Hi, all. Part 8 of this series has at last been sent to pre-readers, and will be
posted here as soon as I hear back from them. Meanwhile, here is Part 7,
reposted to refresh your memories and because I didn't get much C&C the first
time.


		     HEARTS AND MINDS PRELUDE SEVEN
		           MU SI: REFLECTIONS

		       Ranma 1/2 manga fanfiction
			     by Gary Kleppe

	The characters of Ranma 1/2 are the creation of and rightful
property of Rumiko Takahashi. They are used here without permission.
This story may be freely redistributed, but it should not be altered
substantially or used for profit in any way.

	SERIES NOTES: This is a prequel to "Hearts and Minds", a series taking
place several years after the end of the Ranma 1/2 manga. There will be ten of
these, each centering on a particular character or two. They lead into the main
series that will be written eventually, but are intended to stand alone as
"continuation" stories. Series info and previous parts can be found at
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics#ham.

	This will probably be my longest and most ambitious series ever. All
feedback will be welcomed, and responded to, and any suggestions for change will
be seriously considered. Public response is preferred, but private is also
appreciated.

	PRONOUNCIATION NOTE: "Mu Si" is, as best as I'm able to determine, the
Mandarin Chinese form of the name pronounced "Mousse", romanized with the Pinyin
system. Mu is pronounced "Moo", and Si sounds like something between "Srrr" and
"Szzz". In this series, the Pinyin forms are used for Chinese names in the
framing sequences, and the old "toiletries" names are used in the flashbacks.

                                 ______


	"I want to thank you for coming to little Yaku's birthday party, Mr.
Mu," the woman said as she handed over several bills.

	"Mrs. Tatazu most generous." Mu Si took the money in hand and bowed.

	"Thank you." Mrs. Tatazu returned the bow, then righted herself. "I must
say, I really don't know how you did some of those tricks."

	"Mr. Mu come from hidden village in remotest China. Study for many years
secret techniques there."

	"Ancient Chinese secret, huh?" nine-year-old Yaku said. "Well, anyway,
that stuff was neat." He held out a hand. "Got a souvenir, Mr. Mu?"

	"Ah, yes." Giving out something on request had become a standard part of
the act.

	Mu Si reached inside. To anyone watching, it would have seemed as if he
were going to pull something out of his robes. There was much more to it than
that, but he had been taught that trying too hard to understand what "inside"
was might make him unable to use it. So "inside" was simply somewhere that he
could take weapons and other things from.

	Yaku looked at the gift that Mu Si was offering, and backed away. "Um...
thanks anyway, Mr. Mu." It was a mismatched pair of socks.

	"So sorry, Mr. Mu never know what he going to get." It was true. Mu Si's
martial arts master had taught him he could never be aware of what was inside;
for if one knew what one could get, then one also knew what one could *not* get,
and that might include something important. So he always found something
unexpected when he reached inside. Once he had even found a driver's license
from some westerner named Hoffa.

	Mu Si made his goodbyes to Yaku's parents, then went out through the
front door. He counted the money he'd just earned. It would keep the bills paid,
for a while at least.

	He picked up the bicycle lying on the sidewalk and got on. It, along
with the pidgin-speech he used in his act, was the only thing left to him from
Shan Pu.

	Making sure his glasses were on, he prepared to pedal away. He stopped
when he saw the image reflected in the bicycle's rear-view mirror. It was
someone he had seen before, a long time ago.

                                 ______


	"Welcome to the Nekohanten," Mousse held open the door, checking how
many people were in the party. He saw only a refrigerator.

	That couldn't be right, he thought. He pushed his glasses down over his
eyes. What he had thought was a refrigerator was actually... a refrigerator.

	A voice sounded from within the appliance. "CHARGE!" It pushed past
Mousse into the restaurant, knocking aside several tables as it made a straight
line for the kitchen.

	Mousse looked closely at his glasses to see whether they were soiled.

	"My dearest darling Shampoo! You're the only one for me! I --"
The voice from the kitchen was interrupted by the sounds of violence. The
refrigerator crashed involuntarily through the wall back into the dining room.

	"Stupid girl-boy!" Shampoo yelled from the kitchen. "I see again, I
kill!"

