On Mon, 13 Oct 1997, Lilin XVIII wrote:

Not bad, not bad.. I hope this isn't meant to be in script 
format forever though...  

	I agree, the story was cute.

Has anyone ever figured out why Shamps hates Mousse?

	If she actually hated him, she would have murdered him long ago
IMHO.  Personally I think she _may_ even think of him as a friend
considering that he, sadly, is the closest thing she has to one aside
from Cologne and perhaps Ranma.
	As for why she's so "mean" to him, perhaps the fact that he is an
annoying pest who has been harrassing her for most of her life and seems
utterly incapable of taking a hint has something to do with it.  Unlike
some around here I think that if he could force her to wed him via combat
he would have tried to do so by now, but since he is of the Joketsuzoku
such laws do not apply to him so instead he simply tries to run off any
perceved threats to their relationship (needless to say, this seems to
have killed off her social life and further stunted her people skills).

I've envisioned a scene... 

	As have I....
******

	"<Xi'an Pu?  Are you all right?>" Mu Tsu said as he peered into
the darkened room secreted in the basement.  The last time he saw the love
of his life she stormed into the Nekohanten in tears, turned him into a
duck after knocking him senseless, and locked him up before going to her
room.  It was only after the Crone restored him to clean up after closing
that he was able to try and find her.

	The sight that the candlelight revealed was odd even to him.  Upon
the small table in the center of the storeroom was a bowl of incense, a
dagger soaking in a similar bowl of some manner of oil, and a sheet of
parchment Xi'an Pu was writing on in the old style with brushes and a
_very_ old bottle of ink.  The young woman ignored Mu Tsu for a moment as
she finished the scroll, then carefully re-sealed the ink and rinsed the
brushes before looking at him with red-rimmed and bloodshot eyes. 

	"<I suppose you should know,>" Xi'an Pu said at last, "<Ranma and
I had a... talk this afternoon.>" 

	"<Why that...>"  Mu Tsu snarled, infuriated by anyone causing her
such pain, "<I swear if he's hurt you I'll->"

	"<Do _nothing_!>" Xi'an Pu ordered, the whipcrack of command
silencing him instantly. 

	"<The man who was to be my husband,>" she continued in a formal
tone, "<has freely confessed to the crimes of infidelity and adultery from
his own mouth before both myself and an elder of our people.  If he ever
again comes within sight of our village, or if I indicate that I will no
longer suffer him to live, any Joketsuzoku is free... is free to kill him
on sight using whatever means they wish.>

	"<But _until_ _that_ _time_ Mu Tsu,>" she concluded as she rose to
her feet and glared balefully at the boy in the doorway, "<you will not
raise a finger against Saotome Ranma if you value your life.  Have I made
myself clear?>"

	"<You... you mean you're free?>" Mu Tsu finally responded, "<You
don't have to shamelessly chase that dog Saotome about anymore?>"

	"<No.>" Xi'an Pu said softly after wincing at the description of
her attempts at courtship, "<It seems Ranma's... loyalty to the Tendo
woman is more than a matter of merely upholding the honor of his house. 
His heart is... is her's, in retrospect I-I don't think I stood a chance,
and I hope for his sake that... that she c-can make him happy.>"  She
reached up angrily to wipe at the tears trickling from eyes that should
have long since run dry only to feel another set of fingers at her cheeks. 

	"<I know I'm not worthy,>" Mu Tsu said in a concerned tone as he
gently dried her cheeks, "<but... maybe I might be able to make you
happy.>" 

	"<Thanks.>" Xi'an Pu murmured as she looked up into his eyes and
not for the first time saw the feelings of romantic love, concern,
adoration, and utterly blind devotion that filled and drove her childhood
playmate.  With that she did the only thing she felt she could do. 

	She gut-punched him, hard. 

	"<W-why?>" Mu Tsu groaned miserably as he lay curled up on the
floor. 

	"<You've _never_ understood me, Mu Tsu.>" Xi'an Pu said bitterly,
"<I _know_ what your feelings for me are, and dammit I _can't_ return
them!  It's not a matter of being worthy or 'earning' one's love it's... 
It's... *sigh* why do I bother, if talking to you did any good I wouldn't
be down here.>"

	With that, Xi'an Pu turned back towards the table and withdrew the
dagger from the oil and held it to a convinient candle, causing the blade
to burst into flame.  Then with care and swiftness she thrust the burning
knife into the incense to touch that off, and finally flipped the dagger
in the air and grapsed it by the blade in time to extinguish the last of
the fire. 

	"<I make this pledge freely before my goddess and all my revered
fore-mothers,>" Xi'an Pu intoned solemnly, her voice taking on a slightly
unearthly quality as she held the dagger point down directly over the
bottom of the scroll, "<that I, Xi'an Pu of the Joketsuzoku, shall _never_
take Mu Tsu as my mate.  If my heart shall ever demand it, let it lie
shattered; if my house shall ever demand it, let me be an orphan; and if
my honor shall ever demand it, let it be satisfied with my... life's...
blood!>" 

	As she said those last three words, even as Mu Tsu was pulling
himself to his feet with the edge of the table, blood flowed down to the
point of the dagger and dripped onto the parchment only to blaze like
liquid flame as they struck and soaked in instantly.  The boy sat
transfixed in shock until Xi'an Pu set the dagger down and began binding
her wound, then snatched up the scroll to stare at the symbols mystically
drawn upon the bottom of the page in the bright red color of arterial(sp?)
blood.  While males were not usually privy to the secret magics passed
down among the women of his people, Mu Tsu knew enough to recognise the
glyph for 'Geas' when he saw it alongside Xi'an Pu's name.

	"<It is done.>" Xi'an Pu said simply as she looked at him, "<Even
if I wanted to, for me to wed you (or bed you for that matter) would mean
the most agonizing of deaths for me and any within arms reach.>"

	Mu Tsu fell to his knees and began to weep as the truth of the
matter sank in.  "<Do... do you *sob* truly hate me that much, Xi'an Pu?>" 
he whimpered quietly after several moments. 

	"<No old friend,>" Xi'an Pu replied with a sad chuckle as she
began to wipe the tears from his cheeks, "<if I hated you I would have
been rid of you by now. I simply know I cannot feel for you the way you
feel for me and... *sniff* I now understand how painful it is to be strung
along with false hope.>"

	With that, Mu Tsu finally broke down completely and cried like a
child on Xi'an Pu's shoulder as she stroked his head gently. 

******

(script to save space only)

Shampoo: Stupid duck-boy worthless!
Mousse:  And turning into a *cat* is any better?

	It is not unknown for cats to _feed_ upon waterfowl last time I
checked. <evil grin>

One of these days, Shamps'll do something & back Mousse into a corner, I
shudder to think what he might do then...

	If he ends up dumping her, I think 'Poo would consider it worth a
fair degree of trouble and/or indignity (that _may_ be what she has been
attempting to provoke all this time).

	The real worry is what could happen if Mousse pushes _her_ too
far.

HTG