This is the final Chapter of Here Comes Neko!. I hope you enjoy it. Like
Shakespeare, I want to have my audience experience an epiphany from my works,
but I am not Shakespeare, and he is a much better writer. Therefore, I hope
it comes across and, if not, please respond privately to help me acheive the
goal I've set for myself.
-->Luna
PS. I think I use the word "that" too much in this Chapter.
Ranma Nibunnoichi is (c) Rumiko Takahashi, Shounen Sunday Comics, Kitty TV,
and Viz Video.
Here Comes Neko!
A Ranma Nibunnoichi fan fiction
By Luna Hinomura
http://fly.to/Luna's
Chapter 6: Shadows of the Past
Another piece of clothing fell out of her bag, and Mousse quickly stooped
down to pick it up. It was a bright, wide yellow ribbon that she often used
to tie in her hair. Right now, she was using different style ribbons --
sky-blue ones that had belonged to Neko. He held the ribbon out to her,
intending to return it.
Shampoo shook her head. "You keep it," she suggested. Mousse nodded,
and put it deep inside one of his large sleeves. Shampoo didn't watch; her
eyes were strongly focused on the Tendo Dojo in the distance. He knew she
feared what might cross between Akane and she, but the Amazon warrior's
spirit in her refused to turn around and run. She'd committed herself to
this, and would see it through, or never look either Ranma or Mousse in the
face again. She took a step forward, and then another, then another. The
first few steps were hard, but once she lost herself in the rhythm, she
didn't have to think about what lay ahead of her. Once they reached the
door, she had to grab Mousse's sleeve quickly so he wouldn't run right into
it. He nodded towards her in thanks, and waited for her to knock.
"Mousse?" she asked after they had stared at the front door for a few
minutes.
"What is it?"
"Are you bored?" she asked him in Chinese.
"From standing here?"
"Well..." Mousse cleared his throat noisily. "Not really..." Silence
befell them.
"Would you knock on the door for me, please?" Shampoo asked quietly after
a few more minutes passed by.
Ah. He understood. Rather than admit her fear or apprehension, she was
saving face by asking him to knock on the door in her name. She wasn't proud
or conceited -- rather, Shampoo was embarrassed at her own weakness. He'd
never seen this side of her before. "Sure," Mousse replied, pretending he
didn't know why, or felt that anything was wrong. He rapped on the door and
called, "Hello? Is anybody home?"
"Hai!" he heard Kasumi's bright and pleasant voice call from within.
With his excellent hearing, he could easily perceive the sound of her
footsteps approaching the door. She was startled when she saw Shampoo and
Mousse there, especially since they usually just busted through a wall,
window, or door to get into the Tendo's household. "Oh, hello," Kasumi said
warmly, trying to hide her surprise. "You must be looking for Ranma. He's--"
"Shampoo want see Akane. She home?" Shampoo asked, reverting back to her
poorly spoken Japanese as soon as she was in view of whom she considered to
be an outsider. Once again, Mousse pretended not to notice the difference.
"Yes, she's home... But... Oh, dear." Kasumi began to wring her hands
hopelessly. "Um, would you like come in?" No doubt she feared another scene
ending with being forced to pay a heinously large bill in order to repair the
house. Kasumi was so distracted, she didn't move out of the doorway in order
to let them in.
Shampoo sighed and set down her backpack. "We going back to China," she
explained. "Shampoo want say... Sayonara... To airen, and to Akane." A
pang of jealousy struck Mousse when he heard Shampoo refer to Ranma as her
airen, or her love.
Looking at Kasumi to distract himself from envy, he could practically see
the gears turning in her head while she mused over Shampoo's words. After
all, Shampoo's last 'Sayonara' had turned into something not-quite-so
permanent.
"Sayonara is forever," Shampoo said after Kasumi still refused to budge.
Finally, Kasumi edged away from the door. "I'll fix you a snack. Why
don't you wait downstairs while I call Akane?" She set down a bowl of rice
crackers for Shampoo and Mousse and helped them set their backpacks on the
porch. Shampoo could sense energy emitting from the Dojo, but nothing sharp
or fiery like a fight between Ranma and Akane. Instead, she could feel it
pulsing, slowly and meticulously, definitely not a fighting aura, but
something else. Shampoo was intrigued. She almost got up to investigate the
strange ki, but resisted the urge. Instead, she closed her eyes and took a
sip of green tea Kasumi had also provided them, savoring the flavor.