	Something rose out of the remains of the refrigerator. Looking through
his glasses, Mousse saw what appeared to be a cute young girl in a Japanese
school uniform. "Who are YOU?!" he said. "You stay away from Shampoo, girl!"

	"Never! And I'm one hundred percent man! Kurenai Tsubasa. Shampoo is the
love of my life! We were meant for each other! Someday she'll realize it."

	"But... she said she'd kill you if she saw you again!" Mousse was
finding it hard to be angry at this pathetic creature. Anyway, she... he was
obviously nothing to worry about as a rival.

	"I don't care what she says! She'll change her mind. I don't care if it
takes the rest of my life and I have to follow her to the ends of the Earth.
I'll never EVER give up on my dear, dear Shampoo!"

	Mousse's glasses rested firmly over his eyes, his vision clear; but when
he looked down, it wasn't Tsubasa he saw.

                                 ______


	A reflection....

	Mu Si turned around, coming back to his feet and letting the bicycle
drop. "Tsubasa."

	"Uh, hi," Tsubasa said. "Ukyo and Kuno asked me to look for you. They
didn't know where to find you."

	"I've been moving around a lot lately, doing some entertainment work. A
friend of mine is in training, and I'm trying to earn some money to support
her."

	"Really?" Tsubasa smiled fondly. "I'd gladly do the same for darling
Kasumi. You don't know where I can find her, do you?"

	"Sorry, no." Of course, that was the difference between Tsubasa and what
Mu Si had once been. Tsubasa changed the object of his... affections... every so
often; Kasumi was probably just the latest. "She went off years ago to become an
apprentice to a Shinto priestess named Kaede. I haven't seen her since."

	"Anyway, Kuno wants you to come to the Tendo Dojo tonight at seven. He
said that Shan Pu would be showing up."

	"And you think that would interest me?" Mu Si tried to sound more
confident than he really felt. Tsubasa evidently didn't think much about
offering a recovered alcoholic a drink.

	"There's supposed to be some kind of crisis in her village. They're
expecting to be attacked, and they need everyone's help."

	"Why didn't you say so?" Mu Si got back onto the bicycle. "Tell them
I'll be there." After all, he thought as he pedaled away from Tsubasa, her home
was *his* home too -- or at least it used to be.

	He wondered what it would be like to see Shan Pu again. She was asking
for *his* help now? That would certainly be a switch after the way things used
to be between them....

                                 ______


	Mousse folded over the top of the cardboard box. This was finally the
last one. Packing up the Nekohanten had been like emptying his robes; every time
it looked like he might be almost done, something else turned up in an
unexpected place.

	Now, unless there were any more closets he didn't know about, he was
done. 

	The boxes were already labeled for shipment back to China. Mousse
decided to rest for a moment before taping them shut. He sat on the floor, the
furniture having been sold and taken away. The rain poured down outside,
punctuated by an occasional rumbling in the darkened evening sky.

	Shampoo was leaving. Mousse knew that she would be going back to China,
leaving him behind, unless he could somehow persuade her not to. Maybe it was
insane of him to keep trying after all this time; but to marry Shampoo was the
dream of a lifetime. If there was any chance at all of it happening, then he had
to try. After all, hadn't people throughout history triumphed against impossible
odds to realize their dreams?

	Shampoo came in from the back room. "Thank you for packing boxes,
Mousse. Real estate agent say will deliver to post office tomorrow morning."

	"It was nothing, Shampoo. I'm so glad I could help."

	"I go airport now. Tomorrow morning catch early flight go Shanghai." She
knelt on the floor next to Mousse. "What you do now?"

	"I'm going to seal up the boxes. I've got this really strong tape, the
kind they call --"

	"No!" Shampoo interrupted. "I mean where you go now. What you do after I
back in China?"

	A voice inside Mousse's head screamed *NO! Don't let her say goodbye!*
"I... I could go with you to the airport. Make sure that you get there okay.
It's no trouble...."

	"And go back to China with me? That what you want?"

	"Huh? I... uh...."

	"I tell you before, Mousse. We not ever be a couple. You want go back,
that okay, but not go with me."

