousse still seemed baffled by the whole thing. "Why...?'
"'Cause you're our friend." Ukyo shrugged this time.
"I... am?" Mousse now seemed amazed.
"Well... yeah." Ryoga repeated.
Mousse looked down at his hands spread out on the table. "I... don't know what to say..."
Ukyo smiled and laid a hand Mousse's shoulder. "Then don't say anything."
Ryoga had to smile at that. Trust his Ucchan to make things all better.
Mousse didn't reply. He didn't know what to say, then he realized that Ukyo was right, he didn't have to say anything at all. Friends just knew. He smiled at the two first REAL friends he'd had in a long time.
"So, do you believe me now that I don't care about or want Shampoo?" Ryoga couldn't help but asking.
The amazon sighed. He hadn't wanted to admit it but... "Yes." he said. "I believe you, and I won't attack you any more... At least, not over her." His wry grin was humorous.
Ryoga laughed. Yeps, his friendship with Mousse was back to normal. "Good, cause I don't want ta have to beat you again." He grinned back, flashing his fangs.
"That was a fluke! It won't happen again Hibiki!" Mousse declared, grinning. "Besides, it wasn't a real fight, you had Kuonji's help! She wore me down!"
"Yeah! I sure did." Ukyo agreed, glad that she was included in their fun.
Mousse 'harumph'ed. "So I was having an off day!"
"Sure, I believe you... NOT!" said Ryoga.
"Oh yeah! You wanna make something of it Hibiki?" Mousse jumped to his feet and put up his fists in the western way of a boxer. It was obvious he was still joking around.
"Yeah, I do!" answered Ryoga, still grinning. He stood up, and took a goofy martial arts stance.
Mousse took a mock swing at the Lost Boy that didn't even come close to connecting.
"Now now, CHILDREN..." Ukyo said, laughing. "Let's behave ourselves." She grinned.
"Awe... Ucchan, you're no fun..." Ryoga pouted at her.
Mousse took that opportunity to tackle Ryoga, and soon the two boys were wrestling on the ground, with Ukyo playing referee.
Ah, it was good to have friends to beat you up instead of your enemies. :)
Isn't it though?
I thought so.
Next time on Spatulas and Bandannas: Now what are Ukyo and Ryoga going to do with a Mousse in their house? Is their friendships truly restored, despite Shampoo's presence in their lives? And is Ryoga really cured of the Cats Tongue? Find out in Spatulas and Bandannas Eighteen.
Characters created by Rumiko Takahashi Story by Shikoku and Hiroshima