Author's Note: Since I've been busy for the past couple of weeks I haven't been able to update the story as much as I've wanted to, and I apologize. This is only a part of chapter four, so please bear with me until I can get the rest written.
The rain had stopped halfway to the Cat Café, replaced by a cloudless blue sky and radiant sunshine. Mousse held out a hand from under the umbrella and looked up before tucking it away in a sleeve. He squinted painfully under the sunlight that was made even more intense by the weather's sudden transition from dark storm to clear sky. He pulled out a pair of red-tinted spectacles and put them on, blinking a few times as the world took on a crimson hue. Looking around he saw that the people had returned from their cover and were walking the rain slick sidewalks, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
He was about to continue walking when he felt something collide with his leg. He looked down to see a black potbelly pig wearing a yellow bandanna glaring up at him with surprisingly intelligent eyes. If he didn't know better, it was as though the pig was saying, "What the hell are you lookin' at?" It picked itself up, snorted once at him indignantly then walked off, its snout held up in the air.
Mousse stared at the pig until it disappeared down an alley then shook his head. I'm not even going to try.
The door opened with a silvery chiming sound from the bells set above it. The Cat Café was big for a restaurant, with round tables wide enough to seat entire families set throughout the main room. In spite of the restaurant's size the crowd was relatively sparse, with only a few people seated at each table, conversing with each other over empty bowls.
He smiled. She's here.
His eyes moved to the back of the room, toward the kitchen area. There.
"Nihao!"
Mousse started in surprise and turned his attention to the source of the voice. His breath caught in his throat. Before him stood a vision of beauty. Ankle-length hair the color of violets framed a smiling, heart-shaped face with eyes the color of dark wine that twinkled with mischief. A waitress's apron covered her petite body, but couldn't hide the curvaceous form that her pantsuit hugged in such a way that somehow left little and at the same time very much to the imagination. Everything about her screamed Amazon. The urge to reach out and snap her neck was almost overwhelming.
"You okay, strange person?" she asked expectantly, still smiling.
Fighting down the sudden need to kill the person standing in front of him, Mousse forced a smile. "I'm fine. May I see my table?"
The smile slid from his face when she nodded and giggled slightly in that same cheery fashion and turned around to show him a table. He watched her weave between the tables, every movement smooth and supple, much like he imagined her body would be under that apron. He desperately fought the urge to kill her then and there, to take her head between his hands and twist sharply, ripping it clean off.
He took a deep breath. Why do I want to kill this one so badly?
"Here you are!" she announced, showing him a table in the middle of the room. "You want order now, yes?"
Mousse forced the smile back on his face. "No, actually I came here to speak with Khu Lon. Is she here by chance?"
The waitress looked confused. "You here to see great-grandmother? Why you want talk with her?"
Mousse tensed up immediately upon hearing those words. Great-grandmother.
Using all of his will to keep the pleasant expression on his face from twisting into one of raging hatred, he instead cleared his throat and tried to speak. "Did you say great-grandmother? As in, she is your real great-grandmother or is that just what you call her because she is your elder?"
Still looking confused, the waitress answered hesitantly. "Yes, great-grandmother Shampoo's mother's mother's mother."
Suddenly all the rage that had flared up inside was gone, replaced by the icy cold he was familiar with. His smile turned just as chill. "That so?"
The waitress backed away nervously at his sudden change in demeanor. "Um, I go get great-grandmother for you then, yes?"
He nodded slowly, still smiling coldly at her. "Thank you."
She didn't waste any time bowing before hurrying her way back to the kitchen, casting nervous glances back at him and trying to move as quickly as possible without running. Mousse watched with a satisfied expression as she all but ran to the back room. It was gratifying to see he still had that effect on people.
The satisfied expression faded into a thoughtful frown. Why do I want that girl dead so badly? It doesn't make any sense.
His frown deepened as he mulled over these thoughts. What was her name? Shampoo? Xian Pu? I don't remember her from the village, but I'm sure she's one of them. Who is she?
"Grandmother?"
Cologne ignored the voice for a moment and instead waited for the ramen she was cooking to finish. When it was done she expertly flipped the basket over into a bowl and tossed it to her right without even a glance. The bowl was almost a blur as it flew threw the air like a missile, but was caught easily by her granddaughter.
"Deluxe ramen, order up," Cologne declared, while starting on another order. She looked up. "Why are you back here, child?"