	"Then let's stay!" He suddenly leaned over to make a desperate embrace.
"Please! It'll be so good, just the two of us.... Oh Shampoo, can't you see who
it is that truly loves you?"

	A voice came from behind. "Stupid Mousse."

	He pushed his glasses over his eyes. He had hugged a cardboard box.

	"I need leave." Shampoo opened the door. Flipping open an umbrella, she
stepped out onto the rain-soaked sidewalk.

	Mousse ran out after her. "Shampoo, wait! I--" His words cut off
abruptly as he transformed into a duck.

	Shampoo looked back from under the shelter of her umbrella, eyeing
Mousse impatiently, as if offering him one last chance to say something.

	He reached inside and pulled out a bouquet of red roses.

	She struck with her palm, scattering the flowers across the pavement.
"Goodbye, Mousse," she said scornfully.

	Mousse could only watch through fogging glasses as Shampoo turned and
walked purposefully away. Her every movement was filled with a beauty that came
around only once in a lifetime, one that he would now never be able to know.

	A sudden burst of thunder crashed through the sky. A dog started barking
while the rain poured down harder. Mousse thought about where he was, and
realized that he didn't have anyplace to go.

	A nearby puddle showed Mousse's reflection. It was a funny-looking
sight. A duck with glasses. Something that should be a character on a children's
cartoon.

	But even funny-looking duck men needed love. Even they were capable of
giving it.

	He stood in the rain, roses scattered at his feet. The only sounds in
the cold night were the constant downpour and the howling of a distant dog. The
one Mousse loved had left him, maybe forever. And even if she did come back, she
wouldn't love him. The dream would forever be... a dream.

                                 ______


	The rain stopped. The last dim vestiges of evening light emerged around
the clouds. Soon it would be dark again.

	Mousse wiggled his tail feathers and flapped his wings, and the water
rolled from his duck body. He sat down on the wet sidewalk. He had to decide
what to do, where to go.

	Shampoo would be at the airport by now. Soon she would be out of the
country. He could go back to China too if he wanted; but if he did, he'd have to
face all the people who knew him, who would know that he had been courting the
same girl all of his life and had failed.

	Fine, Mousse thought. He'd just live his life without Shampoo. Knowing
her had only brought him pain anyway. He was better off on his own. In fact, he
thought, if she came back right now, he'd....

	Someone came walking down the sidewalk. Mousse looked through his fogged
glasses in the dim light. It was Shampoo! She'd come back for him! He waddled up
to her, excitedly.

	Taking another look, he saw that it wasn't Shampoo at all. The
newly-arrived person looked down at Mousse, and smiled happily. She spoke in a
child-like voice.

	"Claudette?"

                                 ______


	Once there was a girl named Azusa. Azusa had long, wavy hair and big
blue eyes. She lived with her Daddy and her friends, in a big house with a wall
around the yard.

	Azusa loved to ice skate. Ice skating was her very favorite thing. She
would go to the ice rink almost every day and practice for hours and hours.

	Azusa was walking home from the skating rink one day when she met
Claudette the duck. "Hello, Claudette," she said. "My name is Shiratori Azusa.
Would you like to be friends?"

	"Kwak?" Claudette answered. That was how ducks talked. It meant yes,
Azusa, I would be happy to be your friend.

	"You're so cute!" Azusa said, smiling at the duck. "Would you like to
come to my house to meet my other friends?"

	"KWAK!? Kwa wa kwak kwak!" Claudette said. That meant thank you, Azusa,
I would like that very much.

	"Oh, I'm so happy!" Azusa cried, as she took the duck in her arms and
ran toward her house.

                                 ______


	Itakura Ryoko wrote in her notebook as she sipped from the drinking
glass in her other hand. She was a thin short-haired woman wearing a blazer.

	The small middle-aged man in the chair next to her was Shiratori Hideki.
He wore large dark-framed glasses and an expensive looking kimono, with his hair
slicked back. He smiled an absurdly wide smile most of the time. "Anything else
you'd like to know for your article, dear lady?" he asked.

	"No, I think I have enough. Thank you for the interview. I have high
hopes of being able to sell it to one of the major business weeklies."

	Hideki smiled. "I hope listening to my ramblings has not bored you too
much, my dear."

