Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten Memories ❯ Remember Me ( Chapter 6 )

**** All characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. This is just one of my ideas! So don't judge me just because of my imagination! ^_^ (\/) Cyancat ****

Forgotten Memories

Chapter Six - Remember Me

"Ranma?" Shampoo searched her mind for the forgotten language that she had used so long ago. "What...What are you doing here!?"

"I'm here to see you. Isn't that apparent?" Ranma approached her, noticing that she had hardly changed since he last saw her. Though her hair had been cut to shoulder length and hung loosely around her face, she seemed as young as he had last seen her.

"But..." Shampoo studied Ranma as he stood before her, "Why after all this time?"

"Well, it's a long story. But, what's with the bon bori's?" he said pointing to the ground.

Shampoo looked down at the floor where her weapons lay by her feet. She looked back up at Ranma with an wary expression. "The girl that brought you in here told me there was a woman in here with red hair and a ponytail. I figured that it was someone playing a joke on me and wanted to teach them a lesson."

Shampoo walked past Ranma and lifted a kettle beside where Ranma had first been standing. "Came prepared, I see."

Ranma laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, well I found out that I couldn't even get in to see you as a guy. That girl wouldn't even let me get close to the building. But change to a woman and all doors are open to me."

"Po Mai is set by the rules we make and she hardly makes exceptions. Her mother is an elder also, so she tries her best to be the perfect Amazon. It gets aggravating after some time though. So tell me, why are you here?"

"You get right to the point, don't you?" Ranma sighed and crossed his arms. "Well, actually, I've come because of Mousse."

Shampoo quickly spun around, turning her back to Ranma, more to hide her face than anything. Even the mere mention of the name caused her face to flush after all this time. She crossed her arms firmly and set back her shoulders. "Well, what is it about him? Has that duck-boy finally come back? Does he want to be forgiven for being gone so long?"

Ranma looked at Shampoo, confused at her words. "Shampoo what are you talking about? I don't mean him."

"Then who else are you talking about?" she questioned, her heart starting to race.

"I'm here because of your daughter, the one that you named Mousse."

Ranma saw Shampoo's shoulders jump at the mention of the word 'daughter.' Yet she straightened her pose and raised her head. "What daughter?! I have no child!"

"What about the girl that was left behind in Nerima over fifteen years ago? This girl, called Mousse, is looking for her mother and I believe I just found her."

"Why would you think that I'm her mother?!" Shampoo threw her arms around in anger. "You never saw me in that condition, did you?"

"No, but you were hardly ever around for us to see back then. Shampoo, even her birth date is days before we realized you had left Nerima." Ranma said imploringly, trying his best to convince her of the truth.

Shampoo seemed to shake for a instant before she spoke again. "That is just a coincidence! It doesn't prove anything!"

"She even looks like you, there's no lying about it. She has violet eyes like yours and her hair is just as jet-black as Mousse's wa-"

"ENOUGH!" Shampoo interrupted, her shoulders starting to sag with grief. "Enough about that...that boy! He has left for good and thats all there is to it!"

"Is that what this is about? Mousse leaving?" Ranma walked up and stood behind Shampoo. "Just what was the reason that he left Nerima? I mean, if he loved you as much as he said, why leave you after what had happened between the two of you?" He put a hand on her shoulder, but as soon as he made contact, she batted it away and walked to a window, staying far from Ranma.

"Shut up! Get out of here!" she yelled.

"Shampoo, you can't deny her-"

"LEAVE NOW!" Shampoo screamed at the window, wishing that it was Ranma's face, but she couldn't bear to look at him now.

Ranma paused for a moment before sighing and then headed towards the door. He stopped for a second and turned back toward Shampoo at the window, "I'm not leaving because you're telling me to. I will be back and I won't leave until you understand what is going on."

With that Ranma stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind him. As soon as Shampoo heard his footsteps fade away, she dropped to her knees on the floor. Tears streamed in rivers down her cheeks as she put her hands to her face.