"There someone to see you, Grandmother," Shampoo said with a slight tremor in her voice.
Cologne narrowed her eyes. Her granddaughter stood there, obviously agitated, casting glances back toward the dining room and clutching her apron with her free hand in a white-knuckled grip. Her granddaughter, strongest warrior of her generation and future leader of the most powerful warriors in the world, was frightened.
Cologne dropped the noodle basket and hopped on her staff until she was directly in front of her granddaughter. "What is the matter, Xian Pu?" She inquired in Chinese, but her granddaughter was staring back in the direction of the dining room. Cologne scowled. "Xian Pu!"
Shampoo started and almost dropped the bowl of ramen she was holding. She flushed and bowed her head. "Forgive me, Grandmother. I did not hear you," she replied back in Chinese.
Cologne sighed. "You said I had a visitor. Well, who is it?"
Shampoo raised her head. "I don't know, Grandmother. It was a boy. He was… I don't know."
Cologne snorted, not quite believing a mere boy could inspire any sort of fear in her successor. "A boy is it? Well, what does he look like?"
"He was… strangely dressed," she said, and shivered slightly. "There was something about him that frightened me grandmother." She paused, and got a faraway look in her eyes. "And yet, I don't know, but he seems familiar to me…"
Cologne frowned. It didn't sound like anyone she knew. But knowing Nerima, it was probably some insanely powerful martial artist or demigod that has come here for Ranma. In that case, it wasn't anything out of ordinary. Things would work out as they always do.
"He can wait," she told her granddaughter. "Tell him that I'll see him momentarily. But in the meantime there are more important things to do. Like taking that ramen to our customer before it gets cold."
Shampoo nodded, calmed by her great-grandmother's confidence, and walked quickly back out into the dining room.
Cologne watched her leave before turning back to the oven. She shook her head. Imagine, a boy causing her granddaughter to worry. It was of no matter how intimidating his appearance may be, he was still a male, and underneath it all he was still inherently weak.
With that, secure in her convictions, she nodded and started making the next order.
"What?" Mousse said, taking his headphones off.
The waitress's expression tightened. "I say Grandmother come visit you soon. Would you like order?"
"No," he replied, putting the headphones back on. He closed his eyes. "I'll wait."
He felt her standing there for a moment longer, tense, as though she wanted to talk to him, before she finally left. He smiled. She was still afraid of him. Good. It will make that much more satisfying when he kills her.
He opened his eyes and stared at the far wall. She was still there, oblivious to his presence.
He smiled again. Time to make myself known.
Cologne almost dropped the basket she was holding. A sudden burst of chi, so strong even a normal person would be able to feel it, flared up in the dining room. And yet it was so finely controlled that she was certain she was the only one who noticed it.
She placed the basket on the counter. It seems our guest is getting impatient.
"Shampoo!" she called.
Shampoo appeared in the entrance. "Yes, Grandmother?"
"I want you to go into the storeroom and count how much flour we still have."
"But what about customers?"
"Take care of them first then."
Shampoo smiled brightly. "Ok, Grandmother. I do."
Cologne waited until Shampoo was inside the storeroom before moving to go out. Her great-granddaughter did not need to be involved in this.
Cologne hopped on her staff to the entrance to the dining room and stopped. It was gone. Whoever had made that chi beacon had disappeared. She scanned the room carefully. Anyone who could spontaneously generate that much chi in such a short time and control it like that was someone to be wary of. Her eyes stopped on a figure seated at a table in the corner.
All around her, every living thing was giving off an aura; herself, the customers, even the potted plants. But that figure was giving off nothing. It was as though nothing was there, just a void. If she couldn't see him with her own eyes she would doubt he was even there. She would have to proceed even more carefully. If he had achieved such a high state of control that he could actually mask his chi, then that would make him much more dangerous than she first anticipated.
She hopped on her staff until she was standing beside the boy. Her mouth twisted as she studied him. Children's appearances these days were getting more and more eccentric, but this one outdid most of them. All black garb with a long coat with a hem that actually touched the floor, long hair with a number of small silver ornaments tied in a single lock of hair at his temple, and red-tinted spectacles over closed eyes. He was tapping gloved finger on the table to music she could hear coming from headphones over his ears. If she didn't know this boy was so dangerous she would probably have told him to leave her restaurant.
Cologne cleared her throat, trying to proceed carefully. It wouldn't do to make him mad. She was confident she could defeat him, but she didn't want her restaurant destroyed in the process. Her insurance is high enough as it is.
She was about to clear her throat again when suddenly he raised his hand. He opened his eyes and turned his head to face her. Cologne frowned slightly. There was something in his eyes when he saw her, some intense emotion that was there and gone in an instant, to be replaced by an amiable smile. As he removed his headphones, she caught a brief part of the music he was listening to.
…left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you…
He motioned for her to sit across from him, smiling all the while. Cologne warily hopped to the other end of the table, not taking her eyes off him.
He was wearing a mask. Not a literal mask, but almost as good as one. He was still smiling, but that same unidentifiable emotion she caught earlier was back in his eyes, and getting more intense as he looked at her.
The faced each other for a few moments, while one studied the other. Finally the boy spoke.
"You don't recognize me," he said, with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"Should I?" replied Cologne. There was something definitely familiar about him, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
He sighed and shook his head, the ornaments in his hair tinkling as they moved. "I was hoping to get to you before senility did. I guess I was too late."
Cologne's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed dangerously. Her grip tightened on her staff. The audacity of this…male! Restaurant or no, this boy must be taught a…
The boy's smile turned wicked. "Quack, quack."
Cologne went numb. Everything finally clicked in to place. It was him. He's alive.
His expression became even more malicious. "Don't croak on me now, Ku Lon. I just got here."
"Mu Tzu," she gasped. "You're alive."
"You know I seem to get that a lot from your kind," he said, putting an elbow on the table and leaning his head against his hand.
"What… but how?" Cologne started, and then stopped. Gather your wits, Elder! You must not show weakness, especially to him.
Cologne took a deep breath. "I see you're still alive. How?"
Mousse sat up and nodded in approval and the Elder's quick recovery. "Good, good. Maybe you're not as weak as I thought you were. You didn't really think I was just simply going to die after I escaped, did you?"
Cologne frowned at his remark, but restrained herself. "No, I suppose not, but there was always that hope."
Mousse nodded and yawned, as though bored. "You know what I want Cologne. And you know you can't stop me."
Cologne barked a laugh. "You sorely overestimate your own strength, whelp. You cannot possibly hope to stand against four thousand years of Amazon…"
"Two thousand years," he interrupted, his face the very picture of boredom.
"What?" Cologne choked.
"The Chinese Amazon culture is two thousand years old," he said casually, finding more interest in examining the back of his hand than the conversation. "I did some research on the subject. It was brought to China by Alexander the Great when his armies were about to march on India. The last remnants of the Greek Amazons tagged along on his conquests and instead of going home, broke off to settle in China. So spare me your propaganda, please."
Cologne was almost shaking she was so enraged. "You lie, boy! The Amazons are…"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Mousse said, casually flicking the silver ornaments tied in his hair with a thumb. His gaze suddenly turned sharp as he looked at her. He smiled. "Regardless, I think I did pretty well against your 'four thousand years' of history…"
Cologne stopped in midsentence, suddenly suspicious. What did he mean by that?
She narrowed her eyes, and suddenly gasped, her countenance turning pale. Oh ancestors…he couldn't have…
His smile turned into a grin, the ornaments in his hair ringing as he flicked them.
She ignored his expression as she hurriedly counted the Elder symbols tied in the boy's hair. One… two… three…four…oh no.
"Oh yes," he said, answering the thought she unconsciously whispered. "They're all dead. All except you."
He cocked his head to the side while staring at her, any trace of a smile gone from his face. She could feel his eyes burning into her.
"Do you know what it was like in the dark?" he whispered, barely loud enough for her to hear. "Do you know what it was like? No sound, no light, nothing but your thoughts and the feel of your own heartbeat. I couldn't move, I couldn't see, I couldn't hear."
He leaned forward until his face was almost touching hers, staring into her eyes with frightening intensity.
"Do you know what happens when you're in the dark for too long?" he said softly. "Your mind has nothing to feed on, so it feeds on itself. You begin seeing things, or hearing voices. There were even times when I was sure something was in there with me."
Cologne was paralyzed with fear and shock, and could only stare as he leaned even closer.
"Did you hear my screams?" he asked. "I know you did. What were they like? Did you enjoy them? Did they pain you? Did you care at all?"