	Ryoko chuckled. Such modesty! "Not at all. It's fascinating to hear the
life story of one of Japan's leading industrialists."

	Hideki laughed loudly. "My life? It is nothing special. The house of
Shiratori is an unexciting place, my dear interviewer, where the unusual never
happens."

	A young woman entered the living room, sliding quickly over to Hideki
and kissing him on the cheek. "Hi, Daddy!" Her thick, wavy brown hair and wide
eyes looked Occidental. Ryoko recalled Hideki mentioning that his first wife had
been an American.

	Ryoko noticed that Hideki's daughter carried a duck in her arms. The
duck wore a pair of glasses.

	"Good evening, Azusa." Hideki sipped from the drink he was holding. "How
was skating practice tonight?"

	"I met a new friend, Daddy!" Azusa held the duck out for her father to
see. It seemed to be struggling in her grip. "Her name's Claudette! Isn't she
cute?"

	"Cute? That she is," Ryoko said. "Are you going to cook her for dinner?"

	"NO!" Azusa turned away, cradling the duck tightly in her arms.
"Claudette is my friend! I won't let anyone eat her!"

	Ryoko heard what sounded like a sigh of relief from the duck. It must
have been her imagination, she decided.

	"She didn't mean it, dear." Azusa's father gestured toward the woman.
"This is Itakura Ryoko. She's writing a magazine article." He looked back at
Claudette. "She looks healthy enough. You'll have to take care of her if you
want to keep her, you know. She'll be more work than your other friends."

	"I know, Daddy. Tomorrow I'll go out and buy her some food."

	Ryoko looked closely at the duck. "But... glasses?" She examined
Claudette's eyewear by touch. "They're real prescription lenses."

	The duck broke free from Azusa. It flew around the room, picking up
speed as it rose toward the ceiling.

	"Claudette, be careful!" Azusa cried. "You dropped your..."

	The duck flew into a window -- a closed one -- and dropped to the floor,
stunned.

	"... glasses," Azusa finished. "Oh, Claudette!" She ran over to the
duck. "I'll have to get you a leash so you won't hurt yourself!"

	Ryoko turned to Azusa's father and spoke quietly. "A duck? With
glasses?" She grinned. "Not unusual?"

	"Azusa often... finds... things. Usually not living things. No matter.
I'll find out to whom this duck belongs, if anyone, and negotiate to purchase
it. If Azusa wants it, she will have it."

	"I take it your daughter is... special? What they call autistic?"

	"My dear, I assure you that no child of Shiratori Hideki is any such
thing. Azusa is just Daddy's little girl. Isn't that right, honey?"

	Azusa giggled. "Right, Daddy."

	"It's late. I ought to be going." Ryoko stood up, stumbling a bit as she
moved toward the door. "Oh! That sake of yours was very good. I must have had a
little more of it than I thought."

	"Azusa, would you show Ryoko to one of the guest rooms?" Hideki said.
"She seems to have had too much to drink."

	"I don't want to impose on you..." Ryoko said.

	"No trouble at all, my dear. My home is your home."

	"Thank you." Ryoko followed as Azusa scampered out of the room.

                                 ______


	Ryoko quickly glanced around as she walked down the corridor. Each part
of the house was decorated in a different style, apparently chosen at random.
Paintings, books, and shelves filled with other assorted knick-knacks cluttered
up the walls. Some of the things looked valuable, but most didn't.

	If Azusa was a collector, Ryoko thought, she wasn't the only one in the
family who was.

	Azusa stopped and swung open a door. "Here you are!"

	"Thanks, Azusa," Ryoko said. "I'm sorry about what I said before. I
wouldn't want to cook Claudette."

	"Azusa-chan won't let anything happen to her friends, will she?" She
embraced the groggy-looking duck.

	"I believe you, Azusa." Ryoko moved around to the door. "You've been
collecting... friends... a long time now, have you?"

	"Daddy sent me to school. The other kids there didn't like me. So I
looked for different friends to play with. I learned how to skate later. Then
everybody liked me."

	Ryoko entered the guest bedroom. "Well, Goodnight, Azusa. See you
tomorrow!" Azusa bounded off down the corridor as Ryoko closed the door.