"All right, what do you want now? Another battle? Do you have another
tournament set up somewhere? Want to challenge me for Ranma's hand, as
usual?" Akane barked angrily from the doorway. "If you're here with Mousse,
then Neko must have defeated you. So now you want to say your goodbyes to
Ranma and ask him if he wants to come with you?"
"Akane..." Mousse said when he saw Shampoo grit her teeth and clench her
hands into fists. She ducked her head to hide her eyes beneath her mass of
purple hair and began trembling violently in anger. "You don't know the
whole story. You don't even know *part* of the whole story..." He spoke in
a calm and soothing voice, trying to leaven the tension between the two
long-time rivals.
"Mousse, she's so ashamed that she can't even *look* at me! What other
story is there?" A flash of doubt entered Akane's mind. Was there more to
this visit than she'd originally assumed? Suddenly, she regretted the harsh
words she'd spoken a few moments before. <There you go again, speaking
before thinking. Now look what you've done!>
At that, Shampoo turned her violet eyes to glare at Akane, who stepped
back in shock. Apparently, she hadn't only been hiding her eyes because of
anger, but also because she'd been...crying? Akane knelt at the coffee
table, but her motions were so abrupt that she looked as if she'd fallen to
her knees. "Wh-what did I say?" she asked, her voice echoing her surprise.
"Neko won the match," Shampoo said. "I will return to Joketsuzoku to
preserve her honor and memory." Both Shampoo's Japanese and the meaning of
her words stabbed at Akane's heart so painfully that she couldn't breathe for
a moment.
"I-it can't be! She can't be dead!" Akane exclaimed, tears springing to
her eyes. The past few weeks she'd spent with came to mind, how she'd
forgotten all the jealousy and had learned to live with Neko, how they had
become good friends, even remembering the occasional sparring match with
Shampoo's skilled twin sister. For some odd reason, her thoughts turned to
Ranma suddenly, and she knew he would be devastated. After Neko had left,
Ranma himself had admitted to her that Neko's curse was the only one that
might have been just as bad, if not worse, than his own. Of course, his
'fondness' for cats might have altered his decision a bit.
Shampoo cleared her throat. "There's more, Akane. Please listen to me
with an open mind, and don't be angry with me. After all, don't you think
I've suffered enough?" Akane resolved to be nice to her adversary for once.
"Do you know what Neko said to me just before she...died...?" her voice
nearly drifted to a whisper, for even Shampoo herself could not believe that
Neko might be gone forever.
"No," Akane said. "But first, I have a question..." Shampoo nodded.
"Since you're twins, you can sense each other, right? Do you feel her aura
connected to you anymore?"
Once again, Shampoo hid her eyes, this time beneath a tired hand. "I
don't know."
"How can you not know? You're twins!"
"Somehow, I don't think she's dead, but I always thought that was simply
because I was -- am -- in denial. That's not the point. I wanted to ask
*you* something."
Akane nodded, and Shampoo continued. "I wanted to tell you Neko's last
words. Well, first she asked me, 'Do you love Ranma?', and I replied, 'Yes,
of course.'" Akane frowned slightly, and Shampoo pretended not to notice.
"But her last words were what hit me. Neko said to me, '*True* love means
loving someone enough to let them go.'" This time, Mousse frowned slightly,
and both Akane and Shampoo pretended not to notice.
"So what do you want to ask me?" Akane demanded, becoming impatient.
"Do you love Ranma?"
A red flush crept across Akane's startled face. "O-of course I don't!"
"Then why do you fight for him? What is it about him that you refuse to
give up to me, or to Ukyo? Or even Kodachi?" Shampoo saw Akane's fist
tighten, and she knew she had hit a sensitive spot. "Is it truly so
difficult for you to admit it?"
Akane snorted and stared at the top of the coffee table, trying to find
something interesting to look at. Unfortunately, she could see nothing. "We
shouldn't be talking about me..."