Mousse slowly raised a gloved hand and pulled down the high collar covering his throat.
"I still bear the scar you gave me," he said, revealing the ugly mark that ran around his throat. He ran a finger across it. "Perhaps I'll return the favor."
He stared at her a moment longer, while she could only gape at him. "Would you like to know how they died?"
Cologne finally snapped out of her trance-like state. "What?"
"I asked if you would like to know how your sisters died," he replied, leaning back in his chair, a bored look on his face again.
Cologne stared at him. All the intensity, the hate, she saw a moment ago was gone in an instant, replaced by a sort of detached boredom. She looked around to see the entire restaurant was empty, half-finished bowls of ramen still on the table. It seems the people of Nerima had a keen sense for impending danger.
Mousse stood up. "Well, if you don't feel like hearing about it now, I'll just tell you later then."
He leaned forward over the table. He smirked. "By the way, your granddaughter is very pretty."
Cologne immediately shot up on her staff in alarm. He knows! How did he find out?
"Don't you dare touch her," she snarled.
Mousse backed up, hands held up defensively but still smirking. "Whoa now, calm yourself. I wouldn't dream of doing anything to your granddaughter. Well, unless she wanted me to…"
Cologne hopped forward menacingly on her staff.
"…and if she did, well then…," he continued. His eyes glinted. "You get the idea."
Cologne was prepared to strike at the boy then and there when a familiar voice called out.
"Yo! Anyone here, I'm starving!"
Ranma Saotome walked through the doors to the Cat Café, and stopped when he saw Cologne facing off against a stranger in weird clothing. It could be another one of those insanely powerful martial artists looking for him.
"Uh, maybe I'd better come back later," he said, backing out. He was almost out when Shampoo spotted him.
"Ai len!"
Mousse and Cologne both stopped as Shampoo flew across the room to grip Ranma in a very painful looking hug.
"Ranma come for Shampoo to cook too too delicious ramen, yes?" she asked.
Mousse looked from where the newcomer was being held in a deathgrip by the waitress to Cologne and smiled slowly.
Cologne, catching on to what he was thinking, shook her head. "No, don't. The boy is not involved and neither is my granddaughter. Leave them be."
Instead of answering, Mousse walked forward until he was standing behind the other boy.
"Excuse me," he said.
Shampoo had dropped Ranma as soon as Mousse approached and stepped back slightly. Ranma turned around to face the stranger, unsure of Cologne's and Shampoo's reactions toward him.
"Uh, hi," he said warily.
"You're Ranma? Ranma Saotome?" Mousse asked.
The expression on Ranma's face grew even warier. "Yeah that's me. Who's askin'?"
Mousse studied the boy in front of him for a moment. This was the Ranma Saotome he'd heard so much about. He was a powerful fighter, he could tell simply by feeling the chi flowing from him. He had a lot of potential. Mousse looked closer. He could see the resemblance between Ranma and his mother. She was right about him.
Mousse stuck out his hand. "My name's Mousse. Nice to meet you."
Ranma blinked in surprise and then grinned in relief. He reached out with his own hand.
"Nice to meet you too, Mousse," he said, shaking his hand vigorously. He laughed. "You know, for a moment there I thought you might have come here looking for me."
Mousse smiled and nodded. "Well, I've never heard of you until I arrived here."
"Really?" Ranma replied. "Well, don't believe everything you hear around here. People tend to exaggerate."
"I'll keep that in mind," Mousse said. "Well, I must be leaving now, I have a prior engagement. See you later. Xian Pu, Ku Lon."
Cologne stared at Mousse until he was gone from view. She cursed silently. If her daughter hadn't arrived when she did she might have been able to take him down. She looked over to where Shampoo was now her normal bubbly self and hanging all over Ranma. Shampoo must be kept from Mousse. The danger she is in now from the boy is enough. But if he were to remember…
Cologne winced as she felt a twinge of guilt. Perhaps the Elders had been wrong in doing what they did. Perhaps she was wrong in doing what she did.
No use crying over spilled milk, she thought. I must make the best of this no matter how it turns out.
Mousse thought to himself as he strolled down the sidewalk. Ranma is that girl's fiancée. Poor bastard probably defeated her a while back.
He stopped and smiled as a plan began to form in his mind. There could be something to this.