	She smiled to herself. Hideki had believed her story about the magazine
article. Everything was going according to plan.

                                 ______


	"This is your home now, Claudette!"

	Mousse looked around the large room. A canopied bed with frilly pink
covers stood on one side. A white chest of drawers was nearby, with a mirror
above it; both had several little pink ribbons tied to them.

	On the opposite wall to the bed, a collection of items rested on various
parts of a large multi-level shelf. Azusa pointed to each one in turn. "I want
you to meet all of my other friends, Claudette! This is Lucia." A music box.
"These are Danielle and Delphine!" Two stuffed terriers, one larger than the
other.

	Claire was an oddly-shaped piece of crystal. Raphaelle was a two-foot
high beer stein. Lara was a small round piece of yellow plastic fruit. Odette
was a silvery teapot, with geometric designs embossed all around it. And so on.

	Stephanie was a plaque, colored bright sky blue. Graceful pictures of
birds in flight adorned it. Mousse read the words on it. *If you love something,
set it free. If it comes back, it's yours. If not, it never was.* With the heavy
leash chafing against his neck, Mousse was not pleased by the irony.

	Azusa giggled. "Those birds on Stephanie are so cute, aren't they!" She
flipped a deadbolt into place, locking her room shut.

	Mousse noticed that one of the shelves was empty except for a small
velvet pillow. "This is Michelle's place," Azusa said. "She was one of my best
friends until she got lost. Isn't that sad, Claudette? I hope someday she'll
come back. I miss her and worry about her."

	Azusa took a large blanket from a closet. Folding it over twice, she set
it down in a corner. "You can stay here tonight, Claudette." She unhooked the
leash from around Mousse's neck. "Tomorrow I'll get you somewhere better to
sleep. Goodnight!" She turned out the light and slipped into her bed.

	Mousse sat on the blanket and waited. He would leave when the time was
right.

                                 ______


	Hours passed. The pale rays of the moon shone through the single window
in the room, casting a stream of light on the adjacent wall.

	Mousse looked at Azusa. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Her
breathing was so soft that Mousse had to listen closely to hear it.

	He examined the window. It was a single pane of thick glass, with no
opening mechanism. He thought for a moment. He could smash through the glass,
but that would probably wake Azusa. It would be easiest to simply leave through
the door.

	Waddling past Azusa's collection of cute things, he wondered whether
Shampoo would like it if he were to give her something like them. Probably not.
Nothing he gave her or did for her ever seemed to make her happy.

	Mousse was obviously too short in his duck form to reach the doorknob
from the floor. He flapped his wings and propelled himself upward, hoping that
Azusa wouldn't wake up. Gripping the deadbolt in his bill, he managed to slide
it open.

	The same thing wouldn't work for the doorknob, he realized; not enough
leverage to turn it. Noticing a small wooden chair in the room, he flew down to
it. He slowly pushed the chair along the floor, as quietly as possible, until it
was adjacent to the door on the side with the knob.

	From atop the chair, Mousse leaned over to grab the doorknob in his
bill. He hung precariously in the air, supported by the bad-tasting knob in his
mouth and the wobbly chair at his feet. Kicking away from the chair, he let
gravity swing his body downwards, thereby turning the knob with his mouth.

	The knob was turned enough to allow the door to open. Mousse stretched
his leg over to push off of the wall. The door swung back. He let go of the knob
and fell to the floor.

	Mousse stepped out the door into the hallway. Now he just had to find a
window that opened, and he would be free to go; although as to *where* he would
go, he had no real idea.

	There was an old saying, *life is what happens to you while you're
making other plans.* That was certainly true for Mousse's life. Perhaps some of
the Gods were punishing him for something, he mused. Why else would they make
Shampoo so perfect for him, and then arrange things so that nothing he did could
possibly win her love? Were they trying to teach him a lesson? If so, he
couldn't see what it was.

	One of the other doors opened.

                                 ______


	Ryoko stepped into the darkened corridor, quietly shutting the door
behind her. Now that everyone had gone to bed, she could search the house. She
walked silently down the corridor, keeping one hand on the wall, flashlight at
the ready.

	She had checked into Hideki's financial records. The balance in his bank
accounts was far lower than it should have been. He had to be keeping a secret
hoard somewhere. She was going to find it.

