Hey guys! Hope you like where things are going ;v;/ kind of a dramatic chapter haha, and I ended up with just a little bit more to rewrite, a small plot point was changed, but not enough to affect the story to a large degree. I really hope it doesn't seem too over the place ;A;, also again, let me know if formatting is off;;

I don't own Ranma 1/2. Enjoy!

After dragging himself out of the water, he dragged his clothes out of the open and to a more secluded location, while he bought a hot coffee.

Buying a coffee with his little duck wings was difficult and coffee was one of the things at the bottom of his list that he wanted to use, but he also didn't want to stay in his duck form till he got back to the Cat Café.

Now back in his human form, he took a chance to take a breather. He had tried going to the public bathroom and cleaning up the residue of coffee and wondered why he hadn't just gone to the bathroom first...

He figured he would've probably had as much trouble trying to turn on the faucet, let alone get to the sink in duck form...but...

What's done was done either way...

Now a little less sticky but smelling strongly of coffee, the events of the day weighed down on him.

He had no idea how he was going to go about apologizing to Akane, and he definitely didn't know where he stood with Shampoo.

His plan had failed big time and was currently out of other bright ideas. He should've probably started the trek back to the Café, but the thought of the lecture the old woman was going to give him when he got back... he grimaced, if he was going to be in trouble, he might as well go out with a boom.

As he began wandering around town, he couldn't help think , 'Well, at least he didn't kill me. Bruised half my face and my body but at least I'm not dead. And I'm sure I got at least a hit or two back on him.'

He was still incredibly down overall, he had been thinking over ideas to shake things up with Shampoo for weeks.

Most of the ideas were grand displays of love through material and goods, which he almost immediately scrapped as soon as he thought of them. He considered briefly of attempts of proving without a doubt that Ranma wasn't interested, and had never been interested, but it would be hell trying to get her to see what she didn't want to see, let alone get Ranma to admit aloud how he felt about Akane.

'...Akane...'

Mousse wasn't sure where he stood with Akane, or at least where he had stood before he got himself into this mess. They weren't on awful terms, Mousse usually kept his sight on Shampoo, and when he wasn't focusing on Shampoo, he was either busy trying to foil Ranma Saotome, or busy making noodles and rice in the kitchen.

Generally, he didn't take much notice of other things, and maybe that was his problem? Maybe he needed to stop being so Shampoo focused?

While his thoughts confused him, he meandered to a nearby park, taking no notice of who was included in the local surroundings.

So he was more than a little surprised when he heard a faint and familiar, "...Hey Mousse..."

Startled so badly, he jumped up at the voice, heart pounding, he thought he was going to have a heart attack at the sight of Akane Tendo sitting on the bench where he was just perched on.

He, really, really, needed to take more care of his surroundings ...

~/~

Akane not knowing what Ranma and Mousse were up to, had spent most of her afternoon sitting in the park.

She watched as children played in the sandbox, she watched elders doing exercise, and a couple walking hand in hand.

She used her time to calm her anger and think about things rationally. She knew Mousse held no ill will, it didn't stop the anger but it was something to factor in.

She definitely wanted to talk to him, about what world he lived in where he thought it was okay to just kiss somebody. She did take a moment to take in the fact that he technically wasn't from Japan...

That the village he was from ran on rules about fighting to the death and a kiss equals marriage, so...

Either way, the laws of their land wouldn't work in Japan, at least not with any legal system she knew of. She briefly wondered if it would be an international issue, despite China being so close to Japan, they were two different continents...

While stuck on the thoughts of the legality of marriage laws from another country and how it would hold up in courts, she saw Mousse wonder into the same park she resided in.

Seeing him banged up and looking much worse for wear, a lot of her leftover anger seemed to leave her.

As Akane said hello, she took a mild pleasure in the general shock she seemed to in spur in him.

She gave a calm crooked smile and gestured to the spot beside her.

He took it, rather reluctantly. He sat as far as he could away from her. Body rigid and sitting up straight as if waiting for her fury.

She took pity on him and said, "..I'm not mad,... well I am, or was, but I'm not currently mad...You don't have to worry about me pounding you.. unless you get any more bright ideas.."

He seemed to give a sharp bark of a laugh, his voice raspy, "...Trust me... I've learned my lesson.."

His body relaxed some, yet he still didn't dare look her direction, and she thought it may be easier that way to keep her temper.

Mousse seemed to struggle with what to say, she took the initiative instead and said, "I do know it was accident Mousse... or at least kissing me was..."

He gave a sigh, leaning back against the bench, melting into it. "..I...I am so sorry I don't even know what to say."

He rubbed at his eyes, relieved to know he wasn't in immediate danger as long as he didn't stick his foot in his mouth.

She paused, letting him take a breather before asking her big question, "Mousse...can I ask why you thought springing a kiss on Shampoo would be a good idea? I've been wracking my brain all day, and can't make sense of your plan..."

Mousse paused as well, unsure partially because he truly didn't know himself, and partially because he had an idea of why but wasn't sure if he wanted to share with Akane.

Trusting his instinct, he dropped his defenses and turned to face Akane for the first time since sitting back down.

"Akane, I'm losing her..."

She nodded, waiting for him to form the words he wanted to say.

"I-I just, I can feel the gap between us growing... we've been here for almost a year now, and none of us have made any progress.

We will need to leave sooner or later and I don't know what place I'll have when I return to the village.

I gave up everything to follow Shampoo here, I didn't have much, but it never mattered because I loved her..."

He stared at the ground, not sure if he should say more, feeling more vulnerable than ever.

Akane was quiet for a moment before speaking. Her own voice low, she didn't look at him while she talked and he wondered if he had made things worse for a second.

"Mousse...I understand you, I do..." she started, capturing his attention.

"I mean, I don't agree with your methods, but I understand where you're at right now."

She gave a shrug of her shoulders and a smile, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I've been worried about the almost stilted progress myself... I thought after things that happened with Saffron, things might have changed between us.."

Her voice sounded so sad, he wondered how she had hidden so easily how she felt.

She bit her lip, trying to keep the emotions from bubbling up, her voice softer than before. "Ya know,...he said he loved me, but then took it back..." she tried smiling, tears lightly forming in her eyes as she looked towards Mousse.

Without thinking, he scooted closer and brought her into a hug. Much taller than her, her head hit right at his shoulder blade.

"I am so, so sorry.." he whispered fiercely, "So, so sorry" he whispered again.

She gave a watery laugh, "I thought you weren't going to do anything stupid?" despite her words, she gave him a brief hug back, comforted by their small comradery.

He didn't hold her long, merely long enough to get across his sincerity, he let her go, and she seemed to smile for real at him, wiping her eyes.

"Two peas in a pod of love huh?" he muttered,

she laughed again, "Of love?"

Flustered, he waved his hands around, "You know what I meant! Not us-but!"

She interrupted him, letting one more laugh out, "No, it's okay, haha, I got what you meant."

He seemed to pout at her teasing, before giving a smile as well, glad to have lightened the mood.

He sighed, "So now what?"

She considered his words, "...I don't know..." she stared off into the distance, placing her hands under her legs as she wondered what changes life would have on them, born from one simple mistake...

Mousse thinking as well, came up with an idea, a plan formulating in his head.

"..Okay so I have a crazy idea..."

Akane turned to look at him, dubious, "I'm not sure I trust any crazy ideas...haven't you learned your lesson already?"

Thinking on the idea more he said, "No, I mean yes, but, okay, listen! We've tried to be indirect, and we've tried direct hints if not outright expression..."

Akane's eyes still narrowed, wondered where he was going with all of this.

"Essentially we've pursued them! So what if, we made them pursue us instead!"

If it were possible, she looked even more unimpressed with the idea but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Crossing her arms she said, "Okay, so let's say everything you've said is true, which is debatable...How would we even go about doing that?"

He paused for a second, clearly not having thought about that, she rolled her eyes and huffed. It looked like she would have to be the voice of reason, "If anything, the two would just get mad, their egos hurt and then 'ignore' us for a few weeks until we caved... that or incite violence..."

Well, she had him there.

But the idea could work, couldn't it?

"But to show how determined we are, we shouldn't give in this time! Send a message to them that we won't stick around until they make up their mind!"

At that, he did have a slight point. Akane overall couldn't believe she was listening to the crazy plan, let alone thinking it could work even just a bit.

Then another thought occurred to her, "This might work all well and good for you, but this is Ranma we're talking about. incarnate, he won't take any plans of jealousy well, and if knew you were the mastermind behind it, he'd beat you to kingdom come."

Mousse gulped at the reminder, facing the wrath of his hands earlier that evening. But he wouldn't be cowed, Shampoo and Ranma needed to learn that they could move on if they wanted to!

"Listen, I know it's crazy, but this entire situation has been crazy, don't you want to at least give it a shot? A chance at spurring Ranma into action?"

Akane felt torn, "...Sometimes you get tired of crazy..."

Mousse could feel that she was just so close to being swayed to his plan, so close.

"Look, aren't you tired of being the only one jealous? Of feeling left behind as your love goes gallivanting elsewhere?"

Part of her was stuck on the very idea of Ranma 'gallivanting', while the other part of her understood where he was coming from.

Despite her best effort, her temper and jealousy were always strong when it came to Ranma. She was trying to work on it, and maybe if she distanced herself a bit, maybe Mousse's crazy plan could work?

"How would we even go about it?"

Mousse brightened for the fact that maybe she was really considering it, but he immediately became downcast as he realized, he hadn't thought of that either.

Akane began to wonder, forget about questioning Mousse's sanity, how sane was she to even think of going along with his idea?

Huffing, she began, "Okay, let's say I went along with this ridiculous plan, you realize Ranma gets possessive at anyone who even looks at me funny? Right? Like he may act like the events with Saffron didn't affect him, but he gets... kind of...anxious?"

Her voice softened, "I might not know if he feels the same for me, but I know that we're friends...and I'm not sure how I feel abou5 making him feel what I've felt all this time. Like yeah, he might get it through his thick head how his actions have affected me, but would I be any better to make him feel that way?"

Mousse realized how torn she felt, and almost felt kind of bad for egging on the plan, but he couldn't give up after coming so far..

"Akane, why don't you just...think it over? We can meet up sometime and if it still seems like a bad idea, I'll forget it." he moved to hold her hands in his, eyes beseeching, "Please, just think it over...please..."

She sighed, "...Okay Mousse, okay.."

Moving without thinking, something he really needed to learn to stop doing, he grabbed her up in a hug thanking her over and over.

Surprised for the second time that day, she tried not to let it get to her, and awkwardly patted his back.

As he sat her down, she said, "We're really gonna have to work on your boundary thing..."

Mousse still glad at the possibility of a comrade, nodded excitedly. He'd do anything she'd say as long as she agreed to help him.

As they talked over some finer points of possibly meeting up, and general chatter, a person in the background stood watching the events unfold...

~\~

Mousse left Akane feeling much better about how his life may turn out, he arrived back to the Restaurant much too late, he bore his lecture without a word and didn't grumble too much over the pounding he received from her cane, he bore it all. Because he finally had a partner on his side, he finally had a new hope to look forward to and Shampoo may not be so far out of his grasp as he may have thought!

Things could very well look up for him! Or so he thought...not realizing how complicated life was going to become...