Disclaimer: Nope, not mine, belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I won't even dream about owning it in fear of being sued.
AN: So, it took me a while to get this up, as usual, but at least it wasn't as long as last time. Well, once again, I have a legit excuse. In case, you didn't bother to look at my author page (and I don't blame you if you don't cause I don't always remember to do so for other people's stories), I spilled hot tea on my laptop so half of my keyboard no longer worked. I had to order a replacement part and that took about two weeks. Everything works now so I'm able to get back to work.
I also took a while in contemplating whether I wanted to throw in Konatsu and Akari into the mix or just keep it as the main cast and then hint at Ukyo and Ryuoga ending up together. I figured that if I really wanted to do things right though, that I had to keep everyone and it became a hodge podge of things. To be honest, I don't have a plan on what I'm doing with the characters. Just trying to put my own spin on things, I guess. This chapter is now the longest one I've written so far. I spent a lil more time than I have been describing the sparring sessions and the moves so I hope the effort shows. Anyway, I'm not totally happy with it as I was with the others but I felt it better not to wait months to post, so here's the result. I hope you like it. I give greatful thanks to my beta, partner in crime, I owe you cookies, kev! As always, read and review!
It was Sunday, so there was no school that day. Akane lay in bed thinking back to her 'celebration dinner,' and she used the word celebration loosely in its meaning to describe last night's dinner. Her father had spent most of the night crying over the fact that 'his baby girl had abandoned her fiancee' so that his 'dreams of uniting the two schools were forever dashed into a thousand pieces.' Daddy can be so over dramatic sometimes, Akane thought to herself. Saotome Genma, in between filling his bowl to heaping and then promptly emptying its contents into his stomach, had cried right along with him. Nabiki had continued to stare at her as if she were a horse ready to be bet on. The only saving graces had been Kasumi and Mousse. They were the only people who had chatted excitedly about her future trip and congratulated her. Ranma hadn't even showed up for dinner. Ranma never missed dinner, and he had been home, so why hadn't he showed up for one of Kasumi's best meals? Out of all of the reaction she would have expected from the pig-tailed boy, him having no reaction at all was just strange. She had been too busy dealing with her father's dramatics to see how her announcement of her great news had affected her inazuke. Akane just didn't know. P-chan had once again disappeared on her and she could have really used the comfort of her pet last night. Well, Akane couldn't spend the entire day in her bed, final exams started Monday. She had to study and make sure that Ranma studied too. She then got up and began to get changed for her usual morning jog.
Ranma lay in bed and listened to the noises of his inazuke in the room next to him as she got up and went about her morning routine. Though he'd pretended to be asleep when his father had crawled into bed later in the evening, the young Japanese martial artist hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. He'd been too busy thinking of ways to kick the crap out of a certain long-haired, white-robed, basically blind, Chinese Amazon martial artist. What in the world was Mousse doing anyway? He was supposed to be in love with Shampoo and yet, here he was going on a trip with his fiancee.
Ranma couldn't believe Akane was going to America for the summer. The school year would be over in just a few days actually, now that he'd stop and thought about it. Actually, it was cause he'd heard Akane's father scream about things from all the way downstairs. It was the first time ever that Ranma was glad about Soun's melodramatics. If the older man hadn't been so loud, Ranma wouldn't have heard the specifics of the trip, cause there was no way he could sit down there and pretend to celebrate Akane going on a trip with just Mousse. She'd be away from him for 3 whole weeks, where there was only Duck Boy to keep her company and watch over her. Well, there were also going to be a few teachers and some of the other classmates who'd qualify to go with their escorts but none of them were martial artists. They couldn't rescue Akane if she got kidnaped by some crazy prince. Mousse had never defeated him so Ranma doubted if Mousse could really keep his inazuke safe. 3 weeks was a long time. He and Akane had never been separate before like that. They'd always been stuck together from one situation to another, and now they wouldn't see each other for 3 weeks. Ranma just didn't know what to think. And Damn it all, he'd skipped dinner! He had missed one of Kasumi's great home cooked meals. A Saotome never thought well on an empty stomach, and with that final thought, he decided to let his old man to keep sleeping. There was just no way he was willing to deal with him on such an empty stomach.
Ranma got up to head down to the kitchen. The young Japanese martial artist dressed in Chinese clothes found the eldest Tendo sister cooking breakfast as usual. She looked up as he entered and saw how disheveled the young man looked.
"Good morning, Ranma." Kasumi said cheerfully.
"G'mornin', Kasumi." Ranma mumbled back as he opened the fridge hoping for hope that there were some leftovers.
"If you wait a little bit, breakfast will be done." The brown-haired young lady let him know. "I know you're probably hungry so I made extra."
"Thanks, Kasumi." Ranma said gratefully.
Just then, Akane stepped through the front door and into the kitchen, feeling much better than she had before. "Good morning, Kasumi." Her smile faltered for just a second when she saw her fiancé standing there too. "Good morning to you too, Ranma."
"Good morning, Akane." Ranma said sounding only slightly doleful.
"Well, I'll head into the furo now, Kasumi." The youngest said letting the oldest know.
"All right, Akane." She acknowledged and went back to cooking. "Ranma, why don't you set the table for me?"
"Sure, Kasumi." Ranma replied and headed into the living room to do as he was asked.