	As Ryoko took a step, she felt something beneath her feet. A noise came
from whatever she had stepped on.

	"KWAK!"

	She moved quickly back. Finding the door to the guest room, she opened
it and ran back in.

                                 ______


	"KWAK!"

	Mousse felt something step on his left wing. Pain shot up and down it.
He heard the sound of footsteps moving away, and a door opening and closing.

	A light came on. "Claudette?" Azusa stepped out into the corridor. "Oh
no, you've hurt yourself, haven't you?"

	Mousse pointed with his other wing to the direction whoever had stepped
on him had run to. "Kwak! Kwa kwak!"

	Azusa scooped him up. "I'm sorry, Claudette. I'll have to keep you on
your leash from now on."

                                 ______


	Mousse lay back on the blanket Azusa had set out for him. The leash
around his neck constrained him, its other end tied to a bedpost. He knew that
he could get loose if he worked at it; but he was tired, and for now this was as
good a place to sleep as any.

	He drifted off to sleep. The pain in his arm prodded him awake. He
rolled over as much as he could, hoping a change in position would help.

	Sleep eventually came. Shampoo fought her way into Azusa's house, past
Danielle and Delphine and all the other guards, to rescue Mousse. He collapsed
into her arms as she said "Mousse, I no mean it. I no mean all things I say to
you." They went back to China together as she helped him deal with the trauma he
had suffered.

	Light brought Mousse back to consciousness. He struggled to remember
where he was, to comprehend the scene he was looking at.

	He was still a duck, tied to a leash. His arm still throbbed, but not as
much as before. Using his other wing, he pushed his glasses into place.

	Azusa stood stretched out in front of her collection of "friends", as if
shielding them. In front of her was the woman Mousse had seen downstairs the day
before. She spoke into a cellular phone tucked between her shoulder and chin.
"That's right. What we're looking for is in this room. Get here as soon as you
can."

	"You can't have my friends!" Azusa backed up as she and the woman glared
daggers at each other.

	The doorbell rang. The two women continued their standoff.

	Footsteps and voices came up the stairs. "Search where you like,
gentlemen. I've nothing to hide." Azusa's father walked into view, surrounded by
men in cheap-looking suits.

	The men headed straight into Azusa's room, and began examining her
collection.

	"You stop that! These are *Azusa's* friends!" Azusa started hitting one
of the men. Ignoring her, he moved aside with her, blocking her from the others.
"No!"

	"They're here." One of the men took a small cylindrical object with an
intricate symbol carved on one end from Odette.

	"What's that?" Azusa asked, putting down the chair she was about to hit
the man with.

	"It's a bank sigil," the woman answered. "Your father uses these to
access money under a false name to avoid taxes. Isn't that right, Mr.
Shiratori?"

	Azusa's father turned. "Then you are...."

	"Tax inspector Itakura Ryoko, sir. I'm afraid you're under arrest for
income tax evasion."

	Mousse watched quietly. All of this had nothing to do with him. He
started looking for a way to undo his leash. He would wait his chance and leave
as soon as he could.

	Mr. Shiratori looked around the room. "Ah well, such are the risks of
the game. Well-played, my dear inspector." He turned to his daughter. "Azusa, to
you I am truly sorry. I shall try to return to you when I can." He looked back
at the agents. "Shall we go now?"

	One of the agents escorted Mr. Shiratori out of the room. "Collect all
this evidence," Ryoko said to the others.

	"No!" Azusa cried. "You can't take my friends!" She snatched Lucia away
from one of the agents. Two others grabbed Azusa, each taking hold of an arm.
She began kicking. "NO!" More agents took hold of her legs.

	"Look, Azusa, I don't like doing this," Ryoko said, a bit angrily. "Your
father has been hoarding money that other people need to survive. Japan needs to
provide jobs, medical care... can you understand me, Azusa?"

	Azusa screamed as she struggled wildly. "GIVE ME BACK MY FRIENDS!"

	Mousse couldn't help feeling sympathy for Azusa as he watched.
Everything that she cared about was being taken away from her, because of her
father's mistakes.

