I forgot a point in the last chapter about Mousse jumping in Spring of Drowned Cat. The reason I believe it worked came from the episode in Season Two titled "The Abduction of Akane!" Mousse had originally planned to splash Ranma with Spring of Drowned Duck and then later in that ep he tried to splash Akane. So, I reasoned that Mousse could replace his duck curse with the cat one.

Part Two

Mousse licked the envelope flap before sealing it and dropping it in the mailbox. It had been a week since arriving in Japan as Moonbeam. He had just mailed a letter to Shampoo so she wouldn't get suspicious of not hearing from him after his gift.

He reflected on the situation. Two days after taking his pictures, the purple-haired girl selected the best picture of him and printed a whole batch of fliers with that picture. He had glimpsed a look and felt lucky that he turned out to be a white cat. He had chosen his alias beforehand, so it was indeed luck.

Mousse congratulated himself on coming up with the well-trained part. It would cover any odd things he was caught doing (i.e. appearing to read a newspaper). Most of the time, Shampoo caught him and simply said, "Silly Moonbeam."

He was so far happy with being Shampoo's pet and the café's mascot. Hopefully, he would soon be able to change in front of Shampoo without her rejecting him. Speaking of Shampoo, he better change and head back before she noticed him missing. He dashed into an unused shed, discarded his clothes, changed forms, and headed for home.

He strolled through the cat flap that connected to the living quarters in time to hear Shampoo say, "Now where that cat go?" Curious, he looked into the dining area and saw his beloved looking under the table.

"Meow," he called. Shampoo turned around at the sound and smiled.

"Oh! There you is." Shampoo scooped him up and took him to her bike where she placed him in the basket. He spied a metal box sitting on the back of the bike. Shampoo hopped onto the bike and took off.

"Moonbeam come with Shampoo on deliveries," the girl explained as she rode. "This order special, though. I bring lunch to fiancée, Ranma. He no say he love Shampoo yet. I have plan, though. Ranma no like cats. If Shampoo threaten Ranma with Moonbeam, he do what Shampoo ask."

Mousse inwardly frowned. He didn't like the sound of that plan one bit. He didn't want Shampoo to marry Ranma. However, Mousse had vowed before arriving in Japan that he would obey Shampoo's every instruction- even those he didn't like.

Shampoo parked at the Tendo's gate, put down the kickstand, hopped off, and grabbed the box. "Come, Moonbeam. We deliver now."

Mousse leaped out of the basket and followed the girl. It took Shampoo no time at all to find everyone, seeing as it was lunchtime. They were all grouped around the table.

"Ranma!" Shampoo exclaimed, wedging herself between Ranma and Akane. Mousse remained on the porch outside. Shampoo plunked the box on the table in front of Ranma and slid the front panel up. "Shampoo make lunch for you. You will eat, yes?'

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Ranma looked rather uncomfortable to Mousse and a quick glance to Shampoo's right explained why.

Akane was glaring at the Amazon intensely. It was no secret that Akane and Ranma really liked each other despite their verbal fights. It was a perfect match to Mousse. 'Now if only Shampoo loved me and not Ranma.'

At that moment, Akane turned and spotted him. She smiled and held out her hand, waggling her fingers. Mousse walked over and slid his chin into her hand. He felt her fingers stroke his chin before moving up to a cheek, and then his head. He purred contently.

'He's just as handsome as his pictures,' Akane thought. 'And friendly too, considering his owner.'

Out loud, she said, "He's gorgeous."

Shampoo nodded. Like any pet owner, she accepted all compliments, no matter who said it.

Ranma eyed the cat nervously. Cats scared him and, as usual, it was all his dad's fault for not reading the warnings in the Cat Fu manual. Ranma had tried everything he could think of to cure himself of his fear, but to no avail.

The cat looked in his direction and hissed hatefully at him. Ranma shrank back slightly. What was with this cat? Did he like only girls?

Shampoo looked back and forth between Ranma and Moonbeam before hitting a fist into her palm as if remembering something. "Oh, that right. Ranma no like cats. That too bad. Ranma no want Moonbeam too close, yes?" Shampoo held Moonbeam up by the scruff of the neck and almost in Ranma's face.

The raven-haired boy backed up to the far wall of the room. "K-keep it away from me," he practically whimpered.

"Okay," the girl answered in a cool, sly tone. "Shampoo keep Moonbeam away, but Ranma have to marry Shampoo. If you don't…" She held up the cat again.

Akane had watched the entire exchange with silent escalating fury. At last, she could keep silent no longer. "I don't believe you, Shampoo! You would stoop so low as to blackmail Ranma into marrying you!"

"It not blackmail," the Amazon shot back. "It a cunning plan."

"Oh, sure. Cunning. Cunning as a cat. Considering your cursed form, it's actually appropriate." With that pronouncement, Akane pulled out a bucket of water and threw it on Shampoo.

The changed girl shook the water off herself before growling as the smug Akane. "I kill violent girl," she snarled. "I give Kiss of Death again and hunt her down!"

"Don't Shampoo! Please!" cried Mousse's voice from behind her.

"Mousse?" She looked behind her, but only saw Moonbeam. "Mousse? That you?"

The blue-eyed cat dipped his head. "Yeah. It's me."

Akane smirked at the wet cat before her. That girl had it coming to her. It made her furious whenever someone tried to take Ranma away from her, even though she would openly deny it.

As she looked down at the cat, she thought, 'Let's see her try to kiss Ranma now.'

Akane's smirk didn't waver as Shampoo growled and snarled at her. She merely rolled her eyes as she thought, 'Please. As if an angry cat scares me.'

An alarmed meow from Moonbeam drew Shampoo's attention as well as everyone else's.

"Meow, mreow, rwr?" said Shampoo.

Moonbeam looked down. "Rwr," he said.

"I wonder what they're saying," Soun Tendo said.

Shampoo picked up her clothes in her teeth and left the room. She returned several minutes later, human, with a towel and a pail of hot water. She strode over to her "pet", dumped the water on him, and quickly threw the towel over him.

Mousse had barely enough time to tie the towel around his waist before Shampoo towered over him, fury crackling around her body.

"I no believe you, Mousse! You dare trick Shampoo! I no thought you sink so low! Stupid, stupid Mousse!" Shampoo huffed, turned, and walked to the other side of the table.

Mousse sat and stared at Shampoo's back in shock. Though he was practically blind without his glasses, he could still make out her outline and therefore, her position. He hung his head, letting his hair obscure his face.

Ranma had watched the entire incident, confused. Since when did Mousse start changing into a cat? Determined to get some answers, he walked over to Mousse. The boy's head was down and his shoulders were shaking slightly. 'Oh, man,' Ranma thought. 'Is he…crying?'

Ranma crouched down and laid a hand on one trembling shoulder. "Why, man?" he whispered. "Why did you do this?"

Mousse looked up at him, his eyes dry of tears. "I never planned to trick her. I love her and I thought if we shared the same curse, she would finally love me. I did plan to show her eventually. I never thought it would go all wrong like this," he whispered back.

'He did it for love.' Ranma felt touched by Mousse's reasons. 'Shampoo needs to know this.'

Ranma stood up, walked around the table, and stood in front of Shampoo. "Shampoo, you need to talk to Mousse."

"Shampoo no want to talk. Mousse trick Shampoo. Shampoo hate Mousse."

Ranma decided to switch tactics. "Don't you think it's odd that Mousse was a cat?"

"What you talking, Ranma? Oh, wait. Mousse was duck before. Why he switch curses, though?"

"He did it for you. He loves you."

Shampoo looked over at Mousse who was looking down again. He loved her enough to replace one curse with another instead of curing himself? She felt her heart melt at this thought.

Slowly, she approached the dejected boy. She crouched down and cupped Mousse's chin before tilting his head up so he was looking at her.

"Oh, Mousse. You love Shampoo enough to be a cat?"

"Yes," came the soft reply.

"Hmm." Shampoo tapped her chin for a moment. "For that, Mousse deserve Kiss of Marriage."

Mousse's eyes widened as Shampoo brought her lips down on his. If he had been in cat form, he would have purred. At long last, he had won Shampoo's love.

The End