She looked back down at her hands, wet with her tears. "Why? Why do I cry for him? What happened then has brought me nothing but pain. I lost the two people that I loved the most and I couldn't even grieve for them! Why is it that I have to endure such pain? What did I do to deserve this? Mousse, WHY DIDN'T YOU COME BACK TO ME?!"

The door slammed behind Ranma as he entered the house that was Tonic's home. He pulled out a chair and slumped down in it, hanging his head in defeat. He then slammed his fist down on the table beside him and stared angrily at the floor. Akane appeared from the kitchen door and walked up next to him.

"How'd it go?" she said as she leaned on his shoulders.

"How do you think it went? It was horrible! She denied everything about having a daughter and she nearly threw me out of the place. Screamed her head off at me, yet..." Ranma looked up at Akane beside him. "I think I figured out a little bit about what happened between them for Mousse to leave. She did ask at one point if he was wanting to be forgiven for being gone so long. I think she was expecting him to come back after some time."

Akane wrapped her arms around Ranma's neck, trying to comfort him. "You really think that he was supposed to come back?"

"Thats what it sounds like. The question is, why didn't he come back?" Ranma looked around the room, "So where's Mousse?"

"Tonic took her into the market to get some food. Did you want her for something?"

"Kind of, I think that she may have to confront Shampoo herself. I didn't tell Shampoo that anyone else was here but me, so she won't see it coming."

Akane sighed and looked behind her to the door before turning back to Ranma. "Are you sure that's the right thing to do? It may really traumatize her if Shampoo denies everything right in front of her."

"It's a chance we're going to have to take and Mousse knows that or else she wouldn't have come with us this far." Ranma put a hand on Akane's arm, "Shampoo has to face her past. She can't keep it hidden any longer."

Akane nodded her head in agreement and stayed beside Ranma, her arms still around his neck.

Mousse looked around her in wonder at the village surrounding her as she followed Tonic through the streets. Everything looked so wonderful, so different from the droll buildings that she had grown up around. Here they were alive with color and life with the forest surrounding them. It was the perfect frame with such a vivid green that she had never thought was imaginable.

Tonic looked over his shoulder and smiled at the awe inspired girl behind him. He hadn't really expected to be like this, but it was fun to see how she reacted to this place. Here was his home and Mousse saw it in new ways that he had never really looked at before.

"Mousse? Are you coming?"

"Eh?" She replied, not really listening to Tonic as she stared up at a painting hanging outside a home. A young girl stood in a field surrounded by exotic flowers while two nearly transparent dragons flew in the brilliant blue sky.

Tonic shook his head and walked back beside her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, which brought her out of the daydream state she had been in. She blushed a little in embarrassment as she realized what she had been doing.

"Sorry, it's just so beautiful. I couldn't help but stare."

Tonic looked up at the painting and sighed in recollection. "Don't blame you, my mother painted that."

"You're kidding! Your mother did that!?" She said shocked out of her mind, while pointing to the painting.

"Yep, she was a great artist. She was the best in the world to me, but others didn't see it the same way."

"So where is she? I didn't really realize it when we got to your home, but where is your mother?"

Tonic hung his head. "She's dead."

Mousse put a hand to her mouth in regret of what she said. Damn, why did she have to be so insensitive? "Oh, I'm sorry, I...I didn't know...forgive me for asking."

"No, its alright." Tonic said, smiling lightly at Mousse. "Its been about ten years since her death. I've been in the care of the village since then and I've grown to accept her death like an adult."

"But I shouldn't have pried into your life like that."

"You would have found out eventually. Anyway, she's in a better place. Now we should get to the market. I still have to report to the elder council before they find out I'm here."

Tonic started walking away from the house and Mousse trailed behind him.

"Right, I forgot about that. You still think that they'll let you off the hook as an apprentice to Ranma?"