	"Sorry, Azusa." Ryoko said. She and the agents carried most of Azusa's
collection downstairs. The other agents set Azusa down carefully and followed.

	Azusa got up and surveyed the remains of her collection. There were only
a few items left, things that obviously couldn't hide anything. And Mousse.
"Claudette! They took Kristina! They took Cynthia! They... they took..."

	She looked down with big tear-stained eyes. "Claudette, they took
Daddy!"

	Mousse searched for something to say that would help, something to make
Azusa feel better. "Kwak," he said.

	"Claudette, you don't want to leave me, do you? I'll get you a nice bed,
and some fish... I'll get you whatever you want."

	Mousse saw another reflection.

	"Please.... You're all I've got left, you and Stephanie and...."

	Azusa looked at the plaque. For perhaps the first time, her eyes
focussed with comprehension on the words. *If you love something....* 

	She looked at the duck bound by the leash.

	"I'm sorry, Claudette." She choked on the words as she loosened the
leash. "You can go now." She fell into a silent sulk.

	Mousse could go. But to where?

	Shampoo was gone. He had to let her go. And he knew that she wouldn't be
back, that she would never be his. She never was.

	On the other hand, here was someone who was hurting; someone who he
might be able to help.

	Mousse quacked to get Azusa's attention. He gestured with his uninjured
wing.

	"What's that, Claudette? You want me to come with you?"

	The duck went into the upstairs bathroom. Azusa followed. Mousse grabbed
the hot water faucet with his bill, and turned.

	Azusa stared with big eyes at the long-haired man covering himself with
a hastily-grabbed towel. "Oh, Claudette!"

	"Ah, hello Azusa... er, my name's not Claudette. I fell into a cursed
spring that turns me into a duck when I get wet. I'm Chinese, not French, so of
course I wouldn't have a French name. My name is Mousse."

	"I'm very sorry for keeping you tied up... Mousse."

	"That's okay. You couldn't have known. Besides, I had a lot on my mind
anyway. I'm sorry about your father, and all of your, uh, friends."

	"My friends are all I have." Azusa sighed. "I'll just have to look for
new ones."

	"Um, look, I'll be your friend. If it'll help, I mean."

	"Really?" Azusa smiled. "I'm happy you're my friend, Mousse. You're
cute!"

	"Cute?! Why... er... uh..." Mousse looked around self-consciously.

	"Mousse is Azusa's favorite friend." She giggled. "Better even than
Michelle!"

	"Who is Michelle, anyway?" Mousse asked, idly curious, remembering the
empty space on Azusa's shelf.

	"Michelle was a little cloth doll, with yellow string hair and a red
dress. I took her to school a long, long time ago. Everybody liked Michelle.
They all told me how cute she was, even the ones that didn't talk to me before
that. I miss her."

	Mousse reached inside.

	He remembered all the presents he had given to Shampoo, the ones that
she always threw back in his face.

	Azusa's face lit up with a wide smile as she joyfully embraced the doll
that Mousse handed her. "It's Michelle! Oh, thank you! Thank you! Mousse is
wonderful!"

	*Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans.* 

	Somehow that didn't seem like such a bad thing anymore.

                                 ______


	Mu Si parked his bicycle and went into the skating rink. He saw Azusa on
the ice and waved as he entered.

	Azusa leapt into the air, doing a complicated spin and landing
gracefully as Mu Si watched. Soon she might even be ready for the Olympics. She
was beautiful when she moved; not in the same way that Shan Pu was, but that
didn't matter.

	Mu Si knew that he would have to leave soon, to help the people he grew
up with. He hoped Azusa would be all right without him.

	He wondered whether that tax inspector had been right when she had
called Azusa autistic. Maybe it was true.

	But even autistic people needed love. And they were capable of giving
it.


                                 ______


Thanks to Adrian Wong, Cindy Toler, Matt Posner, Lara Bartram, Blade, and Scott
(I don't know his last name) for pre-reading. Special thanks to Cindy for
helping me write Azusa's "children's book" style narration.

A special metaphysical cookie to anyone who can identify the movie that the
characters Ryoko and Hideki were taken from. (Hideki's family name was changed
to Shiratori for this story, of course.)

All comments, feedback, MSTs, etc. encouraged!


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics