~All Ranma ½ characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Video,
respectively. I don't claim to own any of them. I just enjoy writing
about them! I do, however, belong to myself, so I will claim me...
I'll also assume my cousin, who graciously allowed me to include
her in my story, will claim herself. *smirk* On the other hand, this
story is completely my work, so please ask before you use it in any
way. Now, on to the fanfic!~

Kokoro Kara

(With All my Heart)

A story by: Eri-Chan

(All questions, comments, critiques, and

spelling/grammar corrections would be most appreciated)

Eri_Chan16@hotmail.com

9-02-00 to 3-22-03

Author's Note: This story takes place approximately four months after
the events in the last Ranma ½ episode. And, some things are gonna
change...

(The " " symbols will be used to denote speech in any language
other than Japanese)

~Part One: Someone to Love Me~

Erin and Jesse had just moved into an apartment in Nerima, Japan.
At eighteen and almost eighteen respectively, they had just finished
their last year of high school, and were looking for some adventure
before thinking about college. Having both taken Japanese, and both
being rather fluent, they had decided to join an exchange student
program for a year. Although it didn't start until the schools 
started, they had chosen to go early and spend the summer getting
to know people. This decision had led them, ultimately, to the small
place they were staying in, overlooking a busy street market in 
Nerima. They were planning to stay for no more than a year. 
Sometimes, though, plans change...

~<*>~

Ryoga Hibiki had just recently given up on his infatuation with Ranma
Saotome's tomboyish fiancée, Akane Tendo. In fact, they weren't
even on speaking terms at the moment. About four weeks after Ranma
and Akane's rather abortive wedding, Ranma, Ryoga, and Akane were 
standing outside in front of the Tendo's house when it suddenly
began to rain. Their was no time to go inside, and all three were 
instantly soaked. The cold water activated both boys' curses, 
courtesy of the Cursed Springs at Jusenkyo Training Ground. Ranma
turned into a short, busty redheaded girl, and Ryoga, well, Ryoga
turned into P-Chan, Akane's little, black pet piglet. The same piglet
that she let sleep in her bed with her. Akane's eyes went wide, and
Ryoga didn't even have time to run. Akane picked him up by the 
bandanna around his neck, pulling him out of the pile of clothes
that he had, up until a few moments ago, been wearing, and eyed him
warily. Ranma just stood there, looking sheepish. He had known all 
along about Ryoga/P-Chan, but had sworn on his honor as a martial
artist never to tell Akane. Now it looked as if he wouldn't have to 
worry about it anymore.

Akane picked Ryoga's clothing off the ground and, with the dripping
piggy still in her hand, she walked into the house, up the stairs,
and into the bathroom. She proceeded to fill the bathtub with hot 
water and then unceremoniously toss the pig into the tub. After a few
moments, a very embarrassed Ryoga, his curse "turned off" by the warm
water, popped up. Akane stared at him, realization finally beginning
to dawn in that thick head of hers.

"Now I know why P-Chan always disappears so suddenly all the time,"
Akane murmured, speaking more to herself than to the undressed
boy hiding in the bath.

About this time, girl-type Ranma came slinking into the bathroom.
He looked from Ryoga to Akane. From the look forming on her face,
he figured she finally knew P-Chan's secret.

"Akane," he began carefully, as she could be quite violent when 
peeved. "Akane, I can explain this."

Akane didn't even glance at him; she was too busy staring, in shock,
at Ryoga. "I don't really care what the explanation is, Ranma,"
she said stoically. Then, looking directly at Ryoga's face she said,
"Ryoga, I would like you to get dressed, get your things from 
downstairs, and get out. I don't want to see or hear from you right
now, so," and here, her voice got louder. "So, you can just forget
about your feud with Ranma for a while," she was now openly yelling.
"Because if I see you anywhere near the dojo for at least a year,
I'm gonna KILL YOU!"

She spun on her heel, brushed past Ranma, and left the room, trailing
animosity behind her. They could hear her door slam shut a few 
seconds later. Ranma looked over at Ryoga, who was silently starting
to get dressed.

"Well," Ranma stated with his usual lack of compassion, "that 
could've gone worse...but probably not much."

Ryoga whirled around to face his long time rival, put his hands out
with the palms facing Ranma, and yelled, "Shishi Hôkôdan!" The 
resulting blast of chi energy sent Ranma through the roof, quite 
literally, leaving a gaping hole in the ceiling, and sending the 
guy/girl off into low earth orbit, almost.

Ryoga finished dressing just as the rain stopped. He walked down the
hall, pausing only to whisper a soft, "I'm sorry," to Akane's door,
went downstairs to collect his backpack and shoes, and left. He 
walked out of Nerima and into the surrounding woods, planning to 
never go back. He intended to go on a training trip to the mountains
for a while, and then find a way to head to China to see if he could
undo his curse. Unfortunately, he, as always, wound up completely
lost.

~<*>~

About six cities, four towns, two forests, and three months later,
he found himself right back where he had started, in Nerima. As soon
as he figured out where he was, he commenced beating his head against
the nearest wall. "Why can't I ever get it right!" he yelled in 
frustration. Leaving a now broken wall behind him, he began walking
down the street, figuring that maybe he would wind up back out of 
town.

Around fifteen minutes later, he found himself standing in front of 
the Neko Hanten, the Chinese restaurant run by Cologne and her 
great-granddaughter, Shampoo the purple-haired Chinese Amazon. With
the help, of course, of their near-servant, Mousse. Ryoga walked
in, with the intention of getting something to eat, and narrowly
missed being hit with a frying pan that came flying out of the 
kitchen. Today was just not going to be his day.

He stood by the counter listening to a series of Chinese words and 
quacks that came from the cooking area. As he watched, a small, white
duck ran frantically out of the kitchen, a pair of glasses perched
precariously on its bill.

"Hello, Mousse," Ryoga said to the duck.

It stopped and looked at him.

"Quack. Quack QUACK!" it replied, sounding more than a little 
annoyed. It then proceeded to run up the stairs in search of some hot
water. A few moments later, Shampoo came running out of the kitchen
armed with her bonbori.

"Where stupid, blind duck-boy go now?" she snapped with her usual
poor grammar. "Shampoo want hurt him!"

Ryoga regarded her, wondering yet again why she couldn't learn to 
refer to herself correctly in the first person. "Can I order 
something to eat?" he questioned, tactfully ignoring her inquiry.

"What Ryoga want?"

"I'd like a deluxe ramen, please," he told her politely. Whether
he was stronger than she was or not, it was always wise to be nice
to a ticked-off Amazon warrior.

"Shampoo be back. Ryoga have seat." She turned and went back into the
kitchen, putting her bonbori back into whatever hidden place she 
keeps them.

Ryoga was getting ready to sit down when the door of the restaurant
opened. He watched as two young ladies walked in, completely
immersed in their conversation. He judged them to be about his age,
and really pretty cute. The slightly taller girl turned to the other,
laughing.

"I thought you would've liked okonomi-yaki. I do."

The shorter, more petite girl looked at the first, and wrinkled
her nose.

"So did I, but it tasted like fried rubber!"

"When was the last time you ate fried rubber?" questioned the first
girl with a short giggle.

"About ten minutes ago!"

This sent them both into another fit of laughing.

"Well," the taller girl continued, "that strange girl with the giant
spatula sure looked annoyed when you spit it out."

"I don't care! There was no possible way I was going to swallow
that atrocity."

From what they had been talking about, Ryoga decided that they had 
just been at Ucchan's Okonomiyaki. Now they had come to the Neko 
Hanten after finding Ukyo's "Japanese pizza any-way-you-like-it"
not to their liking. He studied them a bit more closely.

They were both very American-looking, with round eyes and light skin.
They appeared to be in their late teens, and possibly related,
as they superficially resembled each other. The taller girl had 
medium brown hair, with natural reddish highlights, that came past
the bottom of her shoulder blades. A thin braid about three or four
inches longer than the rest of her hair hung down her back. She had
sparkling greenish eyes, pierced ears, and, at the moment, a huge 
grin on her face.

The other girl had dark blond hair with darker roots, bluish-green
eyes, and was, in his opinion, prettier. Her hair went to the middle
of her back, and looked rather windblown. She also had a few freckles
on her nose, and a fairer complexion. The blond girl had a slightly
more petite body build, and looked a little bit younger. Together,
they approached the counter where Ryoga was standing, and looked
up at him through tears of laughter. The brunette spoke first.

"Hello, my name is Erin," she smiled as she said it. The blond just
stared at him and blinked. Erin looked at the other girl and said,
"and this is my cousin, Jesse." She elbowed the other girl, 
"J-Chan..."

"Hi," Jesse said dreamily. Then, to her cousin, she said in English,
"Isn't he absolutely gorgeous?!"

Ryoga didn't really know what she had said, but from the way she had
said it, the look on her face, and the reaction the comment had 
elicited from Erin (a snicker), he had a pretty good idea. He smiled
awkwardly, as he was out of practice.

"My name's Ryoga Hibiki. It's nice to meet you."

Erin grinned at him in a friendly manner, Jesse grinned at him in an
overly friendly manner, and he sweatdropped. All of a sudden, they
both had the same expression on their faces; the look of someone
who has just been hit by Cupid's arrow. And, it seemed like they were
both looking at him!

"Oh, dear!" thought Ryoga. "One of them I can deal with. After all,
I'm actually kinda attracted to the blond girl, but both of them!
What am I gonna do?!"

However, at that moment, he noticed something. Whereas the blond,
Jesse, was clearly staring straight at him, Erin appeared to be 
staring at some point a little ways beyond him. Feeling both relieved
and a bit curious, Ryoga turned to she who exactly she was looking
at.

"If it's Ranma for some strange reason, I think I'm gonna be ill,"
Ryoga thought silently. For some reason that Ryoga couldn't fathom,
Ranma had a way of doing that to girls. What he saw when he turned
around, however, shocked him completely. Mousse was coming down the
stairs.

Mousse was the absolute last person Ryoga would have thought anyone
could be romantically interested in. The slender, tallish Chinese
boy still had damp hair from changing back into a person. He also,
like Ryoga and Ranma, had a Jusenkyo curse; he turned into a white
duck when splashed with cold water. His thick, black hair went a 
little past the small of his back, and his thick, round glasses
were set on the top of his head, right behind his bangs. He was 
wearing his typical outfit: Chinese slippers, long dark blue pants
under an almost floor-length, white Chinese robe with a diamond
design on the chest, and a red tied belt. Ryoga couldn't see anything
about myopic Mousse that a woman might find attractive, with the 
possible exception of his big, turquoise eyes, but Erin was staring
at him as if he were the most wonderful person she had ever seen.
Ryoga turned back to the two girls before him, and watched Erin's
look go from love-struck to determined.

"Excuse me for a minute," she said, and then began walking towards
Mousse, who had come down, and was preparing to go into the kitchen.

As she approached him, he turned his head and saw her coming. His 
eyes got wider and he got a typical 
"Mousse-getting-ready-to-glomp-onto-Shampoo"
look on his face. Ryoga had a feeling he knew what was going to 
happen. He briefly wondered if he should try to stop her, and explain
that Mousse was utterly infatuated with Shampoo. Of course this would
also lead to the point that Shampoo hated Mousse's guts and would
gladly kill him if she had the chance, but that didn't faze Mousse.
Unfortunately, he didn't have his glasses on his face where they 
should've been, and he thought that Erin was Shampoo. Ryoga was just
about to say something, but it was too late.

Mousse had already altered his trajectory and was, at that very 
moment, running towards Erin. Erin's eyes got very large as the 
Chinese boy leaped at her, wrapped his arms around her body, 
effectively pinning her arms to her sides, and put his head on her 
chest. All the while saying something along the lines of, "Shampoo,
I'm sorry for whatever it was I did that made you angry. Will you 
forgive me? Will you marry me?"

Unfortunately, for all involved, Shampoo had just come out of the 
kitchen with Ryoga's ramen. She stopped behind the counter where 
Ryoga and Jesse were standing, doing their best to look innocent
of anything and everything. Shampoo looked ready to hurt something.
Ryoga did the only thing he could think of. He reached out and took
the bowl of ramen from Shampoo, removing the possibility of her 
hurling it at someone. She just stood there with a very angry 
expression, deprived of her prospective weapon.

"Stupid Mousse!" she screamed. "What you think you doing to 
customer?! Stupid blind duck-boy!"

Mousse looked up upon hearing Shampoo's voice coming from someone
other than the lady he was attached to. Something was wrong. This 
person didn't feel quite right. Also, she wasn't embedding blunt 
objects in his head as Shampoo would have undoubtedly been doing had
he treated her in this manner.

"Huh?" He pulled his glasses off his head, put them on, and found
himself staring into a pair of wide, green eyes. Shampoo didn't have
green eyes. Mousse let go of Erin, who was smiling impishly. Jesse
snickered in the background.

"Oh, dear," he murmured, looking from Erin to the raging Shampoo
and back again. He looked down at the floor, and his shoulders
slumped. "I'm sorry, I thought you were somebody else..." he trailed
off in embarrassment.

"That's O.K." Erin told him with a grin. "That was the nicest welcome
I've gotten since moving here." She put her hand out. "My name is 
Erin."

Mousse looked up from the floor with a small smile on his face. "I am
Mousse." He shook her hand.

She looked at him questioningly. "Moose? Like the animal?"

"No," he said rather softly. "Mousse...like the product."

"Oh, O.K., Mousse. That's a cute name."

He stared at her for a second. At first, he thought she was making
fun of him. After all, he was used to Shampoo making fun of him, 
hitting him, teasing him, and just generally making his life 
miserable no matter what he did to try and make her happy. Yet, here
was a girl who was being nice to him for no particular reason. It was
the first time in his life anyone had treated him kindly. She was 
smiling at him again, and he felt his cheeks getting warm.

"I...I need to go back to work," he stuttered. "It was nice to meet
you." He walked around the counter to get to the kitchen. As he 
passed the fuming Shampoo, he heard her hiss, "Stupid!" He slumped
again. When he got to the kitchen door, he turned and looked back at
the new girl. She was still smiling at him. He managed a weak smile,
and then disappeared into the kitchen. Once Mousse had made his exit,
a still very annoyed Shampoo walked up to Erin. 

"Shampoo very sorry. Mousse have bad eyesight. He stupid sometimes.
Erin-San stay and eat?"

Erin was beginning to get the picture. Shampoo wasn't angry because
she saw Mousse hug another woman, she was angry because she thought
that Mousse's mistake would make a prospective customer leave without
buying anything. They would have lost potential profit, and Shampoo
was afraid that Erin might spread discontent among other patrons.
Erin did her best to look reassuring.

"Of course we're staying. There is no way my cousin's going back to 
the burnt rubber pancake restaurant, so..."

Erin smiled at Shampoo, who didn't look completely convinced.

"You mean say Mousse no make you angry?"

"Of course not! I thought it was actually kinda sweet..."

Shampoo privately wondered how this lady could even stand Mousse's
presence let alone think he was "sweet." Erin decided to change the
subject.

Gesturing towards Ryoga's bowl, she said, "Um, we'd like two of 
whatever it is that he's having. It smells good."

Shampoo was finally convinced that they weren't leaving. She took 
drink orders, then turned to go back into the kitchen, calling,
"Two deluxe ramen!"

Erin walked over to Ryoga and Jesse, who had selected a table and sat
down next to each other. Jesse looked up at her cousin and, with a 
grin, said in English,  "Ryoga's gonna sit with us, O.K.?"

Erin smiled at Ryoga and responded, "Like I'm really gonna make him
go away."

As she sat down across the table from Jesse, Ryoga thought to 
himself, "She sure smiles a lot. Even Kasumi doesn't smile that much.
Of course, this girl's probably five or six times as smart as Miss
'Oh, my!'"

The three of them made small talk for about fifteen minutes. They had
reached a lull in the conversation when Mousse came out of the 
kitchen carrying their ramen, and their drinks. With a bowl in each
hand, and a tray with the drinks on it balanced on his head, he 
looked like he was about to drop something. Three pairs of eyes 
watched his movements. One looked slightly more concerned than the 
other two.

Mousse got about six feet when two of the glasses began wobbling.
He tried to shift some of the weight, but it wasn't working. One of 
the glasses started tipping. He closed his eyes in resignation.
He could practically feel Shampoo's bonbori on his head, as she would
undoubtedly belt him for dropping anything. He steeled himself for 
the very large noise this was going to make. The tray slid sideways,
and his entire body tensed. After a few seconds of no terrible
noises, Mousse opened one eye. To his shock, Erin was standing
in front of him, holding the tray. All the glasses were still on it,
and nothing had spilled. He was amazed that she had been able to 
catch it before it hit the floor.

"Th-thank you..." he began.

"No problem," she interjected. "You looked as though you could use a 
little help."

Mousse nodded; she was smiling at him again, and it made him feel 
funny. He wasn't yet sure why. He followed her back over to the table
where she had put the drinks down and taken her seat again.

"Nice catch," Ryoga commented. Then, to Mousse he said in a 
conspiratorial whisper, "Looks like you've got someone looking out 
for you."

Mousse thought about it as he put the bowls on the table. Ryoga was
right; that was the second time that she had saved him from Shampoo's
wrath. After setting the food down, he went back into the kitchen,
deep in thought. Shampoo handed him a cloth and a bucket, and told
him to go finish cleaning the tables. He went out into the dining
area and got back to work. After a few moments, he felt like someone
was staring a hole through his back. He glanced behind him and saw 
the same young lady watching him. She saw him looking at her, and 
winked, then resumed her eating and talking. Mousse turned back to 
the table he was cleaning with a look of confusion on his face. "Why
is she paying so much attention to me?" he wondered. No one had ever
helped him before, at least, not without their own underlying
reasons. Having someone take any kind of effort to make his life 
better was a completely new experience for him. He liked it.

~<*>~

After clearing away the empty dishes and cups, Mousse walked over to
Ryoga and his new friends, and handed them their separate checks.
Ryoga, being the gentleman that he can be, told them that he would
pay for their food. Jesse smiled at him approvingly; he blushed.

"I'll get the tip," Erin told him as they got up to leave. She walked
up to Mousse, who was getting ready to go back into the kitchen.
She tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. He turned 
around, not quite knowing what to expect. She held out a bill towards
him. "Your tip," she said simply. "And tell Shampoo that the food was
great, and we'll be back."

Mousse nodded. Then, he looked at the money she had given him. His 
eyes got bigger. She had handed him a very large tip. He stared,
disbelieving, at the bill in his hand. Erin watched his face for a 
second. "I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to offend you. I'm not
very good at dollar/yen conversion yet." She proceeded to take his 
hand and put another bill in it. Then, she grinned. "Thanks, Mousse.
I'll see you around." She ran to the door where Jesse and Ryoga were
waiting for her. Mousse watched the door close after them. He just
stood there for a minute, looking at the money she had given him, 
before going back to the kitchen to wash the dishes. He wondered
privately just how good her money converting skills really were.

After they were outside, Jesse turned to Erin. Giggling, she asked
in English, "Eri-Chan, do you know that you gave him over twenty
dollars?"

Erin twirled her braid around her fingers and tried to look perfectly
angelic. She was failing. She turned to her cousin with a sly grin.

"I know that."

Jesse just rolled her eyes. Ryoga stood there looking confused.

"So," Jesse began, "what do we want to do now?"

Erin looked at Ryoga and then at Jesse. "Well, I don't know about
you two, but I need to go back to our apartment. We're expecting
our parents to call sometime soon to see how were getting settled
in, and somebody needs to be there to take the call." She glanced
at Ryoga then back at her cousin. "I think I'll tell them we're 
settling nicely..."

Erin turned to Ryoga and grinned. "It was really nice to meet you.
I hope I'll get to see you around a lot." She changed directions
and began to head towards their new home. She called back over her 
shoulder,  "Have fun, "y'all"!" With a wave, she turned a corner,
and was gone.

After she had left, Ryoga turned to Jesse. ""Y'all"?" he said 
questioningly.

Jesse rolled her eyes. "She's from Texas. It's slang for 'you all'.
In Texan, "you all" goes to "y'all". That's just the way she talks,
no matter what language she's speaking."

"Oh."

"Well, what do you want to do?" 

Ryoga thought about it. He hadn't been home in about six months,
so he told her, "I think I should probably go back to my house."

Jesse looked disappointed. "I guess I'll see you around then." She 
turned to go, but Ryoga caught her arm.

"Um, wait a second. I know this is going to sound really weird, 
but..." and here he took a deep breath, resigning himself to the fact
that he would have to reveal a major weakness. "But could you, uh, 
help me find it."

Jesse graced him with a strange stare, "You mean you don't know where
your own house is?"

"No, I know where it is, but if I go on my own, I'll get lost on the
way there. I have a really lousy sense of direction."

"Um, O.K."

Ryoga told her where, generally, his house was located, and they 
started off. Jesse, meanwhile, was thinking, "He can't find his own
house? That has gotta be the world's lamest pick-up line ever, 
especially since I was already interested. Oh, well..." After the 
fifth time he had almost gone the wrong way, and was oblivious
to the fact until she steered him back in the right direction,
she was starting to believe him.

"You really were serious about your sense of direction, weren't
you?"

"Yeah, it kinda runs in the family. In fact, my parents probably
won't even be there. I have no idea where they are now. You can meet
my dog, Checkers, though."

"So, you got any more deep, dark secrets you might care to share with
me?"

Jesse had been joking when she had asked, but only one thing was 
running through Ryoga's mind. "I lost my chance with Akane because
I kept my secret hidden from her. I will not make the same mistake
twice. Besides, I think I really like this girl, and I don't want to
blow my chance." He turned his head towards her.

"Actually, yes."

Jesse raised her eyebrows. "Oh, really...?"

"I don't think you'll believe me, but I want you to know. I don't
want you to think I'm trying to hide it from you."

Jesse stared at him expectantly. "I'll do my best."

Ryoga began with his feud with Ranma, told her all about chasing
him to China, all the way to Jusenkyo. Then, he explained how he had
fallen into one of the many cursed pools.

"Now," he finished, "whenever I get splashed with cold water, I turn
into a little black piglet."

Jesse stared at him skeptically, trying her best to fulfill her 
promise to believe him.

"So, how exactly are you human right now?"

"Well, hot water changes me back."

"Riiiiight... And how many people do you know with this, um, 
ailment?"

"Personally, I know four, not counting myself, and we've met others."

"Who?" Jesse waited for him to continue.

"Well, Ranma fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl, Genma, his dad,
fell into the Spring of Drowned Panda, Shampoo fell into the Spring
of Drowned Cat, and Mousse-"

"Wait a minute, you're telling me that Shampoo and Mousse have these
odd curses, too?" 

"Yes."

"And, what exactly does Mousse turn into?"

"He turns into a duck."

Jesse snorted, "A duck?"

"Right, he turns into this little white duck called Mu Mu-Chan."

"Do forgive me for not quite believing you," Jesse muttered.

Ryoga could easily see that she thought he was making it all up. He 
was trying to decide what to say when he saw his house down the 
street. He pointed.

"There it is."

When they got there, he dragged her inside. After calling out to see
if his parents were there, which they weren't, and introducing
her to his dog, he pulled her into the kitchen.

"I can prove it to you, but you'll have to pour hot water on me 
afterwards. And, you can't watch me turn back."

"Why not?"

Ryoga blushed. "Because my clothes don't really cooperate with the 
transformation very well."

"Um, "Okeedokee"..."

Ryoga walked over to the faucet, pulled a cup out of a cabinet,
filled it with cold water, and then turned around. "Here goes 
everything," he thought to himself. He poured the contents of the cup
on his head.

"Bweeeeee!" said the little black piglet sitting in the pile of 
clothes.

"Oh, my..." said Jesse incredulously. "That's just not right."

She bent down and picked up the little pig. She examined the bandanna
around its neck; the same one that Ryoga wore around his head.

"You win," she told it, "I believe you."

She put P-Chan back down, picked up the cup, filled it with hot 
water, and turned to the pig with a giggle.

"You know, you actually make a very cute piglet..."

Closing her eyes, because she had promised, she poured the hot water
on top of him.

"Ouch! Not quite that hot!"

A few seconds later, he told her she could look. She opened her eyes
and stared at him. His hair and face were wet. Ryoga watched her face
for any signs of disgust or similar emotions. Instead, what he saw 
was that she appeared to be holding back a laugh.

"Oh, my goodness, and you say Mousse turns into a little white duck,
right?"

Ryoga nodded, not sure where she was going with this line of thought.

"This is so cool. Erin's gonna flip when I tell her." And here, Jesse
did laugh. "You know, I was telling the truth. You do make a very 
cute piggy."

Ryoga gave her a very odd look. He briefly wondered if she was as 
warped as Akari, the sumo-pig-raising girl who was obsessed with his
pig form. He had stayed at her house for about a week, after which
he decided that she scared him. He had left that day. After sharing
this fear with Jesse, she assured him that, while she liked P-Chan,
she liked him better. Ryoga was shocked. Nobody had ever told him 
that they liked him. At least not the first time they met, and 
especially not after finding out about his curse. Akari's claim 
notwithstanding.

"You...you like me?"

"Yeah, a lot." She winked at him, and had the pleasure of watching
him blush.

"I like you, too." He put his hand behind his head nervously,
and tried to smile. It wasn't working very well.

"So," Jesse offered, "do you wanna go see a movie or something?"

Ryoga appreciated her effort to change the subject.

"Um, sure. I'd like that."

After they had gone to see a movie, watched the sunset, and had ice
cream, Jesse took Ryoga back to his house. As she was about to leave,
he leaned over and kissed her cheek. She grinned.

"I'll see you tomorrow, O.K.?"

"Alright, but you'll have to come and get me, otherwise, who knows
when I'd get to your house."

"It's a deal," she promised. "Good night." Then Jesse left for the 
apartment where Erin would no doubt be waiting for her, leaving
a very happy Ryoga.

When she got home around ten minutes later, the apartment was dark.
She used her key to go in. After getting ready for bed, she went into
the bedroom she would be sharing with Erin. Jesse's cousin was 
already asleep in one of the two beds. Jesse felt the need to wake
her up. Going over to Erin, Jesse proceeded to shake her shoulder
until she opened her eyes.

"What do you want?" Erin complained groggily.

Jesse grinned, "Guess what." She waited.

After a few seconds Erin responded, "J-Chan, I think it's fairly
obvious that I am not going to 'guess what,' so why don't you just
tell me, hmm?"

"Well, Ryoga and I went out, and he told me that he turns into a 
pig."

"And you believed him? How disturbing..."

"No, really! He showed me. And you know what else?"

Silence.

Jesse continued, "He kissed me good-night!"

"Good for him," Erin muttered.

Seeing that her cousin wasn't paying much attention to her, Jesse
decided that maybe she should try again in the morning. She did, 
however, have one more strategy. 

"Oh, and Ryoga also told me that Mousse turns into a little white
duck when you splash him with cold water."

"WHAT!" Erin's voice went up an octave as she sat up in bed and 
looked at her cousin. "A little white what?!"

"Duck," Jesse informed her with a sly grin. "A little white duck."

Grudgingly Erin mumbled, "I'm listening."

Jesse spent the rest of the night telling her cousin absolutely
everything, without omitting the slightest detail.

~<*>~

In the morning, after a quick three-hour nap to enable them to 
actually be able to walk in a straight line, Erin and Jesse decided
that living in this town was going to take some effort. Knowing
a little more about the people who lived there would likely help them
during everyday interaction with the very odd inhabitants.
As Jesse already had a scheduled "appointment" with Ryoga, Erin 
suggested that they both go over to his house and have him give them
some background and insight on Ranma, Mousse, Shampoo, Ukyo, etc. 
That way, at least they wouldn't be completely in the dark as to what
drove these people.

Jesse called Ryoga and asked if that would be all right with him.

"Um, sure," he told her. "But you'd better bring a snack, because
all the food at my house is rotten from being left here so long, and
this is going to take a while."

""O.K.," we'll be over in about half an hour. See you soon!"

After hanging up, Jesse informed her cousin of Ryoga's consent,
and his request that they bring comestibles. Erin went to the kitchen
to make some sandwiches (no ham), and Jesse retreated to the bathroom
to finish getting ready. About ten minutes later, they started for 
Ryoga's house with Jesse in the lead.

Upon their arrival fifteen or so minutes later, Ryoga let them in, 
and showed them to the living room. At least that was what he tried
to do; they ended up touring the kitchen, dining room, bathroom,
and bedroom before actually arriving in the living room. 
Nevertheless, they did eventually get there. Ryoga sat down on the 
floor and crossed his legs, as Jesse sat beside him. Erin flopped
on her stomach in front of them.

"Ryoga," Erin began. "Last night, Jesse told me a whole lot of 
interesting things about piglets, and water, and ducks, and martial
arts, and other strange things. While I won't insult my cousin's
recounting abilities, I would like to hear the whole story from you,
if you don't mind. After all, we're going to be living here for at 
least a year, and this town sounds very complicated."

"I don't mind at all. Actually, I'm rather flattered," he told them.
"I'm not used to having people, especially girls, at all interested
in listening to what I have to say."

"Well, we're very interested, let me tell you..."

"Where do you want me to start?"

Resisting the urge to break into song, since he wouldn't understand
the English anyway, Erin replied, "Start with the person in Nerima
who causes the most problems. The person who almost everybody
here seems to have at least some problem with."

"Oh," Ryoga said. "That would be Ranma Saotome..."

Ryoga proceeded to tell them everything he knew about Ranma, his dad,
their curses, and their trip to Jusenkyo, etc. Then, he began to 
describe his grievances with Ranma, and Mousse's, and Kuno's, and 
Gosunkugi's, and everyone else that Ryoga knew of who had ever been
annoyed with Ranma in any way, shape, or form. He moved on to the 
relationship, or lack of one, between Shampoo and Mousse, getting
several interjections from Erin about the cruelty of it all. Three
hours later, they took a break to have something to eat, and to let
poor Ryoga's throat recover. He wasn't used to talking that much at 
one time.

After they had eaten, Ryoga continued. He explained all about Akane
being kidnapped by Prince Kirin and then by Prince Toma. Erin and 
Jesse were having a hard time understanding why all these people
were so infatuated with the violent tomboy. Jesse told Ryoga so, too.
He seemed at a loss for words. Erin piped up.

"Maybe she puts off a lot of pheromones."

Ryoga sweatdropped and Jesse laughed.

After two more hours, Ryoga had told them everything he knew about
all the major players in Nerima, and many of the minor ones, as well.
He had outlined all the adventures they had been on, competitions
they had participated in, and battles they had fought. He explained
all about each person's fighting style, including his own, and did 
his best to rank each person's ability. He glanced nervously in 
Erin's direction when he said that Mousse wasn't very good compared
to some of the other martial artists in Nerima. He was relieved
that she seemed more fascinated than annoyed, and didn't look at all
ready to clout him with anything...how nice.

"What I want to know," she told him, "is how Mousse can fit all this
stuff in his clothing, and still be able to move."

Ryoga shrugged his shoulders, "Must have something to do with being
a Master of Hidden Weapons."

Jesse, who had mostly been nodding and staring lovingly at Ryoga,
spoke up for the first time.

"Eri-Chan," she said with a snicker. "I think he's just 'special'
that way."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know... 'Special,' as in special white
jackets with special long sleeves that tie behind your back, and 
special rooms with special padded walls, and special doctors in 
special white coats who take special care of you. I know exactly
what you meant."

"Good for you," Jesse said sarcastically. "Well, I got all the looks,
so I suppose you had to get something."

Erin rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, I got all the brains, so I suppose
you had to get something, too."

Ryoga sat there in confusion, listening to them insult each other.
He had a feeling it was part of their version of "bonding."

After making small talk for a little while longer, Erin told them 
that she was going to go.

"Translation," muttered Jesse, loud enough for the other two to hear,
"you're going out to track a Mousse. Hee, hee."

Erin crossed her arms and glared at Jesse, "Wanna make something
of it?"

"Not at all," her cousin responded with a devious grin. "After all,
I can't exactly fault you for something I've done, too."

"Oh, so you've been chasing Mousse, as well?"

Jesse glanced at Ryoga. "That's not what I meant, and you know it!"

It was Erin's turn to grin deviously, "I knew that, I just couldn't
resist."

After saying "good-bye" to Ryoga, and thanking him for being so 
helpful, Erin got up to leave. She was down the hall and almost to 
the door when she heard Ryoga and Jesse talking.

"So," he asked, "what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. What do you-"

Erin rolled her eyes, went out, and closed the door on Ryoga's 
question.

~<*>~

After about fifteen minutes of walking-with some sidetracking
to look at interesting things, such as the strange man dressed in 
black running through the park with a skeleton on his back 
*shudder*-Erin arrived at the Neko Hanten. She pushed the door open
gently, and went in. Immediately she felt the need to step back as 
she found herself face to face with a small, shriveled old woman 
perched on a stick. Resisting the urge to snicker, she introduced
herself.

"Hello," she began amiably. "My name is Erin. You must be Shampoo's
great-grandmother, Cologne."

"Yes," the old woman croaked. "So, you are the one Shampoo has been
telling me about."

The Old Ghoul peered at Erin, then proceeded to hop off her stick
and walk in a circle around her, all the while making thoughtful
noises. Erin decided that she now knew how cattle felt at auctions.
Finally having completed her circumvention, Cologne stood, once 
again, in front of Erin.

"Hmmm," she muttered. "Not bad at all... And, this will make it 
easier for Shampoo to wed Ranma." Then, to Erin, she said, "Very 
well, he's yours. You have my blessing."

"And Shampoo's!" the Amazon called from the kitchen.

Erin's eyes got a little larger in confusion. She had a feeling
she knew what Cologne was talking about, but wasn't absolutely
positive. "I'm sorry, I don't think I quite catch your meaning."

"Well, aren't we being difficult."

"Seriously, I don't think I understand what you're talking about."

"Mousse," Cologne stated matter-of-factly. "You may have him. You 
seem like you would be good for him."

Resisting the urge to blurt, "You've only just met me!", Erin said,
"Without even talking to him, you're just gonna shove him at me?!"

"What were you expecting," Cologne rasped, "gift wrapping?" She broke
into a wheezing laugh.

Erin felt like face faulting. "Poor Mousse," she thought to herself.
"He seems to be so unwanted around here."

Trying to change the subject, Erin asked, "So, umm, where is Mousse?"

Shampoo came out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a dishtowel.

"Nihao!" she chirped. "Mousse go out early. He go fight Shampoo's
Ranma." She smiled brightly. Apparently, the thought of Mousse with
another woman made her very happy. "Shampoo think Mousse lose."

"Probably," muttered both Cologne and Erin.

Erin stood there for a moment wondering if maybe she should go try to
find them. Shampoo went back into the kitchen and returned moments
later with a bucket of hot, soapy water, and began to clean the 
tables, all the while complaining that  "stupid, blind duck-boy"
should be the one doing it. Erin said good-bye to the two Amazons,
and turned to leave.

Just as she reached the door, it swung open, allowing a very 
perturbed duck to run into the restaurant, quacking loudly. It was 
followed a second later by a teenaged boy with a black pigtail,
dressed in dark pants and a Chinese shirt. The boy leaped at the 
duck, succeeding in landing directly on top of it. The duck gave a 
distressed cry that sounded almost human as the boy grabbed it by the
neck, stood up, and began shaking it violently, while yelling,
"You MORON! What do ya mean by throwing spears at me? Yer goin' too
far, ya stupid duck! Yer gonna hit me one'a these days!"

"That's the idea," Erin thought to herself. Then, "so, this is Ranma.
I certainly don't see what all the fuss is about. He looks like a 
perfect dolt."

The duck, which had been flapping wildly at first, was now making
strangled noises, and merely squirming weakly in Ranma's grip. Erin
spoke up.

"Let go of the poor thing! You're gonna kill him."

Ranma noticed the American girl for the first time. He gave her a "so
what?" look in response to her comment. Turning to face her, he gave
the duck another shake, then said, "I ain't gonna kill 'im. I'm just
gonna give 'im a really bad headache!"

Erin, who didn't want him to cause Mu Mu-Chan any more bodily harm,
held her arms out for the duck and commanded, "Ranma, relinquish
the avian!"

Ranma gave her a strange look consisting of shock and confusion
bordering on respect. Most people didn't talk to him that way. Then,
he began to wonder how she knew his name. He asked her about it.

"That's not all I know," she replied with a feral grin. "Now, give
me Mu Mu-Chan."

Turning to Shampoo, Ranma asked, "Who is this?"

"This Erin. She Mousse's new girlfriend."

Erin closed her eyes in pain.

"Oh, really?" questioned Ranma as a plan formed in his mind. An evil
glint shone in his blue-gray eyes as he handed the partially 
unconscious duck to Erin. "Wanna know somethin' interesting
about Mousse?"

Erin raised her eyebrows questioningly. All of a sudden, Ranma 
whipped around, grabbed Shampoo's bucket of hot water, and flung it 
over the small duck in Erin's arms. Unprepared for the instant weight
change, Erin dropped a soaking Mousse onto the restaurant floor.
"Oops!" she muttered.

Staring at the wet Chinese boy on the floor, she immediately
noticed that he was fully clothed. She remembered that Ryoga had told
Jesse and her that out of the four people in Nerima with 
species-altering curses, Mousse was the only one who was able to 
change back and be dressed. They had decided that it had to do with
being a Master of Hidden Weapons. She knelt down next to Mousse.

The duck-boy, who had been dropped on his back, flipped over onto his
stomach. He coughed a few times, and rubbed at his throat, which 
still bore red impressions of Ranma's fingers. It was then that he 
noticed the person in front of him. He picked his glasses up off the
floor, where they had fallen when he was dropped, and put them on. As
the world came into better focus, he recognized her. It was the girl
who had been at the restaurant the previous day with Ryoga and that
other blond girl. The one who gave him butterflies in his stomach.
He looked at the expression on her face. Her eyes were wide with 
concern, but he, having almost never had anyone concerned for him,
misread it as mild disgust. Mousse groaned in embarrassment
and pain, crossed his arms in front of him on the floor, and flopped
his head down on them.

Ranma, however, wasn't finished with his little "demonstration."
He picked up a leftover glass of water from one of the tables and 
poured it over the young man lying prostrate on the floor with his 
head on his arms. A little white duck with glasses was again sitting
in a puddle of water. It quacked weakly, and remained flopped on its
stomach with its wings spread out.

Erin was quite annoyed with Ranma. She gave him a withering look.
"Good for you," she said sarcastically. "You know how to activate
and deactivate Jusenkyo curses."

Ranma stared at her in amazement. How did she know what it was?

"Of course," she continued, her voice growing louder, "I suppose
that skill does come in handy when you want to turn back into a GUY!"

By the last word, she was practically yelling. She jumped up, grabbed
a pitcher of water that was on the nearby counter, and 
unceremoniously emptied the contents on Ranma's head.

"Hey!" complained a female voice. "What'd ya do that for!?"

"It served you right," Erin told girl-type Ranma without the least
bit of sympathy. "What you just did to Mousse was really cruel."

She bent down and scooped the stunned duck off the floor, and, 
cradling it gently in her arms, she walked out.

Ranma stood there for a second, wiping the water out of "his" eyes,
and processing what had just happened. The teenaged martial artist
stared at the purple-haired Amazon standing next to him, then, 
pointing through the glass door at the retreating figure of Erin,
he said incredulously, "She just insulted me."

Shampoo blinked twice, then nodded.

Turning, Ranma shoved open the door of the Neko Hanten and ran out 
into the street.

"Wait a second!" he yelled after Erin.

She stopped and turned around to face the irate guy/girl. Ranma 
pointed a finger at her. Without even stopping to consider if she was
a martial artist as well, he cried out, "I challenge you!"

She stared at him blankly for a moment, then smirked.

"And, I refuse," she stated blandly. "Have a nice day." Then, she 
muttered under her breath, "Oh, who am I kidding. Have an awful day."

She turned once more, and walked off, leaving an absolutely 
flabbergasted Ranma standing in the street, one arm still extended.

"She...she turned me down?! Can she do that?"

Shampoo stared at him, then at Erin who turned the corner at the end
of the street and disappeared from sight. Looking back at her 
"airen", she grasped his problem. NO ONE had ever simply refused
his challenge. In his mind, (small though it is) she had affronted
his honor. By her refusal, she was saying that fighting him was below
her standards. Of course, Shampoo had a feeling that Erin was not a 
martial artist; Ranma had simply assumed that she was, because of her
boldness.

At first, Shampoo was angry that the American girl had insulted
her "beloved husband." Then, as she thought about it, her anger 
turned to mild displeasure coupled with respect. After all, Erin had
managed to do something that nobody, even Shampoo herself, had ever
done and gotten away with. She had left Ranma speechless...a
rare occurrence. Of course, no physical fighting had been done, but
Erin had clearly emerged the victor of the first round.

Ranma was busy debating whether or not he should go after the strange
American girl who liked Mousse (a completely foreign idea in itself),
when Shampoo tugged on his sleeve.

"Ranma, Shampoo think you have bigger problem coming."

Ranma turned. A familiar blue-clothed figure was racing down the 
street towards him, arms outstretched.

"Pig-Tailed Girl!" it called.

"Aaaaaah," yelled Ranma. "Nooooooo!"

Shampoo watched as the martial artist turned tail, and proceeded
to run as fast as possible, in the complete opposite direction.

~<*>~

After Erin had walked about a block, Mu Mu-Chan rejoined the world
of the cognizant. He was having trouble remembering what had just 
happened to him. He recalled going to the Tendo Dojo to challenge
Ranma, being chased down the street, and being splashed by that 
"evil" old washerwoman. Beyond that, things got a little hazy.

"Let's see, Ranma jumped me at the Neko Hanten, and then...Oh,
my..." he thought in humiliation as everything came flooding back to
him. He raised his head to look at the one carrying him. She was 
humming softly, and hadn't yet noticed that he was awake.

"She must hate me," he thought. "She's probably furious because
I didn't tell her I turned into a duck."

Never mind the fact that they had just met, and it's not exactly
the first thing you're going to be telling to a total stranger.
There was absolutely no logic behind his assumption, but Mousse was
used to dealing with the people in Nerima, and as we all know, they
don't exactly tend to be the most reasonable bunch. Also, Mousse
had since heard what had happened when Akane found out about Ryoga's
curse, and it made him worry all the more.

"I wonder where she's taking me? What if...what if she's planning
on eating me?"

With each passing moment, Mousse's imagination ran farther away with
him. Soon he was having horrible fantasies about being plucked and 
skewered and roasted.

"Quack!" he cried out in distress, and began beating his wings 
frantically, trying to squirm out of her arms.

Erin looked down at the suddenly spastic duck she was holding.
If it carried on like this for much longer, it was going to hurt 
itself.

""Good grief!" It's "O.K." Settle down, Mousse. I'm not going to hurt
you, I promise."

She pinned his wings against his body with one hand, and used the 
other to softly stroke his head. She wasn't sure he would appreciate
that, but couldn't think of anything else to do at the moment. It 
seemed to work... At least, he wasn't hyperventilating
anymore. The duck still appeared very disturbed however. She hurried
the last block to the building she and Jesse lived in. She carefully
freed one hand to unlock the door, and went inside. She trotted
up the stairs, two at a time, and walked into the apartment.

Setting the apprehensive duck on the couch, she disappeared
into the back of the apartment, calling over her shoulder, "Don't
you go anywhere."

Mousse didn't dare; he was too worried for his safety to do anything
that might displease her any further. He didn't move from the spot
until she came back a few minutes later. She stood in front of him,
and motioned for him to follow. He stared at her in confusion.
Did she actually expect him to walk to his execution? Backing himself
up against the couch, he briefly considered making a run for it, but
decided she would catch him before he got to the door, which was 
locked anyway. His moment of hesitation gave Erin an opening, and she
reached forward and snatched the fowl off the sofa.

"You are so very odd, Mousse," she muttered in English. Then, "You'd
think he was expecting me to assault him or something."

She shook her head. Unfortunately for Mousse, the only word he had 
been able to understand was his name.

"This is the end," he thought. "I am going to die."

Erin carried him, much to his surprise, into the bathroom. She set 
him down on the side of the bathtub, which she had partially filled
with warm water. Flopping a towel down next to him, she turned around
to leave.

"I'll be waiting for you in the living room."

Mu Mu-Chan watched her go out and shut the door behind her. How could
she possibly know what to do for his Jusenkyo curse? His life was 
getting more confusing by the minute. He had expected her to cream
him for hiding his curse from her. Instead, she was actually being
very nice to him, now that he thought about it.

After putting his robe and things on the floor, he jumped into the 
water and almost instantly felt his body change into its normal form.
He sighed softly and stood up. After drying off and getting dressed,
he opened the door. Taking a deep breath, he walked out into the 
living room, not quite sure what to expect when he got there.

~<*>~

After going to the market to get something to munch on, Ryoga and 
Jesse decided to go back to the girls' apartment to look for Erin,
and then go to see a movie. Jesse was, however, fully immersed
in telling Ryoga about her evil ferret, Lilith, and so she didn't
notice that the way they were going would not get them where they 
wanted to go. Around ten minutes later, they were standing in front
of the Tendo dojo. Ryoga looked around in confusion.

"Oops," he muttered in frustration. "I did it again."

Jesse turned to look at the "Eternal Lost Boy." "Um, two questions.
Where are we, and how did we get here?"

Ryoga glanced at his new girlfriend sheepishly. "I'm sorry," he 
mumbled. "I sort of got us lost."

"Sort of?"

"Yeah, well, I know where we are, it's just not where we wanted to 
go..."

"Alrighty then, where are we?"

"We're at the Tendo's residence and dojo," he informed her. "This
is where Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo live."

"So, how do we get back to where it is we're supposed to be?"

Ryoga paused to consider the question. As he was thinking, a familiar
person exited the house they were standing in front of. It was Ranma,
still damp from having just changed back from his cursed form. Ryoga
and Jesse both looked up upon his arrival. 

Ranma was scowling; he was having a bad day. First, Mousse had 
challenged him, disrupting his lunch, then, he had been insulted
and his challenge refused by some strange American girl, then, 
Tatewaki Kuno had chased him. Now, to top it all off, here was Ryoga,
standing in the lawn, probably wanting to pick a fight with him. 
Ranma decided the best thing to do would be to make the first move.

He rushed at Ryoga, yelling, "I challenge you! Katchuu Tenshin 
Amaguriken!"

Jesse performed a rather remarkable horizontal leap to avoid Ranma
as he charged her boyfriend. Ryoga, confused though he still was, is
still one of the best fighters in Nerima. He dodged Ranma's attack
and cried out, "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The resulting blast showered all three of them with pebbles and dust,
and left a rather spacious hole in the Tendo's front yard. It also
caused a lot of noise. Nabiki and Kasumi appeared in the doorway
to the house. Fortunately for Ryoga, Akane had been sent on an 
errand.

"Shishi Hôkôdan!" yelled the Lost Boy. 

"Aaaaaaaah," cried Ranma as he threw himself out of the way of the 
blast, which took out the tree he had been standing in front of.

Kasumi's eyes got slightly wider than usual. She put her hand to her
mouth in a ladylike gesture of surprise.

"Oh, my," she commented lamely, as usual.

Ranma, who was starting to get annoyed at Ryoga for...well,
mostly for just being in his range of vision, gave a wild war whoop,
and launched himself at Ryoga.

"Hey!" yelled Jesse, as Ranma and Ryoga tumbled to the ground in a 
tangled heap of arms and legs. "You get off my Ryo-Chan, Ranma 
Saotome!"

Both boys turned at her outburst.

"It's all right, J-Chan. I'll defeat him," Ryoga assured her, as he 
jumped up. Pulling one of his bandannas off, he whipped it once; it 
became stiff, like a knife. He swung around to face Ranma. The other
martial artist, however, had other plans. He decided on his final
attack, and called it.

"Mouko Takabisha...Confidence Blast!"

Ryoga was caught off-guard as the blast of chi energy struck him in 
the chest, sending him flying backwards...right into the fishpond.

"Bweeeee!" cried P-Chan, struggling to get out of the water.

Ranma grinned. "Heh, that's what ya get for gettin' in my way, 
pork-butt."

Behind Ranma, Jesse was fuming. She decided that Ranma Saotome had 
just effectively put himself on the top of her "People Who Really
Tick Me Off" list. She looked around as she thought, "So, Ranma likes
the 'Anything Goes' style, does he? Well, let's see how this goes 
over." Scooping up a large rock left over from Ryoga's Breaking
Point Technique, she called over to Ranma.

"Hey, Fem-Boy! Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's rude to gloat?!"

Jesse hurled the rock at Ranma's head. The Japanese boy turned to 
look at whoever had just dared to insult him in that manner...and
ended up with a stone imbedded in his face. He tumbled over into the
pond, waving his arms about wildly.

"Itai!" he squealed. His cry was immediately followed by a loud 
"splash!" as he connected with the water. After a few seconds,
girl-type Ranma floated to the surface, and remained bobbing up and
down in blissful unconsciousness.

"Humph!" muttered Jesse, walking over and picking P-Chan out of the
fishpond. "It served you right."

Turning on her heel, she stalked off in the general direction
she and Ryoga had come from, leaving Kasumi and Nabiki standing
on the porch.

"Well," Nabiki said dryly, "I'd say it's American Girl, one, Ranma,
zilch."

"Goodness!" said Kasumi.

~<*>~

Erin walked out into her living room to wait for Mousse to change
back into a person. She plopped down on the couch, picked up one of 
her science fiction books from a nearby coffee table, and began 
reading. However, her thoughts soon began drifting back to what had
happened at the Neko Hanten. After all, it's not every day you get to
see someone turn into a duck, or someone else switch gender.

"Jesse and Ryoga really were telling the truth," she thought to 
herself. "They really do have those strange curses. I wonder why they
never went back to Jusenkyo while it still existed?"

The longer she waited, the more her mind wandered. She had just begun
to wonder whether Mousse felt the urge to fly south for the winter
when he was in his cursed form, or if Shampoo ever felt the need to 
chase small rodents, when Mousse came out of the bathroom. He had an
apprehensive look on his face as he walked across the room towards
her. Erin looked up from her book and smiled.

""Nihao," Mousse."

"Hello," he replied softly, not looking directly at her.

She tried again. "How's your neck?"

He absently put his fingers to his throat, which was still slightly
red from Ranma's abusive treatment.

"It's a little sore," he told her. "Come on, please. Just hurt me and
get it over with," Mousse thought as he waited for her to start 
yelling and flinging things at him as Shampoo did.

Erin was getting slightly frustrated with his lack of conversational
interest. Putting her book down on the table, she asked, "Would you
like to sit down for a minute?"

Mousse looked at her for the first time since coming out. She didn't
look angry at all, or even slightly annoyed. He stared at the young
lady sitting in front of him. In fact, he wasn't sure what exactly
the look on her face did mean. She was still smiling at him, and for
the first time in the last fifteen years of his life, he forgot about
Shampoo.

Erin gestured at the place next to her on the couch. For a moment,
she didn't think he was going to accept. Much to her surprise,
and delight, he walked over and sat beside her. She could barely
see his eyes through his thick glasses, but could easily sense the 
questioning look he was giving her. She raised her eyebrows in the 
universal gesture meaning, "well?" and waited for him to say 
something.

Finally, he spoke. "You...you aren't...angry with me?"

Erin just about fell off the couch. "Angry? Why on earth should I be
angry with you?"

"Because," he began hesitantly, "I didn't tell you that I turned
into a duck."

In her opinion, his comment sounded more like a question than a 
statement.

"Of course I'm not mad at you. I mean, it's not like I would expect
you to just walk up to random people you've never seen before in your
life and say, 'Hi, my name is Mousse, and I turn into a little white
duck because I accidentally fell into a cursed puddle.' It's not 
exactly something you would just share with a stranger. It could get
you into trouble."

He nodded numbly. "She's really not angry with me. She actually
sounds rather...rather concerned for my well being. I wonder..."
Here his train of thought picked up on something else she had said.
He pushed his glasses up onto his head and stared at the blurry 
outline of the person he was talking to.

"How do you know about Jusenkyo?"

She looked slightly sheepish as she replied. "Well, my cousin's
going out with Ryoga, and on their first date, he just blurted out 
that he turned into a piglet. Then, he took her to his house and 
showed her. He also said a lot of other things about pandas and ducks
and girls and cats and water, and, well, she came home that night
and woke me up trying to tell me everything. The next day, we went
to Ryoga's house and he gave us the lowdown on Jusenkyo, and the 
different people with curses, and some other things. That's also how
I knew who Ranma was, and that he turned into girl."

Mousse just stared at her for a second.

"You rescued me from Ranma."

"I was afraid he was going to strangle you to death!"

The cursed Chinese boy smiled a little. "Sometimes I wonder..."
Then, "why did you bring me here instead of getting hot water from
the Neko Hanten?"

"Two reasons. One, I wasn't entirely sure that Shampoo would give it
to me, and, two," and here, she grinned, "if I had stayed any longer,
I might not have been able to resist the temptation to stick a pair
of chopsticks up Ranma's nose!"

Mousse laughed at the extremely undignified mental picture her words
conjured up; it was something he didn't do very often.

"That would have been quite interesting."

"Ranma probably wouldn't have appreciated it very much, but he 
strikes me as the kind of person who periodically needs to be put 
back in his place."

"May I ask why were you at the Neko Hanten to begin with?"

Erin briefly wondered which parts of her visit she should reveal.
She decided that honesty was the best policy, just not in very 
complete detail. "Actually, I was looking for you."

"Me?" he asked incredulously. "Why would you be looking for me?"

She looked at him, and then said something that no one had ever said
to him before.

"Because...I want to be your friend."

Silence. When Mousse finally spoke, his words came out as more of a 
squeak than he probably would have liked.

"Really!?"

Erin nodded. Mousse was truly confused. He was so used to being 
considered an annoyance, and being in the way of Cologne's plans for
getting Ranma to wed Shampoo, that he was completely unprepared
for the thought of someone actually wanting to know him, and spend
time with him.

"Why do you want to be my friend?" he queried, wondering if maybe
someone-like Cologne-had put her up to this to keep him occupied
for a while, while some devious scheme was being plotted in his 
absence.

"I like you," she told him bluntly. "You seem like a really nice guy,
and I wanted to get to know you better."

Of course, the other thing going through her mind was, "And you're
really cute!" but she decided that it might be wiser to leave that
part out for now. Mousse was, after all, still having problems
just grasping the basic concept she was trying to convey.

"Even though I turn into a duck, and...and I can't see very well?"

"Yes, even though you turn into a duck," Erin assured him. "As to the
vision impairment, so what? It doesn't make you any less of a 
person."

"And you look really adorable with your glasses!" she thought to 
herself.

Mousse was about to ask another question, when someone began banging
on the front door; from the decibel level, a seemingly very annoyed
person. Both Mousse and Erin turned at the noise.

"Who is that?" asked Mousse.

"I'm not sure, but I have an idea."

Erin stood up and walked over to the front door. After looking 
through the peephole, she unlocked and opened the door while saying,
"Forget your key, honey?"

Jesse was standing in the doorway looking peeved. It was then that
Erin noticed the damp piglet with the yellow bandanna that her cousin
was holding. Resisting the urge to ask if they had tried to go 
frolicking in someone's sprinklers, she moved aside to let Jesse come
in.

"You know what?" Jesse began.

Erin waited for her to finish. She wasn't disappointed.

"Ranma is a major jerk!" her cousin complained.

"I had noticed that," Erin replied. Then, looking at the miserable
pig, she continued, "There's already hot water in the bathtub."

Jesse gave her a questioning stare. "Why would that be?"

Erin simply pointed to the couch. Jesse noticed the very confused
Chinese boy sitting there, for the first time since she had come in.

"Oh," she commented.

Then, grinning evilly, she inquired in English, "So Eri-Chan,
you had a successful hunting expedition, I see." 

Much to the surprise of both young men, but not Jesse, Erin stuck
her tongue out and made a face. Having then finished her little 
display, she crossed her arms and muttered in English, "Oh, go dunk
your boyfriend! I'm sure he's sick of being a pig, and unable to 
talk."

"Well...well, piff!" snorted Jesse, using her personal word of 
botheration.

She then stalked off into the bathroom, all the while muttering
things about rocks and ponds and the unfairness of life.

Erin switched back to Japanese.

"Well," she said to Mousse as she leaned her elbows on the back of 
the couch, "it would appear that Ranma was certainly making a general
annoyance of himself today."

The young man looked up at her and nodded. "And, if your cousin is 
anything like you, I wonder what Ranma's day was like."

Erin smiled at the thought of Ranma having a bad day because of the
two of them. "Actually, she's not really very much like me, aside
from the fact that she protects the people she likes. She lives in 
her world, I live in mine, we just have a constant wormhole 
connection going."

Although the science fiction alliteration was totally lost on him,
Mousse still smiled at little at the thought of being one of the 
people that Erin liked. It made him feel wanted, more so in fact than
he had felt during his whole life.

~<*>~

A few minutes later, Jesse and Ryoga came back into the living room,
where Erin was back on the couch talking to Mousse.

"Hey, Mousse," Jesse greeted as she and Ryoga seated themselves
on the loveseat. Erin pried the story of their day out of them, and
shared most of hers. Then, with a mildly nosy expression, Jesse 
queried, "So, what were you two talking about?"

Erin's look told her that the topic had not been marriage 
arrangements.

"Stuff," she informed Jesse noncommittally. "We've already heard 
Ryoga's view of life in Nerima, and I asked Mousse if he'd share his.
After all, I'm sure there have been at least a few things that 
happened to him while Ryoga wasn't around. Right, Mousse?"

The young man nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"Oh," Jesse said," just whatever interesting things you've 
encountered, stuff like that."

"Alright..."

Mousse spent the next two hours telling them about his childhood
in the Amazon village, and being rejected by Shampoo just about every
day since he was three. He described his opinion of Ranma and 
Cologne, his view of life in Nerima, and all the things that he could
think of that had happened to him while Ryoga was elsewhere.
Some of the most notable being his first fights with Ranma, his 
attempt to kidnap Akane, when Shampoo had tried to kill him, and the
near-disaster with the Reversal Gem. Then, he recounted his part in 
stopping the Togenkyo bride-nappings, including his fight with the 
feather-dart flinging birdman. He also told them about his strange
encounter with a statue that had made itself look exactly like 
Shampoo to repay him for a "kindness" he had done for it, and then
dated him for a week, before turning into a Ranma look-alike
for Shampoo.

"The fight that followed is probably the closest I have ever come to
besting Ranma Saotome in battle," Mousse concluded.

"What happened?" asked Erin.

Mousse looked down. "Shampoo tricked me into thinking she liked me,
just so I wouldn't defeat Ranma. It distracted me for long enough
that I passed out, since I hadn't slept in a week."

Erin made an unusual noise that didn't sound particularly pleased.
"How heartless!"

Mousse couldn't think of anything to say in Shampoo's defense.
Jesse decided to change the subject a little.

"Mousse," Jesse began, "Apparently Shampoo's constant rejection
isn't getting through to you, but has she ever actually just told you
how she feels about you?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, she screams that she hates me, and 
she hits me a lot, but someday she just has to realize that I love
her."

With a "you-are-so-deluded" look on her face, Jesse stated, "I don't
think "realizing" is the problem. She would have to be blind, deaf,
and dumb to not realize how you feel, I just think that she doesn't
care."

Mousse was suddenly very interested in a thread on the sleeve of his
robe, and became all consumed with studying it intently. Jesse rolled
her eyes at his denial. She didn't really feel one way or the other
about him, but her cousin cared for him. So, she decided to try and
play matchmaker. Now all she needed was a strategy. One wasn't 
forthcoming.

"Ryoga and I are going to go outside on the porch," she announced
abruptly. "I'll see you later, Mousse."

"Good-bye, Jesse," he said affably.

"Oh," she said, stopping her movement to the patio door and turning
around. "I think you should talk to Shampoo, when she's in a good 
mood, and just ask her how she truly feels about you, without all the
yelling, and screaming, and hurting."

Then, having shared her nugget of wisdom for the day, she turned,
took Ryoga by the arm, and dragged him out to the porch.

After they had disappeared, Erin turned to Mousse and said gently,
"I think she's right about Shampoo. You should talk to her sometime,
when you're pretty sure she won't get angry over just your presence."

He shrugged his shoulders and murmured, "I guess so."

Then, he cocked his head to one side, as if listening to something
far away.

"What do you hear, Mousse?"

"I don't know... It sounds, umm, unusual."

Erin started hearing it, too. It was something between a smacking
and a giggling noise. "No," she re-thought, "I can hear both sounds."
At first, it sounded distant, but then she realized that it was 
merely muffled. All of a sudden, she knew what it was. She put her 
hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle of her own. Mousse gave her a 
confused look.

"I think I know what it is."

~<*>~

Jesse pulled Ryoga out onto the patio with her, then closed the glass
door. The curtains inside swung shut part of the way, obscuring
their view of the living room, and the view of anyone inside trying
to look out. Jesse smiled at her boyfriend, and placed his arm around
her shoulders. Ryoga was starting to blush. He had always had trouble
expressing any kind of romantic feelings. He looked at her and found
her staring directly into his eyes. He had forgotten that she was 
only about half an inch shorter than he was. She suddenly grinned
at him, put her arms around his neck, and pulled him towards her.

"Anata ga suki desu," she whispered.

Ryoga's eyes widened as she leaned forward and kissed him. He was in
shock for a moment. Then, he found himself closing his eyes and 
returning her kiss. It was Jesse's first kiss. It was Ryoga's first
real kiss, as well, not counting Ranma's tricks, or that unfortunate
incident with the over appreciative piglet. He pulled back after 
another moment.

"I love you, too," he murmured. Jesse giggled, and they started
kissing again.

~<*>~

Erin stood up quietly as Mousse stared at her with a questioning
look on his face. She put her finger to her lips and whispered,
"Shhhh..." She tiptoed to the patio curtains, crouched down, and 
peered around the edge. All the while, Mousse was staring at her like
she had lost her mind.

"What are you doing?"

She turned back to face him. "I was right."

He decided to rephrase the question. "What are they doing?"

Erin looked outside once more, then at the young man on the sofa.
With a grin she replied, "They're kissing!"

The Chinese boy's eyebrows went up. He stood and walked over to Erin,
and leaned over her to look out the window. Jesse and Ryoga were 
kissing, with their eyes closed, and their arms around each other.
Erin smiled at Mousse, and he smiled back. Then letting go of the 
curtain, she pulled on Mousse's robe sleeve, and dragged him back to
the couch.

Erin turned to him with her version of a "serious" expression
and said, "They are demonstrating the first rule of kissing."

Mousse blinked. "And, what would that be?"

"Never trust anyone who doesn't close their eyes when you kiss them."

"Oh...alright."

Just then, he saw the clock on the wall. He had been there for over
three hours.

"I think I need to get back to work. Cologne will get angry with me 
if I'm gone too long."

"Well, I certainly don't want that," Erin responded with all 
seriousness. "Come on, I'll walk you out."

She stood up and waited for him to get to his feet.

"You didn't leave any weapons or anything in the bathroom, did you?"

Mousse smiled and shook his head. "No, I have everything I came 
with."

They walked to the door together, and she opened it for him. He 
stepped out. Erin expected him to maybe wave and walk away. Instead,
he just stood outside the door looking very lonely and confused.
In truth, although he hadn't even left yet, he was already missing
her. He didn't want to leave to go back to the Neko Hanten. He even
found himself dreading seeing Shampoo, especially after how well Erin
treated him. So, he just stood there, knowing he needed to go, but 
not able to leave.

Erin watched him for a second, as a plaintive look came into his 
eyes. Without even thinking about it, she stepped forward 
impulsively. Mousse didn't move as she came up to him, and put her 
arms around him, and hugged him gently. He hugged her back. She let
go, but left her hand on his shoulder.

"Sayônara, Mousse-chan. I'll see you later, "O.K."?"

He nodded. "Thank you for everything, and...and for being my friend."

She smiled and squeezed his arm softly, then let go. He didn't look
quite as lonesome anymore.

"Bye," she said as he turned and walked down the stairs.

At the bottom door, he paused to look back. She was still standing
at the top, smiling at him. He smiled a small smile, and walked 
outside to go back to work. He couldn't have explained how he felt
if his life had depended on it. All he knew is that he felt something
about her that he had never felt for anyone before. She was special,
and he didn't want to be away from her.

Erin watched until after he had shut the door downstairs, and she 
couldn't see him anymore. Then, after waiting a few more seconds
just to be sure he wasn't going to come back in, she turned and 
walked back into the apartment, shutting and locking the door behind
her. She smiled to herself, then called towards the patio door.

"I'll see you later, Ryoga. Have a great day "ya'll"!"

Then, she walked through the living room, grabbing her book on the 
way, and went into her bedroom to read.

~<*>~

After kissing, Jesse and Ryoga sat down next to each other on the 
floor. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around
her.

"Wow," he thought, "I've never felt this way before about 
anyone...even Akane. I want to keep her forever." Of course, the next
thing that popped into his mind was asking her to marry him, but he 
decided that it was probably a little too soon for that, to say the
least. After all, they hadn't known each other for that long, and 
Nerima didn't exactly have a reputation for bringing out the best in
marriage arrangements. Also, he wasn't sure she would appreciate
it if he proposed. However, he certainly didn't eliminate the option
for the future...

An hour or so later, just after the sunset, Ryoga asked Jesse if she
would walk him home. After all, it just wouldn't do to have him 
wander off to Kyoto by mistake. When they got to his house, they 
kissed goodnight, and Jesse promised to call him in the morning.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ryo-Chan."

"Thank you, J-Chan, for the most wonderful night of my life so far."

She smiled, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, and ran off into the
encroaching darkness.

When she got home, she found Erin sitting on her bed, waiting for 
her. Jesse plopped down on her own bed and sighed.

"I love Japan!" Jesse gushed, in English.

Erin grinned. "I don't think the country enters into it."

Jesse smirked and then rolled onto her stomach. "Girl talk" 
commenced, and didn't stop for about four hours. They talked about
Jesse's day, and Erin told Jesse all the details of her previously
vague description of her visit to the Neko Hanten. After they had 
gotten ready for bed, and turned off the lights, Erin turned towards
Jesse's general direction and said, "I think I really like Mousse."

Jesse muttered, "Well, duh."

Smiling, Erin finished, "He's really very sweet, and completely
adorable."

Jesse rolled her eyes at her cousin's dark shape. "I think he's a 
little strange. I mean, what kind of a name is 'Mousse.' But, if you
like him, I'll play nice. Heh..."

"Oh, really?" Erin retorted. Waxing sarcastic, she commented,
"And turning into a little black piglet is just dead average, huh?"

"Well...well, piff!"

"That's about what I thought." Then, "You know, Jess, Ryoga's pretty
nice. And his fangs are kinda cute. You two make a nice couple.
Just thought you should know that. Good-night!"

"'Night!" Jesse said. Then she added, "I bet you and Mousse would
look pretty cute, too."

"Hmmm..." Erin mused.

~<*>~

It was after dusk when Mousse came running up to the Neko Hanten.
He slipped in as quietly as he could, hoping that maybe Cologne
and Shampoo wouldn't notice how late he got back. Fortunately
for him, Lin-Lin and Ran-Ran had recently gone back to China, so he 
had two less Amazons to worry about spotting him. Unfortunately,
the second he went in, he discovered a very peeved-looking
Shampoo standing right in front of him, along with Cologne up on her
stick, with her arms crossed and a look of doom on her withered
face.

"Uh-oh..." he groaned.

"Well," Cologne started. "Haven't we just had a wonderful time 
running all over creation?"

Mousse resisted the urge to tell her that, yes, he did have a 
wonderful time, but no, he had actually been pretty stationary
the whole time. However, he figured that that would just get him into
more trouble.

"Where you been?" Shampoo demanded. "Shampoo have dishpan hands from
doing Duck-Boy's job all day long. What you thinking?"

Mousse stared at the floor. He wasn't exactly sure how Shampoo would
respond to news of where he had been and who he had been with.

"Well, I...uh..." he stuttered.

Cologne interjected, "Spill it, Mister Part-time. And I want the 
truth." Privately, she wondered why he was having such trouble 
answering. Usually, he was out trying to defeat Ranma, and he didn't
mind admitting it, and then, of course, he usually tried to glomp
Shampoo and tell her how she was going to be his bride. And, the 
cycle of pain would begin. This time, however, she was beginning
to think that's not what he had been doing.

He sighed, and then muttered, "I was with Erin. She took me to her 
house after she, um, 'removed' me from the Neko Hanten. I've been 
there for the past few hours."

Mousse was sure he was in deep trouble. He just about fell over in 
shock when Cologne smiled and said, "She's such a nice girl. You 
should spend lots of time at her house, and she can come here any 
time she wants. Good-night, Mousse."

Even Shampoo lost the evil glint in her eyes. In fact, she was 
practically bouncing with barely containable glee. "Ooh, Mousse,"
she squealed, "Shampoo hope you had wonderful time with strange
American girl. You going see her lots, yes?! Shampoo want you be with
her all time! 'Night!"

Mousse just stood there in dumbfounded confusion as Shampoo bounced
up the stairs after her great-grandmother. Mousse hadn't seen her 
that happy in months. He was at a complete and total loss as to why
neither one of the Amazons had pounded him into the ground, or even
seemed at all annoyed after he told them where he was. Upstairs,
he could hear Shampoo prattling on in gleeful, singsong Chinese,
something about love and freedom.

He stared at the stairs in shock, and muttered, "Huh?!"

~<*>~

Not early the next morning, while Erin went out to get groceries,
Jesse decided to pay a visit to Shampoo. She had, at around four in 
the morning, come up with a way to get Mousse and Erin together...she
hoped. Of course, it rather depended on whether or not Shampoo really
wanted to get rid of "Stupid Blind Duck-Boy," but Erin's cousin had
a feeling that she would.

Jess arrived about ten minutes before the breakfast crowd would be 
arriving. She walked into the restaurant, and waited for someone
to notice her. From where she was standing, she could see Mousse
standing in the kitchen, with his sleeves rolled up, washing dishes.
He was humming, which struck Jesse as rather odd for him, even though
she didn't know him very well. After a couple of minutes, Shampoo
came into the room and saw her.

"Nihao!" Shampoo greeted. "What Shampoo can do for you?"

"Actually," Jesse said, doing her best to look convincing, "I think
there's something I could do for you."

"What that?"

"How would you like to get rid of Mousse for good?"

Shampoo eyed her skeptically. On the one hand, she wasn't sure she 
believed that Jesse was sincere, but on the other, getting rid of 
Mousse had always been at the forefront of her mind. She asked, "How
much strange American hit-woman asking?"

Jesse almost fell over when she realized how her comment had come 
across. She waved her arms as she hissed, "Noooo! That's not what I 
meant! I'm not gonna kill him, I just think I have a way to get him
to stop following you all around and everything."

"Oh," Shampoo said, sounding mildly disappointed. "What way that?
Shampoo still maybe interested."

"Well..."

She spent the next fifteen minutes telling Shampoo about her theory
that if she would just talk to Mousse without interludes of screaming
and hitting and hurting, and simply explain that she didn't, 
couldn't, wouldn't ever love him, maybe he'd finally get the point.
She finished by telling her that as soon as he realized that she 
wasn't an option, maybe he'd notice the way Erin felt about him.

"I mean, after all," Jess concluded, "what could it hurt?"

Shampoo thought for a second, then decided. "Shampoo try your way.
If not work, Shampoo no worse."

"Great! See you later."

Shampoo turned and began walking back upstairs to get her apron.
As she passed the kitchen, she thought she heard humming. She peered
in, and was rather surprised to find that Mousse was the source of 
the noise. He was still washing dishes, enveloped in his own little
bubble of bliss, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. 
"Hmm," Shampoo thought as she watched him work, "He much happier
than usual." She turned back to the stairs. "He off key, too."

Jesse smiled triumphantly. "This had better work!" she thought.
"Otherwise, I might have to resort to physical persuasion. Heh, 
heh..." Then, she spun on her heel, and walked off to go see if Ryoga
was available to play.

Shampoo watched her leave. "Hmm," she mused. "Maybe if Shampoo get 
rid of Mousse, Ranma take Shampoo!" Of course, her logic was quite
flawed, but her invalid conclusion caused her to decide to go along
with Jesse's scheme. Now the only thing lacking was Mousse's 
cooperation, but Jesse had figured that she should let him talk to 
Shampoo when he could get up the courage on his own. As it turned
out, they didn't have long to wait.

~<*>~

Later that day, after the lunch crowd had left the Neko Hanten,
Shampoo and Mousse were cleaning tables together. Well, "together"
only in the sense that they were in the same room. As usual, Shampoo
was ignoring Mousse to the best of her ability. Mousse, however,
had his mind on other things, namely, what Jesse and Erin had said
about Shampoo. He hadn't really ever stopped to think about the way
she treated him before. He had always just ignored it, hoping that
someday she would love him, too. The more he thought about it though,
the more he began to wonder if she was playing hard to get, or if she
really didn't want to be gotten. At least, not by him.

He looked up from the table he was wiping, and watched for a moment
as Shampoo worked. "Maybe I should just ask her," he thought 
silently. "After all, what else could she do to me that she hasn't
already tried." He remembered the way Erin had treated him, and 
wished that Shampoo would treat him that way. "Even half that kindly
would be nice," he muttered.

Shampoo turned around. "What you mumbling, Mousse?" she demanded,
with her usual lack of tact.

Caught off guard, the Chinese boy quickly replied, "Oh, uh, nothing,
nothing at all. Eh-heh..."

"Hmph!" Shampoo sniffed as she went back to collecting dishes.

"Coward," Mousse thought to himself. "Why won't you just ask her?!"

The Amazon finished stacking the dishes, and began to carry them to 
the kitchen. She was about halfway to the door when Mousse finally
decided he couldn't take the wondering anymore.

"Shampoo!" he blurted, rather surprised with himself. "May I ask you
a question?"

Shampoo set the dishes on the nearby counter, and turned to face him.
"What you want, Mousse?"

"Shampoo, do you love me?"

"No!"

His face fell a little. "Could you ever love me?"

The Chinese Amazon felt the urge to scream "stupid!" and smack him 
with something, but in deference to her agreement with Jesse, she 
refrained...barely.

"Shampoo no ever love you, Mousse. Shampoo love Ranma."

Mousse was getting desperate. "But, what if I defeated Ranma, then
could you-"

"You not ever beat Ranma," she interjected. "Ranma too strong, he 
beat even Shampoo!"

"But...but what if one day I could-"

Shampoo didn't let him finish the sentence; she couldn't stand it 
anymore. She hoped that Jesse knew what she was talking about, 
because she would only allow this once. As it was, it was already
taking all her willpower to just keep from chucking a nearby kettle
at his head.

"Stop it!" Shampoo yelled. "Shampoo no love you now, Shampoo no love
you ever! Shampoo no care if you beat Ranma, Shampoo no care if you
beat Shampoo, too. It not make difference. Shampoo still love Ranma!"

Mousse's eyes were wide, and his mouth was hanging slightly open in 
shock. But Shampoo wasn't finished yet.

"Shampoo not even care if you beat whole Amazon village, and 
Great-grandmother! Shampoo still think you stupid, blind duck-boy,
and she never want you! Never! Shampoo reject you as suitor for last
time."

The previously referred to duck-boy swallowed hard, and blinked
back tears, somewhat unsuccessfully. He had been rejected, and it 
hurt. It hurt more than all the times she had hit him. He felt hated
and unwanted, but was still having a hard time grasping the full 
meaning of her words.

"That's...that's not true!" he cried. "I will beat Ranma! You'll
see!"

He dropped the rag he had been wiping the table with, turned, and ran
out the door. Or, that's what he tried to do. He sort of bounced
off the doorjamb once before he actually got outside. Once out, he 
took his bike, and pedaled off in the direction of the Tendo Dojo,
to try to settle an old score.

Shampoo watched him go without the least bit of sorrow or guilt at 
how she treated him. Cologne came down the stairs and stood next to 
her great-granddaughter.

"Well," she croaked, "that was quite a display."

"Shampoo not care. Shampoo want him stop chasing!"

Cologne watched the rapidly disappearing form of her long-time
problem. "Oh, well," she muttered rather callously. "As dense as that
boy can be, it was bound to happen sometime. Maybe this will finally
pound some sense into that thick skull of his."

"Hmph!" Shampoo snorted indignantly.

~<*>~

About ten minutes later, Erin, having finished her shopping, arrived
at the Neko Hanten. She greeted Shampoo, and then inquired as to 
Mousse's whereabouts.

"Hmm," Shampoo stalled, "Shampoo no know."

Erin graced her with a disbelieving look. "Oh, really. Are you sure
you don't know where he is?"

"Weeell, maybe."

"Do tell."

"Shampoo think he probably go off to fight Ranma. He not doing so 
good."

Now Erin was interested. "Why would that be?"

Shampoo stared at the floor for a second before answering. "Shampoo
tell him how she really feel about him. He start crying and go away.
Shampoo think he go challenge Ranma again."

"Oh, boy..." Erin muttered in English. "This is not good." She looked
at Shampoo. "Thanks. If I can't find him, though...I'll be back."

Then, she turned and ran out the door, quite a bit more gracefully
than Mousse had. Shampoo wondered briefly if that last part had been
a veiled threat, but quickly decided against that, and went back to 
work.

~<*>~

Mousse pedaled until his legs hurt from overexertion, but he didn't
really care anymore. Now that no one was watching, he was crying
openly. He wasn't paying much attention as he swerved, nearly blind,
down the street, narrowly missing a telephone pole, a parked car, and
a dog. He wasn't really thinking about what he would do if he 
couldn't beat Ranma. After all, he had never been able to before,
but his pent up frustration drove him on. Finally, he arrived at the
Tendo Dojo.

Mousse left his bicycle against a tree, and walked up to the front
door. He took a deep breath, wiped his eyes on his sleeve, and 
knocked. Nabiki Tendo opened the door. She stared at him for a 
minute, taking in his rather disheveled appearance, ragged breathing,
and red-rimmed eyes. She also noticed that he looked ready to break
something.

"Hmm... I would ask what I could do for you, but it's rather obvious.
I'll go get Ranma."

"Thank you," Mousse replied, trying to sound as polite as possible.
After all, he didn't have anything against Nabiki. "I shall wait here
if you don't mind."

Nabiki shrugged, and went back into the house. A couple minutes
later, Ranma came to the door, eating a rice ball. He raised an 
eyebrow at the distraught Chinese boy standing outside.

"Wadya want?"

Mousse stabbed a finger at Ranma's chest. "Ranma Saotome, I challenge
you, for the final time!"

"Did Shampoo kick ya out again?" Ranma asked while chewing.

Mousse gave him a mildly disgusted look. "Are you refusing my 
challenge?"

"Not necessarily," he drawled. "I mean, you've never been much more
than an annoyance, but I could use an after-lunch practice to help
me digest."

Mousse scowled at Ranma's insult. Privately, he wondered if Ranma
actually knew anything about the digestion process, or if he had just
heard someone else say something similar, and thought it sounded
good. He kept this to himself, though, and instead opted for, "Didn't
your mother ever teach you to chew with your mouth closed?"

Ranma narrowed his eyes at Mousse, then turned and handed his 
unfinished rice ball to Nabiki, who had been standing just inside,
listening. She took it with two fingers and held it at arm's-length,
while staring at it disdainfully.

"Well then," Ranma began, "let's do it."

The two boys walked around to the backyard. Had they been paying
attention, they would have noticed Nabiki come to the back door to 
watch (after having disposed of the aforementioned rice ball, 
probably in the trash), but they were both preoccupied. Mousse walked
about ten feet farther than Ranma, turned, and assumed a fighting
stance; Ranma did likewise. As the two martial artists faced off 
against each other, Akane came out of the house and joined her sister
on the porch.

"They at it again?" she asked, sounding rather blasé.

Nabiki didn't even glance at her as she replied blandly, "Yep."

As he stood in front of Ranma, Mousse had a feeling that he was 
unprepared for the impending all-out fight with the best martial
artist in Nerima. He wasn't about to back down now, though.

Ranma could sense his opponent's confidence faltering. "So, duck,"
he taunted, "are you prepared to die today?"

"No," Mousse replied with as much bravado as he could muster. "But
then, I don't intend to be defeated!"

"You ain't got a choice." Ranma snorted. "Enough talk... Mouko 
Takabisha!"

Mousse barely managed to dodge the blast in time, but did succeed
in throwing himself out of the way enough to retaliate with a wave
of sharp, pointy objects on chains and sticks, from the sleeves
of his robe.

"I've got you now, Ranma!" he yelled.

"Think again!"

Ranma decided to forgo style and live up to the "Anything Goes" part
of his learning. He ducked under the barrage of weapons Mousse had 
sent at him, and launched himself, rather ungracefully, at the 
Chinese boy. Ranma's feet impacted squarely on Mousse's chest, 
causing him to fly backwards. Mousse grunted in pain, but used his 
newly acquired momentum to roll as he landed, placing himself out of
Ranma's immediate reach.

Ranma, meanwhile, had jumped to his feet. "Why do ya still bother
fightin' me when ya know yer gonna lose?"

Mousse stood and, faster than Ranma could even see, pulled a pair of
long, thin spiked claws from out of his robe, and fastened them on 
the backs on his hands. His adrenaline was pumping, and although
a little voice in the back of his head was telling him that this 
fight was a bad idea, he ignored it. He leaped at Ranma, slashing
out with the claws.

"Rrrr...You can't have her!" Mousse cried out. "I won't let you take
her from me. I will defeat you, and then Erin will be mine!"

"Huh?" Ranma muttered.

He didn't have time to ponder the statement, as Mousse stabbed at him
with both arms, overextending himself in the process. Ranma took 
advantage of the other young man's unbalanced stance, and jumped
forward. He caught Mousse's wrists, and pinned them to the ground
underneath his knees. Mousse looked up at his restrainer, and, much
to his surprise, found Ranma looking back, very confused.

On the porch, Akane was mirroring Ranma's expression. "Did he just
say he wanted somebody named Erin?"

Nabiki, who had witnessed the fight between Ranma and Ryoga, had 
afterward done some "information gathering," and at least knew who 
Erin was. Even she, though, raised an eyebrow. "Yep."

Ranma stared incredulously into Mousse's face. "Why would I want that
crazy American chick?"

Mousse struggled unsuccessfully against Ranma's grip. "Shampoo
is not American!"

"Ya didn't say 'Shampoo,'" Ranma replied with mild exasperation.

Now it was Mousse's turn to be confused. "I did say 'Shampoo.'
What do you think-"

Ranma cut him off abruptly. "No ya didn't! Ya said 'Erin.'"

Turning his head, Mousse could see Akane and Nabiki on the porch,
nodding in affirmation of Ranma's statement. "I...I did?"

The two girls nodded harder. Ranma rolled his eyes, and Mousse used
the break in his attention to his own advantage. Shifting his weight
to one side, he brought his knee up, and drove it into Ranma's leg.
Ranma promptly fell off his catch. As Mousse leaped to his feet and
put his claws back into his robe, he thought, "I said 'Erin?' Where
did that come from?"

He didn't have time to contemplate it, though, as Ranma had already
stood back up. Mousse, who was tired, not really from the fight,
but from emotional exertion, and riding all the way to their house,
decided that if he was going to have any chance of winning, he would
have to do it soon. Backing up, so as to have room for a running
start, he faced Ranma. He crouched, then ran, then leaped into the 
air, yelling, "Takatsume-ken!"

Three-inch long, curved nails appeared on the bottoms of his shoes
as he performed his final attack, Raking Hawk's Talons. Ranma looked
up to see sharp metal descending rapidly towards his head.

"GAAAAAH!"

He threw himself out of the way as fast as was humanly possible,
or maybe faster. He wasn't in the mood to be aerated. The other 
fighter watched in frustration as his opponent dodged his attack.
He quickly retracted the spikes, so as not to imbed them in his own
feet, and landed in the grass, on his knees, as gently as possible.
Ranma saw his opening as Mousse began to stand back up.

As Mousse got to his feet, he began to turn around to face Ranma.
However, Ranma didn't intend to let him finish. Running towards
Mousse, he thought, "That's it, I've had enough. This is going to end
right now!" In less than two seconds, Ranma was next to his opponent.
He performed a spinning kick that connected with Mousse's exposed
side, right under his ribcage. The force of the blow sent Mousse
flying. He crashed backwards, striking his head off the stones 
surrounding the fishpond. The world started spinning.

His glasses had been knocked off when he fell, and his head was 
throbbing. Mousse saw three Ranma's coming at him. He tried to sit 
up, but only succeeded in causing reality's gyrations to increase.
Before he could react, Ranma was on top of him, and had planted
a foot firmly on top of his chest, making it slightly harder to 
breathe. Ranma leaned down a little, and said, "You lose, duck-boy."

"Nnngh, I'm not beaten yet..."

"How do ya want me to convince ya?" Ranma asked. "I could knock ya 
out, ya know."

Mousse glared daggers at Ranma, since he couldn't get to any of his
real ones. He grabbed Ranma's ankle, and tried to shove the other
boy off. It didn't work; he didn't have the leverage to remove him.

"Ya said this would be the last time ya'd challenge me, so I wanna
hear ya say it."

"Say what?" Mousse snarled.

"Say, 'I concede.'"

On the porch, both Akane and Nabiki registered surprise. "Poor 
Mousse," murmured Akane.

"Fine," Mousse said. "You concede."

Ranma scowled at the overpowered Chinese boy on the ground, and 
increased the pressure on his chest. "That's not what I meant, and 
you know it. Now, SAY IT!"

"FINE!" Mousse cried out. "I...I...conce-"

"STOP!" yelled a new voice.

Akane turned to Nabiki. "Who is that?!"

Nabiki looked mildly amused. "That is Erin."

"Oh."

Ranma turned his head, and saw the same American girl from the other
day standing about fifteen feet away. She had one of Mousse's many
weapons in her hand, a long stick with a wooden globe covered in 
protrusions of various sizes on the end.

"I shall use small words with few syllables, so that you can 
understand. Do not hit, punch, kick, sock, maim, mangle, beat, smack,
thunk, or otherwise hurt Mousse ever again. Got it? It could be bad
for your continued well-being."

Ranma stared at her for a second. "And what are you gonna do about
it?"

Much to his surprise, she hauled back and yelled, "Ranma, prepare
to be defeated!" 

He watched in shock as she actually threw it at him. Ranma quickly
assumed the best blocking stance he could manage under the 
circumstances, careful to keep one foot on Mousse. The weapon flew
through the air with the greatest of ease, Ranma twitched, and the 
weapon connected...with the ground about a foot and a half to the 
pigtailed martial artist's right.

Ranma straightened up and looked at the weapon lying on the ground
next to him. "HA!" he laughed haughtily. "Ya completely missed me!"

Erin, however, simply leaned back, crossed her arms, and arched an 
eyebrow. Smirking, she asked, "And what makes you so sure that I 
intended to hit you?"

A confused look flitted across Ranma's face. "Huh?"

All of a sudden, he felt the pressure ease off his ankle. "Uh, oh!"
he thought. He swung back around, a little too late, as Mousse,
newly armed, swung the weapon in an upward arc. It caught Ranma 
upside the head with a mighty thock, sending him flying into the 
fishpond...for the second time in the last two days.

"Hmmm," Nabiki commented. "This is becoming a habit."

~<*>~

Erin waved to the two girls standing on the porch as she calmly 
walked over to Mousse. She leaned down, and offered her hand to him.
As he still had a pounding headache, he accepted her assistance
in standing. After he was back on his feet, he turned and looked
at Ranma, who was again unconscious, floating gracefully across the
surface of the pond, exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

Nabiki turned to go back into the house, now that things had quieted
down. "Why weren't we alerted about the American invasion?" she asked
her sister sarcastically. 

Akane shook her head. "That's twice that Ranma's lost...in the past
three days!"

"Oh, well. It was bound to happen eventually," Nabiki said dryly,
as she walked back inside with Akane following her. "Ranma's finally
met his match. I'd say it's American Girls, two, Ranma, zip."

Akane nodded in agreement. Then asked, "Hey, Nabiki, do you think
we should pull Ranma out of the pond?"

Nabiki glanced back over her shoulder for a second. "Naaah."

Mousse looked over at Erin, who was standing next to him wearing
a very pleased expression. "I...I won..." he stuttered, almost 
uncomprehendingly, as he picked up his glasses. "I mean, we won. For
the first time since I arrived, I fought Ranma and I beat him!" 
Mousse was practically grinning as he said, "Thank you."

Erin smiled at him. "You're very welcome." Then, with concern 
creeping into her voice, she asked, "How's your head, by the way?"

"It'll be fine. I shall get some ice when I go back to the Neko 
Hanten."

"That's good." Then, looking thoughtful, she said, "I do have one 
question, though."

"Yes?"

She gestured around her at all the assorted weapons lying on the 
ground. "How long will it take you to put all this stuff back in your
robe?"

Mousse blinked. "Um, not too long..."

~<*>~

Close to an hour later, Mousse finally finished putting all his 
weapons back into their respective hiding places. Erin had offered
to help, but as there was really nothing that she could do, (aside
from occasionally pointing and saying, "You forgot one") she sat 
against one of the trees and just talked. Mousse wasn't used to 
people being quite so communicative, but he decided that he didn't
mind. Actually, he just liked the fact that she paid attention
to him, in a much more positive and definitely less painful way than
Shampoo.

"Alright," he eventually told her. "I think I've got everything."

With a last semi-smug look at the unconscious person in the pond,
Erin got up and followed Mousse to the front yard while he got his 
bicycle. As they walked down the street together, she asked, "So, 
what are you going to do now?"

Mousse stared blankly at her. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged a little. "Well, you did it. Beat Ranma, I mean. Isn't
that what you've been trying to do for the last few years?"

The young man stopped abruptly, as recent events completely sunk in.
As he stood there, he thought, "I...I did beat him. I had help, but
the final blow was mine. I can go back to the Neko Hanten as...as
the victor can. And then Shampoo would have to acknowledge that I 
defeated her "airen"!" Another thought struck him. "Then, I might
be worthy to be her suitor!"

Of course, Mousse wasn't remembering the fact that Shampoo had told
him, in no uncertain terms, that she didn't want him. He also wasn't
stopping to think about whether he actually wanted to marry her. He 
did, however, decide that he needed to go back to the Neko Hanten
and tell the two Amazons that he had won against Ranma Saotome.
He turned to Erin, who was still waiting for him to answer her 
question.

"I...I have to go back to work. I need to tell Shampoo that I 
defeated Ranma, and...and..." Here he paused for a moment. "I'll see
you tomorrow, please?"

She nodded, her eyes wide. She wasn't used to him gushing like that.
""O.K.", Mousse. Bye!"

By the time she got to the last word, he was already on his bike,
barreling down the road in the direction of the aforementioned
ramen shop. 

The American girl stood there for a second before walking back 
towards her apartment, shaking her head in mild confusion.

"Alrighty then..." she muttered in English. "That made loads of 
sense."

~<*>~

When Mousse arrived at the Neko Hanten, Shampoo and Cologne were 
waiting for him. Shampoo put on her most demeaning look.

"Stupid, blind duck-boy come back so soon with tail between legs?"

Mousse stared at her for a moment. He had been exited at first; eager
to tell her of his first lasting victory against Ranma, but now, as 
he stood in front of her, he couldn't remember why.

"No," he said softly, deep in thought. "I...I won." He paused. "I'm
going upstairs for the rest of the night, if you don't mind. I need
to think."

He turned and walked up the stairs, leaving the two Amazons in 
flabbergasted silence. Shampoo recovered her voice first.

"AIYAAAAA!!!" she screamed incredulously. "Shampoo go kill Mousse!"

"Wait, great-granddaughter," Cologne instructed. "Let's give him the
rest of the night to sort himself out. If he tries to claim you in 
the morning, then you may kill him."

"Hmph!" Shampoo snorted, still seething. "He better not try. Amazon
law say woman must marry man who beats her, not man who beats man who
beat her. Shampoo never marry stupid duck!"

~<*>~

Mousse slowly walked upstairs, still enveloped in contemplation.
After taking a hot shower and putting on fresh robes, he went into
his "bedroom" in the attic, closed the door, and sat on his bed. He 
was a bit surprised that Shampoo hadn't come bursting in with her 
bonbori yet, demanding that he come and finish the dishes, but he 
decided not to worry about it. He needed the rare opportunity
of solitude to sort out his life, which had been getting 
significantly more confusing over the past week. Had he beaten Ranma
even three or four days earlier, he would have already been trying
to convince Shampoo to marry him. As things now stood, after her 
rather vocal rejection of him as a suitor, he was fairly certain
that she would not only refuse him, but also cause him severe bodily
injury. This knowledge would have never stopped him before, but now,
he found that he wasn't sure he wanted to marry her anymore. Mousse
laughed softly.

"What has gotten into me lately?" he wondered. "First, I beat Ranma,
now, I'm doubting my love for Shampoo?!"

The more he thought, the more doubt there was. Old memories of 
rejection and mistreatment began coming back to him: her beating
him up as a small child, and then as an older child, on into his 
teens; ignoring him every time he tried to talk to her; how she had
run off after Ranma, completely disdaining Mousse's very existence;
how she insulted and mocked him every time he tried to do something.
He remembered her giving him weapons that exploded on him the second
time he fought Ranma for her, he remembered being tied to a chair
in his cursed form, or put in a small metal cage whenever his 
presence became "inconvenient." She cheered every time he failed,
and laughed whenever he was hurt, and the list of injustices
and abuse went on and on. By the time he was done remembering,
several hours later, he was sobbing. He pulled his legs up to his 
chest, and rested his head on his knees.

"Why?" he asked of no one in particular. "What did I ever do to make
her hate me so much?"

For the last four years, he had been trying to win Shampoo's love,
and now, for the first time, he found that not only would she never
give it, but that he didn't want it. As he sat there, more recent
memories surfaced: her yelling at him in the Neko Hanten, calling
him "stupid, blind duck-boy" more times than he could count, all 
leading up to her painful rejection of him that afternoon, and then
her mocking question when he returned. He had to admit, though,
that it had felt pretty good to be able to tell her, for the first
time, that he had won. This brought him to a new question. If he 
didn't love Shampoo, was there somebody else?

Shampoo had never been there for him when he needed help, but lately,
someone else had been. At the Neko Hanten, when he had hugged a 
stranger instead of Shampoo, the young lady had kept him from 
Shampoo's rage; when he almost dropped the dishes, she had helped
him then, too; when Ranma was attacking and choking him, she had 
stopped him, and that afternoon, when Ranma was standing on top of 
him, ready to claim yet another victory, she had turned the tables.
She treated him kindly, despite his eyesight and his curse, and told
him she wanted to be his friend. Mousse remembered the way he felt
when he was around her, and then, what he had accidentally
told Ranma: "I will defeat you, and then Erin will be mine!"

"Is that it? Is that why I don't want Shampoo anymore?" he thought.
"Am I in love with Erin?"

He could see her smiling at him, at the Neko Hanten, at her house,
at the Dojo. He was hit with an unfamiliar sensation.

"She really cares about me," he murmured. "But does she love me? 
I...I have to know."

He spent the rest of the night thinking of different ways to ask her,
and around five in the morning, he finally fell asleep.

~<*>~

Mousse woke up the next morning to the sun coming in the window,
and a strange tapping noise by his head. He rolled over and saw a 
stick being hit repeatedly against the floor. He looked up, and saw
the Amazon matriarch sitting atop the stick.

"Uh, oh," he groaned softly. "I'm going to get it."

"Do you know what time it is?" Cologne questioned.

Mousse stared blankly at her.

"Well then, I'll tell you. It's almost noon. So, you had better get
your tail feathers downstairs and start working, Mister Part-time."

Mousse sat cross-legged on the bed and put his glasses on. "Honorable
Matriarch," he began carefully, "may I take the afternoon off, 
please?"

Cologne stared at him like he had just turned purple. "And why should
I let you do this?"

Mousse blushed, and then said, "Last night, I decided that I'm in 
love, and I need to go tell her, and see if she loves me, too..."

Although she would never admit it, Cologne was slightly confused.
After all, Shampoo was right downstairs. "I suppose that if-"

"Oh, thank you!" Mousse gushed. "I'll be back before the dinner 
crowd, I promise!"

He jumped off the bed, and went tearing into the bathroom to get 
ready, which he did in record time, then he went streaking 
downstairs, faster than Cologne could catch him.

The head of the Amazons stood in the upstairs hallway and thought,
"This is not going to be pretty..."

She bounced down the stairs on top of her stick. As she neared the 
bottom, she half-expected to see bloody pieces of the Chinese boy 
scattered about the floor of the restaurant. What she saw when she 
got into the kitchen, however, was not at all what she expected.

Shampoo was standing by the stove, holding her bonbori at her sides,
with her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Mousse, who was still
very alive, and in one piece, was standing in front of her, talking
faster than Cologne had ever heard him talk. He was just finishing
what he was saying as the elder Amazon walked in.

"...And I completely relinquish any claims I might have had on you,
and I am giving up on trying to marry you, Shampoo. I...I don't love
you anymore."

At this, Shampoo's mouth got wider, and her great-grandmother
practically fell off her stick. Mousse pushed his glasses up onto his
hair, and continued, oblivious to the shock he was inducing.

"I don't think I've been in love with you for a while, but my efforts
to win you had become a habit. I was so used to doing it, that I 
wasn't realizing how much you don't like me. And, I'm sorry I've 
given you such trouble, and," here he turned to Cologne, "and I won't
be chasing your great-granddaughter any more. I love Erin."

He took a deep breath, and waited for them to say something.
They didn't. He took that as a good sign that they weren't going to 
murder him where he stood.

"So," he began slowly, "may I go tell her?"

Shampoo nodded, still in shock, and Cologne rasped slowly, "Yeees,
you do that."

Mousse grinned, turned, and went running out the door, leaving the 
two Amazon warriors standing in the kitchen. Finally, Shampoo turned
to Cologne.

"Mousse no love Shampoo," she began. "Mousse love other woman."

Cologne nodded, wondering what Shampoo was getting at. Then, Shampoo
clasped her hands together and began jumping up and down.

"AIYAAA!" she squealed with glee, "Mousse no love Shampoo! Mousse
love other woman! I happy!"

~<*>~

"Where am I?" Ryoga asked himself.

He looked around the busy market, and didn't recognize a thing. He 
had been with Jesse just a minute ago. He turned to an older man 
holding a cup with money in it. Ryoga asked him, "Did you see a blond
American girl go by recently?"

"Nope," replied the blind man. "But I'll let you know if I do." He 
laughed hoarsely.

"Oops! Sorry."

Ryoga glanced around him, still looking for his girlfriend.
"I am still in Nerima, aren't I?"

The blind man shook his head. "I wouldn't know."

"No!" Ryoga cried, "I can't be lost now!" He looked up, put his hands
to his head and howled, "It's not fair!" An aura of depressed
chi was beginning to form around him. He would have to release it, so
he ran to the edge of the market, and pointed his hands towards
an alley.

"SHI...SHI-"

"Ryoga!" yelled Jesse, "What's up with you?"

The Lost Boy's battle aura faded, and he turned around. "Where have
you been?"

Jesse crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "I've been right there
for the past fifteen minutes," she told him, pointing at a stand 
advertising fresh fruit. "And up until about a minute ago, so were
you."

"Oh...sorry."

Jesse giggled, and went over to take him by the arm. "At least you're
not in Kyoto," she offered helpfully.

Ryoga sighed. He was quite sick of his directional inability.

"Come on," Jesse continued, "I got the stuff Erin wanted, so let's
go back to the apartment, and then the three of us can go get 
something to eat. Smelling all this food is making me hungry!"

Ryoga followed her lead as they left the market. "Alright," he 
replied obligingly, "Food sounds good."

As they walked down the street, Jesse turned to him and said, in no 
uncertain terms, "But no okonomi-yaki!"

~<*>~

Mousse decided that before seeing Erin, he was going to make a quick
stop at the Tendo Dojo. When he arrived, he ran around to the back,
where he found Ranma practicing his martial arts. Ranma, who was off
in his own little world, didn't notice the Chinese boy until he 
spoke.

"Ranma, I need to talk to you."

Ranma turned around and scowled at Mousse. "You cheated!" he accused.

Mousse, who was hoping that Ranma wouldn't decide to attack him, took
a step back. "No, I did not cheat, I just had help. But I came to 
tell you that-"

Ranma interrupted him. "What's the difference, duck, I had ya beat,
and then she came along and-"

Mousse decided that for once, he was going to stand up to his rival.
He broke in on Ranma's complaining streak.

"I wasn't finished yet, so just be quiet for once and listen!"

Ranma blinked as Mousse continued. "I did win that fight, but if Erin
hadn't come, I would have lost." He paused, and when Ranma didn't
say anything, he continued. "What I came here to tell you is that...I
concede."

Ranma stared at him similar to how Cologne had earlier.

"You would've won, and I acknowledge that. I told you that it would
be the last time I would challenge you, and I meant it." Here, Mousse
smiled deviously. "Shampoo is all yours. I won't get in the way 
anymore. Have a great life together! I have to go do something
else now, so I shall see you around, Ranma."

Ranma watched as Mousse ran off. "This town is gettin' odder by the
day," he grumbled.

Up in one of the Tendo's second story windows, Nabiki was watching
and listening. As she got up and walked away, she muttered, "Now 
doesn't that just take the cake."

~<*>~

After Mousse got about a block away from the Tendo's house, he 
stopped to think. He needed to find Erin, but, unlike most of the 
other people in Nerima who were almost always in the same few places,
he didn't know exactly where she would be.

"Umm, I guess I should try their apartment first," Mousse thought.
"Then, if she isn't there, I'll have to think of something else."

He took off in the direction of Erin and Jesse's apartment, while
thinking, "Of course, once I get there, if she isn't there, I could
just stay and wait for a while. She has to come home eventually..."

About seven minutes later, he was running down her street. He was a 
little more than a half a block away when he saw her. There was 
someone else there, too, but that didn't matter to him.

"It's probably her cousin," he muttered as he approached. Of course,
he wasn't wearing his glasses.

"How am I going to do this?" he wondered out loud.

He paused to rest about thirty feet away, behind a light post. After
two minutes or so of thinking, he decided he couldn't come up with
anything spectacular, or really, anything at all.

He murmured, "Oh, well, old habits die hard. And, I can't think of a 
good way to ask her. Better to tell her right out, and then deal with
her reaction...I hope..."

He ran out from behind the streetlight, and ran towards her. When he
was about ten feet away, he cried out, "I love you!" and then ran to
her, doing much the same thing he had on the first day they met.

She went completely stiff. The next thing he heard was a low noise
from behind him that sounded almost like a growl, and a female voice
saying, "Ryoga, get him OFFA ME!"

"Mousse!" Ryoga yelled quite loudly, "What the heck do you think 
you're doing!? Take your hands off my girlfriend this instant,
before I turn you inside out!"

"Girlfriend?!" Mousse thought, "But Ryoga and Jesse are... Oh, 
dear..."

Mousse slowly let go, and took a step back, while putting his glasses
back on his face where they belong. He then took a good, close look
at the woman he had just proclaimed his love to. It was Jesse, and 
she looked just about ready to clobber him. He glanced behind him,
and saw Ryoga, his battle aura forming, wearing a look similar to 
Jesse's. The Lost Boy began walking purposefully towards him, and 
Mousse, having some survival instinct, took a step back...right
into someone else.

"Mousse!" exclaimed Erin, who had just come out of the door, "What
are you doing here...and, why does Ryoga look so mad?"

Mousse turned his head to look at her. "I-" he began. Ryoga broke
in.

Jabbing an accusing finger at the other young man, he yelled, 
"That...that person just said he was in love with my girlfriend!"

Erin's eyes widened, and Mousse hung his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah!" Jesse said, sounding annoyed. "And, he hugged me! Practically
popped me, too!"

Mousse sighed. "This isn't how it was supposed to work," he 
whispered. Then, looking at the incensed Jesse, he said, "I didn't
mean to hug you."

Both Ryoga and Jesse replied, "Oh, really?!"

Mousse shook his head slowly, and blushed, "No, I...I didn't have my
glasses on, and I thought you were Erin, so I, uh..." he trailed
off as Ryoga's jaw dropped, and Jesse arched an exultant eyebrow.

"Shôri!" she muttered, "Yatta." But, no one heard her.

Behind him, Mousse heard Erin make a soft noise. He turned around,
now staring at her feet.

"I didn't do a very good job," he started softly, "but I did come 
here to tell you something."

"Yes?" she prompted gently.

"Well, I, uh, what I wanted to say was...I mean, I came to tell you
that...I, um..."

Ryoga sighed in the background and Jesse muttered something in 
English.

Mousse took a deep breath, then quickly said it. "I thought all night
long about how I feel, and I realized that I don't love Shampoo.
I haven't loved her for a while, but I didn't stop to think about
it. Up until a few days ago, I'd never had anyone who even cared that
I existed, but...I do now. You've been nicer to me than anyone else
I've ever known, and you've always been there when I needed someone.
And...and last night, I discovered that I..." and here, he finally
looked up at her face. "I love you."

"There," he thought, "I said it." Then, to her, he asked, "Could
you ever love me?"

Mousse squirmed as he waited the second or so it took her to respond,
but to him, it felt like forever. Then, she smiled at him, and he 
felt his face go red again. She reached out, hugged him, and 
murmured, "I already do love you, since I first saw you walk down the
stairs in the Neko Hanten the day we met."

Ryoga twitched and Jesse made a grumbling noise at the increasing
level of mushy-ness. Erin leaned over Mousse's shoulder to stick her
tongue out at the two of them. Mousse turned his head and saw her do
it. She smirked at him, then, she took his face in her hands, and 
kissed him. His eyes went wide, but then he melted. He closed his 
eyes and hugged and kissed her back.

"Aren't first kisses grand?" Jesse asked Ryoga with a devious gleam
in her eyes as she looped her arm through his. He nodded and blushed.
"It is his first kiss, isn't it?" She questioned.

Ryoga looked at her like she was insane. "Are you kidding?" he asked
incredulously. "No one in Nerima, or all of Japan, or China, as far
as I know, has ever taken any kind of interest in Mister 
Knife-throwing Duck. Of course it's his first kiss. There probably
isn't another person on this planet who would want him."

Jesse shrugged. "You know," she said thoughtfully, "that looks kind
of fun.

Ryoga stared at her blankly. "Huh?"

Jesse looked exasperated. "You should kiss me."

"Oh, O.K."

A minute or so later, two people stood down the street, watching.

"Don't they need to take a break for air?" Akane asked Nabiki.

Nabiki shrugged. "That's one of the many reasons we can breathe
through our noses," she explained.

"Oh," Akane muttered. Then, a few seconds later, she acquired a 
strange look on her face. "Hey, wait a minute! That blond girl is 
kissing Ryoga! He probably hasn't even told her about his curse!
I'm going to kill that jerk!"

Akane pulled out her mallet, and was about to go "inform" Jesse that
the person she was with turned into a black piglet, when Nabiki 
grabbed her by the arm and began guiding her in the opposite 
direction.

"Trust me," Nabiki told her sister, "she knows."

"But he never told me!" Akane complained.

"Yeah, well, he learned."

"Oh, fine," the tomboy conceded, putting away her mallet. "But how 
would you know?"

Smiling, Nabiki replied, "It's my business to know these things."
Then she shrugged. "I'll tell you everything I know while we go get
the noodles Kasumi wanted."

"Alright," Akane conceded.

They walked around the corner, but less than three seconds after they
disappeared, Nabiki popped back around the corner, with her camera
in her hands.

"Hold on, Akane. I just have to get one picture of this. After all,
this is a major event in Nerima history..."

*Snap, flash*

~<*>~

Later that day, after they had eaten, Jesse and Ryoga went off 
together, while Erin walked with Mousse back to the Neko Hanten.
She had her arms wrapped around one of his, and he was blushing
and smiling at the same time. Periodically, Erin would giggle; Mousse
wasn't sure why exactly she did that, but eventually he decided
it just expressed random, free-floating happiness. Their behavior
on the way gained them several strange looks, a few double takes,
and at least two gaping stares. Everyone in the city was so used to 
Mousse chasing Shampoo, and being pounded for it, that this new 
development was quite a shock. Mousse, however, didn't care if the 
whole town came to stare; he was happy.

Mousse walked into the Neko Hanten with Erin still attached to his 
arm. There were no customers at the moment, and Shampoo and Cologne
were both back in the kitchen. The young man was beginning to feel
a bit nervous at the prospect of facing the two Amazons again, but 
decided that since they had been compliant that morning, hopefully,
they hadn't changed their minds.

"I'm back," he called as he walked around the counter.

Shampoo came bouncing out to meet them.

"Nihao!" she greeted, sounding like she was about to explode with 
glee. "Erin-sama, so cute you look with Mousse." Then, drawing solely
on her own goal of quick marriage to Ranma, and not on the reality
of life, she asked, "So, when wedding date?"

Mousse turned crimson, and Erin blinked. The Chinese boy opened his
mouth to say something, but no sound was coming out. Erin quickly
filled in. "We'll get back to you on that," she said. Then, muttering
under her breath, "In about two years..."

Shampoo shrugged and went back into the kitchen. Cologne came out a 
second later, perched on her stick.

"What a delightful development," she rasped. "And, you are back on 
time. How splendid."

Erin smiled, and Mousse nodded. Cologne continued, "So, no more 
chasing Shampoo?"

"No," Mousse said.

"Good." Cologne acquired a look of deep contemplation, then asked,
"How much do I pay you, Mousse?"

The Chinese boy eyed her warily as he replied, "Nothing. Outside
of room and board, that is."

"Hmmm..." Cologne mumbled. "Well then, in light of recent 
occurrences, I think I'll give you a raise."

"What?!" Mousse mouthed.

"I'd say, minimum wage, weekends off, and you can still stay here."

The young man was having trouble getting words to come out. It would
have been equally stunning had she said she was going to shave her 
head and get a tattoo.

"Th-thank you..."

"Just don't let it go to your head. And remember, you have to start
work in three minutes."

With that declaration, she pogo-sticked her way back into the 
kitchen, leaving Mousse standing there with a rather glazed look on 
his face. Erin poked him lightly in the ribs.

"Snap out of it," she instructed.

Mousse turned and looked at her. "I never, even in my wildest dreams,
thought that this would ever happen. Did you hear her? She's going
to start paying me!"

"I'm glad," she told him. "It's about time they started treating
you better."

Glancing at the clock, Mousse said, "I have to go back to work now.
Will you come by tomorrow?"

"Of course."

She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss.

"By the way. Did you ever put ice on your head?"

Mousse stared into space for a moment before saying, "Uh, oops...
I forgot."

Erin rolled her eyes, but was still smiling brightly.

"Have fun. I'll see you later. Sayonara, Mousse-chan." As she got to
the door, she turned, and, utilizing one of the only Chinese phrases
she knew, she called back, "Wo ai ni!"

Mousse smiled, and waved as she walked out. "Anata ga suki desu, 
koibito."

~<>~<*>~<>~

~All Ranma ½ characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Video,
respectively. I don't claim to own any of them. I just enjoy writing
about them! I do, however, belong to myself, so I will claim me...
I'll also assume my cousin, who graciously allowed me to include
her in my story, will claim herself. *smirk* On the other hand, this
story is completely my work, so please ask before you use it in any
way. Now, on to the fanfic!~

Kokoro Kara

(With All my Heart)

A story by: Eri-Chan

(All questions, comments, critiques, and

spelling/grammar corrections would be most appreciated)

Eri_Chan16@hotmail.com

9-02-00 to 3-22-03

~Part Two: Interlude~

Over the rest of the summer, the four teenagers spent almost all 
their spare time together. Although Cologne had said that Mousse
only had weekends off, she actually turned out to be very lenient
in regards to his going out, especially where his new girlfriend
was involved. And, as for Ryoga, he now had two people who would help
him out when it came time to go anywhere; sometimes three, as he and
Mousse were trying to get along better. Mostly to avoid "the Look,"
which they would get from the two girls whenever they so much as 
glared at each other in a menacing fashion.

Sometimes the girls would cook, and sometimes the guys would cook,
and sometimes they would go out to eat. Jesse and Erin learned very
quickly that Ryoga had an understandable aversion to ham and pork,
and Mousse refused to eat duck (which tastes nasty anyway...).
On one of their trips to an American restaurant, they also discovered
that Mousse has a violent allergy to mayonnaise; something that led
to a "fun" trip to the local doctor and involved a stomach pump.

After they had been going out about three weeks, Erin took Mousse
to an optometrist to have his prescription updated. For the next two
days, he walked around in absolute exultation as he realized that 
grass is made up of individual blades and trees still have bark no 
matter how far away you get. Of course, he still had the habit of 
pushing them up on his head, but at least he could see when he 
remembered to wear them...

When the school year started again in the fall, Erin and Jesse 
enrolled in advanced language classes at the local college. Mousse
and Ryoga, who had both been taught small amounts of English while
growing up, decided that they wanted to learn more. This was 
partially out of a desire to be able to communicate with their 
girlfriends in their native language, and partially because they 
wanted to be able to understand the various, muttered English 
comments that the two girls made when talking to people like Ranma.
Because of this, both young men decided to take a beginner's
conversational English class. Mousse, who has a natural propensity
for learning languages, grasped abstract concepts faster, whereas
Ryoga's knowledge proceeded along more practical lines: "Hello,
how are you? My name is Ryoga. Where is the bathroom?" Both of them,
however, quickly learned one phrase, even if they didn't really 
understand the grammar behind it: "I love you."

By Christmas, both Ryoga and Mousse could carry on pointless 
conversations in English, consisting of what their names were, where
they were from, and basic physical characteristics. Something
that only came in handy with people who didn't speak English. ("Hi,
Ranma. You are short, stupid, and ugly.") For the first time in 
several years, Ryoga got a Christmas present, and, as for Mousse,
it was the first time in his life. Now that they had girlfriends,
they also quickly figured out what mistletoe was good 
for...especially if you carried it around with you.

Although neither Erin nor Jesse had any real interest in becoming
martial artists, Mousse and Ryoga did give them occasional "lessons."
Ryoga and Jesse focused mostly on hand to hand combat, with her 
favorite attack being tickling (worked every time...), and Mousse
worked on teaching Erin how to throw knives...accurately.
The two cousins were actually getting fairly good. Of course, not 
good enough to actually beat anyone in Nerima, but then again, no one
ever thought about attacking either of them. Too many strange rumors
going around. Both girls, however, had the same feelings about 
fighting with honor: If you need to win against the bad guy, do it 
any way you can...including cheap tricks and/or cheating. After all,
in a life or death scenario, it doesn't really matter whether or not
you played "fair" in the end...just as long as you lived through
it.

By the end of the school year, both young men could hold their own in
English, as long as the conversation didn't get too technical
or abstract. Ryoga's directional sense, as well, was showing 
improvement with all the positive reinforcement he was getting from
Jesse and her cousin; something he'd never gotten before. One still
couldn't tell him where to go and expect him to get there, but with
a good map, he usually did all right. As far as the martial arts,
Jesse could hold her own against Ryoga, as long as he kept it fairly
simple and didn't use any energy attacks, and Erin could hit the 
center of the target almost every time, as long as it wasn't moving
all about.

Soon, it was summer again, and the girls decided that they were going
to stay for at least another year...

~<>~<*>~<>~

~All Ranma ½ characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Video,
respectively. I don't claim to own any of them. I just enjoy writing
about them! I do, however, belong to myself, so I will claim me...
I'll also assume my cousin, who graciously allowed me to include
her in my story, will claim herself. *smirk* On the other hand, this
story is completely my work, so please ask before you use it in any
way. Now, on to the fanfic!~

Kokoro Kara

(With All my Heart)

A story by: Eri-Chan

(All questions, comments, critiques, and

spelling/grammar corrections would be most appreciated)

Eri_Chan16@hotmail.com

9-02-00 to 3-22-03

~Part Three: Someone to Watch Over Me~

"Nihao, Ranma!" Shampoo called as the martial artist entered the Neko
Hanten. "Ranma come date with Shampoo?" she asked expectantly.

Ranma rolled his eyes, and pried her off his arm. "Nah, I'm here ta 
see the Old Ghoul. She said she had somethin' for me."

The Amazon pouted for a moment, then cheered up. "Shampoo go get 
great-grandmother for "airen". Ranma wait here, yes?"

He nodded, and she went dashing up the stairs to find Cologne,
returning a minute or so later with the old woman.

"So, Son-in-Law, I see you have arrived."

Ranma crossed his arms and tried to look indifferent. "Yeah, well,
ya said ya had somethin' for me."

"Yeees," she rasped slowly. "I do."

"Come on," Ranma grumbled impatiently, "I ain't got all day. What is
it?"

"A cure for your curse."

Ranma missed the chair he had been trying to sit down in, and ended
up on the floor on his backside. He jumped up immediately.
"Whadya mean, 'a cure'?"

"I have discovered a possible way for you to get rid of your Jusenkyo
curse, but, it will not be easy."

"Just lemme at it!" Ranma cried confidently. "I can take 
it...whatever it is..."

"Hmm... We shall see."

"How do I get it?!"

"Tell me," croaked the Amazon Matriarch, "have you ever before heard
the legend of the Mokatsu?"

~<*>~

"If he's not careful, one of these days he's going to end up with a 
French braid."

Ryoga and Jesse were sitting on a blanket, watching Erin and Mousse.
Erin was sitting on the ground with her back against a tree, and her
legs up in front of her, while Mousse was propped against her legs,
with his head back and his eyes closed, while she played with his 
hair.

"Um, Erin," Jesse said, "He looks comatose."

"I'm just relaxed," Mousse mumbled. "That's all."

"Yeah, well, any more relaxed and your heart might stop."

"Actually," Erin interjected, responding to Ryoga's original comment,
"I tried French braids last week, and it didn't look right. A 
ponytail, on the other hand, looked cute."

Ryoga snorted, then grumbled, "Forget I said anything."

Erin smiled, and Mousse opened one eye and looked at the other 
couple. "So, what are we going to do tonight?"

The other three teenagers were thinking about his question, when all
of a sudden, there was a splash, and Erin had a very wet, and, 
consequently, very un-relaxed duck sitting in her lap.

"RAAANMAAA!" she yelled.

The pigtailed martial artist appeared from behind the tree, swinging
an empty bucket from one hand, and wearing a cocky expression.
Erin immediately picked up a cup of water sitting next to her, and 
sloshed its contents at Ranma, who promptly dodged...right
into the spray of water from Jesse's cup.

Girl-type Ranma stood there for a second, dripping on the ground,
before complaining, "Hey! No fair gangin' up on me!"

"Sorry," said Jesse unconvincingly. "It just needed to be done."

Ranma glared at Jesse as she refilled her cup. Meanwhile, Erin had 
pulled a thermos of hot water out of her backpack and poured most of
the contents over Mu Mu-Chan, who changed back into a human. The two
young ladies had gotten quite good at carrying supplies to counteract
their boyfriends' curses should they strike while they weren't near
a sink.

"What do you want, Ranma?" Ryoga asked, totally forgoing tact.

For a second, Ranma actually seamed to be searching for the right
words. Finally, he muttered, "I need ta talk to you and Mousse."
Then, with a glance towards the two American girls, he added 
forcefully, "Alone."

"Well, excuuuse us!" Jesse mumbled sarcastically in English.

"How wude," her cousin added.

Mousse and Ryoga smiled slightly, glad that they could now be a party
to the wonderful world of Ranma-bashing in other languages. Then,
Ryoga spoke up.

"Oh, fine. But only for a few minutes."

"We were, after all, previously occupied," Mousse put in.

"That'll work. Let's go over there."

Ranma pointed to a few trees over by a small pond about twenty yards
away. The other two boys nodded, told their girlfriends that they 
would be "right back," then followed Ranma to the previously
designated spot of conference.

"Well," Ryoga began, somewhat impatiently, "you got us. What did you
so desperately want to tell us?"

"I just found out a way for us ta get a cure."

"You're kidding us," Mousse said skeptically.

"Would I lie ta ya?"

The other two martial artists wisely refrained from answering.
Ryoga raised an eyebrow in anticipation. Ranma continued.

"Ya see, it all started this morning when I went to the Neko Hanten.
Cologne had told me ta come, 'cause she wanted ta tell me about this
weird race called the Mokatsu..."

~<*>~

"Tell me," croaked the Amazon Matriarch, "have you ever before heard
the legend of the Mokatsu?"

Ranma shook his head. "No, but I'm listenin'."

"Very well, have a seat."

Ranma sat. Cologne made herself comfortable atop her cane before
beginning her tale.

"The Mokatsu," she intoned, "are a mythical race in ancient Amazonian
legend; powerful monsters that are capable of incredible destruction
and devastation. Every thousand years, their fortress appears atop
Muchitsujo-Yaka, Chaos Mountain. Very little is know about their 
ways, but it is told that there are always two at a time. Never more,
and almost never less. The main creature is a powerful "Master,"
with a significantly weaker "Heir." If the adult is destroyed,
the juvenile absorbs its energy, becomes the new Master, and will 
make itself a new Heir through parthenogenesis."

Ranma's face went blank at the last word. She stopped and explained
it, then continued.

"The legend goes on to say that if you can defeat them, you will be 
granted a wish. However, no one has ever defeated them, to my vast
knowledge. However, they enjoy the battles. Because of this, they 
return every thousand years, for a period of three days. During that
time, they allow people to challenge them. If the people win, they
get their wish; if they lose, they die, and the master Mokatsu 
absorbs their chi energy, becoming increasingly powerful with each
human it kills. 

Now, I have heard, from undisclosed sources, that the fortress
has been sighted and the legends are true. The Mokatsu have returned,
and will be wanting to fight."

For once, Ranma actually looked interested in what the Old Ghoul was
saying. Off to the side, Shampoo leaned against the wall, listening
intently as well.

"One person alone, however, will be turned away. There must be two,
or at most, three, before the Mokatsu will consider accepting
the challenge. I do not know why. Perhaps it does not feel that 
fighting one person is a worthy test of its prowess."

"Then it's never met me!" Ranma boasted.

Cologne closed her eyes and shook her head. "Son-in-Law, even you 
would not be powerful enough to defeat it alone. Never mind the fact
that it wouldn't even bother fighting you by yourself, as I have 
already said. You need two other people to go with you."

"Hmm," Ranma thought aloud. "I can't take Akane, she's not good 
enough. Ukyo, maybe... No, even she isn't all that great in a 
straight fight. What about Shampoo, maybe?"

The Amazon girl interrupted his train of thought. "Shampoo not go."

Ranma was a bit taken aback. Shampoo was turning down a chance to go
somewhere with him? This was a new experience. After a second or two
of Ranma's stunned silence, she continued.

"Shampoo hear stories about evil monsters since child times in Amazon
village. Shampoo have no wish to fight one, even with Ranma. Ranma
need find someone else."

"There were only two likely choices to begin with, Son-in-Law,"
Cologne broke in.

Ranma nodded in resignation. "I'll take Ryoga."

"That is very well and good, but you are going to need all the help
you can get."

Ranma snorted, then grumbled, "Fine, Ryoga and Mousse. Any other ways
you'd like ta make my life harder than it already is?"

"Yes," she croaked with a sly smile. "You're going to have to get 
them without their girlfriends finding out. Or, you may end up with
more complications that you bargained for."

Ranma cringed. He still had occasional disturbing dreams about his 
humiliating defeats at the hands of the two American ladies. And, 
over the past year, as they began to make friends with most of the 
people in Nerima, he had done his best to stay civil to them, but 
mostly, just to stay out of their way. They gave him the creeps.

"You bet," he responded wholeheartedly. Then, getting carried away
in the moment, he yelled, "I'll defeat the Mokatsu, and then, 
GOOD-BYE, GIRL HALF! WAH HA HA HA!"

With that battle cry of overconfidence, Ranma turned and went running
out the door to begin assembling his "strike team."

After his departure, Shampoo turned to Cologne.

"Great-grandmother, you really think this work?"

The old woman shrugged, then said, "Maybe, maybe not. But, if it 
does, Ranma will not only be the strongest man, but he will be all 
man. Then he will truly be the perfect husband for you."

~<*>~

Ranma paused after recounting his story, and waited for Mousse and 
Ryoga to respond. Silence dragged out for a few more seconds, as the
two young men processed what they had just heard. Ryoga spoke first,
rather loudly.

"I can be rid of the pig!"

Girl-type Ranma clamped his hand over Ryoga's mouth. "Keep it down,"
he hissed. "We can't let the American squad know."

Mousse, who had still been processing the full ramifications
of Ranma's tale, spoke up. "Why not?"

With an exasperated look, Ranma snapped, "Because, we can't take them
with us. We already have three people, and they're not martial 
artists, anyway. Besides, ya really think that if ya told them, 
they'd just say, 'Oh, yes, please go get yourselves maimed. Have 
fun!'?"

Ryoga and Mousse fell silent.

"What are we supposed to do?" questioned the fanged martial artist.

Ranma shrugged. "Leave 'em a note, or somethin'."

After a few more seconds of deep internal contemplation,
Ryoga said softly, "I'll do it. To be cured of that which has 
destroyed my life for so long, I'll fight beside you."

Both boys looked at Mousse. The Chinese young man shifted his feet,
and stared at a nearby tree for a moment. "I'm going to hate myself
for this..." he thought silently.

He pulled his glasses off and played with them for a second. Then 
putting them back on, he replied slowly, "I too shall come."

Ranma seemed utterly oblivious to Mousse's internal trauma.

"All right!" he exclaimed. "We'll meet at the Neko Hanten tonight,
after dark."

"Uh, how am I supposed to get there?"

Mousse and Ranma stared at Ryoga.

"I already live at the Neko Hanten," Mousse reminded them. "I could
go and get Ryoga, but it would make more sense if you did it on your
way, Ranma."

Ryoga grimaced, but for once, Ranma ignored it.

"Tonight then. We'll begin our quest for the cure!"

With that last comment, Ranma turned and went running off, probably
to the Tendo Dojo, to pack. This left Ryoga and Mousse standing
alone by the pond.

"Good grief," Ryoga grumbled, "He sounds like a TV add."

Mousse nodded, and mumbled something about Ranma and overly happy
people on late night infomercials, before joining Ryoga in walking
back to their girlfriends.

"What are we supposed to tell them?" he asked Ryoga.

The other boy just shrugged noncommittally. He had no idea either.

~<*>~

"So," Jesse began inquisitively, "What did Ranma have to say?"

Ryoga and Mousse stared at each other. Mousse gave Ryoga a look that
seemed to say, "She's your girlfriend. You answer her." Ryoga made
himself a mental note to personally "thank" Mousse for his help, 
later. He looked back at Jesse.

"Actually, he, um, just wanted to ask us a pointless 
question...nothing important. Heh..." Ryoga put his hand behind his
head, and laughed nervously.

Erin and Jesse glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. However,
both girls decided not to pursue the strange interpersonal
relationships between the competing martial artists of Nerima. As in,
they just didn't ask.

"Alrighty then..." said the older cousin. "Then, how about going for
ice cream or something?"

Mousse breathed an internal sigh of relief, and stole a glance at 
Ryoga. After which, he wished he hadn't, as the other young man was
glaring at him in a disturbing manner.

"Uh, oh," he muttered.

~<*>~

That night, after the two couples had parted ways, (after several
goodnight kisses, which the two boys for some reason seemed 
particularly desperate for) Mousse sat alone in the Neko Hanten.
Cologne was in the kitchen preparing supplies for them to take on 
their trip, and Shampoo was in her room, doing who-knows-what.
Ranma and Ryoga were taking much longer than they should have been.
He stood up and went to look out the darkened window, for at least
the eighth time. Sitting back down, he pulled one of his knives out,
and sighed. He felt terrible about not telling Erin what they were
planning. He turned his stool to the counter, placed his left hand
on it, and spread his fingers. Then, he began tapping the knife back
and forth between them, picking up speed as he went. It was something
that he did periodically to relieve stress. He was fairly sure that
Erin wouldn't appreciate it if she knew, but at the moment, he just
needed something to focus his attention on.

He had been playing with the knife for about five minutes, when the
door to the Neko Hanten slammed open, causing him to jump in 
surprise. Mousse was sure he had just missed his finger by half a 
millimeter. 

Whirling on whoever had entered the shop, he cried out, "What were
you trying to do?! Make me cut my hand off?!"

Ranma and Ryoga stared at him strangely.

"What's up with you?" Ryoga asked the hyperventilating
Chinese boy in front of him.

"You took forever," Mousse complained.

"Yeah, well," Ranma grumbled, "Ryoga got a little sidetracked
on the way..."

Mousse looked at Ryoga, mild agitation showing in his green eyes.
"You got lost again? I thought you were getting better."

Ryoga, who was also feeling bad about keeping his whereabouts
from Jesse, inadvertently took it out on Mousse.

"So I get lost. Big deal. At least I don't go around professing
my love to potted plants."

Mousse's face fell a little. "I haven't done that in over a year,"
he protested weakly. "Besides, can't you think of anything better
to make fun of than my eyesight?"

"Well, I could insult the rest of you, but that would be too easy."

The second he said it, he felt worse than he already did, especially
as he watched Mousse slump, and stare at floor.

"That was a cheap shot, Ryoga," he mumbled.

"You're right," Ryoga apologized. "It was. It's not your fault that
I'm uneasy about this whole mess. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Mousse said softly, looking up at Ryoga with a small
smile. "I know exactly how you feel."

"Touching," came an old voice from the kitchen doorway.

The three martial artists turned to face Cologne, who was perched
atop her stick. Ranma spoke up.

"Well, O-baba, we're all here. Now what?"

"Now I shall give you final instructions, your provisions for your
journey, and the map to lead you there."

Cologne hopped over to a table, and motioned them to do the same.
After they had seated themselves, she began her speech. Mousse,
Ryoga, and Ranma listened intently, as they all wanted to come back
from this particular adventure.

"I trust Ranma has told you both the legend of the Mokatsu?" She 
questioned first. Mousse and Ryoga both nodded, so she continued.
"Very well then. I will not lie to you by saying that this will be 
easy, or without a price. If you do not fight well, and fight to win,
there is a distinct possibility that one or more of you will not be 
coming back alive."

Ranma glared, Ryoga snorted, and Mousse twitched ever so slightly.
She stared at them for a long moment before going on. 

"The Mokatsu are strong, skilled, and clever. And, not at all above
using tricks and ruses to split you up, or injure you. 'Divide and 
conquer' will most likely be one of their chief methods of weakening
you. Fight as a group whenever possible."

She cleared her throat, and checked to make sure her audience was 
still listening. To be precise, they were hanging on every word. She
nodded in approval, then began to speak again.

"You will be traveling away from Nerima and Tokyo, to the south.
You will come to a relatively unassuming mountain. I will give you a 
map to show the exact location. On the top of Muchitsujo-Yaka,
is the mountain fortress of the Mokatsu; your ultimate destination.
I have packed enough food to last both ways if you do not squander
it needlessly." That last comment with a stern look in Ranma's 
direction.

"What?!" complained the pig-tailed martial artist. "So I like ta eat!
Big deal!"

Cologne muttered something under her breath in Chinese. Mousse 
snickered, while the other two just look confused. The old woman then
pulled out an ancient looking map, and placed it on the table in 
front of them.

"This is the Amazon map marking the precise location of the mountain
and the fortress in supports. If you leave in a few hours, you should
get there on the morning of the last day the Mokatsu will accept
challenges."

Jumping up, Ranma proclaimed, "Alright! Then let's go!" He began to 
go towards the kitchen, when Cologne hopped off her stick and 
thwacked him over the head with it. It made a nice hollow sound when
it connected, and Ranma ended up on the floor, rubbing the bump on 
his head and scowling.

"What'd ya do that for, Old Ghoul?!"

"Apparently," Cologne chided, "you were not listening to me. I said,
'in a few hours'. The three of you should try to get at least four
more hours of sleep before starting on your journey. It may be that
this will be the last opportunity for you to do so, until after you
have fought the creature. As such, you should make the best use of 
it."

She folded the map, and slipped it in the pocket of Mousse's 
backpack, which Shampoo had placed by the door, along with Ranma's
and Ryoga's. Cologne then turned back to the trio now standing
by the table, waiting for further instructions. Privately, she 
wondered how they could possibly hope to win, but she kept such 
thoughts to herself, not wanting to worry them any more than 
necessary.

"Well," she rasped, "Don't just stand there looking blank. You now 
know everything that I had to tell you. Anything else you need to 
know, you will have to learn there."

They nodded. She sighed tiredly.

"You may use Mousse's room upstairs. I have placed futons on the 
floor for all of you."

As they filed up the stairs, Ranma bumped Ryoga who growled back at 
him. Mousse tried to calm them down, which only caused them to turn
on him.

The old Amazon shook her head, then yelled up at them. "Remember,
you will need each other for the fight. The enemy is the Mokatsu,
so do try to refrain from killing each other tonight, won't you?!"

Ranma, Mousse, and Ryoga all mumbled their apologies and consent,
then went into the attic bedroom. After a few minutes of arguing
over who was sleeping where, they did all finally go to sleep.

Four hours later, Cologne woke them. They gathered the rest of their
supplies together, and, with a finally warning to be careful from 
Cologne, and a final Ranma-glomping from Shampoo, they set off 
towards Chaos Mountain.

~<*>~

The next morning, after the three young men had already been 
traveling for a few hours, Jesse and Erin woke up. After having 
breakfast and getting ready for the day, they decided that they 
wanted to see their boyfriends. Jesse went to the phone and called
Ryoga's house. Fifteen minutes and several tries later, she slammed
the receiver down in frustration.

"Good grief!" she griped in English. "Why isn't he picking up the 
phone?"

"Well," Erin said calmly as she walked out of the kitchen, "maybe
he can't hear it. He might still be asleep, or he could be in the 
bathroom, or-"

Jesse rolled her eyes and interrupted. "For fifteen minutes?!
Be realistic."

"Or," Erin finished, "he could be in the shower. Don't worry about
it. Just try again in a little while."

Half an hour later, with still no response from Ryoga, even Erin 
agreed that there might actually be something to worry about. The two
cousins decided to make a quick trip to his house, just to make sure
he hadn't wandered off to Hokkaido, or somewhere else, by mistake.

Arriving at his house, they went through a rather time-consuming
process of knocking on all the doors and windows, and trying to peer
inside. They were only able to see through one of the side windows,
which gave them a very nice but very unhelpful view of the hallway.

"Arrrgh!" complained Jesse loudly, as she proceeded to kick the side
of the house in annoyance. "He's not here. Piff!" She grumbled
as she rubbed her toe.

Erin thought for a minute. "We could try the Neko Hanten. Maybe 
Mousse or one of the Amazons might know where he is."

Jesse shrugged, and they headed off, arriving a little under twenty
minutes later. Upon going in, they found Shampoo cleaning tables
and looking slightly grouchy.

"That's strange," Erin thought to herself. "I thought that was one of
Mousse's jobs..."

Shampoo looked up and saw them, then turned and called into the 
kitchen, "Great-grandmother, is crazy girlfriends of pig- and 
duck-boy."

A few seconds later, Cologne came bouncing out of the kitchen,
on top of her cane. Shampoo, who didn't want to be present for the 
interrogation to follow, quickly retreated into the kitchen.

"O-hayô," Cologne croaked. "What can I do for you?"

Jesse began, a little too sweetly. "You wouldn't happen to know where
my Ryo-Chan is, now would you?"

"No," Cologne said simply. "Not at the moment." She had learned
over many years that if you were going to conceal something,
it was always best to stick as close to the truth as possible.
And, although she knew where he was going, she did not know exactly
where he was right then.

"Are you suuure?"

"What reason would I have to keep it from you if I did?"

"Grrr," Jesse growled at the old woman.

Cologne blinked.

"What?!" Jesse snapped. "So I'm high-strung. So sue me."

About that time, Erin, who had been looking around randomly, focused
on the Amazon Matriarch and asked pointedly, "Where is Mousse?"

Cologne paused a second longer than she should have. "He's out 
getting ginger root."

Erin and Jesse exchanged incredulous looks. Quoting her favorite
cynical feline, Erin turned back to Cologne and said, "Your lying
to me isn't half so insulting as the credit you're giving to my 
intelligence."

The old woman snorted. The two American girls stood there, arms 
crossed, looking incredibly unconvinced of anything she had told 
them. Finally, Cologne gave in...partially.

"Very well," she rasped slowly. "I do not know exactly where they 
are, but, I do know what they are doing. The only thing I will tell
you is that they are together, along with Ranma, and have gone to 
search for something important to them."

"That's what all that stuff was about," Jesse blurted, putting two 
and two together. "This is why Ranma wanted to talk to them so badly
yesterday."

"And," her cousin added, "for them to listen to Ranma, it would have
to be something life-changing. Probably a possible way to cure their
curses, as that's the only common goal between them."

"And it would have to be very dangerous," Jesse began.

"Or they would have told us about it first," Erin concluded.

They stared at the Amazon and waited. Cologne sighed. She preferred
dealing with the people in Nerima who couldn't think something
through if their life depended on it.

"Very well," she finally conceded, "Sit down. I have a story to tell
you."

The old woman proceeded to give them the Reader's Digest version
of everything she had told the cursed boys the previous day, careful
to leave out some of the more unpleasant parts. By the time she was
finished, though, both girls were irate anyway.

"You mean to tell us," Erin began, making a great effort to keep 
herself as calm as possible, "that you sent the three of them off 
into the mountains to fight a pair of incredibly powerful creatures
that will most likely kill one or more of them, on the off chance
that they can beat it, and by doing so get rid of their curses?!"

Cologne nodded. "That's about it."

Erin turned to Jesse, and they whispered back and forth for a few 
seconds before turning back to Cologne.

"Fine," Erin stated. "We have decided that there is only one thing
to be said."

"And what is that?"

"We'd like a second map."

The old woman blinked at them. "You're not really martial artists,
or any sort of fighters at all. It would be ridiculous for you to go.
There would be nothing you could do."

"That'll be our problem," Jesse told her. "Besides, sometimes
just being there is all that needs to be done."

"As to fighting," her cousin commented, "they can have it. But, I 
refuse to just sit here while the man I care about goes off and tries
to get himself slaughtered."

Jesse backed her up. "Agreed." 

Cologne watched them for a second, then asked, "And if I refuse to 
give you a map?"

Erin smiled disarmingly. "Then, we will ransack your room. If we do 
not find one, we will go through the rest of the restaurant.
If we still don't find one, then, after packing supplies, we will 
head in the general direction you described, and find them ourselves.
Although it would be much easier if you helped us."

The old lady stared at her for a moment, unsure of whether or not she
was serious. Then, she came to a decision.

"I do not have another map," she croaked. "However, if you go home
and gather everything you need to bring with you, and come back 
within the hour, everything will be ready. I shall draw up a copy of
the map, and I will give you food to take with you, as I did for the
others."

The two cousins nodded their consent, and did as the old lady had 
instructed them. About forty-five minutes later, they returned
with backpacks and supplies, to which Cologne added the food she had
prepared. As they began to leave, Cologne stopped them.

"As you know," she began seriously, "you are entering a very 
dangerous situation. I will assume no responsibility for anything
that might happen as a result of your attempting to join up with 
Ranma and his group. Also, I warn you, do not do interfere with 
Ranma's quest for a cure for the curses. It could go badly for all 
involved."

Erin replied, "We have absolutely no intention of getting in the way
of Ranma's little ego trip. We just want to be there, in case Mousse
or Ryoga needs us. That's all."

Cologne nodded and grunted. "Mmm. Very well, then. Go down the main
road out of the city until you come to the first marker as shown on 
the map. Then, simply follow the map until you reach the mountain;
it won't be difficult to climb. Only a moderately tiring hike to the
top. Kentou," she concluded.

"Thank you," Jesse and Erin told her. "And, we'll be back soon."

As they headed out the door and off down the street, Cologne stood
on her cane for a moment, staring after them.

"I would expect nothing less," she rasped.

~<*>~

The next morning, Ranma, Mousse, and Ryoga finally reached the top of
the mountain, and cautiously approached the fortress of the Mokatsu.
Upon entering the courtyard, they walked up to the large, black metal
double doors at the front. After checking to make sure there were no
visible holes through which arrows could be shot, or the like, Ryoga
knocked. It made a deep, hollow sound that echoed in the still 
mountain air. The three boys stared at each other, and after a few 
more seconds of waiting, while feeling conspicuously exposed just 
standing there, the doors swung slowly open.

"Come in," came a voice from out of the darkness.

After a short moment of indecision, they stepped into the doorway
and found themselves in a long, dimly lit corridor running parallel
to the front wall. The tall doors behind them slammed shut with a 
loud "bang," causing all three of them to jump slightly. Ranma looked
at Mousse and Ryoga, who both wore slightly embarrassed looks.

"Huh, you two are pitiful," he said archly.

Ryoga turned to him with an annoyed expression. "If you'll remember,
Ranma, you were startled too."

"Hmph," the pigtailed martial artist returned, "I was not."

As their eyes adjusted to the lack of illumination, the trio moved
slowly towards the direction from which the voice had originally
come. Now that they could see better, they saw that the speaker
was a short, wizened old man with a long, white beard, and many 
wrinkles. He stood in front of another set of large double doors;
this time, wooden, with intricate designs carved on them. He was 
dressed in a black robe, and was wearing a mildly disinterested
expression. He greeted them as they came within a few feet of where
he was standing.

"Yokoso," he began. "State your business in the fortress of the 
Mokatsu, or be on your way. Because if you don't have any business
here, then you should be going."

Ranma stepped in front of Mousse and Ryoga, and, putting on one of 
his most overconfident expressions, he said, "We have come to 
challenge the Mokatsu to a battle."

The little old man nodded. "Very well. First, let me tell you what
you will be facing..." He then proceeded to launch into an overly
detailed explanation of the history of the Mokatsu, which they had 
already heard from Cologne. Ranma looked impatient, but listened,
as did Ryoga, who wore a rather characteristic scowl. Mousse however,
allowed his gaze to wander, and soon it settled on a small alcove
down the hallway off to his left. There appeared to be a large, black
book sitting on a stone ledge inside. Glancing back at his two 
companions, whose eyes were looking rather glazed as the old man 
droned on, he decided to go have a look. He turned and walked towards
the alcove, about forty feet away. The old man, deeply involved
in his monologue, didn't notice or didn't care. Either way, he didn't
make any move to stop the Chinese boy from wandering off on his own.

Now that he could see it up close, he found that what he had thought
was a bound book was actually only a thick sheaf of yellowing
papers sandwiched between a folded piece of leather. On the front
cover was a single, gilded, interlocking design; pretty, but if it 
had any significance, he was unaware of it. Mousse turned the front
cover and tensed. After allowing a few seconds to pass, during which
nothing landed on his head, impaled him, or electrocuted him, he 
assumed that it was safe to continue. He scanned down the first page.
It was split into five columns, each containing a different language.
The first column on the right was made up of a unfamiliar language
with characters he had never seen before. Next was a column of 
Japanese, followed by one with Chinese. Then came one with awkward
English, as it was still written from left to right, although the 
book was designed for languages read from right to left. After the 
English came another language he didn't recognize. It was written
in romaji characters, but there were strange squiggles over some of 
the letters and accent marks or dots over others. He concentrated
on the Chinese column, as it was the one he was most familiar with,
and could absorb the fastest.

The text appeared to be mostly about the creatures that they were 
preparing to fight. Skimming the parts discussing its history and 
race, as he already knew that, he slowed down when he reached a 
section on its fighting style, and various methods of killing its 
opponents. Although it could just kill outright, the book said that
it preferred to injure its opponents, drain their chi energy, adding
it to its own, and then let them die on their own, as that took the
least amount of effort from the Mokatsu.

"Yuck," Mousse muttered under his breath. "Adding insult to injury
in the worst possible way. Cologne was right, though."

He turned the page, and discovered that the following section 
prefaced itself with the statement: Undoing the Effects of 
Chi-Draining.

"That means that you can fix it!" he thought to himself.

He was about to continue reading when Ranma called to him.

"Hey, duck-boy! Come on already. We've been accepted!"

"Yippee," Mousse mumbled unconvincingly as he looked up.

The old man was facing away from them, while he pulled something
out of a case attached to the wall. Mousse quickly folded the piece
of paper he had been looking at and stuffed it up his sleeve, before
closing the book and walking over to join Ryoga and Ranma. He got 
there just as the old man turned back around, an ornate dagger 
cradled in both hands.

Holding out the knife, he said, "With this knife, you can kill the 
creature. It is the only weapon that will kill it, and it can be 
killed and destroyed with this knife alone, and no other."

The three young men stared at him for a few seconds. Then, Ranma 
reached out and took the knife, placing it in his belt.

"What next?" he questioned.

The old man gestured for them to follow him to the double doors he 
had been standing next to. He pulled one open, only enough for them
to step through, then said, "Kentou," and shut the door, sealing
them in.

~<*>~

"I'm sick of hiking!" Jesse yelled at a rock that had the misfortune
of being in her way. She picked it up and hurled it back down the 
mountain in the direction she and her cousin had come from. They had
been traveling for at least twelve hours, not counting the various
necessary stops along the way. Tired and bored, but with no 
intentions of giving up, they had finally reached Muchitsujo-Yaka,
and were presently about halfway to the summit, and, consequently,
the fortress of the Mokatsu.

Erin turned and regarded her cousin, who was giving an offending
sapling a dirty look.

"At least the scenery's pretty," she offered helpfully, gesturing
at all the trees around them.

Jesse shrugged. "I suppose. But I want a decent bathroom for a 
change."

Erin wrinkled her nose slightly and muttered, "Eh, yeah, well. There
is that..."

As they stood there contemplating the lack of suitable toilet 
facilities, there came the sound of crunching leaves from off to 
their right. Turning, they saw on older woman carrying a gathering
basket, coming out of the woods. She looked up when she heard them.

"Welcome to Chaos Mountain," she intoned. "May I ask what you are 
doing here? This is no place for two young ladies to be taking an 
afternoon walk."

"We're not just taking a walk," Jesse returned. Then she added, "And
we could ask the same of you."

"I live here...at least, in the general vicinity."

After they stared at one another for a few more moments, Erin 
answered the old woman's question.

"We're traveling to the fortress of the creatures called Mokatsu.
Our friends have gone to challenge the Master, and we're going after
them."

The old lady acquired a knowing look. "Ah, yes, the three young men
who came through here a while earlier, no?"

Jesse rolled her eyes. "Well, two of them, at least."

The woman merely nodded. Jesse was beginning to look rather 
impatient, and she nudged her cousin in the ribs to make this fact
known.

Erin, for her part, addressed the woman. "We should probably be going
on our way," she said, trying to excuse herself and her cousin as 
politely as possible. "They've already been gone over a day."

The old woman replied, "Yes, of course, and, kôun o inori masu!"

"Thank you," the two girls replied in unison.

As the old woman was turning to leave, a small, low-flying bird 
swooped over her head. When it was slightly behind her, it did 
something most unusual. It appeared to spasm in midair, and then drop
to the ground, insensate. The three people stared at it.

"Stupid birds," the old woman groused. "They do that periodically.
I think it must be something in the local water."

She waved farewell, and shuffled back into the forest. As she passed
under the trees and disappeared, Erin watched the leaves above her 
rustle as if in a gentle breeze. Nevertheless, Erin could feel no 
wind whatsoever.

"Must be an updraft," she mumbled in English, turning back to her 
cousin, who was bent over, examining the bird.

After a few seconds, the bird righted itself, shook its feathers,
as if to clear its head, and took flight. Jesse and Erin watched
for a moment before standing. Jesse shook her head in befuddlement.

"Weird, weird," she muttered.

Then, they continued their ascent.

~<*>~

Upon a closer inspection of their surroundings, Mousse, Ryoga, and 
Ranma saw that they had been left in a very large, long room with 
high, vaulted ceilings. Filling the whole room, were large statues
of various creatures, many of which the three had never before seen
in their lives. The only light came from evenly spaced torches 
hanging from the walls, which only served to give the room an eerie
glow and cast long shadows off the sculptures. Ranma began walking
towards the opposite end of the room, and motioned the other two to 
follow him. As they walked, periodically stopping to look at 
particularly strange statues, Mousse finally broke the silence.

"So, what are we supposed to be doing?"

Ryoga turned and shrugged his shoulders. "The old man basically
just told us that we should be prepared to meet up with the Mokatsu
at any time after entering the Battle Room."

"Which is where we are," Ranma added.

"Right," Ryoga continued. "When we find it, or it finds us, Ranma's
supposed to formally challenge it. Then, we try to destroy it while
it tries to destroy us. Or, uh, we, um..."

"Die," Mousse finished for him. "Slowly and painfully. After which,
it shall absorb our energy and in so doing become even harder for the
next person to beat."

"Uh, yeah," muttered Ranma. "That's one way ta look at it."

"And, as the old man said," Mousse began, "we might be able to injure
this creature, but we can only kill it by using that knife," here he
pointed to the dagger in Ranma's belt, "right?"

The other two boys nodded. They walked in silence for a few yards
before Mousse spoke up again.

"Actually," he said softly, "it gets a little worse."

Ranma and Ryoga abruptly stopped walking and turned to face the 
Chinese boy. Mousse was forced to stop too, lest he run into Ryoga.

"What do you mean, 'worse'?" asked the Lost Boy.

"Weeeell," Mousse stalled, "You see, I found this book in the hall,
and well-"

"Spit it out, duck," Ranma commanded.

Mousse stared at him for a moment, then said, "There was a great deal
of information in that book, so I only read part of it. But, what I 
did read was absolutely fascinating, if somewhat gruesome."

Ranma and Ryoga glowered.

"Mousse..."

"Oh, uh, sorry. Basically, this creature can change shape to aid it 
in its battles. And, it can teleport, so it is most likely going to 
be very hard to pin it down. Although, there is the possibility
that it might consider that unsporting...although
I wouldn't bet my life on it, and I might have to."

"Also," he continued, "we're going to have to fight both Mokatsu.
They could come one at a time, one right after the other. However,
just based on what I've heard so far about these things, it's 
probably more likely that they will choose to attack us at the same
time."

The other two martial artists scowled.

"That's going to be really annoying," Ryoga grumbled.

Ranma nodded, but then acquired one of his 
'listen-to-me-brag-about-myself' looks, and said, "It ain't gonna
matter. I've beaten greater odds than these. I can take 'em, no 
problem. It'll be a breeze."

Mousse put his hand to his face, and Ryoga rolled his eyes.

"Oh, boy..." Ryoga mumbled.

Mousse looked at them. "I wonder, do you really think that a mere 
showing of brute force will convince this entity to counteract
our afflictions?"

Ranma stared at him. "Huh?"

Ryoga muttered something under his breath, then turned to Ranma.
"He means, if we beat it up, will it fix our curses."

"Oh," the pig-tailed martial artist said blandly.

Ranma began walking again, with Ryoga close behind, and Mousse 
trailing a little further back.

"That's what I said," the Chinese boy complained softly, once he was
out of their hearing range.

They had been walking for another hundred yards or so, when they 
reached the end of the statue garden, and found themselves in a wide,
open part of the room. It was better lit, with several large flames
along the walls, and there was a door on the far wall, most likely
leading to other parts of the castle.

Ranma turned to Mousse and Ryoga, and whispered, "We had better start
bein' careful from now on."

A low, growling laugh echoed through the room. Ranma turned around,
and looked up...and up. Behind him, he heard Ryoga gasp and Mousse
choke. Standing before them was one of the largest creatures they had
ever seen.

It was easily twenty feet tall, and its very being radiated raw, 
animalistic power. Almost humanoid in appearance, it had two legs 
supporting a muscular torso with two main arms, complete with 
yellowing claws, underneath which, were what looked like two more 
vestigial arms, with short tentacles instead of fingers. Bony plates
covered its shoulders, and ran, scale-like, down its back. It had 
nothing that could actually be called a neck, in any sense of the 
word, as its head seemed to connect almost directly to its torso.
A huge slit was all it had for a mouth, but the inside was replete
with sharp teeth, both small and large, and its eyes were small and
black. In the middle of its forehead, was a third, lidless eye-blood
red-with tendrils of black throughout. Its ears were set back on the
sides of its head, and tapered to points. The creature had some sort
of metallic adornment in one of them, which reflected the torchlight,
and glowed orange. It had nothing resembling clothing, but strange
tatters of a fleshy material seemed to be growing on its body. A 
pungent odor, like rotting meat emanated from it in warm waves.

The three martial artists stood there, staring dumbly. Even Ranma,
normally loud and boastful, was silent. Ryoga glanced over at Mousse,
who had turned a unique shade of gray, and was chewing on his bottom
lip.

"Go ahead," the fanged boy mumbled out of the corner of his mouth.
"Just say it."

Mousse swallowed. "We are all going to die."

"Pessimist," Ryoga huffed under his breath.

It took almost a full minute for Ranma to get himself together
enough to speak. He summoned his bravado and ample ego, and issued
the formal challenge.

"Venerable Mokatsu," he intoned, "we have traveled to your fortress
seeking honorable combat with you."

Another growl sounded behind them. Ranma twitched, Mousse stiffened,
and Ryoga turned his head to look. Behind them stood the Heir, having
appeared noiselessly, like the Master had a few minutes before.
Basically just a smaller version of its counterpart, it was only 
about nine feet, but still looked to be a formidable adversary.
Ryoga's eyes narrowed as he thought to himself, "This is not good..."

The elder creature grinned menacingly, its fangs dripping saliva,
and made a guttural noise.

No words came out, but a grating, invasive thought implanted itself
in their heads.

<Very well,> it projected to them. <We accept your challenge.>

Mousse turned slightly to Ryoga and whispered, "Whatever it is that
it's doing is making my brain itch."

Ryoga nodded, then, addressing both Ranma and Mousse, he said softly,
"I'll take the Heir. You two concentrate on the Master."

The two other boys nodded. Ryoga turned so that he was back to back
with them, before assuming a slightly crouched position, readying
himself for an attack. Ranma took up a similar position, while Mousse
readied his weapons. The pig-tailed boy nodded slightly to the 
waiting monster in front of him.

<Let us commence,> it projected simply. Then, the Mokatsu attacked.

~<*>~

"Ranma!" Mousse yelled over the din of battle. "Duck!"

At any other time, he might have found that comment ironic, but as 
things stood, no one was in any position to be amused by anything.

The three martial artists had been fighting the creature for what 
seemed like forever, but was actually closer to fifteen minutes.
The fight had been uneven from the start. Although Ryoga was holding
his ground against the Heir, he certainly hadn't succeeded in 
injuring it in any significant way. His strength was almost gone,
and now, his adrenaline was starting to give out. Sheer willpower
drove him on; that, and the fact that he knew if he didn't win, he 
would shortly be very dead.

Even Ranma, normally able to claim swift victory over his opponents,
was finding it increasingly difficult to catch his breath. He had 
been moving almost nonstop since the beginning of the battle, 
striking, blocking, and ducking, but with almost no visible effect
on the Mokatsu. Their attacks hadn't even been able to perceptibly
slow their foe.

After ducking the blow aimed at his head, Ranma glanced briefly
over at his partner. The Chinese boy had metal claws strapped to one
of his hands, and held a small mace in the other. He had been 
throwing weapons from his sleeves in great quantities since the start
of the battle, and the floor was now strewn with hundreds of things,
both sharp and blunt. The pig-tailed martial artist wondered briefly
if Mousse would eventually run out of weapons, as he was fairly sure
that he had recently seen a teddy-bear go flying through the air.

The Mokatsu, on the other hand, seemed unruffled; toying with its 
victims, as a cat would with a mouse, just before it kills it. It 
rarely ever bothered to block the attacks and weapons, but rather
dodged them. From its perspective, it was in absolutely no danger
of being defeated by these puny humans who sought to destroy it. 
After all, not only were they rather weak, but without the knife,
they could do nothing to it. And, due to a rather glaring error on 
Ranma's part, they no longer possessed it.

Ranma had been attempting to jump it from the side, while telling
Mousse to distract it by throwing as many weapons as possible.
The creature however, had sidestepped the projectiles at the last 
moment, resulting in Ranma falling short of his goal, quite 
literally. The Mokatsu had used his moment of instability to its own
advantage, catching him off guard, and knocking the knife out of his
hand. It skidded to a stop about fifty feet away, effectively
placing it out of their immediate reach. Since that time, both Ranma
and Mousse had been far too busy protecting their own existences
to give much more than a fleeting thought to retrieving the knife,
and Ryoga was much too far away.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ryoga saw Ranma dodge one of the 
creature's leisurely attacks. He had a feeling that the Mokatsu
were even more powerful than they had expected, and as such, didn't
feel a great need to expend much energy during this fight. To him,
they seemed to be doing only enough to force him, and Ranma, and 
Mousse to wear themselves out, while inflicting only minute damage.
He wondered when they would decide to actually attack, but at the 
same time, he hoped they wouldn't. He wanted to see Jesse again,
even if he was still cursed.

Five or so minutes later, the three young men were almost spent.
Ryoga was trying to gather enough chi to perform a Shishi Hôkôdan,
Ranma was powering up for a Mouko Takabisha, and Mousse was searching
his robes for a bomb, when the master Mokatsu stepped back. The three
humans paused, slightly tense, in anticipation of a possible attack.
The attack, however, never came. The Heir broke from its fight with
Ryoga, as the larger creature "spoke."

<Excellent,> it projected coldly. <You have proven to be fascinating
opponents. I have the power to destroy you all, but you amuse me.>

Mousse and Ryoga exchanged worried looks, as Ranma glared at the 
creature for daring to call him "amusing."

It went on, <You have fought harder and lasted longer than any of 
your predecessors. Never before have I found a battle with any 
creature as stimulating as this one has been. You have my 
appreciation. Because of this, I have decided to grant one of you 
your wish.>

It turned slightly, raised its arm, and made a downward motion.
A rift formed in midair, widening until it was a little larger than
a person. Undulating sparkles and colors floated within, giving no 
hint of what was beyond it. Looking back at the three exhausted
martial artists, the Mokatsu lifted one of its hands and pointed
a clawed finger at Ranma.

<I have selected you,> it decided. <You may step through the portal.>

~<*>~

Ranma blinked; the creature's words filtering through the hot air 
that occupied his cranial cavity. The thought, "I can get rid of my 
girl-half!" flitted through his head, and he took a step towards
the portal.

Mousse grabbed his arm, and Ranma turned to look at him. Mousse's
face was blank, but his eyes were wide with apprehension.

"Ranma, how can you trust it?" Mousse whispered urgently. "You don't
know what might be on the other side of that doorway. It could lead
anywhere...oblivion, even!"

The pig-tailed teenager paused for a brief moment. Then, shaking
off Mousse's hand impatiently, he turned back to the portal.

"Aw, you're just jealous," he grumbled at the other boy over his 
shoulder. Then, "No more curse!" he cried, as he ran up to the portal
and leaped in, leaving Mousse standing there, his mouth hanging
open.

It took Mousse and Ryoga a moment to register that Ranma had actually
just leapt through the offered doorway to an as yet undisclosed
location.

"You jerk," Ryoga snarled.

Mousse, however, was slipping into panic. "No!" he yelled after 
Ranma. "It's lying! Remember what Cologne told us!"

But it was too late; the portal shut on Mousse's words. He took a 
shaking breath and looked back at the master Mokatsu. It was grinning
evilly.

<Foolish human,> it projected to him, an undercurrent of malice in 
its words, <you almost ruined my plan. For that, I will punish you.
And then, I will kill you.>

It took a step towards him, and he in turn, backed up, almost 
tripping on a pike from earlier in the fight. Ryoga, sensing the 
other boy's distress, was about to go to help, when a low growl came
from behind him, and a voice echoed in his head.

<Where do you think you are going, mammal?> asked the Heir.

Then, it rushed him, its clawed fingers stretched out, ready to 
impale.

~<*>~

"I can see it!" Jesse, who was standing on a large rock, called to 
Erin.

The other girl looked up from tying her shoe. Her cousin was pointing
to the top of the mountain, where the peak of a stone tower could
just be seen above the tree line. She estimated that it would take
them another fifteen or twenty minutes of hiking to reach the base
of the Mokatsu's fortress. Jumping up on the rock next to Jesse,
Erin shaded her eyes with her hand, and stared for a moment.

"I have a very bad feeling about this," she mumbled.

"Come on," Jesse prompted, hoping off the boulder, and picking up her
backpack which she had previously deposited on the ground. "We should
be there soon." She paused. "And then we can beat the stuffing
out of Ranma for pulling all of us into this."

Erin glanced down at her cousin with a slight smile. "I thought
that we told Cologne we wouldn't interfere in his 'quest'?"

Jesse did her best to look innocent. "Oh," she said sweetly, "we 
won't interfere in his quest. Just...delay it a bit..."

Erin laughed and jumped off the rock as well. "Riiiiight..."
she said as she retrieved her own backpack. "Delay..."

The two girls continued up the mountain, reaching the base of the 
Mokatsu's castle inside twenty minutes. Standing directly in front
of the large, jet-black metal doors, Erin and Jesse paused for a 
moment.

Jesse broke the silence. "What do you think?"

Erin looked lost in thought for a moment before answering. "I think,"
she began, sounding very serious, "that those doors break the 
sixty-fifth rule of being an Evil Overlord."

Her cousin snickered. "Remind me which one that is."

Erin, who was grinning slightly, looked at her cousin and replied,
"You know, the one about, 'I will make the main entrance to my 
fortress standard-sized. While elaborate 60-foot high double-doors
definitely impress the masses, they are hard to close quickly in an 
emergency.'"

Jesse twitched. "Oh, yeah, that one..."

Finally, Erin turned to Jesse. "Alrighty then," she said, gesturing
sweepingly at the doors. "Shall we?"

"Surely!" replied Jesse.

The older cousin reached out and knocked loudly on the elaborate
entrance. Shortly after the echo of her knock had faded, the doors
swung slowly open, revealing the oppressive blackness inside. The two
girls looked at each other with a shared expression of suppressed
excitement barely overshadowed by worry.

After a short moment of indecision, they stepped through together
into the lair of the Mokatsu.

~<*>~

Ryoga hurled himself out of the way of the Heir's razor sharp claws
for at least the fifth time. He landed on the floor, rolling just in
time to avoid a downward slash from the monster. After Ranma had 
disappeared, the creatures had showed their true colors: fast, 
powerful, vicious, and sadistic. Ryoga had been struggling to 
survive, and his skills as a martial artist weren't helping him much.
How could you attack something that never let you stop dodging?
He never had the time to try to find the Breaking Point of any of the
stones lining the floor, and a chi blast was certainly out of the 
question. The second he tried to stand still long enough to gather
his chi, the thing would dice him. He was beginning to wonder if he 
could modify his Depression Blast into a Frustration Blast, but the
Mokatsu never gave him the chance to try.

"Maybe Mousse was right," he thought to himself as he dodged yet 
another of the Heir's swipes. "Maybe we are going to die."

As soon as he thought it, however, he banished that option from his
mind. He was absolutely unwilling to acknowledge the possibility
that this creature might be the instrument of his death. He did know,
though, that if he was to have any chance of winning, he would have
to come up with a different strategy, and soon. He already had 
several minor injuries, from times when his dodging had been a little
slower than it should have, and the Heir was a fast learner, adapting
to everything he had tried so far.

"I'm running out of ideas!" he complained silently.

Then, he ducked behind a statue as the creature once more swung its
sickle-like claws at his head. Although the blow missed Ryoga, it 
sliced the head and shoulders off the statue he was hiding behind,
showering him with dust and small pieces of sculpture.

"Rrrrrrrrr," he growled in frustration, as he was forced to leap out
of the way yet again.

~<*>~

"Ouch!" Mousse grunted as he smashed into the sculpture of some type
of unidentifiable bird. He rolled over, and grabbed the sword he had
dropped on the floor when he landed.

Whereas the heir Mokatsu seemed determined to slice Ryoga into 
ribbons, the Master seemed to prefer tossing Mousse about like a rag
doll. Every time he tried to attack it, it would either dodge or 
block the attack, then backhand him, hurling him bodily into whatever
happened to be in his path. It was both frustrating and painful.

Mousse rubbed the back of his fist against his forehead, trying to 
wipe off a thin trail of blood before it could trickle into his eye.
A small gash ran from just above his left eyebrow to his temple,
courtesy of one of his Mokatsu-induced flights into a particularly
pokey statue of something that, as near as he could tell, resembled
a platypus with spines. Fortunately, his glasses were still on his 
face, as he slowly stood to face the Master again. 

The creature seemed to smile at him. <I will greatly enjoy draining
your energy and adding it to my own,> it projected to him. <Of 
course, you will die almost immediately afterward. Pity. You have 
been fairly gratifying prey.>

Resisting the urge to tell it, "over my dead body", as it would 
probably take him at his word, Mousse risked a quick glance around
him. About forty feet to his left, the knife given to them by the 
doorkeeper lay forgotten on the stone floor.

"That's my only chance," he thought desperately, as the Mokatsu
advanced on him, claws outstretched.

Mousse dropped the sword suddenly, turned, and ran as fast as he 
could towards his only possible means of victory. The Mokatsu 
however, quickly figured out what he was attempting. Moving amazingly
fast for something of its bulk, it lunged after him, intent on 
preventing him from attaining the dagger. It aimed a blow directly
at his head, claws extended. They would have sliced straight through
Mousse's neck had he not, in his haste, tripped over a loose 
flagstone. The Chinese boy sprawled on the ground, the deadly claws
slashing harmlessly through the air above him. He rolled out of the
way, as it thrust at him once more.

The sought-after knife lay less than four feet to his left, as he lay
on the ground. Mousse pushed himself to his knees, and reached for 
it. His fingers had just brushed the handle when a searing pain shot
through his left leg, and he yelled in shock and agony. The 
creature's claws had finally found a purchase, and it dragged him 
backwards, ripping a long gash in his pants, and consequently,
his leg, from the middle of his thigh to his ankle, before it lost
its grip on him. Mousse was now at least ten feet from the dagger,
and it was all he could do to limp out of direct range of the Master.

At least two hundred feet away, Ryoga was busy trying to avoid the 
attacks of the Heir when he heard Mousse's pained cry. Startled
by the exclamation, he made the mistake of turning to look. The Heir
used the opportunity to strike him in the chest. The blow drew four
thin cuts across his torso, and sent him hurtling backwards into a 
nearby statue. The Lost Boy crashed into the top of the rock 
sculpture, then slid down and landed on the floor with a loud thump,
his right leg twisted under him at an odd angle.

The smaller creature began advancing on him, a gleeful, wicked grin
on its distorted face. Left without any other options, and unable
to stand, Ryoga began trying to build enough depressive chi to 
perform a Shishi Hôkôdan. However, having the Mokatsu coming at him
"maliciously and with intent to wound" didn't do anything for his 
concentration.

~<*>~

Mousse winced as he watched Ryoga hit the ground. There was 
absolutely nothing he could do, though, as the larger Mokatsu was 
preparing for what would probably be its final attack. The young man
was standing propped against one of the smaller statues, as he was 
having trouble putting any weight on his injured leg. He was running
low on weapons; he estimated that he only had enough left for one 
more attack, and the creature seemed to be tiring of its game.

"This is it," Mousse thought silently. "It's going to kill me, and 
there's not a thing I can do about it..." He paused for a second,
then decided, "I refuse to die just sitting here. If it gets my life
energy, it's going to have to work for it!"

All of a sudden, the Master leaped towards him. Mousse ducked under
its first strike, and ran to the side, ignoring the burning pain in 
his leg to the best of his ability. He skidded to a stop about 
twenty-five feet away from the creature, turned, and threw every last
weapon he had in his possession. The massive barrage flew towards
the astounded monster. Its eyes narrowed, and just as the first of 
the weapons would have connected, it disappeared. Mousse gave a 
startled cry as the weapons crashed into several of the statues
lining the battle area. The master Mokatsu was nowhere to be seen.

Ryoga started when he heard Mousse's exclamation of shock. For some
reason that he couldn't fathom, the Heir had stopped its advance,
giving him the chance to turn around. He could see the Chinese boy 
standing in the middle of the battle area, favoring one leg, with a 
very confused and slightly frightened look on his face. He turned,
wide-eyed, to look at the young man sitting on the ground.

Ryoga was trying to decide what to do when all of a sudden, the 
Master reappeared only a few feet in front of Mousse with a very 
angry expression on its face.

<I have grown tired of this game,> it 'said' darkly. <It is time for
your pathetic existence to cease.>

Mousse stumbled backwards in terror as one of the creature's
arms shot towards him. He was unable to stop it as it grabbed him by
the shoulder, its large hand closing like a vise on him.

"Don't kill me, please..." he whispered, almost inaudibly.

Ryoga was forced to watch helplessly as the gargantuan beast placed
one of its other hands flat against Mousse's chest. Then, using an 
attack that neither boy knew it was capable of, it shot a long, thin
bone spike out of the center of its palm. The Lost Boy screamed
in furious protest as the spike slammed through Mousse's body. The 
Chinese boy's only sound was a short, ragged gasp, as he stared 
dazedly at the creature that had just impaled him.

Ryoga began to glow, his depression mingling with his anger to form
an emerald green battle aura. "This is my fault," he mentally accused
himself. "I should have stopped it, somehow..."

After a moment of absolute stillness, an icy blue aura formed around
Mousse and the spike still embedded in his chest; he shuddered.
It only took Ryoga a second to figure out what the Mokatsu was doing.

"Leave him alone!" Ryoga screamed at the creature.

It completely ignored him, intent on the task before it. After less
than a minute, the aura flickered, then faded all together. Having
drained his chi energy, the Mokatsu withdrew the spike as Mousse
moaned softly. It released the Chinese boy. Ryoga watched as Mousse
crumpled to a heap on the stones. Then, the creature opened a portal,
similar to the one it had sent Ranma through, and disappeared
inside, leaving Mousse's body on the floor.

Behind him, Ryoga heard a snort. He turned back to face the Heir;
it was laughing scornfully.

<One less worthless human,> it projected with obvious derision.

That did it. Ryoga's battle aura flared in barely contained fury.
He placed his hands in front of him.

"SHISHI HÔKÔDAN!" he screamed.

A huge green blast of chi energy shot from his palms. It streaked
towards the Heir, barely seven feet away. The blast caught it 
completely by surprise, hitting it squarely in the center of its 
body, and carrying it back several yards into the wall. When it hit,
there was a blinding flash of green light, and the Heir was gone.
By the time Ryoga's vision came back, all that was left was a scorch
mark on the wall, and a burnt smell in the air.

The young man heaved a sigh of defeat as he thought of Mousse's
fallen body. Then, he slumped back against the statue and closed
his eyes, wondering what he could possibly do now.

~<*>~

It was dark in the hallway Jesse and Erin found themselves in, after
walking through the impressive front door of the fortress. As both
girls were quite well versed in science fiction and all its 
eccentricities, neither one was surprised or startled when the door
slammed behind them, of its own initiative. They stood a moment,
letting their eyes adjust to the dark before proceeding forward.
This time, there was no one there to meet the newcomers.