"All I can do is hope. I just don't want them deciding my life for me. They've done that since my mother died and now I want to do what I want and no longer have to go by their decision."

"Then I'll hope too. Its better than to think of worse things to come, isn't it?"

Mousse waited for an answer from Tonic but received only silence. Looking up at Tonic's face, she noticed that he was frozen in place and was staring straight ahead with an intensity that she had never seen in a person's eyes before.

"Tonic? Is there something wrong?"

Tonic mumbled under his breath words that Mousse couldn't understand. She then noticed a tall warrior striding towards them with a spear in her grip. She stopped before Tonic and stared down at him, either of the two not saying a word. Mousse looked back and forth between the two, trying her best to figure out what was happening. Crowds around them seemed not to notice the two people in the middle of the street in a staring match and went on with their duties. Mousse noticed as another woman started to approach them from the crowd also carrying a spear in her hands. She tugged on Tonic's shirt, trying to get him out of the stare down.

"Tonic! What in the hell is going on!? There's more people with spears heading this way! Snap out of it already!"

Tonic did not look away from the gaze of the woman in front of him, but spoke to Mousse in a mellow tone. "They're not here to hurt us, only to escort me. Don't worry about me, just go back to the house and tell them I'll be back soon."

He nodded his head at the warrior, who turned on a heel and started to walk away clearing a path for her way. Tonic started to follow, but was stopped as he felt himself being pulled back by the scruff of his shirt.

"Oh no you don't, Tonic! You are NOT leaving me here in this town by myself!" Mousse yelled angrily at him as she pulled him back next to her. Tonic blinked a little in surprise at how she had actually pulled him all the way backwards to this spot. "I am coming with you, whether you like it or not! I could get lost here or in the forest! Anyway, I want to make sure that my guide doesn't get hurt."

The warrior from before had just noticed that Tonic was not following and was being yelled at by the girl that had been with. She walked back towards Tonic, yelling words at him that made Mousse flinch, even though she didn't understand them. Then to Mousse's surprise, Tonic answered back in the same language, shouting back angrily at the woman. The warrior stopped walking and turned around, waiting for something to happen. Tonic then turned back to the shocked Mousse.

"I guess you're coming with me then. She isn't really happy about it as you can tell."

"What was it that you told her? Is that your native language?"

"Yes, its my native tongue, its called Mandarin. I just told her to wait another minute as you wanted to also meet the council."

"I do?"

"Well, you want to go with me, right?"

"Yeah, but to meet the elder council..."

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. Just let me do the talking, okay?"

"Sure...I guess..." Mousse replied, hoping that she wasn't taking a stupid chance just so that she could stay with Tonic. Tonic prodded her ahead and the two walked after the warrior before them.

"You know Ryoga, there are so many times that I'm thankful I have you." Ukyo said as she popped a piece of candy in her mouth. The two were now sitting inside a huge circus tent in the middle of an enormous crowd as acrobats did their act on the high wires.

"Oh, like you're not happy to have me around all the time? Just some of the time?" Ryoga sputtered out, still taking in Ukyo's joke as gullibly as he would have done seventeen years ago. Ukyo rolled her eyes at him and leaned over, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"You still haven't grown out of that, I see. I just meant that I was happy that you happened to get these tickets for us free of charge."

"Oh, I...um...sorry..." Ryoga mumbled as realization flowed through him.

"Oh, look! They're starting another act over there! Lets get a better seat!" Ukyo exclaimed as she saw some of the circus attendees staring to put up a stage inside a ring.

"But Ukyo-" Ryoga tried to complain, but was quickly whisked out of his seat and down the stairs towards the front of the crowd as Ukyo pulled on his arm. She quickly sighted a pair of seats that had just been unoccupied, but she also saw that someone else noticed the open seats and were heading towards them. She swiftly reached into her pack, while still running and holding onto Ryoga, and pulled out two of her small spatulas that had come in handy so many years ago. She threw them down towards the seats with a flick of her wrists and they flew with incredible speed.

The two other people had just arrived by the seats when two very sharp small spatulas flew in front of them and imbedded themselves into the backs of the chairs. They took one look at the chairs and then up at the hastily speeding woman coming towards them before turning tail and running off. Ukyo smiled to herself as she saw their reaction and quickly pushed her way towards her occupied seats.

Yanking out the spatulas and putting them back in her bag, she smiled to the people sitting in the seats beside them before sitting down herself. While sitting next to her, Ryoga shook his head in embarrassment and spoke in a whisper. "What was the reason for that? You really didn't have to do that."

"Mood swings, hon, blame the mood swings." Ukyo replied and began to chew on another candy piece. Ryoga rolled his eyes, not believing her one bit, but sat back and decided to make the most of it for the moment. He knew they were supposed to be looking for Mousse, but at a circus this size, it would have been crazy to try and search all the stalls. Ukyo had suggested that they watch the show first to see if he was there and then start to search the grounds.

There was a sudden drum roll crescendo, growing louder by the second until it was cut off by a booming voice through a microphone.

"Welcome Everyone! Thank you for spending time at our Big Top Circus!" It said and a figure was lit up with lights in the middle of the circus ring, giving the voice a body. The man was short and squat, but was dressed well for the part of the ringleader. "We will now be introducing our next act, one that all of you will find fascinating and mystical. But first before anything starts, we need a volunteer from the audience. Come now, we need a brave young man or woman to help out in our act! Who will it be?" He gestured his arms around, trying to coax someone out of the crowd.

"Ryoga! You volunteer!" Ukyo said excitedly as she was getting into the stir of the moment. Ryoga turned to her, not believing what he just heard. Though he did not have time to protest as Ukyo quickly picked him up and booted him into the ring.

The ringleader looked over at the man who had just landed on his feet beside him and then grabbed his arm and raised it up. "We have a volunteer!" There was a roar from the crowd in applause. "Now we can get this show started! Strap the volunteer down."

"S-S-Strap the what?" Ryoga sputtered out, as two men grabbed his arms and pulled him back towards a table. It took them only a few moments to firmly secure Ryoga in place and then left the area. Ryoga realized that the table he was on was one that was like on many game shows that spun around in circles. He wasn't going to like this.

"Now Ladies and Gentlemen!" the man raved into his mike. "We introduce our next act! This man spent his life practicing spectacular skills of martial arts and he is now here to show them to you! He needs no equipment as he carries them with him at all time! Feast your eyes and don't blink or else you may not believe what you are seeing. Here he is, the Mysterious Human Arsenal!"

There was a burst of smoke at one end at the ring and all eyes turned towards the plume of smoke, yet as they all waited for someone to emerge nothing happened. The smoke faded into nothing and everything looked the same as before. There were murmurs between the crowd questioning the act. Suddenly all the lights went out in the circus tent, leaving only sunlight pouring in from certain openings. Ryoga laid there, tied down and very uneasy with his situation. Then his senses kicked in as he felt six objects flying towards him. All of them landed in spots on the table far enough away from his body, but he let out a shriek of surprise as one more object landed a mere inch from his head. A spotlight came on and began to circle the floor until it stopped on top of Ryoga on the table. Seven sickle knives were imbedded in the table around him and he looked very angry that he had to be in that position. Another spot light lit up and presented a dark clothed figure standing on the opposite side of the ring to Ryoga. The crowd burst into cheers of applause and the lights flickered back on.

The show began and the man began to attack targets placed around him. He was clothed all in black and he even wore a hood over his head to hide his face. He moved deftly and it seemed as if he was doing more than jumping and flipping around the ring. The thing was that no one ever saw him pick up a weapon. It seemed as if they all came out of his sleeves and nothing else. Ryoga, during that time, had decided that he had enough of this and wanted out of his bonds. He was just about to break out of them, forget what the people around him thought, he wanted out! It was then that the masked man turned back to face him from across the ring and nodded his head.

"Now, our Mysterious Man will help let our volunteer get out of his restraints by destroying them with a special attack while the table spins in circles!"

Pairs of hands gripped the table Ryoga was on, tipped it at an angle, and then began to spin it wildly. Ryoga began to see red, angry that he being made a fool of, and green, since his gut had other ideas to worry about.

The masked man jumped up and shot his arms forward. Chains flew out of both sleeves and made for the spinning table. Ukyo nearly jumped in her seat when she realized who she had been watching. Those chains... no one else could handle chains like that except for one person. She smacked herself on the forehead, realizing how stupid she had been and quickly ran out of the tent.

The chains seemed to hardly touch the spinning table, but there were sounds that they had made some kind of contact on the table. The man quickly retracted the chains and stood in the middle of the ring with his arms crossed. The people whom had been spinning Ryoga's table began to slow it down and then stopped it with him in an upright position. Ryoga hung there and wondered if something had gone wrong in the act. Then there were five loud snapping noises and Ryoga dropped to the floor on his feet.

He stared at himself, amazed for the moment that he was free of his bonds. Then the short little ringleader suddenly grabbed him by the arm and pulled him toward the middle of the ring and the man in black.

He yelled into his microphone, "Lets have a hand for our volunteer! He did a great job, didn't he?!" The crowd answered back in cheers.

Ryoga felt his face burn with embarrassment at how he was being shown off to a couple hundred people like he was an actual part of the act.

"Now, we introduce our masked man. He's been with our circus for fourteen years and we hope he'll stay for another fourteen years. I present to you, Mu Tsu!"

The man in black stepped forward, pulling off his hood and bowed down to the applauding crowd. Ryoga, double blinked, then triple blinked, making sure he was actually seeing this before him. There was Mousse, older in age of course, but it was beyond a doubt Mousse! There were no glasses, yet his hair the same color and length and his skin had tanned to a tinted brown.

Ryoga stepped back in amazement and watched as Mousse bowed to the crowd. He then realized that Mousse hadn't even recognized him. Maybe it was the fact that he no longer wore a headband that was his trademark symbol from years ago, but it was weird that he wouldn't recognize a person that you saw nearly everyday for over a span of four years.

Mousse stepped back beside the ringleader, grinning as any entertainer would be after so much praise from his crowd. He turned along with the ringleader and walked out of the circus ring, with the other man in tow behind them. He then noticed that the man was staring at him oddly as he followed behind them, it was like he saw a demon or something. Mousse stopped and turned to the man, addressing him, "Excuse me, is there something wrong with me or anything? You're looking like you've seen a ghost and I'm it."

"Mousse, you don't remember me?"

"Remember you? Why should I?" Mousse shook his head. "Never have I even met you before this day."

"What are you talking about? We knew each other for at least four years before you vanished from Japan sixteen years ago! Remember Nerima, where we all lived at? I'm Ryoga, the guy who was always getting lost!"

Mousse stared at Ryoga for a moment, pondering his words. "Ryoga? Nerima? I don't know what you're talking about! I've never even been to Japan except with the circus and I've never even been to this 'Nerima' or whatever you call it."

"What are you saying!? You traveled all the way to Japan from your village in China just to follow Shampoo. You lived there with all of us in Nerima for four years at least!"

"Shampoo? Who is this person you speak of?"

"You don't even remember Shampoo!?" Ryoga stepped closer to Mousse, trying to understand the situation. "Kami, what happened to you Mousse?"

Mousse stepped back, away from Ryoga feeling a bit annoyed that this man was trying to make a fool out of him. "Excuse me, Ryoga, I do not have to explain my life to you. Whether you think that you know me or not, the truth is that I don't know you!" He pulled a out a pair of knives from his sleeves and pointed them at Ryoga. "Now kindly remove yourself from the premises or else I will have to help you out myself!"

Ryoga looked at Mousse as he stood defensively before him. He cracked his knuckles and took a fighting stance. "It's been a while since I've had a real fight, but even if I have to beat the truth into you, I will make you remember!"

Mousse grinned evilly at Ryoga, "Fine with me. Just try to attack!"

The two sprang towards each other, ready to fight to the end. It was then that someone yelled out, "HOLD IT!! STOP RIGHT THERE!" Before either of them could look to see who had yelled at them, there was a huge spray of water above them, drenching them completely and which changed them into their cursed forms. Ryoga-pig turned to see Ukyo standing before them, holding a water hose and looking very upset. She stalked over to Ryoga, picked him up by the scruff and started to yell into his face, "I DON'T WANT YOU GUYS FIGHTING! If Mousse can't remember, then it's up to us to figure out why, not beat it out of him!"

Ryoga bweed regretfully as if he now realized the point to which their actions could have made. Mousse-duck at the time was staring daggers at the woman before him. How could she have known about his curse?! He had told no one and not even one person at the circus even knew about it! And how did this man, Ryoga, have a curse as well? Just what was going on?

Ukyo sighed at the 'man' before her and turned to Mousse. "Well Mousse, you really don't remember Nerima at all?"

He shook his head no and squawked loudly.

"Well then there's only one thing left to do." Ukyo put down her pack that she had been lugging on her back and began rummaging through it. Finding an item she turned to Mousse and quickly grabbed him by the neck. "Ranma said we had to bring you back to Nerima, so it's best to do it this way. Sorry Mousse, but there are larger things at stake for the moment than your popularity in a three ring circus."

She pulled out an empty bag from her pack and shoved Mousse-duck inside. She tied off the sack, making sure that he wouldn't try any of his tricks to get out of it and gathered up his clothes. Stuffing them into her pack, she also pulled out a small filled hot water bottle and dutifully poured it over Ryoga, changing him back to human form.

Mousse-duck tried relentlessly to cut his way out of the bag he was held captive in, but it seemed that the bag was resistant to the cutting blade of his knives and he could think of nothing else to get out. He squawked and screeched as best a duck could do, trying to get the attention of someone to open the bag, but it was to no avail as he felt the bag being picked up and carried away. Great, now he was at the mercy of these lunatic people who thought that he was someone else from their area, AND in his cursed form. Could this get any worse?

As Ukyo and Ryoga walked out of the passageway they had been in, carrying a bag with Mousse-duck inside as a captive, Ukyo wondered at what could have made Mousse forget his whole past with them in Japan and more importantly Shampoo! He'd known her since they were children and had loved her with a passionate heart, just how could he do that!?

Looking at Ryoga, she paused before speaking, "I think that we'd better find Mousse's trailer or whatever and search through it. If we're gonna be taking him back to Nerima like this, we'd better be bringing some clothes for him to have later on. Maybe find out a clue as to how Mousse forgot...everything."

"Your idea is as good as mine. But do you really think that its best to bring him there in his duck form? I mean, he's gonna really hate us after we get back to Nerima. Who knows what he'll do."

"We'll just wait for Ranma to get back then before letting him change back. Ranma has something in mind for the three of them and I think it's going to be worse now with the predicament Mousse has here."

Ryoga nodded in agreement and then looked around them as they headed into the backgrounds crowd. "Fine then, so lets find his trailer...Where do you think it is?"

Well, there's another chapter to my reading public.

I am very happy to see that people read my fics and actually LIKE them. Sorry about these long times between adding chapters, but my classes and work at college takes up time, especially since my nights are spent doing my work for all my art classes. Please review when you can!!

Next chapter:

Ukyo and Ryoga arrive home with Mousse. The elder council talks with Tonic and push for a decision. Shampoo is confronted by her past.

Thanks for reading though and hopefully I will finish both of my fics soon.

^_^ (\/) cyancat