"This is important," Shampoo replied. "I just want to make sure that all
of Neko's wishes are honored and answered for before I go. Do you love
Ranma?"
"No!"
"Then why do you insist on controlling his life? Like Neko said, true
love means loving him enough to let him go. So you win. I will let him go."
Shampoo closed her eyes and smiled sadly. "Please don't think of this as a
win by default or that I've given up. This is more like...a humble admission
of defeat. Do you understand?"
For the first time in her life, Akane's common sense and good judgment
won over her quick temper. "I... I think I do."
"That is good." Shampoo took the last sip of her tea. "Sayonara, Tendo
Akane." She stood up and picked up her backpack. Mousse did as well. "Say
'sayonara' to Ranma for me, too."
"Don't you want to say it to him yourself?" Akane asked.
Shampoo closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "This is the way it
was meant to end. I want to leave his life just as abruptly as I came into
it."
"Sayonara, Shampoo. You too, Mousse." The two Chinese Amazons left so
quickly that Akane didn't know if they'd heard her or not. For a moment, she
sat there, dazed at what Shampoo had shown to her. If Shampoo was willing to
give up Ranma... Akane only knew one thing that would make Shampoo give up
chasing after Ranma.
Neko's words had forced Shampoo to recognize Ranma's love. And for
Shampoo to recognize it, a girl whom Akane had believed to be one of the
biggest idiots in Nerima... Then again, before today, Akane would never have
believed Shampoo had known how to speak Japanese. She certainly was a
different person that whom Akane had supposed her to be.
<So therefore... Ranma *does* love me. He loves me!> Somehow, she felt
as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders and even from her
heart. <There. I've said it. I've acknowledged it. Ranma loves me.
But...do you love *him*?>
Akane could deny it no longer. The thought simply appeared in her mind
before she knew what was happening, before she could stop it. <Yes. I love
Ranma.> She brought up her left hand uncertainly, touching her lips in
confusion. She couldn't understand the new feelings the epiphany had brought
into her mind and heart. Suddenly, she felt as if she had to see him. Akane
leapt up and dashed down to the Tendo Dojo, ignoring Nabiki's sarcastic
comments or Genma's protests when she accidentally knocked him into the Koi
pond. She slid open the door slowly, and peeked inside.
Ranma was in the Dojo, exercising, but she'd never seen him practicing
his Taijichuan before. She hadn't even known that he was familiar with Tai
Chi. His back was facing her, and he moved meticulously, each movement
painfully slow and calculated. He seemed calmer than usual, though Akane
couldn't see his face. Akane could sense his aura, and she felt as if her
heart was beating in time with his. Her mouth moved as if it had a mind of
its own, sometimes trembling, sometimes closing, and sometimes she even bit
her bottom lip. She was startled when his next move brought him facing the
doorway.
"JEEZ!" he yelped, falling down in shock. "I didn't even know you were
there!"
"Couldn't you...sense my presence?" Akane asked confusedly.
"Normally, yeah, but..." He rubbed his posterior to relieve some of the
pain. "What's different about you today? I couldn't even tell when you got
here..."
"Really?" Akane stared at him. "Is something different about me?"
"Did you get another haircut? No wait, you just beat someone up? I
know! Kuno put the moves on you again so you punished him with your tomboy
strength!" He looked confused when she didn't make a move to reprimand him.
"Seriously, what's wrong with you, Akane? Even when you had a cold, you
weren't this nice."
"It's nothing," she replied, turning away from him shyly. She didn't
like this new situation her realization had brought her to.
"All right, go ahead."
"Go ahead and what?" Akane blinked, startled. There was no way Ranma
could have figured out why she'd been acting so strangely.
"It's okay, I don't mind."
"What on earth are you talking about?" She could feel her face growing
redder with every passing second.
"Apologize already."
"WHAT?!"
"It's obvious that you've done something terribly wrong and now you've
come to ask me to forgive you. So go ahead and apologize, and I'll accept
your apology, and then we can get on with our lives," Ranma explained.
"Sheesh, even
a dolt could figure it out."
"Ranma, you baka!!" Akane yelled, unable to control her temper any
longer. With her right hand ready and waiting, she slapped him and stormed
out of the Dojo.
<What'd I do wrong *this* time...?> Ranma wondered.
* * * * *
When Ranma returned from Dr. Tofu's clinic, Akane was laying on her bed,
contemplating the events that had occurred in the Dojo. <Why did I have to
slap him? Isn't there something I could have done differently?> She hated
when
these things turned out so badly, but regret was something she'd just have to
learn to deal with. <And to think I assumed that things wouldn't be so
complicated after Shampoo left...>
But that was another problem. She should never have assumed that
*anything* could be normal ever again after meeting Ranma. <What *should* I
have said, what *could* I have done to make things different?>
"Absolutely nothing," she said aloud to herself. "Ranma will always be
him, and I will always be me, so why would you even want to alter anything?"
She smiled, finally happy. "That kind of change is much too fast for me, and
I'm happy with the way things are. After all, I'd never want it any other
way."
* * * * *
She decided to stop trailing after them, and simply watched as Shampoo
and Mousse walked off in the afternoon sun, headed for Joketsuzoku. She knew
they were looking for her, but they'd find her someday. Perhaps the day
would come
when they'd meet each other again, but who knew? She didn't mind leaving it
up to the hands of fate.
A single tear slid down her cheek, but she made no attempt to wipe it
away. No others followed. Yes, she would miss them, and they would miss
her, but enduring this was worth the prize it would bring. She smiled sadly
and turned away, in the opposite direction that Shampoo and Mousse had taken.
She sighed. Tomorrow... Tomorrow would bring a new day. And there were
plenty tomorrows after that. Perhaps she might return to Joketsuzoku and
find her sister again, or maybe she'd stay away. In any case, she still
wanted to see what would become of Shampoo and Mousse.
She took a step away from them, and another. And then another. The more
she took, the easier it became to take just one more, plus another one right
after it. And she marveled at those steps, for they were different than any
steps she had ever taken before.
They were her very first steps taken outside the gloom of Shampoo's
domineering shadow.
The End
"Until Sayonara"
by Luna Hinomura
You come to me with eyes so sad
I can't believe it's really the end
You say to me it's all for the best
But I know we can't "just be friends"
It's too late, baby, we didn't last
Our love is gone, the love that we shared
The day is empty now: it's so cold
The best we can do is learn from the past
Sayonara is forever
We'll never meet again
I don't want to believe it
But I know that it's true
Sayonara means goodbye
Maybe someday I'll love again
But for now, love can just wait
Until sayonara
Please tell me, what do I do now
When you're not with me, I just don't know
Mem'ries of long ago haunt me still
Bittersweet moments that I spent with you
Sayonara is forever
We'll never meet again
I don't want to believe it
But I know that it's true
Sayonara means goodbye
Maybe someday I'll love again
But for now, love can just wait
Until sayonara
Sayonara is forever
We'll never meet again
I don't want to believe it
But I know that it's true
Sayonara means goodbye
I know one day I'll find him
Until then, love can just wait
This is sayonara
Note from author:
I wrote this song ("Until Sayonara") a while ago and decided that it fit
the tone of the final (uru uru...) chapter of Here Comes Neko!. After all,
every anime movie or anime TV show needs its own ending theme song.
Originally, this Chapter was entitled "Leaving Nerima," but I think this new
tone phrase works much better. Also, I suppose this isn't the best time to
say that I really have no idea why I called this fan-fic by that title, but
it's true. An allusion to Tenchi-Muyo!, perhaps?
ANYway, I'll miss writing about Neko, but I think it's best to leave the
ending the way it is. After all, sequels aren't *always* as good as the
originals, though some may be. If any of you out there hate Shampoo, I
honestly
hope that my fan-fic has given you new respect for my all-time favorite anime
character. If not, then all I can say is... BITE ME! Ha! Just kidding.
BTW, if by some slim chance I actually have (*gasp*) fans out there, I'm
working on a new Ranma 1/2 fan-fic and it's called Romance in Ryugenzawa. :)
-->Luna
3/27/00