The two girls looked around, and Jesse immediately walked over to the
large double doors barring the entrance to the Battle Room. She 
knocked on them, and when she received no answer, she tried to open
them. When that, too, failed, she began looking up and down the 
ornate carvings on the doors, trying to find some means of unlatching
them.

Her cousin, on the other hand, had already noticed the large black
book that sat off to the left of the doors, and had gone to look at 
it. After admiring the knotted design on the cover, she began 
flipping pages, scanning to get a general idea of the content.
Although, like Mousse, she was unable to decipher any of the first
language, the others, she at least recognized.

"Hmm," she thought to herself, "Let's see. We've got Japanese,
Chinese... Whoa, really bad English, and, um, Spanish. Unique..."

She began reading the English column, skipping any information
she already knew, or deemed unnecessary. When she reached the part
about fighting, she slowed down, and paid more attention. She found
the part about the Mokatsu's ability to drain energy particularly
fascinating, and also, disturbing.

"Hey, Jess, come 'ere," she called her cousin over.

"What?"

The older girl pointed to the page in front of her, the one that told
about the Mokatsu's abilities to teleport, and to not only kill, but
to gain energy from those it killed.

"Read this," she said, looking up at her cousin with a mildly 
unsettled expression.

Erin moved to the side to allow Jesse to get a better look at the 
words. Acquiring a look of deep concentration, the blond girl began
to carefully read the section her cousin had shown her. When she had
finished, she was scowling.

"Cologne never mentioned anything about that," she said stiffly.

Erin shrugged, and replied, "Must've slipped her mind."

Jesse snorted. Then, looking back down at the offending text, she 
said, "It sort of sounds incomplete. Like whoever wrote it forgot
to finish the thought." She reread the last paragraph, then turned
to the next page, and scanned down the English column. "Hey!" she 
complained suddenly, "It is unfinished."

Jesse pointed to the book, and Erin got closer to see what her cousin
had found. Sure enough, the next page started in the middle of a 
completely unrelated topic.

"There's a page missing," Erin muttered, somewhat unnecessarily.

Jesse looked slightly peeved. "I wonder what went there?"

Erin smiled wanly. "Probably the Hints and Tips page," she said with
a slight giggle.

"Well, piff!" Jesse grumbled.

The two girls had been looking through the book for at least another
few minutes, when they heard a noise behind them. Turning, they were
confronted with the same little old man who had greeted their 
predecessors. He looked slightly haggard, and was a bit out of 
breath. Nevertheless, he made a slight bow.

Straightening, he queried, in Japanese, "Is there something with 
which you require assistance that I might be able to help you with?"

The two girls looked at each other, then back at the doorkeeper.
After a moment of silence, Jesse said, "Yes, there is. You see, we 
have a little problem..."

~<*>~

"No more curse!" Ranma cried, as he ran up to the portal and leaped
in, leaving Mousse standing there, his mouth hanging open.

As soon as Ranma's feet touched the ground on the other side, the 
colorful doorway shut. He had landed in a small room, with tiles 
covering everything, floor, walls, and ceiling. There was a black
door on the wall opposite him, covered in ornate scrollwork.
It was actually a very pretty room, but there was just one problem.
After approximately one third of a second, Ranma deduced that there
was absolutely no air whatsoever.

Unfortunately for him, when he had landed, he had exhaled sharply
on impact, simply out of reflex. It meant, though, that he had very
little air left. He pressed his hands over his mouth and nose, to 
prevent any more air from escaping without his prior consent.

"Gotta get to the door," he thought frantically. "Can almost reach
it..."

He concentrated on forcing himself to move towards the door at the 
far end of the room. It was hard to think, as he had been unable
to inhale for almost a minute. Colorful spots and flashes danced
at the corners of his vision, as he stumbled forward, striving
to attain his only means of egress.

"Come on, Saotome," he snarled at himself mentally. "You've fought
harder battles than this before, and you've always come out on top."

He was getting closer; for some reason, the room seemed a lot longer
than he had originally estimated. He was almost there. Five feet,
four feet, three, two... He reached out for the doorknob, and life,
when, obscenely, the door curved-actually, bent away from him, taking
itself out of his reach. Against all known laws of matter and 
science, the room somehow elongated itself, and the door had bowed
outward.

Ranma knew he couldn't hold his breath for much longer; he was 
pressing into two minutes. Desperately, giving an inward cry of 
frustration and defiance, he lunged at the door, hoping to...take
it by surprise, maybe?

Thwarted again; his outstretched hand touched only air, and the last
remnants of oxygen stored in his lungs were forced out as he thudded
heavily against the tiled floor. The only possible solution he could
think of was to simply remove the door with a chi blast. He didn't
have an opponent on which to focus a Hiryû Shôten Ha, so a Mouko 
Takabisha was his only option. (He wished he knew how Ryoga performed
a Depression Blast, as it seemed particularly fitting to the moment,
but...) Unfortunately, Ranma wasn't feeling particularly confident,
as he began to build his chi, while his peripheral vision failed
him.

"This is it," he thought, "all or nothin'!"

"Mouko Takabisha!" he managed to croak.

A faint orange glow formed around his hands, and a slight tendril
of focused chi slinked towards the door, but dissipated before it 
came anywhere close. Ranma watched in growing shock as his last 
chance failed...miserably. His eyes bulged, as his body betrayed
him, sucking spasmodically for something that wasn't present. He 
pounded the ground weakly in utter frustration.

"This sucks!" his mind screamed.

Somewhere off in the distance, on the edge of his consciousness,
he could hear faint, mocking laughter. His last thought, before his
eyes closed, was, "You were right, ya stupid duck..." And then, the
blackness claimed him.

~<*>~

It took Jesse and Erin less than two minutes to explain their 
situation to the doorkeeper, who listened patiently until they were
done.

"So," Jesse concluded, "Have you seen a Japanese guy with a bandana
and a Chinese guy with really long hair?

The old man paused for a moment and stroked his beard.

"I thought you said at the beginning that there were three young men
traveling together, with the intention, of course, of defeating
the Mokatsu." He gave a slight chuckle at that part. "Did you not?"

Erin interjected. "Um, yes. There's also a guy with a pigtail with
them. He likes to pretend he knows what's going on, but frequently
he just comes across as overconfident."

The doorkeeper nodded knowingly. "Yes," he told them finally. "I have
seen them. However, they have already been granted access, and have
entered the Battle Room. And, now that they have entered the Battle
Room, after gaining entrance, of course, they have engaged the 
Mokatsu. No one is allowed in until they are completely finished.
Although, I believe they already are..."

The two cousins stared at him intently, as he took a breath before
continuing with his speech.

"I'm afraid, though, that it doesn't matter. Only those who challenge
the Mokatsu are permitted entrance into the Battle Room and beyond,
should they get that far."

Erin and Jesse spent a few moments in deep contemplation of the 
flagstones on the floor, while they digested this new information.
Finally, Jesse spoke up.

"Sorry, Cologne," she mumbled. Then, she blurted, "Alright. We 
challenge the Mokatsu!"

The doorkeeper blinked a few times, and Erin closed her eyes and 
sighed. When she opened them, she stared at her cousin with a 
"have-you-gone-nuts!" look on her face. Jesse shrugged. Erin began
to say something to the old man, then paused. She looked back at her
cousin and something akin to a smile passed over her features.

"Well," she said, "you heard her." And here, she did 
smile...slightly. "We hereby officially challenge the Mokatsu."

The old doorkeeper stared blankly at the two young women for at least
half a minute. They were almost beginning to wonder whether or not he
had fallen asleep with his eyes open, when he finally spoke.

"Very well, your challenge has been accepted." He turned around,
and when he turned back, he was holding a dagger very similar to the
one he had given to Ranma. "Here," he told them. "You will need 
this."

Erin took the proffered knife, and the man proceeded to give them the
same speech he had given the first group. When he had finished,
he went to the carved doors leading to the Battle Room.

"Good luck," he said formally, then, he began to open the doors.

"Why couldn't I do that?" Jesse thought.

He only had them open about a foot when two very single-minded
girls went darting past him into the Battle Room. They didn't even
notice when he closed the doors behind them, locking them in with 
whatever lay beyond. A wisp of a cold smile flitted across the 
doorkeeper's face as he turned away, and walked back down the 
corridor.

"Fascinating," he muttered to himself.

~<*>~

The two girls hardly noticed the strange statues that filled the 
room, as they ran between them, frequently looking around to see if 
they could find any of the boys. After a couple minutes, they reached
the end of the statues, and found themselves at the place where the
Mokatsu had fought Ranma, and Mousse, and Ryoga. They stopped and 
surveyed the scene.

"Oh, Jesse," Erin said softly, "look at all this."

Her cousin gazed around at all the various weapons on the ground,
mixed with broken bits of sculptures, and bandannas from Ryoga's
Iron Cloth technique.

"There was definitely a major battle here," Jesse agreed. "But where
are they?"

About ten feet to their left, Ryoga, still sitting against the statue
where he had fallen, opened his eyes. 

"That's strange," he thought, "I was sure I heard voices."

He waited for a few moments, listening intently, when he heard it 
again. It seemed to be coming from somewhere on the other side of the
statue. Painfully, and with much effort, he supported himself with
his hands and leaned sideways to see who was there.

It was Jesse, talking to her cousin in hushed whispers. Ryoga's
first thought was that he was hallucinating. But, as he watched
them, he decided that they seemed too real to be figments of his 
imagination.

"Jjj-jesse!?" he stuttered. "What are you doing here?"

Both young ladies immediately spun around. As soon as they saw him,
they ran over and dropped down on the floor, Erin in front of him,
and Jesse beside him. He got hugs from both girls, followed by 
several kisses from Jesse, mixed with scolding about the insanity
of the whole endeavor. After a minute or so, when the sheer relief
of finding him alive was wearing off, Erin finally asked the question
he had been dreading since the end of the battle.

"Ryoga," she questioned softly, "where is Mousse?"

His face fell as he looked up at her. Instead of answering, he began
rapidly apologizing, a look of utter failure on his face. She had to
break in and ask again. He looked down, and sighed defeatedly.

Pointing farther down the row of sculptures, he said slowly, "He's
over there."

He looked back at Erin, as she quickly got up, and jogged off in the
direction he had indicated, leaving Jesse by his side, with a 
confused look on her face.

"I'm so sorry," Ryoga called after the older girl, but she didn't
hear him.

~<*>~

Erin looked down each of the rows she went past, looking for some 
sign of her Chinese boy. About twelve rows from Ryoga, and a little
more than ten feet in front of her, she saw something. It looked
like the tip of a black shoe poking out from behind one of the larger
statues. She quickly ran to the other side of the sculpture,
and stopped, letting out a soft cry.

It was Mousse, collapsed on the ground, flat on his back, his eyes
closed and a large red stain on his chest, where a hole marred his 
robe. He had a cut on his face, a long gash on his left leg, and she
could see blood on the floor under him. He was very, very still.
Erin dropped her backpack and knelt beside him. Carefully brushing
a strand of hair off his face, she placed two fingers gently against
his throat. His pulse was slow and slightly erratic, but there. His
eyes fluttered open at her touch.

"Erin," he whispered, "Is that really you?"

Beginning to cry softly, she scooped his upper body into her arms,
and cradled his head against her shoulder.

"It's me, Mousse," she told him. "I came for you."

He tried to smile at her, but grimaced in pain. He groaned quietly.

"It hurts," he murmured.

Erin stroked his cheek, and gazed at him. She wanted to tell him that
everything would be fine, and that he would be all right, but in 
reality, she knew that he was going die in her arms.

"I know," she said. "I wish I could make it stop."

He looked at her face. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I wanted to tell
you...I should have told you. Forgive me," he begged.

"I do. I promise. It's "O.K.""

He looked relieved. Shifting slightly in her embrace, he reached
up and gently touched her cheek.

She smiled at him. "I love you, Duck-boy." When she said it, it 
wasn't an insult, but a sign of affection.

This time, he really did smile. Then, he moaned, and grabbed her arm,
clinging to her as if for dear life, which he might have been.

"Erin..." he whimpered.

"What is it?"

He trembled in her arms, and tried to hold her. He shut his eyes and
laid his head against her.

"I love-" he murmured.

Then, he shuddered once, and went limp, his arms sliding from around
her neck.

"Mousse..." she whispered softly.

She laid her cheek on top of his hair, and held him, until Jesse's
voice broke the silence.

"Erin, can you help me for a minute?"

Stroking Mousse's face one last time, and kissing him lightly on the
forehead, Erin whispered, "I'll always love you, my Chinese 
duck-boy."

Then, gently lowering his slender body onto the floor, she stood up,
and slowly walked over to her cousin and Ryoga.

~<*>~

Jesse looked up to see Erin coming towards her. She was about to 
finish her earlier comment, when she noticed streaks of blood all 
down the front of her cousin's shirt.

"Oh my goodness!" she gasped. "What happened?! Where's Mousse? Are 
you hurt?"

"Only on the inside," Erin thought to herself.

Then, almost whispering, she said, "It's not my blood." There was an
unusual intensity in her voice. "It's Mousse's," she finished.
"That...creature...stabbed him." She let out a small, shaking sob.
"Jesse, he's...he's dead."

Jesse's eyes widened in shock, and then, she stared at the ground,
unsure of what to tell her cousin. Erin sat down next to Ryoga, who
looked horrified.

"Please," he begged her, "forgive me. There was nothing I could do."

The girl nodded slowly. "I believe you," she told him, as 
reassuringly as she could manage.

They sat in silence for a long moment. Erin stared up at the ceiling,
and then, at the Japanese boy next to her.

"What happened here, Ryoga?"

He sighed, and then, beginning with their departure from Nerima,
told the two girls everything that had transpired since. He ended
with the Master's final attack on Mousse, and his last battle with
the Heir. When he finished, the two cousins were quite disgusted
with Ranma's conduct, albeit not very surprised.

"Sounds just like something he would do," Jesse groused under her 
breath.

Erin stared at her, and then, picking up on a loose end, asked, "What
was it you needed my help with?"

"Oh, um, Ryoga's leg."

"What about it?"

The blond girl pointed to the young man's right leg, which he had 
landed on. She had already helped him stretch it out, but she wasn't
sure what to do after that.

Shoving her hurt as far away as possible, Erin focused on the problem
at hand. "Do you think it's broken?"

Ryoga shook his head. "I just think I sprained it pretty badly. 
Painkillers might be nice."

The older girl smiled a little. Jesse spoke up.

"The First Aid kit is in your backpack."

"Oh, right." Erin reached down to get it, and discovered that it 
wasn't beside her. A confused expression flitted across her face.
Then she realized where it was. "I left it by Mousse," she told her
cousin.

Jesse looked concerned. "Do you want me to get it?"

"No. I will."

Erin stood up, and began walking back towards her boyfriend's
body. When she got there, she reached down, fully intending to 
retrieve said backpack, and return as quickly as possible, but 
something held her back. She slung the strap over her shoulder,
and paused, turning to look at Mousse. "I'm so sorry," she murmured.
She reached out and brushed her fingers against his arm; there was a 
crackling noise, like paper rustling. Erin squeezed his arm gently,
and it happened again.

She thought about it for a moment. After all, it was Mousse, and he 
did have a habit of storing things in his sleeves. She smiled at the
memories of some of the strange things she had seen him pull out. 
Then, her thoughts drifted back to her arrival at the fortress,
and the strange black book in the hall. It had been missing a page.

"You wouldn't have..." she said to the lifeless boy lying on the 
floor.

Before she could stop to think about what she was doing, Erin stuck
her arm up Mousse's sleeve, and felt her fingers brush against a 
piece of paper. She grabbed it, and pulled it out.

"Erin," she heard her cousin call out. "Are you all right?"

"I'm coming," she mumbled.

Sticking the folded paper in the pocket of her jeans, she walked
quickly back to her cousin and Ryoga, arriving in the middle of a 
conversation.

"I intend to finish this," she heard Ryoga say.

The brunette sat down next to her cousin, and began rummaging
through her backpack, looking for the First Aid kit.

"Ryoga," Jesse admonished, "are you serious? I mean, look what's
happened already, and, who knows what Ranma's gotten himself into.
The idiot..."

"I know, Jesse, but I need to do this. It's not just about a cure for
my curse anymore." He paused, glancing at Erin, and then, in the 
general direction of Mousse, before looking back at his incredulous
girlfriend. "Now it's personal," he said forcefully.

She shrugged, as Erin pulled the kit out of her backpack and opened
it. The two girls set to work wrapping Ryoga's leg from the knee 
down, and finding suitable medication for his discomfort. When they
had finished, Erin stood up, walked a few feet away, and sat down 
against a particularly strange statue of what looked like a panda
bear with horns. She pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket,
and began to read.

~<*>~

Several minutes went by before Jesse decided to go check on her 
cousin. She left Ryoga sitting by the statue and walked over to where
the other girl had retreated. Erin was so engrossed in studying
the piece of paper she had found that she didn't even notice Jesse's
approach until the younger girl sat down next to her. Erin looked
up from her reading.

"Hi," Jesse said in English. "Just checking on you."

Erin nodded, the look on her face saying, "More input, please."

"Erin, are you O.K.?" Jesse asked. "I mean, you've been pretty quiet
since, well, you know..."

Erin sighed and propped her arms on her knees.

"I'll be all right, I guess. I need to save my crying for later.
If I start now, I won't be able to stop."

Her cousin nodded, and was about to stand up, when Erin continued.

"I suppose it sort of works like maniacal laughter does for evil 
overlords."

Jesse raised a disturbed eyebrow. "How's that again?"

Erin looked at the blond girl, and smiled slightly. "You know, 
"Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge
in sobbing. When so involved it's too easy to miss unexpected
developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to 
accordingly.""

Jesse blinked. "Yeeeah..."

Her cousin, however, wasn't finished. "Also, I don't think Mousse
is dead."

That got the other girl's attention. Her eyes widened as her cousin
began to elaborate. Erin held up the piece of paper she had been 
reading earlier.

"Remember how the book in the hallway was missing a page?"

"Uh, huh."

"Well, I found it."

Jesse looked up as Ryoga limped over to see what the two girls were
discussing.

Switching back to Japanese for Ryoga's benefit, Jesse questioned,
"Where on earth did you get it?"

"Mousse had it."

A vague look of worry passed over Jesse's face, but she decided
not to ask for further clarification.

Ryoga sat down, allowing his confusion to show on his face. "What
are we talking about?" he whispered to his girlfriend.

Erin answered instead. "Did Mousse ever mention a large black book
by the front entrance?"

Ryoga nodded. "He told us several things that he had read in it. 
Like, the Mokatsu's ability to change its shape, and the way it 
drains people's energy when it kills them..." he drifted off at the
end, but Erin didn't seem to notice.

"That's it," she confirmed. "Actually, it can only assume the shapes
of people that it's absorbed. But it's the other part that's really
important." She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts, then 
continued. "See, when Mousse found the book, he wasn't able to read
all of it, I guess, so he took one of the pages with him. I found
it when I went to get my backpack. It talks about what happens when
a Mokatsu drains someone's chi energy...like it did to Mousse."

Ryoga stared at the floor, and Jesse put her hand on his arm. Erin
went on.

"This particular page says that there's a way to reverse the 
process!"

The Lost Boy's head snapped up, and he stared at her intently.
"What did you say?"

"According to this," she said, looking down at the page, then back
up at her audience, "the absorption process isn't instant. It takes
a period of about twelve hours for one of the creatures to fully 
integrate another person's chi energy into its own. During that 
period, if you kill the creature, the life-energy of anyone it has 
drained in the past twelve hours reverts to the original person!"
she concluded triumphantly.

She was rewarded with two very blank stares. 

Jesse spoke up. "You wanna try running that by us again?"

"It means," Erin started over, "that if we can kill the master 
Mokatsu before midnight, at least, which is in about eleven hours,
Mousse will get his chi energy back. So, he won't be dead, or on 
pause, or whatever it is that he is now." When she finished, she was
breathing a bit faster than normal.

Ryoga stared at her for a minute. "But Erin," he said gently, but 
with disbelief evident in his voice, "technically, Mousse died from
his injuries, not the chi-stealing. So, how would getting his chi 
energy back help him any?" Erin opened her mouth to answer, but he 
continued. "And, even if it did, why wouldn't he die of his wounds
all over again?"

Erin finally lost it. She turned to Ryoga and began waving her arms
in the air and yelling. "Look, it's a legend for crying out loud,
not a scientific thesis! I'm sorry, but it didn't come with a 
four-page proof!"

She calmed down just a touch, and took a deep breath. "All I know,"
she continued more quietly, "is that this piece of paper tells me 
that there might be a way for me to save Mousse..." She rubbed her 
forehead with her hand as she spoke. "I love him, and I am not 
willing to lose him, so I intend to try."

Jesse and Ryoga stared at her, waiting for her to finish.

She sighed and then concluded, "You were planning to fight the thing
again anyway, right? I'm simply giving you another reason. Ryoga,
you said that you felt partially responsible for Mousse's death.
Please help me fix that. You'd do the same thing if it had been you
and Jesse."

Looking at it that way, Ryoga had to agree. He stared at the ground
for a moment, then looked up at Erin.

"What the heck," he said with a small smile. "I've fought a 
multi-headed dragon that had another head instead of a body, while
wearing high heels, make-up, and a dress. Compared to that, this all
sounds perfectly sane."

Erin grinned for the first time since they had entered the Battle
Room. Ryoga smiled back, oblivious to the horrified look Jesse had 
been giving him since he had mentioned high heels.

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Erin then added, "Although,
since I don't know how this is going to work once we defeat the 
creature, we're going to have to bring Mousse with us."

Ryoga wrinkled his nose. "Alright," he mumbled, "but the minute he 
starts to stink, he's outta here."

Jesse's jaw dropped at his comment, and Erin gave him a look that 
could have curdled fresh milk.

He laughed nervously. "I didn't really mean it... It was a joke, 
honest!"

"Well, it wasn't funny."

"Sorry..." he muttered, sounding mostly repentant.

~<*>~

Around ten minutes later, the trio finally started moving again.
Ryoga, who felt bad about his rather tasteless earlier comment,
offered to carry Mousse's body, even though he was slightly adverse
to the idea. He wondered what exactly Erin had been planning to do 
before he had volunteered, but he wisely decided not to ask. So, 
after, Jesse and Erin put their backpacks on, and Ryoga had scooped
Mousse off the floor and slung him (as gently as humanly possible
under the circumstances) over his shoulder, they began working their
way towards the door at the end of the Battle Room.

Once they arrived, Erin reached out, and gave the handle a few quick
jabs with her finger. The other two teenagers stared at her like 
she'd just gone a little crazier.

"What?" she said primly. "I was just checking to make sure it wasn't
going to explode, or get red hot, or grow spikes, or anything.
Do you mind?"

Ryoga shrugged. Under the circumstances, he supposed, it wasn't so 
ridiculous. Jesse just rolled her eyes and muttered, "You read waaay
too much science fiction..."

Finally convinced that the door handle was as safe as it was ever 
going to be, Erin pressed down on the latch and pushed on the door.
Nothing happened. After two or three more tries, once with Jesse 
helping her, the three began to wonder whether it was just stuck,
or actually locked. Ryoga was to the point where he was considering
chi-blasting the door.

"Jesse, Erin, move out of the way," he told the two girls, while 
looking for the best place to lay his charge.

Erin was still standing in front of the door. "Wait a second,"
she mumbled, while examining the door hinges. "I do believe I have
discovered the source of our difficulties."

Turning back, she reached out and grasped the door handle. Then, 
again pushing down on the latch, she pulled. The door swung open.
Ryoga shook his head, as Jesse pounded her forehead with the palm of
her hand. Erin sighed as she followed Ryoga and her cousin through
the door.

"It's been a long day..." 

~<*>~

Thirty-two long, twisting, identical passageways later, Jesse, Erin,
and Ryoga were getting tired. The door from the Battle Room had led
them into a seemingly endless maze of halls. There were doors at 
regular intervals, but so far, they had all led into more halls.
There didn't seem to be any more rooms. They had been searching
for almost four hours, and were getting frustrated. Erin, especially,
was getting nervous the longer they continued.

Finally, Ryoga had had enough. After more than two hundred minutes
of walking on a sprained knee, while carrying Mousse's dead weight-no
pun intended-he was too worn out to continue.

"I have to rest for a minute," he told the cousins, who were a few 
feet ahead of him in the passage. "My leg can't take anymore."

Jesse nodded and walked back to him; Erin shifted anxiously from one
foot to the other, then nodded as well. She helped Ryoga set Mousse
carefully on the flagstones, and then handed the bandanna wearing
martial artist a bottle of water.

After a few minutes of sitting on the floor, drinking, staring at 
each other, and trying to ignore the fact that one of them wasn't
breathing, Jesse snapped.

"This is getting us precisely NOWHERE!"

"Settle down, dear," her cousin suggested calmly, "before you burst
something."

"Hey," Ryoga interjected, "that gives me an idea."

The two girls turned to him expectantly.

"Walking through all these insane corridors is pointless," he 
observed, rather unnecessarily. "What we need is a way to get around
them."

Erin smiled. "What a lovely "B.F.O.""

"Huh?"

"It's an abbreviation a friend of mine uses. It stands for "Bright
Flash of the Obvious.""

Ryoga looked a bit put out. Erin placed a placating hand on his arm.

"Don't be offended. I was just kidding. Besides, I think I know where
you're going with this."

"Well I don't!" complained Jesse.

Ryoga, not wanting his thunder stolen, explained quickly. "I can use
my Breaking Point Technique to, well..."

"Plow straight through the surrounding obstructions?" Jesse supplied
helpfully.

"Right."

"I think we should go for it," Erin commented. "First of all, it's
our only idea, second, we're don't really have time to sit around
trying to come up with anything more specific, and third, if nothing
else, it's at least bound to get someone's attention."

Jesse nodded in agreement. "I guess the Mokatsu probably won't like
us blowing holes in its house," she began.

"But too bad," Erin finished, sticking her water bottle into her 
backpack, and standing up. "Are we ready, Ryoga?"

The young man smiled and stood as well, helping his girlfriend
to her feet.

"Let's do it."

As the girls gathered their things together, Ryoga picked up the 
fallen Chinese boy. Then, Jesse selected a wall through a careful
and thoughtful process (she spun around and pointed to one), and 
Ryoga walked up to it. He studied it for a brief moment.

Then, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" he cried, jabbing his right index finger
against the smooth, gray stone wall.

A large section of it exploded out, showering them with pebbles
and dust. After a brief coughing bout, they surveyed the spacious
hole in the ex-barrier.

Erin raised her eyebrows. "Yep, that'll do."

They stepped through into the next hall, Ryoga in the lead, and 
proceeded onward.

~<*>~

"I miss Mousse," Erin murmured to her cousin, at least two and a half
hours after Ryoga had begun blasting holes through the walls. "I miss
the way he talks. And also, having him call me beautiful, and 
beloved, and stuff like that."

Jesse nodded sympathetically. Then, without thinking, she replied,
"I could have Ryoga call you that for a while."

Erin turned her head, and cocked an eyebrow at her cousin, who had 
just realized what she had said. "Um, I think I'll pass. I appreciate
the gesture, though..."

Jesse just shook her head. "I need some sleep," she muttered.

The three continued in silence for a few more minutes, before 
arriving at the next wall. They had adopted a simple pattern of 
walking in a straight line away from the Battle Room, with Ryoga 
simply "removing" any solid structures in the way. So far, they 
hadn't discovered any rooms, and nothing (or, no one) had tried to 
stop them from rearranging the architecture.

As Ryoga prepared to do away with the next obstacle, Jesse asked,
"Don't you think it's a little strange that the Mokatsu hasn't showed
itself, or given any kind of reaction whatsoever in response to our,
uh, remodeling?"

Erin shrugged noncommittally. "Maybe it knows something we don't.
Or, maybe it likes Ryoga decorating its floors with dust and rubble."

"Somehow I doubt that."

"Maybe it doesn't care..."

The two cousins turned back to the wall, which Ryoga had been 
examining.

"Does this wall look different to either of you?" he queried.

They peered closely at the aforementioned construct.

"Hmm," Jesse mused. "It doesn't look quite as...firm."

Erin raised her eyebrows, and then proceeded to thwack the back of 
her hand off the stones.

"It's perfectly firm," she replied, flexing her fingers.

"Oh, yeah," her cousin snorted, "that was scientific."

"What?" the older girl replied, "I was gathering data." Then, "I know
what you mean, though. It looks slightly less substantial than the 
surrounding walls... Like it might be able to move or something."

Strange as it sounded, the other two agreed. They stared at it for a 
few more moments, before the fanged boy asked slightly impatiently,
"Well, are we going through?"

The girls nodded. Turning, Ryoga shouted and, with one finger, 
stabbed the wall, which crumbled obligingly at his touch. The three
teenagers stared, hard, at what Ryoga's Breaking Point had uncovered.
They had found a room, and it wasn't empty.

~<*>~

Upon first glance, the room itself was lovely, and rather peaceful
looking. Tiles of various colors and shades covered the floors,
walls, and ceiling, and the patterns they formed almost seemed to 
swirl and shift. The only two things marring its serenity were the 
large hole Ryoga had blasted in one wall, and, the body on the floor.

The two girls beat Ryoga to it, and Erin was already leaning down,
checking for a pulse, when he came over. He stared at the body in 
shock.

"Is...is that..."

"Ranma," the older girl finished for him. "There's no pulse...
He's dead, too."

The diagnosis hung in the air for a moment, before anyone said 
anything.

"Well," Jesse observed, rather unnecessarily, "now we know what 
happened after he jumped through that gate the Mokatsu offered."

Ryoga scowled. "What did happen? Did it kill him, too."

"I don't think so. At least, not directly," Erin answered. She looked
down at the body for a moment, then back at Ryoga as she continued.
"There aren't any noticeable marks on him, aside from the ones you 
already described. From the lack of injuries, my best guess would
be that he might have died of asphyxiation."

"It strangled him?"

"No, that would leave fairly noticeable marks, especially from 
something that large. I just don't think he got any air."

"You think there was a vacuum in this room?" Jesse asked skeptically.

Erin thought for a second before answering. "Probably not a vacuum.
That would cause other problems. I just think it dropped him in here,
um, without oxygen. Gasses, maybe, just not the right kinds to 
breathe."

"But what about the chi draining," Ryoga protested.

Jesse answered. "If what she said is right, or at least, close to 
right, I would think it could just wait till he passed out, then 
drain his chi, then let him die on his own."

Ryoga grimaced, understanding. "No resistance."

The cousins nodded together. "Exactly."

They stood in silence for a few moments, Ryoga feeling Mousse's
weight more acutely than before. Jesse bent down.

"Hey, look at this," she said, picking something off the floor and 
standing up with it. She held it out. "Look familiar?"

Ryoga and Erin leaned in to look. It was part of the wall they had 
come through. One side was the same smooth stone used throughout
the castle, but on the other side...

"A doorknob," Erin said, surprised, "and a piece of door."

She took it from her cousin, and examined the small carvings on its
ebony surface. Ryoga and Jesse looked back towards Ranma's body, 
lying on the floor, its hands stretched towards the direction
they had entered from.

"I bet he spent his last few minutes trying to get to this door,"
Jesse decided, pointing to the section she had handed to her cousin.

"Not that it would have done him much good," Erin commented softly.
"It was completely solid on the other side." 

Although she had no great love for Ranma Saotome, she was still upset
that he had given up his life for a futile pursuit. Next to her, 
Ryoga snarled. His battle aura was starting to flicker periodically.

"First it killed Mousse, now Ranma," he spat, "for sport! It disgusts
me."

Erin nodded. "I know." She paused. "Although, judging from what you
told us about the progression of the first battle, I think it was 
probably the other way around."

"Huh?"

"Ranma, then Mousse."

"Oh..."

"Should we go?" Jesse asked suddenly. "Only about four hours till 
midnight."

"Oh, my goodness!" Erin blurted.

"What?" the other two chorused apprehensively.

"I just realized something."

"Yeees!" Jesse prompted.

"Well," Erin explained quickly, "I think it's pretty safe to say that
Ranma died before Mousse, right?" Jesse and her boyfriend nodded.
"Then, judging from Ryoga's description of their battle with the 
Mokatsu, Ranma probably died between thirty minutes and an hour 
before Mousse did, meaning-"

Ryoga interrupted. "Meaning, that we have less time to kill 
that...creature...than we thought."

Erin nodded in agreement. Jesse looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Maybe we should wait a while," she muttered.

"Jesse," her cousin chided half-heartedly.

"Hmph, sorry," the other girl mumbled not at all convincingly.
She still had a few "complaints" against Ranma.

Ryoga gave her a curious glance. "Were you serious?"

She fixed him with a rather withering look; he dropped the subject.

~<*>~

A few minutes later, the three teenagers had decided that, for the 
same reasons that Ryoga was carrying Mousse, they needed to bring
Ranma's body with them.

"This is going to severely impair our average traveling speed,"
Erin observed, as she grabbed Ranma's ankles, while her cousin held
his wrists.

"Not to mention my average comfort," Jesse grumbled. "I didn't ask 
for this, I want you to remember."

"Yes, dear."

Ryoga shifted Mousse on his shoulder, as he watched the two girls
hoist Ranma about two feet off the ground.

Erin grunted, and Jesse said, "This is as high as it gets. He's 
heavier than I would have thought, what with all the hot air in his
head."

Her cousin smiled, then said to Ryoga, "We're as ready as we're ever
gonna be."

The fanged boy nodded once, then turned to the wall opposite the one
they had entered through. "Bakusai Tenketsu!" he shouted, touching
his finger to the stones. They lost all cohesion, and shattered,
creating a functional doorway.

Ryoga stepped through, walked three feet, and stopped dead in his 
tracks. Glancing back over his shoulder, he could see Erin backing
slowly out of the hole in the wall, followed by Jesse, with Ranma
suspended between them. He looked back at the room they had just 
entered, then back at the cousins.

In an utterly befuddled voice, he told them, "Uh, we have a slight
problem..."

"What?" Erin asked, as she cleared the wall, and turned her head.
She stopped as well, her mouth partially open, as she lowered Ranma's
feet to the floor.

Impatient with the sudden pause, Jesse asked, "Why is everybody
stopping? Is there some kind of roadblock?"