As Kasumi began to scoop the rice from the rice cooker into a large bowl, she began contemplating how to make the situation work. She just knew that Akane had meant to ask Ranma to go on the trip with her. Being away from everyone and everything would have been good for the 2 of them. They might have actually gotten along and been able to have a decent relationship together for those 3 weeks. That was exactly what Akane wanted. She wanted a stress free trip but with the chaos that happened around Ranma it would have been difficult. Look at what happened when Akane tried to tell everyone about it. There was no blame for Akane asking Mousse to go but still, maybe there was a way to fix things. She just wasn't sure how to help her youngest sister and she really did want to help make things better for her. Akane used to be her closest friend but things had happened. Akane focusing more and more on martial arts, developing that crush on Dr. Tofu, Ranma and his father breezing into their odd little ward of Nerima. Kasumi herself was slowly spending more and more time borrowing books and getting to know Dr. Tofu and with two more occupants in the house, there was just more house work for her to take care of. She didn't mind it but she missed her best friend. They just didn't have the time to spend with each other just talking like they used to and though they hadn't talked about it Kasumi knew that Akane was making a real effort to keep her temper unlike the last time she'd ask her little sister to not hit anyone out of anger. Kasumi felt that little breach of contract had been partly her fault. With Ranma and his father being new to the house at the time, she just hadn't the time to sit down with her littlest sister and really talk about her temper like she should of. It was all musings of the past though and it was time to come back to the present.
It was time to take the food out for everyone to eat. She'd see how breakfast went and go from there. Everyone was sitting down at the table by the time Akane came out and as soon as she sat down, the morning meal began. Within seconds, the huge piles of food that had been on the table were reduced to just crumbs. Ranma was indeed hungry. Usually it took at least 60 seconds.
"Where is Nabiki?" Soun asked.
"She got up early and went to meet some friends for breakfast so they could study right afterwards." The eldest daughter answered. "Akane, what are you planning on doing today?"
"I'll be studying today too, Kasumi." Akane let her know. "You should spend some time studying too, Ranma."
Ranma's head seemingly popped up from his bowl as he realized that Akane had said something to him. He quickly processed his options. He wasn't really in the mood to study but she was right about the final exams coming up and he definitely didn't want to fail those. Besides, he could spend some time with Akane without too much arguing if he asked to study with her.
"Uh, yeah, Akane." Ranma began to say dejectedly. He couldn't sound too happy to be in the same room with his fiancee and to be studying just an evil necessity after all. "I think I'm gonna need some help so can I study with you?"
"I'll bring lunch up to you two later." Kasumi said smiling.
"Arigato, Kasumi." Akane said gratefully at her sister's caring after taking her last bite of breakfast. "Come on, Ranma, if you really want my help with studying."
The young man shoved the last bites of food using the speed that training as a martial arts had given him and quickly followed his short-haired fiancee upstairs and into his own room. Grabbing his book bag, he then headed into his fiancee's bedroom. Akane had already brought out her school bag and was pulling her books out to spread out on her desk. The chair had already been pulled away from the desk a little bit and Ranma immediately went over and sat on it. He always sat on the chair and Akane always sat on the edge of her bed. Bad things would happen would if Ranma sat on Akane's bed. Well, better get down to business, Ranma thought.
"So what do we need to do first?" Ranma asked.
"The first test we have is history." She told him as she brought out her notebooks then and the two young betrothed spent the rest of the morning studying.
In actuality, the couple tried to study. Akane did a slightly better job at it. Ranma was a bit more distracted, though to give him credit, he did try. It was always difficult for him to concentrate on school work since it didn't really interest him too much and it was even more difficult to stay focused with his inazuke so close to him. All the weirdness happening between them definitely wasn't helping matters either. Every few minutes he couldn't help but glance out of the corner of his eye at her while pretending to read the next chapter. He made sure to look right back to his page when she started to look over at him to make sure he was actually reading. It was a roundabout cycle but Ranma couldn't help himself at the moment. Akane tried to stay focused as much as she could but was quite confused about things between her and Ranma. They had finally made it to the year 1854 when Japan had signed the treaty to open its port to the United States, when a voice called.
"Ranma? Akane? I've brought you lunch." The long haired young lady let them know.
"Oh, thank you, Kasumi." Akane said as she stood up to grab the tray from her older sister. "I was just thinking of taking a break."
"You've been studying for hours." Kasumi said with a slightly mischievous smile on her face. "Father didn't want me to come and interrupt you two up here. He'd been hoping that you two were discussing the possibility of grandchildren because it'd been so quiet. I reminded him that it wasn't proper at all though and told him that he'd better not give you a hard time for just studying up here or you might never graduate, or go to college for a degree and might never be able to take over the dojo like he wants."
"Kasumi, you didn't!" Akane said trying not to burst out laughing after setting the tray down on the hastily cleared spot on her desk.
She looked over her sister, noticing the odd look on her face and odd tone to her voice. It wasn't the usual serene mask that she'd been wearing of late as she did the house work and took care of everyone. It was the real Kasumi who showed her joking side, who'd been hiding for a very long time, who Akane missed talking to, who used to be Akane's best friend.
"I did." Kasumi said proudly, also trying her best not to laugh out loud.
"Onee-chan, I have to go shopping for some things for my trip. Would you like to go shopping with me this afternoon?" Akane asked with a smile of her own. "We can stop for a bowl of mint chocolate chip with hot fudge, whipped topping and 2 cherries on top."
At the suggestion of ice cream, Kasumi couldn't help herself and stood up to hug her very dear and missed best friend. It had been one of their favorite things to do together. After an afternoon together of shopping, walking together or just hanging out they had always gotten that exact make of ice cream. They hadn't a chance go out together like that for a long while.
"I've love to, Imouto-chan. I have to get back downstairs and serve lunch to Father and Mr. Saotome. I'll come back up in a little while to take the tray." The oldest sister said. "Don't study too hard now."
"We're almost done." Akane let her know and Kasumi went back downstairs.
"What was that all about?" Ranma basically demanded to know. He nearly winced when he realized how harsh it sounded. It was just that he'd never seen either of them so open before and it had surprised him. Well, more like shocked him into a foot-in-the-mouth stupor but he'd never backed down before so he wouldn't back down then.
"It was girl talk. You wouldn't understand, Ranma." Akane said coolly and just like that her demeanor was back to the stubborn tomboy that Ranma was used to. She then grabbed one of the bowls and handed it to him. "Here. Let's eat so that we can finish studying soon."
He didn't know what to make of that instant change. "Um, yeah, let's eat." They ate silently for a few minutes but Ranma didn't feel comfortable in the quiet for once. "So, uh, how much studying do we have left to do?"
"We're almost done with history. We'll need to study science next." She let him know. "We just have to finish another few paragraphs to finish up the 19th century and that's it."
"Great! If that's all, then I think I'm going to head to the arcade for a bit." Ranma said happily at the thought of the rest of the day for freedom. "Wanna come with me?" He added hesitantly at the end.
"I said we're almost done." The blue-haired girl reminded him with more than a little humor in her voice. "There's still science to review."
"But Akane, we've been studying all morning!" Ranma nearly pouted at her.
"Unlike you, Ranma, I care about my grades!" Akane said in a very haughty tone but the humor in her eyes and the uplifting of the corners of her mouth ruined the effect and she knew that it didn't work. She was just too happy to have her best friend in her sister back. "Besides I can't risk not studying for these. Not only do I want to graduate but if I don't do well enough, they might give up my slot for the trip to someone else if they do better. I'm done eating. Are you done? I want to take the tray back down and save Kasumi a trip coming back up here."
Ranma looked at the empty bowl in his hand and placed it back onto the tray. "Yeah, all done."
"Great, I'll be right back and we'll finish studying." She let him know and was then out the door with the tray in hand. When she came back, without food tray in hand, she sat back down and grabbed her science book. "Ready?"
With a nod of assent from the pig-tailed boy, the young would-be couple were back with their noses buried in books and their eyes trading secret glances. About an hour later, Ranma shut his book.
"Akane, I'm done. I can't stand it anymore. I can't take studying for another minute. Final exams or not!" Ranma spoke loudly.
"All right, Ranma." Akane agreed. "I'm done studying too." She then started to clean up her mess of notebooks, pens and books.
Ranma began to do the same but he had something in mind in the meanwhile. "Hey, Akane. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it, Ranma?" Akane asked curious to what was going on with her forced-upon fiancé.
"Do you really want to go on that trip to America this summer?" He questioned her quietly.
"Well, yes, of course, I do." The blue-haired Japanese girl answered as she finished putting everything away and her desk was clear except for a few usual things. "It's a great opportunity and I've always wanted to travel and see different places."
"Do you have to go with Mousse though?" Ranma blurted out in question. He nearly smacked himself in the face as he hadn't meant to ask that last one.
Akane hesitated. She wasn't sure if she should be honest about that enquiry. She had really wanted to ask Ranma to go but everyone would have made it into such a big deal and he himself would have turned it into an all out fight and that was exactly what she wanted to avoid. Besides, she didn't know at all if Ranma would have really wanted to go with her. She just wasn't sure how he'd he take the news though so she'd just leave part of the truth out of it.
"Well, I wasn't sure who else I should ask." The blue-haired girl started to say. "I know my sisters would have liked to go, but as much as Kasumi would have liked to go she would have hated leaving the house for so long, and Nabiki would have killed to go but the trip leaves before the start of that prep course that's so hard to get into that she wanted to go to. Yuka and Sayuri already have plans with their families. Why do you ask, Ranma?"
Ranma nearly broke out into hives with the asking of that last question. He hadn't thought that she'd ask him why he was asking her about the stupid trip. The fact that she apparently hadn't even thought about asking him to join her irked him more than he thought it would, so he did the most natural thing in the world.
He kicked his foot into this mouth once again and nearly swallowed it. "No reason at all, ya tomboy! See if I care if you go on that trip with duck boy for the next three weeks! I hope you have a great time without me! He can't protect ya so if you get kidnaped or something, don't expect me to come and rescue ya!"
Akane could only stare at the begrudging man she was supposed to one day marry if her father had anything to do with things. They were getting along so well for the day, which was definitely a new Nerima record and she hadn't wanted to ruin it. They hadn't argued at all. They had actually joked a little about the amount of studying that needed to be done. It hadn't been much at all but they'd done it without Ranma saying something mean and without Akane wanting to throw a dumbbell at him. Though she'd expected it, had figured on every single word he'd utter on the matter, it still hurt. She felt heartbroken, and it showed on her face but she refused to be weak because of it.
"All right, Ranma, I will and I'll be fine. Now get out of my room." She said coldly.
Ranma nearly ran out of her room after grabbing his stuff in record speed. He doubted anyone would have thought to use the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken as a packing technique but that's why his school was Anything Goes. Besides, there was no way the Japanese boy could have stayed in that room with his fiancee looking so sad and scary. A part of him thought that he ought to stay and try to fix things with her. He hadn't really meant it like that. He wasn't sure what he meant really. He'd just opened his mouth and those words came tumbling out, but he had no idea on how to fix things. Ranma knew that by staying he'd more than likely just make it worse. He was never good at handling girls when they were crying, most especially Akane when she cried so Ranma rushed into his room as if a cat was chasing him through a rain storm. Add onto the fact with everything that had been going on lately, he'd screwed up royally, like the size of China kind of mistake.
Akane stood there unmoving for the 2.37 seconds it took for Ranma to grab his stuff into his school bag and was out of her room. She knew that if she took even 1 glance at her inazuke, she would break out in tears and she just couldn't have that anymore. When he'd finally gone, she shut the door behind him, sat on her bed and though she was alone she still refused to let the tears fall. After a minute or 2, she finally looked up and realized that someone was knocking on her door.
"Akane, are you OK?" Kasumi called through the door.
Wiping her face to make sure that there were no tears showing, the youngest Tendo sister opened the door. "Yes, I'm all right, Onee-chan."
"I was coming upstairs when I saw Ranma run into his room and then you closed the door. Are you sure you're all right, Imouto-chan?" The brown-haired sister asked feeling concerned for her younger sibling.
"Yes, I'll be fine, Kasumi." Akane let her know and gave her oldest sister a much needed hug.
"Let's get out of the house for a while. I think we both need a little bit of time away from here." Kasumi suggested as she returned the hug.
"Let's go then." Akane said and began to lead them downstairs.
They stopped by Kasumi's room first so that she could take off her apron and grab her purse. Just before walking out the door they stopped by the living room.
"Father, Akane and I will be out for the afternoon. I'll be back in time to make dinner." Kasumi let him know and before the tears of the father had even a chance to fall, the 2 sisters were out the door, down the street and very happily chatting away.
As they walked in and our of different stores for the next few hours, the sisters talked about what had been going on recently and not so recent. Akane told of her recent insights about herself, her dealings with Ranma and her newfound but refreshing friendship with Mousse. In turn, Kasumi spoke of her own recent insights about herself and of her family and even of her few dealings with Dr. Tofu. They found a few new outfits for Akane to wear on her trip and a few other much needed supplies that she would need while being away for 3 weeks and an ocean seperate from home. At the moment, they were sorting through the luggage for a small bag that Akane could put her toiletries inside of.
"Oh Kasumi! Everyone knows that you and Dr. Tofu are made for each other." Akane pointed out. "He only goes nuts around you. He's absolutely crazy about you! You both need to get over your shyness and go out on a date."
"What about you and Ranma!" Kasumi shot right back though still in that kind tone of hers with only a little bit of the edge in it. "You are both so busy avoiding each other and arguing with each other that neither of you have any idea how each other feels about the other."
"You know my situation is so much more difficult." Akane reminded her oldest sister patiently. "Dr. Tofu doesn't have multiple fiancees. Why don't you just ask him to lunch or something?"
"Well, he did have multiple fiancees that one time when his mother came into town." Kasumi said teasingly. "It wouldn't be proper for me to ask him to lunch. Besides he'd go ballistic if I did."
"Onee-chan, don't remind me." The blue-haired young woman nearly groaned. "I was only doing that to make sure he'd still be around for you and well, we could ease into the idea of you and him having lunch together."
"How would we do that?" The brown-haired woman asked and they began to discuss different options in answer to her question.
Meanwhile, Ranma had decided to do as he'd said he wanted and was at the arcade playing different games. It wasn't the most productive thing he could be doing but it kept his mind off things. After all, every martial artist needed a little bit of time off, no matter what his pop said. It wasn't all that long before Ranma got bored with the different gaming machines. Well, it was more like he was out of his extra spending money. He was tempted to call up one of his friends but knew they were probably still studying. It had been a while since he'd eaten so he decided to head over to Uc-chan's for an afternoon snack.
The moment the pig-tailed young man stepped through the door and the bell rang, the male-looking person glanced up and smiled at him. "Ran-chan! What would you like today?"
"Hey, Uc-chan." Ranma replied as he marched right up to his usual spot right in front of the grill where a girl dressed as a guy cooked up Japanese pizza. "Hey, Konatsu."
"Good day, Ranma." The female dressed man greeted before he was back to work serving the few other customers already sitting at the tables.
The pig-tailed boy wasn't given much of a chance to talk as a hot okinamiyaki was placed right in front of him. Being starved half to death, he dug with gusto right into it.
"Oh, Ranma, I was thinking that since Akane would be gone next week, you and I could go to the beach together. I could sell some okinamiyaki in the morning and then in the afternoon we could wander around and wait for the sunset together." Ukyo suggested as she continued to cook another of her famous creations and glanced at her fiancé trying to will him to accept the subtle offer as a date.
Ranma, however, was thoroughly engrossed in his own thoughts and hadn't gotten the hint about going out together and brushed it off. "Pop and I go to the beach with the Tendos every summer."
"But I think it'd just be fun just you and me, Ran-chan." Ukyo proposed as she pushed her subtlety to just being blatant.
As the male-thought-to-be-female ninja continued to wait on the few other customers, he also kept his eye on what was happening at the grill. He was absolutely in love with Ukyo-sama and so would never say anything to intentionally hurt her or insult but he couldn't help but wonder why she was so blind to the fact that Ranma only thought of her as a friend. It was obvious he cared for her, but it was only as a sister, but Ukyo-sama just couldn't seem to accept it and why couldn't she see that her waiter-dressed-as-a-waitress was right there for her? There was nothing he could do though except be right there for her and Konatsu was more than willing to wait for the brown-haired okinamiyaki cook. For the time being, he could only keep watching as Ukyo kept trying to think of ways for her and Ranma to spend time together as more than just friends and Ranma just distractedly kept turning her down each and every time.
At the Cat Café, Mousse was once again busy busing tables as he watched his purple-haired goddess while she waited on the customers. She was, of course, ignoring his longing look at her. The male Amazon glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was still about half an hour before he could head to the Tendo house. If someone had told him a week ago that he'd become such good friends with Tendo Akane so that he looked forward to being around her everyday, he would have called them a liar and said that Saotome had set them up to make a fool of him. It was true though and it was odd but it was nice to have someplace different to go to and to have someone different to talk to. Plus, it seemed to bug Shampoo and make her notice him more.
"No time for standing still, foolish duck boy!" She told him as she sauntered right in front of him to block his gaze to the time piece.
"Of course not, my beautiful goddess." Mousse said as he watched her walk away.
Just then, the bell that hung over the door rang as someone stepped into the restaurant. Actually, it was 2 someones Mousse realized as he recognized the two people as Tendo Akane and Tendo Kasumi.
"Hello, Akane. Good afternoon, Kasumi. How may I help you two?" The white-robed boy politely greeted.
"Hi, Mousse!" Akane cheerfully returned the greeting. "How are you today?"
"I am fine." Mousse answered his friend. "How are you and Kasumi today?"
"We're doing well, Mousse." Kasumi told him with her serene smile in place and she began to rattle off a long list of different ramen dishes for take-out. "Could it be delivered to our house in about an hour?"
"It's no problem at all." Mousse replied as he quickly took down the order.
"Mousse, Akane and I are about to go for some ice cream. Would you like to join us?" Kasumi kindly asked the younger man.
"I would very much like to join you but I'll have to ask Colonge." Mousse told them and turned around to head into the backroom where the old Amazon leader would be.
The Chinese boy needn't go far though, cause as soon as he turned around, a hockey puck was thrown at him. Though Mousse tried to reach his hand up and catch it, it was in vain. As the puck slammed right into his forehead and he laid on the ground flat on his back, the young martial artist realized that it was Cologne who'd found his missing hockey puck.
Cologne almost cringed when the puck smacked right into the male Amazon's head but of course, she couldn't show too much emotion. He was so close that he almost caught it but close wasn't enough. He was getting faster bit by bit but it was slow progress. At least it was slow compared to Son-in-Law. Then again, just about anyone was slow compared to Son-in-Law.
"Good afternoon, Cologne. Would it be all right if Mousse came with us?" Kasumi spoke cheerfully to the old Amazon lady.
"Mousse no can go." Shampoo interrupted into the conversation as she came back out to the front room. "He busy help serve customers."
"Mind your manners, Shampoo!" Cologne sharply warned her great-granddaughter and then turned to the Tendo matriarch. Well, technically Akane, being the warrior of the family, would be the matriarch but she was still too young to be named so, which made Kasumi, by default, the head of the family until then. Besides, Akane was still considered an obstacle between Shampoo and Son-in-Law, though if she ever trained to her full potential the Japanese girl would far surpass her granddaughter and easily keep up with Ranma. "Hello, Kasumi. I'll send your order with Shampoo later and you can take Mousse with you once he gets up."
"Thank you very much, Colongne." Kasumi spoke politely, just as the Chinese boy was picking himself up from off the ground. "Are you all right, Mousse?"
"Uggh." Mousse could only groan in answer as he sat up rubbing his forehead where there was sure to be a red mark. He swore one day that he'd get even with the mummied monkey remains that called itself an Amazon Elder.
"You better be back in time to close up the shop." The old Amazon woman warned the young martial artist.
"Yes, Honored Elder." Mousse said hoping that he didn't sound as insolent as he felt toward her right at the moment.
"Now get going then." Cologne barked at him. "See you later, Kasumi and Akane."
"Bye, Cologne." Both the Tendo girls said as they walked out with the Chinese boy following them.
"Let's stop by Dr. Tofu's to make sure that Mousse's head won't hurt him too much." Akane said as she began to happily lead the small group to the good doctor's office.
"Maybe I'll meet you two at the ice cream parlor." Kasumi shyly began to demure.
"Oh, no, Onee-chan." Akane began to insist as she pleaded with her eyes. "It's been so long since we've done something together, and we just got Mousse to join us. You don't want to separate from us, do you, Kasumi?"
"No, I suppose not." Kasumi agreed as she silently cursed her sister's eyes.
She knew exactly where her sister had gotten those eyes too. They were eyes that could melt the hardest of hearts. They were the eyes that had caught Tendo Soun's heart and still held onto them. It was no wonder why Akane never had a shortage of friends and why Ranma was always willing to jump into danger for her sister. After all these years, her own sister couldn't say no to them half the time. Akane didn't even know she was doing it most times either. Perhaps she ought to get Akane to use those eyes on Nabiki to melt the Ice Queen's heart and bring back the sister they had once known. Kasumi was brought out of her musings though as Akane and Mousse pulled the older sister into the conversation.
The three chatted cheerfully as Kasumi got to know her little sister's newest friend and she could understand why the two martial artists got along so well. They were so different and had so much to share about their experiences that they never ran out of new conversations but they had enough common interests and shared points of views that they didn't stray too far away from being able to understand each other. Kasumi was glad that Akane had found such a good friend. It was also a relief that this new friend wasn't in love with her sister or trying to kill her on a constant basis, nor was he was trying to take her fiancé away from Akane, at least not anymore than anyone else wanted to. Mousse, in turn, was happy to find that her older sister was just as friendly and personable as the youngest sister was. He was very happy at finding a few friend to chat with. It was good company for the both of them and it wasn't long before the trio stood in front of Dr. Tofu's clinic.
"Kasumi, you wait out here and I'll take Mousse inside." Akane said to her sister. "It won't be long at all and we'll be back out in no time."
"It's probably for the best." Kasumi said and she waited by the wall as the other two went into the building.
The two quickly hurried inside and stepped into the waiting room. As it was almost closing time there was no else in the room and the good chiropractor, who was just about to clean up the place, came out and greeted one of his favorite patients.
"Hello, Akane. Hello, Mousse. Back already? What seems to be the problem?" Dr. Tofu kindly greeted them.
"Mousse here, was hit in the forehead." Akane explained. "There's a bit of a red mark and we wondered if you could do something about it."
"There's really not much there at all but Akane insisted that she bring me here to make sure." The white-robed boy said as the good doctor took a look at his head.
"We're about to go out for ice cream and I just wanted to make sure you didn't have a concussion so that you'd be sure to have a good time." Akane let her friend know.
"Well, no worries there. It's just a bump. Do you have a little bit of that cream left that I gave you the other day?" The good doctor asked and once the young man nodded, continued to speak. "Just use a dab of that and any mark will be gone by the next morning."
Mousse deftly reached into his right sleeve and pulled out a small jar. Opening it, he dipped in his finger for a small bit of the cream inside and put a little bit of it right where the puck had hit him and before the jar was even put back to its place in his jacket, any lingering sensitivity was gone.
"Thank you very much, Dr. Tofu." The male Amazon said politely.
"Yes, thank you very much, Dr. Tofu." Akane spoke. "You're always so helpful to our family and friends. I wish there was something we could do for you. It isn't much but would you like to join us for some ice cream? I'll even treat you."
"That's all right, Akane." The doctor kindly declined. "You don't have to treat me to ice cream. I'm always happy to have you and everyone else come into my clinic."
"I insist that you come with us, Dr. Tofu." Akane refusing to let the man say no.
Mousse was onto his friend's plan and decided to back her up. "You know she will not take no as answer, Dr. Tofu. It's better that you just accept and come with us."
"All right then, Mousse." The chiropractor gave in. "Just this once, Akane. Just let me lock up and we'll head out in another minute."
"We'll wait outside for you. Kasumi is waiting for us." Akane let the man know and she and Mousse went out the door to stand beside her sister.
"That was quick." Kasumi commented. "Shall we go then?"
"Not yet, Onee-chan." Akane halted her. "Dr. Tofu is coming with us."
"Oh, how did you convince him to come?" The eldest sister curiously asked.
"I didn't tell him you were with us until he already agreed." Akane said smiling.
"I hope he can take it." Mousse said out loud and his blue-haired friend nearly snorted as she tried to keep from laughing.
"I hope so too." Kasumi replied solemnly but the other two could see the amusement in her eyes.
Before another word could be said, the good doctor came strolling out the door with his skeleton Betty as they tangoed out of the building. Akane was determined to make this work for her sister though and she walked right over and grabbed the skeleton out of the chiropractor's hands.
"Dr. Tofu, focus!" She nearly hissed at him. "Mousse, help me out!"
Mousse kindly put his hand on the man's shoulder and began to lead him toward the ice cream shop, making sure that he didn't get too far away and begin to dance wildy or something. Meanwhile, the long haired boy and the short-haired girl kept a running dialogue going. Akane was hoping that by getting Dr. Tofu to spend some time being near Kasumi, he might get used to her company and after a while calm down so that they could actually form a decent relationship. She really wanted her sister and the good doctor to be happy and together, so to help Dr. Tofu from losing his cool, the younger ones kept him talking about the work he's done around the neighborhood. Kasumi would occasionally throw a word into the conversation but whenever she did, Dr. Tofu would nearly become unhinged. Mousse would then have to grab him before he went skipping through the tulips and Akane would block his view of her sister and bring him back to earth by asking him something else about his job. It worked to a surprising degree. Kasumi and Akane did indeed share their large bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream with hot fudge, whipped topping and 2 cherries on top. All and all, even when the good chiropractor nearly did a swan dive out of the ice cream parlor window when Kasumi snuck a smile past Mousse right to the man, the four of them had a very good time, and it just as they stepped out of the ice cream shop that they ran into the middle Tendo sister.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Nabiki asked slyly. "Akane with Mousse and Dr. Tofu with Kasumi?"
And hearing the words 'Dr. Tofu with Kasumi' set the neighborhood doctor man off once again and just as his glasses lit up and he began a merry Irish jig, he saw Kasumi give him another smile and he was river dancing down the street.
"Dr. Tofu! Dr. Tofu!" Akane called after him sounding more than a bit exasperated at his antics but with no less than a smile on her face.
"Bye-bye, Dr. Tofu!" Kasumi tittered as she waved at her hopeful beau.
At those words, the eldest and the youngest of the sisters burst out laughing as the friendly doctor doubled his dancing pace. Mousse couldn't help but chuckle along with them. Nabiki, feeling a bit surprised at her sisters' merriment, wasn't able to resist and began a slight snicker along with them too. Kasumi was extremely happy to see Nabiki actually laugh just a little bit. It had been a long time since anyone had seen the heart of Nerima's Ice Queen melt for just a few seconds, even her own sisters.
It was Kasumi, of course, who gained her semblance of poise and spoke calmly. "How was your prep course, Nabiki?"
"It was tough but nothing I couldn't handle." The girl with the page haircut let her know. "I'll ace the entrance exams into Tokyo University when it's over."
"That's great, Nabiki!" Akane beamed at her sister and gave her a happy hug.
Surprised at the unexpected display of affection, the middle sister was caught off guard but was glad to be caught up in the good mood of the group and so she hugged her younger sister back. As she pulled back to take a look at her family, she noticed how they seemed very comfortable in Mousse's company and it really did them all good for Akane to have found this new friendship with him. It was nice to see Akane not scowling or in a bad mood because of something Ranma had said to her. It was nice that Kasumi let her serene mask slip away for a while. It was all a bit strange that it was happening around the male Amazon but it wasn't unwelcome. Maybe she ought to give him a break in her scheme of things. It would be nice to let her own guard down for a while, so she began to talk. Nabiki began telling them about her plans for uni and business. The long-haired sister could only keep smiling as the now 4 person group began making their way to the Tendo house, chatting, joking and very much getting along.
Unbeknownst to the small gathering of friends, a different member of the house of the Tendo household had been watching them. Unlike the last time, he'd had no intention of following them but the local chiropractor doing a clog dance down the street tended to catch attention and lead to only one conclusion. Ranma had started to run along the fence to catch up to Kasumi to ask when would be the perfect time to head home for dinner. He'd been a few feet back when he saw his inazuke give the betting queen a hug and had been very shocked that it had been reciprocated. Seeing all three sisters all so joyful together was also something that he wasn't sure he'd ever seen. It was the kind of scene that Ranma always imagined happening whenever he'd be forcefully married to Akane, though not even to himself did the boy in Chinese clothes admit to himself that it wouldn't really be forcefully for him to marry Akane. At thise time though, Nabiki only used him like a betting horse but at least she couldn't have a better bet, Kasumi was usually always so proper and calm and Akane was just usually angry at him.
HOW THE BLOODY HELL DID MOUSSE KEEP DOING THIS WHILE HE KEPT BEING PUSHED TO THE SIDE LATELY?!?! Ranma quite had enough of this. It was time to put all he knew into action. When you can't think it through, fight it through. With that thought firmly in mind and no plan made ahead, Ranma began roof-hopping to make sure he made it home before they did.
The 3 sisters entered into the doorway of their home with the youngest's friend right behind them. Kasumi immediately headed into her room so that she could drop off her packages from their earlier shopping, put on her apron and start cooking right away. Nabiki went upstairs so that she could finish a few business calls before dinner. Akane asked Mousse to meet her in the dojo because she needed to hurry up and change so they could spar for a while. Mousse, already getting accustomed to the customs of the Tendo home, did as he was suggested and headed into the dojo to find the other martial artist was already there in the middle of a very advanced kata. Mousse, being absolutely aware of the fact that it would be rude to interrupt in the middle of training like that due to the fact that every Amazon female would chuck something at the offending male who would dare come in the middle of a training session, decided it was best to simply stand in the corner and allow him to finish. Besides, maybe he could catch him really unaware at the end and be able to say that Mousse finally beat Ranma.
It was a nice thought but the moment the white-robed Chinese boy had entered the dojo, Ranma had been aware of his presence. The pig-tailed martial artist had some serious aggression to take out and since Ryouga had disappeared one of his super long walks for the week until his orbit back to Nerima, so who better to pound on than the problem maker himself?
"Here to train with Akane again, Mousse?" Ranma casually asked as he finished up his kata and turned to look at his opposition.
"Yes, she's getting ready and will be down in just a few minutes." Mousse said civilly, though in his mind the white-robed boy was contemplating how rude it would be to the Tendos if he sent a bowling ball right at Saotome's head.
"Well, you're gonna need the trainin,' if you ever wanna beat me." Ranma taunted. "Don't know why you're training with Akane though. You'll never get anywhere in your training with her around."
"You shouldn't put her down so much, Saotome." Mousse simply responded. "She's more capable than you're aware of. She just needs a chance to prove herself."
"Shut up! It ain't none of your business what me and Akane say to each other!" Ranma snapped at him. "It ain't like you'll ever prove to Shampoo that you're strong enough for her!"
The pig-tailed boy knew that it had been a bit harsh of him to say that last part but he couldn't help it. He was irritated and Mousse telling him about how to treat Akane just pushed his buttons so Ranma had to push things back at Duck Boy. Of course, his comment set Mousse's temper off then.
"That's it, Saotome! We fight!" Mouse yelled out in anger and sent a cannon ball out of his sleeve and right to Ranma's head. Luckily, it was one of his trick cannon balls that was meant to go off as a distraction to his opponent and it exploded with a snap of confetti and streamers.
Ranma, of course, ducked at the last minute and was already ready lunging forward with a kick to the stomach and a followup left hook to the face ready. Mousse just barely moved back from the kick but wasn't far away enough to dodge the punch. If the male Amazon knew anything, it was how to take a punch though and he sent a strong jab toward the chest of the pig-tailed martial artist. They stepped back after the exchange of blows and measured each other up. Both young men were angry and wanting to fight and both wanted to beat the tar out of each other.
Ranma was the first to make a move and he shot out a straight kick toward Mousse's gut once again. Mousse, using his hands, pushed down Ranma's kick, and using the leverage, jumped up with his own sweeping kick sent at the Japanese boy's head. Ranma followed the inertia of Mousse's block down and was just able to dodge the kick. Mousse, finishing the maneuver, tucked into a forward flip and landed right behind the pig-tailed boy. He was already sending another kick out at Ranma. The Japanese boy in Chinese clothing wasn't able to get out of the way of that kick and was sent staggering forward.
The two opponents stopped to measure each other up once more. They'd both gotten a blow to each other, making it a stalemate so far. Both martial artist were holding back though. As much as they wanted to go after each other, it would be extremely bad if the dojo got damaged. Ranma had just finished paying Nabiki back for the large hole in the room from a few weeks ago during an encounter with Ryouga. Mousse was aware of the fact that if Cologne decided that it'd be too much trouble, she could say he wasn't allowed to go on the trip with Akane and as an Amazon Elder, Mousse would be forced to listen to her. Damaging the Tendo dojo would be a nice excuse for her to say that he couldn't go.
Mousse decided to make the first move this time and started a series punches at the other boy. Ranma dodged each one and at the last punch, spun around and sent a round kick into Mousse's back. Mousse fell forward to the ground, quickly picked himself up and was ready to face the pig-tailed martial artist again but they were suddenly interrupted.
"Ranma! Mousse! What are you guys doing?!" Akane called out in surprise as she stepped into the dojo.
"We were just sparring, Akane." Mousse replied tranquilly.
"Yeah." Ranma calmly agreed with him.
Akane thought they looked far from the peace their tones conveyed. Both Mousse and Ranma were tense and their muscles looked ready to attack anything that came near them or, more than likely, each other. They looked ready to kill each other and just make sure things were okay, the blue-haired girl looked over her father's dojo to make sure there was no major damage. Seeing that there was none and glad that she didn't have to explain anything to her sister, she saw that the two young men were both boring holes into each other as she looked over everything. She decided to let things slide since there was no appearance of anything else.
"OK, then." The Japanese girl replied, not sure what to say next. "Are you finished then?"
"Yes, we were just about to declare things as a tie." Mousse said with only a slight smirk toward the other male.
Ranma, not liking that idea but couldn't disagree with it since it might tip off Akane, was forced to nod in accord. He finally glanced at his fiancee and was very surprised at what he saw. She was wearing that outfit she'd bought the day just a few days ago. The yellow t-shirt and blue yoga pants fit Akane perfectly. They were at a very comfortable fitting so that it showed off her petite body without it being skin tight and looking indecent. Ranma just knew that if his inazuke turned around he'd have a great view of her perfect bum. Suddenly realizing that he was having slightly perverted thoughts about his tomboy fiancee, Ranma snapped his attention to the other boy in the dojo.
Mousse quickly looked over at his friend and admitted that she looked quite attractive. He was once again reminded why men were always trying to date and/or straight out wed her. He could only wonder why Ranma was so against it. Mousse himself was firmly in love with the lovely, amazing, warrior Amazon princess Shampoo and speaking of her, she'd just come barreling past Akane and into the dojo.
"Shampoo here to see her Airen!" She declared as she flounced her hair in Akane's general direction, strutted right up to the pig-tailed martial artist and tried to wrap herself around his body.
Ranma wasn't having any of it though and showed that he held no reaction to her. Mousse shot several evil glares toward the pig-tailed boy. Akane shot several dirty looks to the purple-haired girl. All 4 teenagers stood there glowering at each other for several minutes before one of them finally realized how stupid they were all being.
"Honestly!" Akane declared exasperated. "I'd really like to get some sparring in tonight, so if Ranma and Shampoo will move from the center of the dojo so that there's room to do so, it would be greatly appreciated."
"I think I'd like to stay." Ranma said loudly.
"Why would you do that, Ranma?" Akane asked as she narrowed her eyes, wondering what his motives were.
"I just wanna watch." He shrugged hoping to sound nonchalant.
"I guess I can't stop you." Akane muttered to him as she began to stretch.
As she bent down to touch her toes and stretch her legs out, Ranma couldn't help but admire the view. Shampoo thought she'd finally gotten a reaction of Ranma and began to rub her body on him even more. The pig-tailed boy was less than appreciative of the Chinese girl's efforts though and shook her off of him. Mousse couldn't help but amusingly watch their antics while Akane was clueless and continued her stretching. He decided to see if he could make Shampoo react and began to button off his white robe. Shampoo had taken a seat right next to Ranma and couldn't help but let her eyes stray to Mousse's topless form. Even she had to admit that Duck Boy looked good without a shirt on.
"It's a little warm tonight." The usually blind boy commented.
"Yeah, it was pretty hot earlier." Akane agreed absentmindedly, though she was actually forced to hide a small smirk when she saw Shampoo's face as she watched Mousse. Of course, she had to agree with Shampoo but there was no need to be so obvious about it. She put those sort of thoughts out of her mind though and got ready to fight. "Ready, Mousse?"
"Ready." Mousse acknowledged as he went to face her in a ready stance.
They watched each other to see who would make the first move. Of course, it was the blue-haired girl who lost her patience first and stepped forward with 3 quick punches in succession at the long-haired boy's head. Mousse dodged from left to right and all the punches missed. He sent his own set of punches toward the girl but she ducked them all. She stood back up as soon as his arms were pulled back and As she came back up, Akane brought her leg up in a kick. Mousse, had thought that she was going for a leg sweep and jumped up to get out of its way but instead Akane's leg was high enough to catch him right in his side and he was sent flying to the left.
Ranma wanted to cheer for his inazuke as he'd never seen her do that before but thought it was wise to keep his mouth shut. Shampoo was surprised that she was able to pull off the fait and nail Mousse so solidly.
"That was very well done, Akane." Mousse let her know as he picked himself up.
"Really?" Akane wanted to know. "You told me about that move a couple of days ago and I just wanted to see if I could really pull it off."
"You mean you never practiced that before?" Ranma blurted out in amazement. He was extremely astonished that Akane had been able to pull it off without any practice before.
"No." The blue-haired girl replied simply.
"Again?" Mousse asked.
"Again." Akane affirmed for him and took a ready pose.
This time Mousse took the offense first and sent out a high kick. He tried to bring it back down but Akane had grabbed his foot and held it above her head. She pushed it away and tried to send her own kick toward his other legs in hopes of knocking him off his feet but Mousse, once again going with the momentum, tucked into a backwards flip and landed just a few feet in front of her. Akane was already following up with a punch which Mousse took into his shoulder as he twirled into her space and elbowed the petite girl in her side. Having not expected the small blow, Akane staggered just a few steps to the side but was already getting ready for the next exchange of hits.
"You're doing very well tonight, Akane." Mousse complimented her as he stood ready to face her again.
"Thanks, Mousse." The blue-haired girl said cheerfully. "Those clearing your mind techniques that you had also told me about really help. Daddy has only mentioned them to me before, and since being trained by Happosai, he just wasn't able to explain them well enough to me. They really help keep me stay focused and I haven't lost my temper yet."
"I am very glad that they are working so well for you." Mousse said happy for his friend.
Before they could start the next round of sparring, Kasumi stepped into the dojo. "Dinner is almost ready, Akane, in case you wanted to take a dip in the furo and get cleaned up before we eat. Do you know where Ran . . .Oh! He's in here too."
"Arigato, Onee-chan." Akane said. "I guess that's it for tonight, Mousse."
"Yes, I should get back to the restaurant." The long-haired boy replied as he grabbed his robe and put it back on.
"Oh! You're not wearing your glasses!" Akane suddenly exclaimed. "I didn't notice til now, Mousse. I'm sorry."
"That is fine." Mousse assured his friend. "The doctor that Dr. Tofu had recommended to me had given me some contacts to try out. I can see a bit better through them than my own glasses."
"You look good without your glasses." Akane let him know.
"Thank you, Akane." He told her gratefully. "Are you coming with me, Shampoo my darling?"
"Shampoo better get back to restaurant too." She replied and got up and walked out of the dojo without looking to see if Mousse was behind her or not.
"Tomorrow?" Akane asked him as they began to walk out together.
"Yes, I will see you tomorrow." Mousse let her know, nodded a goodbye, and jumped up to the rooftop to go after Shampoo back to the Nekohaten.
Ranma was right behind Akane as they crossed the yard to go back into the house. "Um, you were better than I expected ya to be, Akane."
Akane stopped in mid-stride in astonishment at Ranma's comment. There was a small slight to it that Ranma had meant that he'd expected Akane to be really bad but it was better than some of his other comments. She decided to take it as the best she could get out of him. "Thanks, Ranma." She said with a small smile on her face and continued to walk into the house.