The blond girl squeezed her way past the remainder of the wall in her
way, bending Ranma's midsection into an odd angle in the process.
Once out, she plopped his upper body on the ground, none too gently.
Looking up, she realized what had stopped her friends.

"Oh, yeah," she said, "This is just great."

They were back in the Battle Room. 

~<*>~

The three teenagers stood side by side for a few moments before 
anyone said anything.

"Hey, Ryoga," Jesse began, "Is it just me, or haven't we been 
traveling away from this room for the past several hours?"

The fanged martial artist nodded in complete bafflement. "I thought
so."

Erin snorted softly, then added, "This is in utter, complete,
and total conflict with all known and accepted laws of physics."

Ryoga turned to look at her. "Weren't you the one who said, 'It's
a legend, for crying out loud'?"

Rolling her eyes, she mumbled, "This goes beyond ridiculous..."

"Although" Jesse interjected, "this could be called progress,
of a sort. After all, we were trying to get the Mokatsu's attention.
Maybe we did, and this is its first response."

Her cousin nodded, thinking. "It may intend to fight Ryoga again,
but it might only choose to have its battles in this particular
room... Uh, hence the name of it."

Ryoga enlisted Erin's help in setting Mousse down on the floor next
to the wall.

As he stood back up, he asked, "Then, what's taking it so long to get
here?"

Jesse responded first. "Who knows? These creatures seem to operate
on their own timetable. It could show up anytime, unless..."

Her cousin finished for her. "Unless it's already here."

A low laugh echoed through the dimly lit room, as the master Mokatsu
shimmered into visibility mere yards in front of them. The two girls
looked up in amazement, as Ryoga glared venomously at the creature.

<Well,> the master Mokatsu projected, to all of them, but directing
its comment at Ryoga, <you've come back to die as well. I have been
observing you, and I see you have acquired reinforcements.
No matter. I shall eradicate you all.>

"It's been spying on us!" Jesse hissed to her cousin, who simply
nodded.

Ryoga moved to stand a few protective feet in front of Jesse and 
Erin, and braced himself for the coming battle.

The Mokatsu "smiled" wickedly. <Prepare to be obliterated,>
it projected coldly. 

Ryoga's battle aura flickered as he faced the Master. He was 
desperately trying to ignore the fact that it had defeated Ranma and
Mousse together, and he was alone. Above all, however, he wanted
to keep the two girls from becoming involved, afraid that the 
creature would turn on them. The young man was unaware that the 
Mokatsu had also accepted them as challengers.

"I'm going to make you pay for what you did to Mousse and Ranma!"
Ryoga yelled up at the smirking monster. "I'll destroy you!"

The Mokatsu made a slightly incredulous noise. <I will not be making
it as easy as last time, human.>

Suddenly, the Mokatsu shimmered, and disappeared.

"What the...!" Ryoga cried out, spinning around to see where it had
gone. "How dare you run away!" He yelled in challenge.

"I have not run," a voice behind him said.

Ryoga paused as Jesse's and Erin's eyes widened. The words he had 
just heard had been spoken, not projected, and the voice didn't 
belong to the Mokatsu. It had been stolen from someone else. The 
young man turned slowly, to see the new face of the enemy.

"Mousse..." he whispered.

"What's the matter?" "Mousse" asked. "I thought you said you were 
going to destroy me. Or, can't you?"

Ryoga wasn't sure what to do. In the back of his mind, he knew he was
seeing the creature's shape-changing ability. He still remembered
Erin saying, "It can only assume the shapes of people that it's 
absorbed." But at the moment, all he saw was Mousse standing in front
of him, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his robe as usual.

The Mokatsu spoke up, still using Mousse's form and voice. "It was 
your fault I died," it snarled at him. "Now it's your turn."

It took a step towards him, murder gleaming in its eyes. He backed
up, and almost ran into Erin, who was coming to a slow boil.

"How dare it..." she hissed through clenched teeth.

Ryoga looked back at her, confused. She pulled something shiny out of
her backpack. Putting her hand on his shoulder, she whispered
emphatically, "That thing is not Mousse. Remember that. Mousse didn't
blame you for what happened."

The Lost Boy nodded half-heartedly. "I'm sorry..."

The brunette nodded once, then whispered, "Remember what that book
said. We have until eleven, approximately, to save them." She held
out her hand. "You'll need this."

Ryoga looked down at what she was holding out to him. It was the 
other dagger. He gave her and Jesse a small smile, and took the 
knife. Erin pointed to Mousse's body, still lying on the floor beside
her, then at the creature using his appearance.

"That killed Mousse and Ranma, not you." She winked. "Now, "sic 
'im"!"

Ryoga turned back to the Mousse-creature, who was staring at him with
undisguised derision.

"Insignificant mammals... Are the two of you finished yet?" It asked,
sounding rather disgusted.

"Definitely not Mousse," Ryoga thought to himself. "He would never
comment about Erin that way."

"I'm ready to defeat you!" He yelled, launching himself at the 
Mokatsu.

The fanged boy intensely hoped that the creature could only steal
forms, and not abilities, as well. The last thing he needed was to 
try to fight an evil, teleporting, shape-changing monster that could
also throw knives, spears, and bombs.

The Mokatsu jumped back, avoiding Ryoga's lunge. The look of 
murderous rage it affected didn't look natural on Mousse, but then,
neither did the long, sickle-shaped claws that suddenly grew on the
ends of his fingers. Ryoga turned just in time to duck a vicious
downward swipe, and, once more, the battle was on.

~<*>~

Erin and Jesse stood by the bodies of Mousse and Ranma, as Ryoga and
the creature fought. They rather got the idea that it was a little
beyond their abilities to help, and, they didn't want to distract
Ryoga or get in his way, so they watched. Still ready, however,
to render any kind of aid if needed.

The battle so far had been similar to the first in that Ryoga was 
doing most of the running and ducking and dodging, while the Mokatsu
attacked leisurely, but violently. It was still quite disconcerting
to them, Erin especially, that it had chosen to use Mousse's form to
defeat Ryoga. It was effective, though, in that the creature would
taunt him frequently about his previous inability to save Mousse,
using the dead Chinese boy's voice.

Fortunately for Ryoga, it did seem as though the Master was unable
to use any of Mousse's weapons or techniques. Only a small 
consolation, however, as the Mokatsu lunged at Ryoga, its 
out-of-place claws extended. The martial artist did his best to dodge
the blow, but only succeeded in lessening it. He rolled mostly out of
the way of the attack, but the Mousse-creature did manage to cut 
three large gashes into his left shoulder.

Ryoga's injured leg was throbbing, and now, his left arm felt like
someone had dripped molten lead on it. He still had the dagger,
tucked tightly in his belt, but had been unable to get close enough
to actually do anything with it. So far, the only mark the creature
had received was a slash in the sleeve of its robe, courtesy of one
of Ryoga's Iron Cloth bandannas.

"I can't keep fighting like this for much longer," Ryoga thought
to himself. "I haven't eaten or slept in hours."

When they were close to twenty feet apart, the Mokatsu paused a 
moment to look at him. "You're weak," it declared. "It's no wonder
you couldn't help me. You can't even help yourself. Too bad." It 
glanced over at the two cousins, who were glaring at it. "Of course,"
it continued, "after I finish you, I still have them to play with."

Ryoga growled angrily at the Mousse-thing.

"Maybe," it taunted, smiling cruelly, "I'll even use your form for 
that one."

"Over my dead body!" Ryoga screamed at it, trying to decide which
attack might buy him some more time.

The Mokatsu chuckled. "Exactly. Of course, that might be what that
one over there was thinking, while he couldn't breathe, or this one
too, right before I impaled him."

Ryoga's eyes widened with guilt, and he let loose an inarticulate
cry of fury. A bright emerald aura suddenly blossomed around him, 
enveloping him in roiling energy.

"HOW DARE YOU!" He screamed. "You won't get away with this!"

The Lost Boy stopped cradling his injured shoulder, and put his arms
out in front of himself, palms facing the creature. He was trembling
slightly; his eyes narrowed.

He began. "SHI..."

Erin saw the Mousse-creature retract its claws, and begin to lift one
of its hands towards Ryoga. Then, she heard it intone, "Mokatsu
Special Attack...Baikyû Utsuri!" Ryoga wasn't paying any attention.

"...SHI..."

Her cousin had heard it as well. In the heat of the moment, it took
a few seconds for their minds to translate its cry. Then, it clicked.
"Baikyû Utsuri"-"Increased Reflection." They stared at each other
for one long moment, eyes wide. 

"...HÔKÔDAN!" Ryoga cried.

The two girls screamed in unison. "STOP!" 

"Don't, Ryoga!" Erin cried out.

Her cousin yelled, "Get down!"

It was too late. A cylindrical blast of deep green chi energy 
streaked from Ryoga's hands towards the Master. It just stood there,
one arm now fully extended, its palm towards Ryoga and its fingers
spread. The emerald spiral sped across the distance between them.
The creature smiled, a shimmering globe of energy forming in its 
hand. Ryoga's chi release reached it and a thunderous cracking
sound shot through the Battle Room. The green of Ryoga's Depression
Blast seemed to swirl in front of the Mokatsu, collecting in the orb
it held, suspended in the air. Then, it shot out. Like a giant 
tornado, the blast reversed, becoming almost blinding in intensity,
as it streaked towards the young man, already on the point of 
collapse from the exertion.

"Ryoga..." Jesse whispered.

It connected with its target, catching Ryoga directly in the chest
and sending him hurtling backwards, into the stone wall behind him.
He screamed once, quickly, then was silent. He hung suspended
against the wall for a moment. Then, the chi funnel sped back towards
the Mokatsu's hand, absorbing into the ball of energy it held. When
there was none left, the Master in Mousse's guise closed its fist on
the bright globe, and it disappeared.

Ryoga dropped to the floor with a dull thud, and lay there, 
motionless, empty...dead.

~<*>~

It took at least fifteen seconds for the two cousins to register
what had just happened. Then, it hit. Temporarily ignoring the 
creature, they raced over to where Ryoga had fallen. Jesse kneeled
down beside him and cradled his head on her lap, as Erin stood beside
her.

The blond girl gently touched her boyfriend's cheek, then, eyes 
flashing, looked up at the Mousse-creature. It was smiling crookedly.

"You're a liar," she snarled at it.

The creature stood a few yards away, with its feet apart and its arms
crossed. It raised a slightly bemused eyebrow. "Really?" it asked,
sounding unimpressed.

The older girl nodded, picking up on what Jesse was getting at. "You
told Ranma that you were going to grant his wish...a cure for his 
curse."

Uncrossing its arms, the creature walked a few steps closer, then 
said, "But I did. He doesn't have a curse anymore, does he?" Neither
girl said anything, as the creature continued. "After all," it told
them callously, "death cures everything."

Erin stared at the creature in disgust. It was still using Mousse's
appearance. Jesse looked up at her. Their eyes met, and they both 
looked down at Ryoga's body, where the dagger was still tucked 
tightly into his belt. Erin moved slightly to her left, so as to 
obscure her cousin's movements from the Mokatsu.

The creature watched them impassively for another moment, before
it spoke again. "And then, there were two..." It smiled. "Let's see
what you can do."

The blond girl gritted her teeth, and turned her head to stare at the
Master. "We'll kill you."

It threw back its head, and laughed at her. "I've heard that several
times today. There is nothing either one of you can do to me. Not 
only are you part of an inferior species, but you are also part of 
the weaker gender."

Erin crossed her arms, and tried not to look at her cousin. Jesse's
right hand moved slowly across Ryoga's stomach.

The space around the master Mokatsu flickered, and seemed to glow.
The face and form of the Chinese boy blurred, then shifted, and 
re-formed into another's. Ryoga stood in front of them, smiling
maliciously, even as he lay silently on the ground.

Walking towards the two cousins, the Ryoga-creature continued
where the Mousse-creature had left off.

"And finally," it concluded, its eyes narrowing, "you seem to be 
limited in your effectiveness by irrational emotional constraints."

The blond girl's fingers closed around the dagger's handle.

"And you," Erin said softly, "suffer from a superiority complex,
and inferior research skills."

"Hell hath no fury," Jesse murmured, "like the fury of a woman 
scorned..."

The Master extended its claws. Suddenly, Erin crouched down, and in 
one smooth motion, scooped one of Mousse's stilettos from the ground
and threw it straight at the creature's heart. The creature, mere 
yards away, managed to dodge the blade, but wasn't anticipating
the full effect of her action.

The moment Erin had thrown the first knife, her cousin had sprung
to her feet, yanking the dagger from Ryoga's belt as she went. Then,
as the Mokatsu moved to avoid her cousin's attack, she launched
herself at it, the knife, held tightly in both hands, extended
directly in front of her. She didn't care whether it looked like 
Ryoga, or Mousse, or anyone else; she knew exactly who and what it 
was, and what she intended to do about it.

After dodging the first attack, it was unbalanced enough for Jesse's
to succeed. With a loud cry of defiance, she collided with the 
Ryoga-creature, her knife catching it directly in the chest, and 
plowing into its body. Its claws retracted, as the force of the blow
knocked it onto its back, with the infuriated teenager landing 
directly on top of it, driving the dagger in further. It cried out in
rage and, she hoped, pain.

After a few seconds, she rolled off, and pushed herself to her feet,
her chest heaving, and a look of supreme satisfaction on her face.
She began to walk towards her cousin.

"Jesse!" Erin yelled suddenly.

The younger girl spun around, and yelped. The Ryoga-creature
was moving. They watched in perverse fascination as it rose to its 
feet, and fixed them with an insanely vengeful glare. Letting loose
an incomprehensible scream of fury, it tore the knife from its chest,
leaving a tattered, bloody hole.

"Um, Erin..." Jesse began.

"Yeah?" her cousin said numbly.

"That man at the entrance told us that knife would kill the Mokatsu."

Erin nodded. "Yeah."

Looking back at the incensed human-looking monster in front of them,
she muttered, "It would appear that there were a few things he 
neglected to tell us..."

~<*>~

Jesse stared back at her cousin for a moment. The older girl appeared
to be deep in thought. Jesse nudged her.

"What now?" she hissed.

Erin looked up in time to see the Mokatsu flip the knife around in 
its hand, and pull its arm back. Her eyebrows shot up, and she 
yelled, "MOVE!"

Her cousin obliged by flinging herself, not quite gracefully,
off to the left; Erin dove to the right, just as the Master threw
the knife at the exact spot they had occupied only seconds before.
As it was, the blade shot between the two of them with such force
that it impacted on the stone wall behind them, and buried itself
up to the hilt in the rock. It would have been as impossible
for them to remove it as it was for anyone other than Arthur to 
remove the Sword from the Stone.

"We're screwed," Jesse mumbled, as she hauled herself off the 
flagstones.

The older of the two girls landed on her stomach with a grunt, as the
Master extended its claws, and began walking towards her. She looked
down, and something caught her eye. She turned her head, searching
for her cousin.

"Jesse!" she shouted, "Get the spear!"

"Huh?"

Erin pointed a bit to Jesse's right, where one of Mousse's spears
lay forgotten on the floor. "Get the spear, get the spear, get the 
SPEAR!"

Running over, the younger girl grabbed the metal spear, briefly
wondering how the Chinese teenager managed to fit it into his robe
sleeves.

The Ryoga-creature paused for a moment, unsure what was being 
planned, and not intending to be caught off-guard again. It swung
around, fixing its eyes on Jesse, who was standing to face it, spear
ready.

"Ready to die so soon?" it growled in a voice not quite Ryoga's.

With a quick glance at her cousin, who was doing an undisclosed
something on the floor, she told it, rather un-originally,
"After you."

It roared, and she screamed back, fairly matching it in intensity.
It lunged, and she hurled the spear, and proceeded to move rapidly
in the opposite direction. Its outstretched claws barely missed her.
She landed, rolled, and came up running. The Mokatsu regained its 
balance, and started after her.

The second Jesse had thrown her spear, Erin had reached across the 
flagstones to grasp the jeweled handle of another dagger. This one,
however, didn't belong to Mousse; it was the knife that the 
gatekeeper had given to the three boys when they had first been 
accepted as challengers.

As soon as her fingers closed around it, she jumped to her feet, and
turned. Jesse was in the process of running for some kind of cover,
and telling the Mokatsu, quite colorfully, exactly what she thought
of it. She reversed directions suddenly, pausing to throw a large,
sharp chunk of statue at the creature's head as it overshot her.

Erin reversed the knife in her hand, trying to calm herself enough
to remember as much of what Mousse had taught her about throwing
knives, as possible. She pulled her arm back. Jesse could see her,
and she didn't seem to be aiming at the creature chasing her.

"This is for Mousse..." Erin whispered.

She threw the dagger.

~<*>~

Jesse watched in complete bafflement, as the knife flew over her 
head, streaking to a point near the end of the rows of statues,
seemingly occupied by nothing. Behind her, she heard the 
Ryoga-creature skid to a dead stop.

It reached out its arms and howled, "NOOOOO!"

Suddenly, at a place approximately ten feet from the sculptures,
the knife stopped it mid-air, with a resounding crunch. The room 
echoed with a cry of enraged agony from nowhere. All at once, the 
Ryoga-creature shuddered, then flickered, then, it disappeared.
To Jesse's left, the air shimmered, and the true form of the master
Mokatsu flickered into visibility, the dagger firmly embedded in the
middle of its chest.

Erin brushed a stray strand of hair from her face, and said, in no 
uncertain terms, "Die, you oversized renegade from a poor science
fiction novel."

Her cousin blinked twice at her, then turned back to watch the 
Mokatsu, its ebony blood forming a strange breastplate, as it writhed
in fury.

<IT! CAN'T! BEEEEE!> its mind cried out.

As the two girls watched, the gigantic creature seemed to shrink
in on itself, then, in an instant, it expanded, shooting out in all
directions at once. Finally, with one last scream of rage, the master
Mokatsu exploded it a brilliant blast of red, green, and blue chi 
energy. An earsplitting roar accompanied it. Both girls turned away
from the burst, shielding their faces with their hands, fully 
expecting to be splattered with various Mokatsu remnants.

After a few seconds, the sound died out, the light faded, and the two
girls were left standing alone in the Battle Room.

~<*>~

Jesse watched as the jeweled dagger fell to the floor with a hollow
clatter. She shook her head, as if to clear it.

She turned to her cousin. "Wha-?"

Erin looked at her, a drained but extremely pleased expression
on her face, and was about to say something, when a low groan sounded
from behind them. They both spun around to look. On the floor, a few
feet away from the wall, Ryoga lay, still motionless.

"I know I heard something," the blond girl insisted. 

Her cousin was about to reassure her that she wasn't hearing things
that weren't there, when Ryoga stirred. The two girls stared warily
for a moment as he winced, and tried to push himself into a sitting
position. 

"Ooh, my head..." he moaned, giving up and slumping back on the 
ground.

"Ryoga?!" Jesse questioned, slightly in shock.

He put his hand to his forehead. To him, it felt as though his brain
was about to pound its way out of his skull, and he was having 
trouble remembering what exactly had happened to him. He closed his
eyes for a second, then focused on his girlfriend.

"Jesse, what just happe-" He didn't get a chance to finish, though,
as Jesse and Erin both raced at him, throwing their arms around him,
and yanking him into a sitting position a little more violently
than they had probably intended.

"Ryoga!" Jesse almost squealed, her arms wrapped firmly around his 
neck, "You're alive!" She hugged him harder, and planted a kiss on 
his cheek.

Erin, for her part, was slightly behind his back. He could feel her
squeezing his chest from behind, in a platonically affectionate
manner that left it a bit hard to breathe.

"It worked!" the older girl crowed, her voice rather muffled by 
Ryoga's right shoulder. "Just like the book said!"

Bit by bit, Ryoga's memory reactivated itself, not exactly aided by 
the hug-induced lack of oxygen to his brain. The more he managed
to piece together of his final battle with the master Mokatsu,
however, the more confused he became. On the other hand, he did have
two attractive girls attached to him, both absolutely ecstatic
to see him alive and well...even if only one of them was actually
in love with him.

After the cousins had calmed down enough to back off a bit, Ryoga
took a deep breath, brushed his hair out of his face, and looked
around, surveying the carnage. The only discernable signs of the last
fight that he could see, were hundreds of small scorch marks on the
ceiling and the tops of the walls. Aside from that, all the weapons
on the floor had been there since that morning. He wasn't paying
enough attention to notice which pieces had been moved.

This time, it was his turn to ask the questions. "What happened?"

Jesse grinned wolfishly, her arms now wrapped around one of his. "We
killed it," she stated, sounding quite pleased with the current
turn of events.

The fanged boy did a double take. "Y-you...you what?!" he stuttered
in disbelief.

The other girl nodded solemnly. "She's right. It exploded."

The young man sat there, taking in the full ramifications
of her statement, as Jesse stared at him lovingly and Erin began to 
poke around at his chest and shoulder.

He was about to ask her what she was doing, when she suddenly 
announced, "Look! His wounds are gone."

The other two teenagers, after a brief examination, agreed with her.

"Aside from a pounding headache," Ryoga assured them, "I actually
feel fine. My leg doesn't even really hurt anymore."

"Fascinating..." the older girl murmured.

She watched Ryoga and her cousin for a brief moment. Then, she leaned
forward, gave Ryoga one more hug, and whispered to him, "I'm so glad
you're alright."

He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, and squeezed her 
gently. "Thank you. I just hope it works for..." His words trailed
off at the end.

Erin sat back on her legs, and nodded. "I know." She smiled at Jesse
and her boyfriend, then said softly, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I 
believe I have someone waiting for me."

She stood, turned, and walked over to the body of the young man she
had originally come to the mountain for. Jesse and Ryoga watched
her go. Then, the fanged martial artist put both arms around the only
girl who had ever returned his love, and held her tightly. Some small
corner of his mind, though, waited guiltily for any word on the 
Chinese boy who had fought beside him, and died before him.

~<*>~

Erin knelt next to Mousse's still figure, watching anxiously for the
first signs of returning: a heartbeat, a breath, movement, anything.
Still, he remained motionless beside her.

Several feet away, the other two teenagers watched her. Jesse looked
up at Ryoga, who was staring intently at the other couple.

Nudging him gently in the ribs, the blond girl asked softly, "Do you
think something's wrong?"

Ryoga shook his head in indecision. "I don't know," he responded,
keeping to himself the thoughts that there were already many things
wrong with their current situation.

After a few more seconds of stillness, he came to the same conclusion
that, unbeknownst to him, Erin was also entertaining. He voiced his
ideas to Jesse. "Maybe," he offered, "since he's been this way for 
much longer than I was, it's just going to take a little while more
for his chi to fully return..."

His girlfriend stared at him, one eyebrow slightly raised.

He shrugged. "Or, something like that..."

Erin, meanwhile, was getting a bit nervous, even though she shared
Ryoga's theory. Uncurling her legs from under herself, she reached
down and picked up one of Mousse's hands, holding it in both of hers.
It was cool to the touch.

"Come on, Mousse," she prompted in a barely audible whisper. "Come
back now, please. I miss you..."

Still holding his hand in one of hers, she stroked his face with the
other, brushing his bangs aside. She noticed that his glasses were
missing, lost sometime during all the fighting or carrying he had 
been subjected to.

"Good grief," she muttered to him in English. Then, switching
back to Japanese, she asked, "Will you ever learn to keep those 
things on your face?"

She placed her hand on his still chest, and sighed. "Please..."

Bowing her head, she studied his hand as it lay on her lap. Suddenly,
she felt something. Her head snapped up, and her eyes got wide, as 
she looked at her other hand. Under it, she thought she had felt a 
weak heartbeat.

"Mousse..." she whispered. Jesse and Ryoga both watched, as she 
closely observed her boyfriend for any signs of life.

Just when she began to wonder if she had imagined it, she saw him 
move. Not very much, but she definitely saw her hand move, as his 
chest rose and fell with a breath. She slid her hand up to his 
throat; he had a soft, but stable pulse. A broad grin broke out on 
her face as a tear slid down her cheek. Leaning down, she wrapped
both arms around his neck, and held him tightly, never wanting to let
go.

He moaned softly, and turned his head until his face was against
her hair. He took a deep breath, and his eyes fluttered open. 
"Erin..." he murmured.

Suddenly, his girlfriend released a heartfelt sob that she had been
restraining since his arms had fallen from around her neck the first
time she had been in the Battle Room. The noise next to his ear 
jolted him fully awake. He slid his arms around her, and held her 
close. "I'm so sorry," he whispered in her ear. "I love you."

She pulled back from him, enough to be able to look into his face.
"Goodness gracious," she choked out, "Don't you ever do this to me 
again!"

He smiled slightly. Bringing one hand up to her face, he brushed
away a few strands of hair that the crying had stuck to her cheek.
She, in turn, took his face in her hands, and kissed him. He didn't
mind at all. After she released his face, she helped him into a 
sitting position, both of her arms again around his neck. Erin hugged
him once more, burying her face in his shoulder. Mousse rested his 
cheek on the top of her head.

"I like the way your hair smells," he told her.

She snorted, and lifted her head to look incredulously at him. 
"Mousse, love," she said, "after today, I can't imagine I smell much
better than you do. And you reek."

He blinked at her. "Sorry."

She smiled warmly at him, and he smiled back, completely in love.

~<*>~

After Mousse received a few more hugs, and a kiss or two 
(approximately), Ryoga walked over, still limping very slightly,
with Jesse trailing behind him. He knelt beside the recovering
Chinese martial artist and held out his hand.

"Forgive me," Ryoga asked.

Mousse stared at him for a moment, then nodded. Leaving one arm still
wrapped around Erin, who was gazing at him with an undisguised
adoration that almost made him blush, he took the offered hand.

"Ryoga, it wasn't anything you had control over," he assured the 
other young man. "What happened wasn't, in any way, your fault."
Glancing at Erin, a sheepish expression passed over his features.
"I mean," he continued, "you didn't twist my arm and force me to 
come. If you need me to say that I forgive you, I do, but there's
really nothing to forgive."

The bandanna-clad boy nodded, a feeling of relief washing over him.
Trying to change the subject, he pointed at Mousse's chest. "Your
wound is gone, isn't it?"

The Chinese boy looked down, and poked his finger through the hole
in his robe. "You're right, now that you mention it. I guess I was 
just so happy to be alive, that I didn't stop to notice all the 
details."

Mousse put his fingers to his head, and then checked his leg. 
"Actually," he said in amazement, "all my injuries seem to have 
vanished."

He was about to make another comment, when a low groan sounded behind
Ryoga. The Lost Boy jumped slightly, bumping into Jesse, who was 
standing behind him. She grabbed onto his shoulders to keep herself
from falling over. Mousse looked rather startled.

Erin, for her part, put her forehead down on Mousse's shoulder,
and laughed once. "I think we forgot about something," she muttered.

The two young men stared at each other for a second, before getting
identical looks of annoyance on their faces. "Ranma," they said in 
unison.

Mousse wrinkled his nose. "Ugh."

Ryoga shook his head. "There are a few things I'd like to discuss
with him."

Directly behind him, Jesse grumbled. "Too bad you're going to have
the chance to..."

~<*>~

Ranma woke. His head was spinning, and he was feeling very groggy.
He mumbled something to himself about shriveled old women on sticks,
then opening his eyes, he found himself staring into four other 
pairs.

Ryoga, Mousse, Jesse, and Erin stood, slightly menacingly, over the
pig-tailed martial artist as he sat up. He stared at the four 
teenagers clustered around him. Mousse looked angry, Erin looked
more than angry, Jesse looked semi-furious, and Ryoga was starting
to glow green.

Ranma laughed nervously. "Eh-hehe...Yo...Uh, fancy seein' you 
here..."

A slightly confused expression came over his face then, as he 
registered the presence of the two American girls, along with his two
rivals. "Um, come to think of it," he said to the incensed cousins,
"what are ya doin' here?"

The comment was followed immediately in his mind by the thought
of, "What am I doing here? I was pretty sure I died in that other
room." Of course, not wishing to appear uninformed, he kept that part
to himself.

Jesse scowled at him. "We're cleaning up your mess," she snarled.

He looked a bit confused at her statement. "Huh?"

"What she means," Erin interjected, "is that after you jumped through
that doorway the Mokatsu offered, it turned on Mousse, and Ryoga,
later."

He began to protest. "But it said that-"

The brunette girl cut him off rather abruptly. ""Good grief," Ranma
Saotome," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "What did you 
think it was going to do after you left them there, huh? Say 'Thank
you for participating. Now run along and have a nice day. 
Bye-bye,'!?"

"I didn't really-" He didn't get a chance to finish, though, as this
time, Jesse interrupted.

"That's right," she said angrily, "you didn't really." Ranma gave her
a strange look as she continued. "What you 'didn't really' stop to 
think about were the consequences of your actions. You brought Ryoga
and Mousse with you as allies, partners. But then, when it looked
like you were going to get what you wanted, you just left. You make
me sick!" She paused to take a breath. "Do you know what happened
after you took off through the happy little gate?"

Ranma opened his mouth to say something, but Ryoga beat him to it. "I
can tell you what happened," he said stiffly. "Mousse was left to 
face the master Mokatsu-that the two of you couldn't beat 
together-alone, while I fought the Heir."

Ranma stood up, wobbling slightly, as the other boy continued.

"When, Ranma," he asked, "was the last time you watched a friend
get impaled by a giant monster, and have the life sucked out of him?"

The pig-tailed teenager backed towards the wall as Ryoga advanced
on him, battle aura strengthening.

"Well...?!" he asked again.

"Umm..."

Ryoga gave a curt nod, and growled, "That's what I thought."

Mousse stepped forward, arms tucked into his robe sleeves. "You left
me to fight it by myself, Ranma, after I screamed that it was a 
liar."

"And you call yourself a man!" Jesse piped up from behind her 
boyfriend.

Erin raised an eyebrow at the comment, and Jesse shrugged. "What?
Considering who we're talking to, it just seemed like it fit."

"Riiight," the other girl muttered.

Seeing a break in the list of accusations, Ranma spoke up. "So, if 
he's dead," he said, pointing to Mousse, who didn't look very 
deceased, "how and why is he standin' there, givin' me a dirty look?"

Coming to the defense of her boyfriend, Erin interjected, "It wasn't
dirty. Just...mildly soiled."

That got her strange looks from all four of the other teenagers.
She shrugged, and Ranma voiced his objection again.

Ryoga, Jesse, and Erin knew, of course. Mousse, however, had never
gotten the chance to finish reading the page he had taken from the 
book, and as for Ranma, he was totally clueless.

"Girls..." Ryoga prompted. He didn't want to have to try to explain
it.

The cousins sighed, but did proceed to give them the highly condensed
version of the conditions for reversing the Mokatsu's chi-draining
ability, and then, what they had been able to do with this 
information.

Ranma, in turn, voiced objections similar to the ones Ryoga had, when
Erin had first told him, and, received much the same response the 
first boy had gotten. This time, in surround-sound...one
girl on either side of him.

The martial artist still had one problem with their story, though.
"If Mousse died right after I left," he began, "and Ryoga died before
he could kill the Master, how come we're all fine?" He got a smug 
expression on his face, feeling as though he had found the one flaw
in their story.

Ryoga was the one to deliver the thunderbolt. "They killed it."

Ranma's jaw dropped open, but no sound came out, and Mousse's 
eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.

The Chinese boy regained his composure first. "You killed it?" he 
asked, looking at the two cousins with surprise.

"Yup!" Jesse said.

"With the knife Ranma lost," Erin added.

"I am genuinely impressed," Mousse told them.

"So am I," Ryoga said.

"I'm confused..." Ranma whined.

Sidestepping Ryoga, the young man began walking towards the rows of 
statues, muttering under his breath about the dishonor and 
unfairness, and the ridiculousness, of it all, when suddenly,
there was a crunching sound, as Ranma tripped over something,
and crashed to the floor. The others jumped in surprise, and walked
over to see what had happened.

Ranma lay where he had fallen for at least a full minute. Then with
his face still on the ground, he held up what he had tripped on. 
"Mousse," he mumbled into the flagstones, "I think these belong to 
you..." He was holding a pair of glasses.

"Oops," Mousse said, embarrassed. "So that's where they went. 
Eh-heh..." He reached out and took them from the prostrate martial
artist. "Um, thanks."

Prying himself off the floor, Ranma grumbled, "No problem."

Mousse looked at his glasses. The frames were slightly bent on one 
side, and one of the lenses had several scratches on it. "They seem
a bit worse for the wear."

Erin looked over his shoulder at them. "That," she said, "is 
definitely the least of today's problems. We can get you a new pair
in Nerima, don't you know."

He smiled at her, and tucked them into his robe.

Just as Erin was walking back towards the wall to get her and Jesse's
backpacks, a low rumble like distant thunder echoed through the halls
of the Mokatsu's fortress. She looked back at the others; their eyes
were wide with apprehension.

Ryoga spoke softly. "I know that sound."

~<*>~

"What the-" Jesse began. Ryoga cut her off.

"It's time to leave," he said quickly.

The blond girl put her hands on her hips, and stared at him, 
unmoving. "Ryoga Hibiki, what was that noise?"

"That," Ranma filled in, "is a Mokatsu growl, which, according
to your story, shouldn't be happenin'."

Erin grabbed the two packs from beside the wall, and jogged back to 
the other four teenagers. On her way, she bent in mid-stride,
scooping something off the floor and putting it in her backpack,
which she then slung over her shoulders. She stopped next to her 
cousin, and handed Jesse her backpack.

"Well, we have two options," she informed them. "Since there are five
of us, it technically won't accept us as challengers, but on the 
other hand, it's probably really ticked at us right now, so that 
might not stop it from coming down to play, anyway. So, we can either
stick around here and wait for that thing to come for revenge,
or, we can leave before it has the chance to make up its mind."

"Funny," Mousse said contemplatively, "I only heard one option."

The brunette girl nodded. "That's what I thought."

Jesse and Erin began to head for the black doors on the other end of
the Battle Room. Mousse and Ryoga swerved to the outside of the room
to find their previously discarded backpacks, along with Ranma's.
The pig-tailed martial artist, however, didn't appear to be going
anywhere.

"Wait a second!" he called after the two girls. "I'm still cursed!"

Erin turned around, but continued moving towards the doors. "Ranma,"
she explained rapidly, "you don't understand. The Mokatsu can not 
grant wishes, or cure you-not that it would if it could-that's
just part of the legend that developed in the thousand years since
they were last here. The real creatures just crave the sport, the 
killing. Plus, the more people they kill, the more chi they absorb,
and the stronger they become. Trust me, it's all about them."

She turned back towards the doors as Mousse and Ryoga caught up with
them. "Are you coming or not?" she called over her shoulder. "'Cause
I'm not carrying you out of here!" Then mumbling under her breath,
she said, "I've already carried you farther than I ever wanted to..."

Ranma stood for a moment in indecision. There was a loud noise behind
him, probably from somewhere down one of the passageways. It seemed
to be getting closer. He decided on a course of action.

"Mousse!" he yelled as he started running after them. "You've got my
backpack!"

The Chinese boy flung the pack to Ranma in mid-stride, as the group
of five approached the end of the Battle Room.

~<*>~

Ranma was the last one to reach the large, ebony double doors 
guarding the entrance and, at the moment, the exit to the Battle
Room. The others were already clustered around the doors, apparently
not doing anything. Ranma, always needing to be in on the action,
yelled, "I'll get the doors!" and flung himself at them.

"Ranma!" Ryoga began.

"Don't do that!" Erin finished. "They're-"

*SMACK!*

"-locked..." She shook her head. "Oh, bother."

Ryoga looked at Ranma, who was lying on the ground twitching,
and then at Erin. "Are you sure they don't just open in the other
direction?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Not funny."

Mousse glanced back at the other end of the Battle Room. "Umm, don't
you think we ought to be vacating the premises?"

Prying himself off the floor, Ranma muttered, "What?"

"He means, " Jesse translated, "that we should be departing as of 
previously."

The Japanese boy just looked more confused.

"Ryoga-kun..." Erin prompted.

"Heh, I gotcha covered," The fanged boy quipped in English.

Jesse moaned. "Oh, dear..."

Turning to the wall next to the doors, Ryoga struck it with one 
finger, and shouted, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" That portion of the wall 
crumbled to pieces, and the five teenagers quickly went through.

"The remodeling costs for this place are gonna be horrendous,"
Jesse muttered in English, as they all headed for the outer set of 
doors.

Erin gave her a grim smile, with a touch of mischief in it. "Trust
me, dear, before we're through, they're gonna get a whole lot 
higher..."

~<*>~

This time, for some unknown reason, the doors didn't operate on their
own, as they had when both sets of challengers had arrived. As things
were, it took Ranma, Mousse, and Ryoga to shove them open by force.
The door they were pushing on creaked open a few inches, and then 
stopped. The three boys pushed harder, and suddenly, the door swung
open all the way, spilling them outside, onto the ground. Jesse 
followed them out with a bit more grace.

Mousse, who was on the top of the pile, mumbled something in Chinese
that, more or less, amounted to, "Fresh air!" while Ranma, on the 
bottom, grumbled, "Get offa me."

It took them a few more seconds to untangle their limbs and stand
up. Mousse looked around; something was wrong. Realizing what it was,
he rushed over to Jesse, grabbed her by the shoulders, and asked,
"Where is Erin?!"

The blond girl looked confused. "I don't know," she told him, 
extricating herself from his grasp. "She was right behind me on the
way out of the Battle Room."

Ryoga walked over, and was about to ask what the problem was, but 
Mousse was already dashing back to the still partially open door.

"ERIN!" he yelled.

He got to the threshold, still running, when suddenly, something
from inside came flying out. It was Erin, zipping her backpack
as she ran. He yelped as she collided with him, sending him crashing
backwards. He landed flat on his back, with the wind knocked out of 
him.

"Um, you called," Erin said, not quite angelically, from on top of 
his chest.

The young man coughed, and rolled over, spilling his girlfriend
onto her bottom next to him.

"Sorry about that," she said.

"It's alright," he told her, as Ranma and Ryoga went to shut the door
they had come through. "I was just worried when you didn't come out."

"I had a quick something to do first."

He was about to ask her what it was, when another crashing noise came
from inside the castle, accompanied by a loud growl. Forgetting
his question, Mousse turned to the others, and asked, "Shouldn't
we be getting away from this castle? I mean, what if the Mokatsu
decides to come out after us?"

Jesse was in the process of telling him that if the Mokatsu decided
to come out after them, just getting part of the way down the 
mountain probably wouldn't do a great deal of good, when Ryoga 
started talking.

"It must be the Heir," he muttered to himself. "I had thought it 
would be gone after I chi-blasted it. I'm sorry."

Jesse nodded. "It's not your fault. The book did say that only those
knives would kill them. It must have teleported right after it 
slammed into the wall, and...and Erin, what are you doing?"

Her cousin was already about fifty yards away, jogging towards the 
corner of the castle, staring around, and periodically stopping
to examine the ground around the fortress. She looked for all the 
world like she was sight-seeing. Looking back when her name was 
called, she yelled, "just a minute," then disappeared around the 
corner.

Mousse's eyes got wider as he turned to Jesse, then pointed off in 
the direction Erin had gone, without saying anything. The girl 
shrugged.

"She probably knows what she's doing," she told him, not very 
reassuringly. Then, looking at her watch, she commented, "We have 
about one hour and twenty minutes left, before, according to Cologne,
the fortress will again disappear."

The four remaining teenagers were still trying to decide what to do,
when Erin came running from around the other corner of the building.
She stopped, slightly out of breath, between Mousse and her cousin.

"That was pretty fast," Jesse commented.

Erin looked at her. "Actually, it's not that big around." She shook
her head. "All those corridors we went through have absolutely
no right being able fit in a structure that size!"

"So," Mousse began, "what were you doing?"

She smiled. "Seeing how far away from the castle the grass and 
shrubbery started. And, seeing that there's no wind tonight, and 
it'll only have about twenty minutes, it's all far enough away."

"Far enough away for what?" Ranma asked, deciding to rejoin the 
proceedings.

Jesse was already catching on, however. "A bonfire."

Ranma gave her an incredulous look. "And what do ya plan to start
it with? Flint, sticks?"

Mousse pulled a very large lighter from his robe sleeve. Ranma rolled
his eyes.

"What do ya plan to use to keep it burnin'...hairspray?
Most of this building is made outta rock, ya know."

Erin's smile broadened. "Ranma, Ranma, you think too small," she told
him. "We have something better than hairspray." She reached into her
backpack, and pulled out two plastic bottles. "We've got lighter
fluid!"

"Oh, brother..." he grumbled.

~<*>~

Ten minutes later, after reopening the door, the girls had soaked
the front entrance way and the doors to the Battle Room with the two
bottles of lighter fluid from Erin's pack, and had randomly sprayed
most of the front hallway with another bottle from Jesse's pack. 
There had been much excited giggling and whispering during the 
process.

The guys watched from the doorway, careful to stay out of the line
of fire (no pun intended). Mousse shook his head slowly.

"My girlfriend is a pyromaniac."

Ryoga nodded. "Mine, too."

When they were finished, Erin ran back to Mousse, as Jesse squeezed
out the door beside her.

"You can light it, now," Erin said, grinning.

The three boys pushed the door most of the way closed, then, as soon
as everyone had gotten clear, Mousse flicked the lighter on, kneeled
down, and tossed it into darkness. Quickly, Ryoga and Ranma shoved
the door the rest of the way closed, until they heard it latch. From
inside, they could hear a rushing sound, as the main hall ignited.

"I hope this works," Ryoga said, "and doesn't just make that thing
angrier at us."

"I think," Erin said, "that if the heir Mokatsu were actually coming
for us, it would have already done it. So, the way I figure it is, in
about fifteen minutes, the Mokatsu and it's fortress will vanish
back to wherever they came from...a parallel dimension, Planet X, 
whatever. It probably won't notice our good-bye present until it's
too late for it to do anything about it."

"What if it teleports to safety?" Ryoga asked.

Erin shrugged. "It'll still have to find a new house. Plus, even if 
it does, it can't come back for another thousand years, anyway."

The group hadn't heard any sounds from the Mokatsu in at least thirty
minutes.

"Hopefully," Jesse said, "it's too busy absorbing the power from the
other one, or something, to care about us anymore."

The others nodded. Mousse, who was standing behind Erin, wrapped
his arms around her shoulders, as Ryoga put his arm around Jesse's
waist. If Ranma felt a tad conspicuous standing by himself, no one 
noticed. They could now see a red glow coming from the crack between
the doors, and there were crashing noises inside as pieces of ceiling
and doors collapsed and burned.

Suddenly, just as the smell of burning was beginning to become 
noticeable in the night air, and tendrils of smoke curled from under
the black doors, the Mokatsu's fortress began to waver, as if it were
under water. Then, a soft glow encompassed it, and suddenly, the 
whole structure vanished. A rush of cool air flowed in to occupy
the space it had vacated. The mountain was again untainted.

~<*>~

The five teenagers stood in silence on the mountain peak. There was
a light breeze blowing, and the stars were shining brightly. Erin 
leaned back against Mousse, and stared up at the sky.

"I wonder where it went?" she said softly.

Hugging her tighter, Mousse responded, "I don't care, as long as it's
far away, and doesn't plan on coming back."

"It won't," she told him. "At least, not for another millenium."

She reached up, and put her hand on his cheek. "I'm so glad you're
back with me."

He smiled, and kissed the side of her face. "Me, too."

~<*>~

"For a while there," Jesse whispered to Ryoga, "I was afraid I had 
lost you."

"I thought you had, too," he told her, playing with the bottom of her
hair. "But, you helped save my life, and now, you won't be able to 
get rid of me."

She smiled, and laid her head on his shoulder. "What makes you so 
sure you could leave if you wanted to?"

He laughed, and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.

~<*>~

The two couples stood under the night sky for a few more minutes.
Ranma stood off to the side, his arms crossed, looking slightly
dejected, as well he should. Finally, Erin broke the silence.

"Let's go home," she said, taking Mousse's hand.

He nodded, and the others agreed. Turning their backs on the space
the fortress had occupied, they began walking towards the rough trail
that led down the mountain. After they had been walking for a few 
minutes, there was a loud crashing noise. Everyone jumped, and at 
least one person let out a surprised yelp.

"What was that?!" Ranma asked, paranoia momentarily getting the 
better of him.

"Thunder," Ryoga said, looking back up at the sky. A dark cloud 
drifted over the moon.

Suddenly, something wet hit Erin's face. She paused, and stared at 
the three martial artists.

Lightning split the sky, briefly bathing the mountainside in a yellow
glow. A few drops fell, and the wind picked up. Then, the storm 
broke, instantly drenching the five teenagers on the slope. Jesse
and Erin stared at each other and sighed.

"Quack!"

"Bweee!"

"Aw, man!"

~<>~<*>~<>~

~All Ranma ½ characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Video,
respectively. I don't claim to own any of them. I just enjoy writing
about them! I do, however, belong to myself, so I will claim me...
I'll also assume my cousin, who graciously allowed me to include
her in my story, will claim herself. *smirk* On the other hand, this
story is completely my work, so please ask before you use it in any
way. Now, on to the fanfic!~

Kokoro Kara

(With All my Heart)

A story by: Eri-Chan

(All questions, comments, critiques, and

spelling/grammar corrections would be most appreciated)

Eri_Chan16@hotmail.com

9-02-00 to 3-22-03

~Part Four: Epilogue~

Early the next morning, Cologne was outside, sweeping the front porch
of the Neko Hanten. A light rain tapped on the awning above her head,
dripping off and forming a thin curtain of water that blurred the 
view beyond. Looking up, she could see someone coming down the road,
still off in the distance. She went back to her sweeping. A few 
minutes later, when she looked up again, she could make out three
figures. This time, instead of going back to work, she stood there
watching as they drew closer. Soon, even through the misty shield
of rain, she could see that there were three girls: one was carrying
a white duck, one a black piglet, and the third had bright red hair.

A small smile crept over her wrinkled face. "Well, I'll be," she 
croaked. "They've returned..."

~<*>~

Turning quickly, the Amazon matriarch pushed open the door of the 
Neko Hanten. "Shampoo!" she called out in Chinese, as she entered
the main area.

Shampoo came downstairs. "What is it, Great-Grandma?"

Cologne paused for a moment to jump atop her cane. "They have 
arrived," she stated simply. 

The young Amazon's eyes widened, and she bounced gleefully. "So 
happy!" She stared at Cologne for a brief moment. "Shampoo go get 
towels for Ranma!" Spinning on her heel, she dashed exuberantly
back up the stairs.

The older Chinese woman turned at the sound of footsteps on the 
porch. The door swung open. Three wet, but very alive, teenagers
filed into the Neko Hanten, duck and pig in hands.

"Tadaima," whispered the brunette girl holding the duck.

The door swung closed again, and there was a pause, while the two 
American girls cast tired but triumphant looks at each other and the
aged matriarch sized up the situation. Ranma dripped water on the 
floor. Finally, Cologne broke the silence.

"I just cleaned the floor, you know," she croaked blandly.

Erin snorted. "I suppose we forgot umbrellas in our initial packing
frenzy." She surveyed the decent-sized puddle forming around all 
their feet. "So sorry."

Cologne's wrinkled face cracked into a smile. "Welcome home."

At that moment, Shampoo returned with the towels, and handed them 
out. She bounced on her toes, and clapped her hands together.
"Aiya, Ranma!" she squealed at the bedraggled martial artist. "You
come back to Shampoo!" Then, catching on finally, her face fell. "Why
you still girl?"

"Fair question," Jesse muttered. P-Chan 'bweeed' in agreement.
"But I am cold and wet!" the blond girl continued, "and my boyfriend
is a small barnyard animal." She glared at nothing in particular.

"Ah, yes," croaked the Amazon matriarch. "Shampoo," she said, turning
to the confused purple-haired girl next to her, "please show them 
places to change, and bring hot water." She paused. "Then, I expect
there will be much explaining to do..."

~<*>~

Less than an hour later, the seven of them sat gathered around a 
table in the Neko Hanten. Cologne had provided hot tea and ramen.
Now warm, dry, and in clean clothes, the five teenagers were ready
to tell their story. For the first part, Ryoga did most of the 
talking; periodically, Mousse would interject something that he had
noticed or thought to himself. Ranma made many snide comments in the
background, but added very little to the actual telling of events.
As the two cousins hadn't been present for the boys' initial 
discovery of the Mokatsu's fortress, or for their first battle with
the creature and its Heir, they kept fairly quiet during Ryoga's
recounting. When he got to the first encounter and subsequent
face-off with the two beings, he fell silent. Mousse looked over at 
him and gave him a small smile. Erin touched his shoulder 
reassuringly, and Jesse slipped her hand into his. Ryoga continued.

Cologne's already wide eyes grew even larger as he described the 
events of their fight, and then Ranma's...well...Ranma-ish
conduct afterward. Jesse glared alarmingly at the pigtailed martial
artist as he sat, arms crossed, listening to the fanged boy speak.
He didn't admit to anything, but he also didn't contradict anything
that was said. Shampoo just stared at him adoringly, periodically
making sympathetic noises at his suffered afflictions. Erin rolled
her eyes, but refrained from making any of the numerous rude comments
that came into her head.

Ryoga ended with his final attack on the Heir Mokatsu, and its 
subsequent disappearance. Then, he sighed and leaned his head on 
Jesse's shoulder. She glared half-heartedly at Ranma, then softened
and turned her attention to her quietly embarrassed boyfriend.
Cologne opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. Erin
spoke up.

"It's a good thing we went after them when we did," she said softly,
placing a gently affectionate hand on Mousse's arm. "Otherwise..."
She allowed her comment to hang in the air, unfinished.

The old woman looked annoyed, then nodded. "True..." she muttered,
the point conceded.

Ranma was forced to pry a concerned Shampoo off his arm, as Erin 
picked up the story where Ryoga had left off. There were a few 
uncomfortable pauses at certain parts, especially where Mousse's
well being was in question. The two others who had been with her then
noticed the lack of detail she allowed into the telling of those 
parts. However, they didn't question or correct her, and the rest of
her descriptions of events were quite thorough. Only once did Ranma
open his mouth to protest something, but he was quickly silenced
by Ryoga, who pointedly reminded him, "How would you know, Ranma?
You were dead at the time..."

Erin briefly but thoroughly outlined how she and Jesse had found the
boys, Mousse's death, the discovery of the book's missing page, their
search for the creature, their discovery of Ranma, the second battle
with the Master, and Ryoga's death. She finished by telling of the 
Mokatsu's demise, and the three boys' subsequent recovery. Ranma 
interjected to tell of their setting fire to the fortress, and its 
final silent vanishing.

"Then we came home," Erin concluded.

"It's still raining, too," her cousin grumbled.

There was silence for a long moment. Cologne looked at each person
in turn, an expression of begrudging admiration on her face as her 
gaze fell on the American girls. "You have all done remarkably
well for yourselves," she began. "I am impressed. More than I 
expected to be." She paused for a moment, considering Ranma. 
"Unfortunately, our first purpose of delivering the three of you from
your curses was not achieved. I am sorry for that."

A general undercurrent of dissatisfaction came from the three young
men gathered around the table. Both the Chinese boy and his 
bandana-clad partner cast veiled sidelong glares at Ranma, who sat 
with his arms crossed and a look of vague discomfort in his slate
blue eyes. Mousse turned and glanced at Erin, who was smiling at him,
a look of tranquil, silent comfort on her face. He sighed.

"You know, though," he said softly, turning back to Cologne. "Being
cursed is much better than being dead." He paused. "And I can 
apparently speak from experience..."

Ryoga nodded his assent.

Mousse continued. "And, I have decided that, although inconvenient,
it has never gotten in the way of how certain people feel about 
me..." Here, he blushed slightly and smiled at Erin. "Doing this,
and having my closest friends try so hard to save me showed me that
I don't have to worry about my curse anymore. At least, not in the 
same way as before because...well...I'm already loved and accepted
for who I am."

Erin leaned over and kissed him softly on the cheek. Mousse could
feel his face burning, and from the mildly amused look he was getting
from Cologne, he guessed that its color mirrored that fact. Ryoga
nodded once more.

"Yes," he said. "I agree with him. I have everything I really want."
He squeezed Jesse's hand. "And I think that I could actually be 
content with my curse for the rest of my life if I had to."

"But life is too precious to waste on foolish battles to fix things
that, ultimately, don't change who we are inside," the Chinese boy 
murmured.

Cologne smiled. "True. Very true." She looked at the two cursed 
martial artists. "It seems you have learned more than I ever 
expected. Not only have you fought bravely and honorably, but you 
have also learned to be at peace with your circumstances.
To appreciate the blessings in life and not concentrate on 
the...well...curses." And here, her smile became decidedly maternal.
"This is something that people can live a life as long as mine, and
still not understand. I am proud of you."

Eyes wide, the two young men mouthed their thanks, absolutely
shocked at what was, for Cologne, an emotionally affectionate
outburst. Their girlfriends grinned widely.

The old woman then turned to look at Ranma, who was attempting
to keep an overly sympathetic Shampoo at arms' distance. "You, on the
other hand," she began, "seem to have come away with the least. 
Training you may have gotten. But if fighting is all you will learn,
then life will prove hard and lonely for you." Ranma scowled, but was
too worn out to act as indignant as he might have liked. The 
matriarch continued. "Perhaps, though, you have at least learned
that jumping through unknown doors offered by bestial hosts of 
unknown trustworthiness is a foolish idea at best."

Ranma rolled his eyes and made an affronted noise, but glanced almost
longingly at the other two couples in the restaurant. They were both
seemingly in their own world of happiness, enveloped in the 
protection of mutual love and care. He thought about Akane, and Ukyo,
and even Shampoo, and how surface all his relationships were with 
them. They never talked, really. At least, not without arguing.
He didn't actually know any of them anymore. He sighed almost 
inaudibly. "Maybe," he thought to himself. "Just maybe it's time I 
tried to actually be a real friend to somebody." Suddenly, the 
thought of being the best fighter in the world, but without any 
people who truly cared about the person he was on the inside, sounded
far from appealing.

From her chair, Cologne observed the pensive look that had taken 
control of Ranma's features. And she wondered, briefly, if maybe he 
had learned a little more than he had been given credit for.

~<*>~

Far off, in an unknown realm, a dark fortress appeared atop a 
mountain. Deep within, a creature seethed with untold power. The Heir
Mokatsu lurked in one of the many hidden rooms in its stronghold;
writhing veins of energy trailed over its body, ready...waiting.

As soon as the former Master had been slain, its entire lifetime
of accumulated chi had blossomed outward in a great surge. But then,
slowly, it had flowed back toward its new possessor. The younger
creature felt the death of the elder and met it with a nearly 
triumphant expectancy. It reached up, willing the energy to draw 
toward it, to become part of it. It roared with pleasure as the 
roiling cloud enveloped it.

Far below, the Mokatsu's echoing growls reached the ears of five 
barely recovered teenagers struggling to decide on their next move.
The creature's exultant ejaculations of charged ecstasy were 
misinterpreted as a beginning act of vengeance on them for the 
slaying of its Master. They left as quickly as possible. Unbeknownst
to the Heir, however, the puny, insignificant humans left a token
of their affection: a small going-away present.

The oblivious creature continued its work, feeling safe from the 
interference of the humans, as its next step was the most important,
yet also the most vulnerable, in its assumption of power. The time
had come for it to completely take its role as the Master by creating
for itself a new Heir. Gathering its newfound energies tightly around
itself, it focused its concentration. The process by which its fellow
beings had replicated themselves throughout the centuries was indeed
a bizarre one, as Cologne had told Ranma. Parthenogenesis:
The splitting of one thing into another identical yet separate
entity. The Mokatsu would use its chi to force a duplicate of itself
to split off from its body. This duplicate would know what it knew
at the time of separation, but would be subservient to it in all 
things, acknowledging it as the superior existence. Once this process
was complete, the new Master would begin to grow larger with each of
its absorbed victim's chi, while the new Heir would, in turn, await
its own opportunity for power.

The Mokatsu could feel the process beginning, as new cells formed,
and the new creature began to split off from within its flesh. It 
allowed itself to sink deeper into its mitosis, letting the raw power
overwhelm its other senses and the reformation consume its whole 
awareness. Giving itself over completely to its task, the Mokatsu
was unaware that, far below it, the flames rose higher...

~<*>~

In the Neko Hanten, the conversation was beginning to die down, as 
weariness was starting to encroach on the recently returned. Cologne
spoke.

"You all look ready to return to your homes." Her comment was met 
with several nods. "Before you leave, though," she continued,
a contemplative look on her face, "I have one final question."

"Yeah?" Ranma quipped. "Well I have several..."

Cologne cut him off. "Elders first." She turned to the cousins,
"Although I am very impressed with how you managed to overcome
the creature's shape-changing illusion, I am rather unclear on how 
you achieved this. Or even how you knew it was anything other than
it seemed."

Confusion flitted across the faces of Shampoo and the three boys.
Only Erin, who knew her thoughts to begin with, and Jesse, who had 
figured it out soon after, maintained their unconcerned expressions.

"That's a good point," Ryoga muttered.

The old matriarch raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

"Ha!" Jesse crowed. "Wouldn't you like to know!"

Cologne blinked at her; she smirked happily. Erin, for her part, took
a final sip of her tea, then turned to face the old woman. She was 
attempting to refrain from looking very pleased with herself, and it
showed.

"The elderly lady on the mountain was my first clue," she said 
thoughtfully.

Jesse nodded. "She was a bit odd."

"While we were talking to her," Erin continued, "a bird flew 
overhead. It got above and a bit behind her, then stopped dead in 
midair and fell to the ground. It was alive, but quite stunned-like
it had just hit a window. The old woman acted annoyed, and rushed
off. Then, as she walked through the trees, the branches rustled
as she passed."

Jesse interjected, "The branches were well above her head, and there
wasn't any wind."

"Very true," her cousin affirmed. "Next came the doorkeeper."

"Also very odd," muttered the blond girl next to her.

Erin went on, choosing to forgo commenting. "For one thing, he never
showed up at the same time as either creature." Pointing to the three
male martial artists, she said, "Based on what the guys have told us
about when they were fighting battles, I think it's reasonable
to assume that both of these were incarnations of the Heir Mokatsu."

Cologne nodded her understanding, and the American girl proceeded.
"The only time that Jesse and I saw the doorkeeper, he looked 
significantly more frazzled than Ryoga described him looking when 
they arrived."

Next to Jesse, the fanged young man nodded once in agreement.
"He seemed quite calm when we spoke with him. And, he greeted us 
almost as soon as we entered."

"Those facts," Erin said, continually warming to her topic, "later
made me think that the Heir Mokatsu must have just come from the 
first battle. The aftereffects of Ryoga's Shishi Hôkôdan could quite
easily account for both the delay in the doorkeeper's arrival to 
greet us and his expended appearance."

Cologne interrupted briefly. "What you have told us so far is most
fascinating, as well as debatable that anyone else would have noticed
this." In the background, Jesse mumbled something about too much 
science fiction, while the ancient Amazon kept talking. "However,
both of these events relate only to the Heir."

Erin nodded, smiling slightly. "That's true. But based on the strange
black book in the corridor, we had no reason to believe that the 
older creature did things any differently than its subordinate."
She paused, looking off into the distance. "And also, the last piece
of the puzzle didn't click until the final battle with the Master."

The old woman shuffled her cane around a bit, and glanced at the rest
of the assembly. Although Shampoo still looked slightly lost, the 
three boys appeared to be gladly absorbing any information the young
lady gave. After all, they were alive because of her generally
overactive imagination and sci-fi warped reasoning abilities.
Cologne smiled slightly, and turned her attention back to the 
conclusion of Erin's story.

"After Ryoga was removed from the fight," she began delicately,
"Jesse and I came up with a way to distract the creature, which had,
by that time, taken his form. Or at least, that was how it appeared.
I distracted it; she rather violently impaled it with the dagger
the doorkeeper had provided us with. We had been told that those 
daggers alone had the ability, for whatever reason, to kill the 
creatures. And she got it straight through the middle of its body."

Jesse made a satisfied noise, a completely smug look on her face.
Erin glanced at her and smirked slightly.

"Then it had the obscene audacity to yank the knife out, get up, and
come at us again." She shook her head and sighed, feigning insult.
"Very rude if you ask me. It didn't." She smiled at Cologne and 
continued. "But, that was when everything finally came together.
It seemed that instead of actually transforming into the physical
shape of someone else, it could project solid illusions slightly
in front of it."

Mousse spoke up, answering a question he had formed much earlier.
"If it could somehow project and, well, harden its chi aura, it would
explain why there would be no need of a change in mass..."

Erin shrugged. "I'm not even going to pretend to figure out the 
physics behind it. All I know is that what we were seeing was not 
actually what-or where-the creature actually was. The same held true
for the old woman on the mountain. We were interacting with the 
illusion, while the bird impacted with the body of the invisible
creature. When I threw the second knife, I actually just aimed at 
where I remembered the Mokatsu last standing before it 
'transformed.'"

"Wait a minute!" Ranma exclaimed. "You're telling me that ya just 
guessed?!" He seemed quite put out by this information.

She smiled at him, staring angelically from under fluttering
eyelashes. "Weeell, it was a very educated guess..." Ranma twitched.
"And it worked," she finished, crossing her arms. Her body language
fairly dared him to come up with something clever to say about that.
Which he didn't.

Cologne, who had remained quite for a while, voiced her final 
opinion. "Amazing," she croaked. "The whole thing."

"I bet the next Mokatsu will think twice before leaving instruction
manuals hanging around," Jesse concluded.

Erin smiled a small, knowing smile. Mousse stared questioningly
at her, but didn't ask. Ranma had given up on forcing Shampoo off,
and she was now happily dozing against his shoulder. Jesse and Ryoga
were leaning against each other. Cologne smiled at the group in an 
almost motherly way.

"Perhaps you should all go sleep," the elderly martial artist 
suggested. "You have done much, and told all, and it is well past 
midnight." A few nods and some yawns told her she was right. "I will
see you again soon, no doubt." She stood, and hopped on her cane as 
usual.

After telling Cologne, and a groggy Shampoo, goodnight, the two 
couples walked out into the soft darkness. Still inside, Ranma lifted
the purple-haired Amazon girl, and carried her silently to her room.
He set her down on the bed, and watched her sleep for a moment.
"Maybe," he thought to himself, "I could convince her to just be my 
friend for a little while. That'd be nice. And just maybe...I
could get Akane to be my friend, too. I guess first, I'll have to 
learn how to be a better friend to her..." He turned and walked 
downstairs.

"Good night, Cologne," he said, with a slight, uncharacteristic
bow.

The Chinese Amazon briefly considered calling him "Son-in-law,"
as she generally did. He seemed different somehow, though. Wiser 
maybe. She nodded once, briefly. "Good night, Ranma." He left.

Cologne watched his departing form and wondered to herself, "Perhaps
dying once has that effect on a person." She smiled. "Not that I 
intend to find out any time soon..." She locked the door, and went
silently to her room.

~<*>~

After saying their group goodnights, Jesse had left to walk Ryoga
to his house, their hands clasped together, and her head on his 
shoulder. Mousse had taken Erin to her apartment. Now, the young 
Chinese man stood there, watching his girlfriend in the moonlight.
She was in the process of unlocking her door. He reached out and 
softly touched her hair. She opened the door, then turned to him and
smiled.

"I love you," she whispered.

He smiled back at her. Reaching down, he pulled something out of his
robe sleeve, and held it out to her. She stared at the rose: white,
with red tendrils across the surface of its petals. Taking the 
flower, Erin leaned forward, placed a hand on his face, and kissed
him softly.

"O-yasumi nasai, Mousse-ahiru," she said, giving him a hug.

Mousse held her tightly. "O-yasumi nasai, Erin. I love you, too..."

The young woman smiled once more, then disappeared into the darkness
of the apartment with her flower. Mousse sighed happily, and began
his walk back to the Neko Hanten.

~<*>~

Jesse leaned forward and kissed Ryoga's nose, effectively distracting
him from his task of entering his house. He blushed slightly,
and took her hand.

"Thank you," he whispered to the blond girl.

She smiled, and swatted playfully at his head. "Never try anything
like this again, though, okay?"

The bandana clad martial artist looked suitably chastised, but still
had a slight smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. "But," he 
protested, "it gets me so much extra affection..."

Hugging him tightly, Jesse shook her head. "Nope. I'll make sure you
get enough affection anyway!" She kissed him.

"I wonder," Ryoga began, his arms still around his girlfriend,
"if the Mokatsu could only use the forms, or people it had absorbed,
why could it take the form of an old man? Or an old woman, for that
matter?"

The American girl did her best to shrug, while still clinging to his
neck. "I suppose that some time ago, they challenged the Mokatsu
and lost." She paused to think. "I mean, look at Cologne. She's old!
Or even Happosai." She shuddered slightly at that last though. She 
had fortunately never been harassed by the lecherous old martial
arts master, but had heard enough stories of his energetic raidings
to be wary of him.

"I suppose so," Ryoga conceded. Then, squeezing Jesse enough to lift
her off her feet, he murmured, "I love you so much." Then, he set her
down.

"I love you too, Ryo-chan." She grinned.

Then, after a final goodnight kiss, she hurried off down the road,
back to her apartment, as Ryoga turned and went into his home.

~<*>~

In its own, uncharted realm, the Master Mokatsu was nearing the final
stages of its parthenogenesis. The small section of its mind not 
occupied by the separation worked furiously on its plan of return.
It had waited patiently behind its former Master, yet all the while
wishing that a more aggressive approach could be taken in the 
challenging. To set its whole fortress down in a village, and 
challenge all the natives, one by one defeating them, and taking
their chi...this is what would please it. Only another thousand
years-to be spent building its strength and training its Heir-before
it could return to the pathetic human globe of existence. It quivered
with anticipation, and its not-quite-formed Heir shuddered 
delightedly with it. Then the pain began, searing through their 
whole, still shared, body. Complete, consuming fire. Too small a 
piece of consciousness left to defend itself. The chamber was 
enveloped in warping columns of flame and billows of smoke.

The Mokatsu was dimly aware of the incomplete form of its almost-Heir
blackening, and tearing away from it, falling to the ground in 
shriveling ashes. True, only the knives had the ancient power to 
fully annihilate one of their great race. But, death and destruction
are not always the same thing. Its own flesh was betraying it, 
withering to darkened sections, crumbling away. Soon, nothing was 
left of the frame of the once exultant creature. The fortress gave
way before the trenchant blaze and succumbed even every hidden part
to the conflagration.

In the end, a heap of smoldering ruins was the only thing remaining
on the mountainside. A parched wind blew over the vestiges of the 
once great testimony to the might of the hoary creatures. And with
the wind, remained the last traces of the Heir's consciousness.
Vaguely aware, yet far from sentient, it hovered above the remnants
of its aspired glory...

~<*>~

A dim light shone out of a lone window in Nerima. The rest of the 
town was long since asleep. Inside the mostly darkened apartment,
Erin walked into her bedroom, clad in her nightgown, her hair still
wet after taking a shower. She felt fresh, having finally been able
to wash away the dirt and grime and the effects of the ragged 
emotions that had surfaced during the recent ordeal. But now, Mousse
was safe, alive. Ryoga too, and even Ranma. Her cousin would be 
coming home soon, after walking Ryoga to his house. She smiled.
Only one more thing to do.

Barefoot, Erin padded lightly over to her bed, on which she had 
flopped her backpack upon getting home. She pulled out the bottom
drawer of her dresser, where she kept her private things, and set it
next to the pack. Then, she opened the main compartment; the sound
of the zipper was the only thing breaking the silence. Mousse had 
wondered, and even briefly worried about her when she had disappeared
into the Mokatsu's fortress, after everyone else was outside. The 
Chinese boy had never actually asked what she was doing, however.
Now, she took out her secret.

Carefully, Erin placed a large black book into the drawer. A gilded
knot decorated the cover. The young woman opened it briefly, only 
enough to slip a slightly crinkled sheet of paper between two of the
pages. Reaching into her backpack once more, she pulled out a jeweled
knife. No stain remained on the gleaming blade, no reminder of what
it was or what purpose it had served. She placed it in the drawer,
beside the book. Moving the pack to the floor, she set the drawer
back in its slot. Erin sighed softly, pausing. Before closing it, she
placed her rose on the cover of the book. A splash of color against
the darkness. A small smile crossed her face, and then, humming
softly to herself, she slipped into bed and turned out the light.

A soft breeze blew over Nerima, and there was peacefulness
in the cool wind. These battles were over.

~<>~<*>~<>~