mabli@idirect.com

A Different Brand Of Mousse part 6

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Mark Ferrer

Disclaimer: All rights are reserved to their respective owners. Only the
original characters are mine. Don't sue me, please. (I've got nothin' I
tell ya, nothin'!)

Note: I honestly can't tell if I've taken some liberties with some/all of
the characters. Sorry, I couldn't help it.
Thoughts are in <>
Normal dialogue is in "quotes"
Text (panda sign/reading from written material) is in []

Author's note: For crossover purposes, Nerima and Nekomi border on another
and Nodoka's house is somewhere in between.

What's happened before: The campers learn some downsides to Mousse's new
powers. Ranma learns an extension to the amguriken. We see that Nodoka
will be coming to look after her son during the fight. At the end, Mousse
is chosen (more like forced actually) to bring a certain silver-haired
goddess home from a day at the bar.

************************************************************************

     Mousse walked alone towards the Keiichi residence. He had long left
the woman he was forced to bring home in his void, thus eliminating the
need to carry her on his shoulders. He only hoped that she wouldn't wake
up while she was in there. Urd's id had fortunately had enough information
for him to guess where to start the search for her house using the Mind's
eye. There was one card that puzzled him though. There was and id card for
the use of something called 'Yug dra zil?' <I probably should brush up on
my english. Or at least I think it's english.> he thought. He walked on,
still looking at her house with the Mind's eye. It seemed she lived with a
young man and two other girls who had similar markings. Mousse couldn't
help but think of how Shampoo would look with those markings. The ones on
the other women's faces didn't seem to detract from their beauty in the
least. He stopped that train of thought as quickly as he thought of it.
<She's perfect just the way she is.> he thought.

     He ascended the steps leading to the temple, taking in the view. The
temple looked almost brand new, bathed in the moonlight from a cloudless
sky. The few stars the he could see twinkled, almost as if timing
themselves to an unknown beat. He couldn't describe it but the entire area
seemed to radiate peace. He almost felt as if he didn't have a care in the
world as he walked over to where the house was situated. Stopping at the
door, he took out his 'passenger' and held her in the fashion of a newly
wed couple entering their residence for the first time. Mousse adjusted
his hold on her to knock on the door. A young man with ruffled hair
answered shortly.

     "She lives here, right?" said Mousse, indicating to the woman in his
arms.

     "She's been drinking all day again, huh? Come on in, I'll show you to
her room." said the shorter man.

     "She does this a lot?" Mousse ventured.

     "Yeah, she's been doing it more lately. Oh, I forgot. My name is
Keiichi. Keiichi Morisato." said the shorter man, offering a handshake.

     Mousse took the man's hand and gave it a good shake. "My name's Mu
Tsu. People call me Mousse." He smiled inwardly, hoping that Keiichi
wouldn't see that Urd was being held by telekinesis alone on the right
side.

     "Well, Mousse, thanks for bringing her in. Her sisters were getting
worried. Here." said Keiichi, opening the door to Urd's room.

     Keiichi held the door open as Mousse gently placed Urd on her bed. He
stepped out quietly and took a last look at her as Keiichi closed the
door.

     "Oh hello there. Are you the one who brought Urd in?" asked a
beautiful woman.

     Mousse did a double take. This girl looked even more beautiful in
person. "H-hello. Uh, yeah. I brought her in."

     "Mousse, this is Belldandy, Urd's younger sister." Keiichi said.

     "Nice to meet you. Thank you for bringing her in. Would you like to
join us for dinner?" Belldandy asked.

     "Oh, no thanks. I don't want to intrude..." Mousse said, right before
the three in the hall heard a grumbling coming from his stomach.

     Stifling a giggle, Belldandy said, "Oh, I insist."

     Mousse smiled and put his hand behind his head. "No point in hiding
it now. Are you sure it's okay?"

     "Oh, it's perfectly okay. I always cook a little extra, for when
unexpected guests come over." Belldandy answered, leading Mousse to the
dining area.

     Keiichi followed behind them thinking, <Come to think of it, we've
had a guest come over every night for the week. Oh well.>

************************************************************************

     "That was the best food I ever tasted." Mousse proclaimed, rubbing
his stomach.

     "Yeah, Belle, you've outdone yourself." said Keiichi, downing the
last of his tea.

     "Older sister, that was great." Skuld chimed.

     Belldandy blushed from the compliments and said, "Thank you all. In
fact, that was the first time I tried that recipe. Would you all like to
have dessert now?"

     Everyone quickly nodded.

     Belldandy left to get the dessert, leaving Mousse, Skuld and Keiichi
at the table. Urd was still in deep sleep.

     Skuld looked at Mousse critically and asked, "Mousse, you sure don't
look like one of Urd's drinking buddies. How exactly do you know her?"

     Mousse sighed and said, "Well, she bumped into me at the bar, saying
something like 'It's been a long time.' or something like that. The people
at the bar thought that meant I knew her so they picked me to bring her
home."

     "So you don't really know Urd, do you?" Keiichi asked.

     "I just met her tonight. I guess she was so drunk, she thought I was
someone she knew." Mousse guessed.

     "How did you find your way here?" asked Skuld.

     Mousse panicked for a second and said, "Uh, someone at the bar knew
her address. I just followed her directions."

     "How did you carry Urd all the way here? The bar's so far away from
here." said Keiichi.

     "Well, I'm pretty fit. It was almost like I wasn't even carrying
her." Mousse said, glad he wasn't telling a whole lie.

     Belldandy came in carrying a tray with bowls of chocolate ice cream.
"I can't thank you enough for bringing her home."

     Skuld immediately dove for the bowl with the most ice cream in it.
"Actually, you could have taken your time. The less time she's here, the
less annoying she can be."

     "Skuld. That's not very nice." Belldandy chided her sister and
handing two bowls to Keiichi and Mousse.

     Mousse leaned closer to Keiichi and asked the million dollar question
running through his mind, "How did you end up in the same house with three
beautiful girls?"

     Keiichi shrugged and said, "I have no idea. I kinda just happened,
you know?"

     Mousse smiled and said, "That's good enough for me." He thought back
to all the adventures he'd had that had 'just happened'.

     "So Mousse, do you live near here?" Belldandy asked.

     "Yeah, pretty close, in Nerima. I live right above the restaurant I
work in, the Nekohanten. Maybe you guys can come sometime. I might be able
to get you a discount or something." Mousse said, trying to repay them for
their kindness.

     "Nerima?" Keiichi asked. "Hey, Belle, aren't we competing with a
school from that area in a couple days?"

     "Yes Kei, we are. Maybe we might see you there Mousse." Belldandy
said.

     Mousse polished off his ice cream and said, "I'll be on the look out
for you guys there. Well, look at the time. I think I should head home.
It's been nice meeting you all."

     Everyone rose and walked Mousse to the door, Skuld hanging back from
the main group.

     "Thank you again for bringing Urd home Mousse." Belldandy said.

     "It was my pleasure. Well, till we meet again." Mousse said, walking
out the door.

     As soon as Belldandy closed the door, Skuld said, "Big sister, didn't
you notice it?"

     "Yes, Skuld, I did." Belldandy said quietly.

     "Notice what?" Keiichi asked.

     Skuld took a deep breath and said, "That man has a very powerful
spell woven into his soul. His aura looks like a mixture of many people's.
If I didn't know any better, I'd think that guy's been reincarnated at
least a dozen times without any of the souls reaching heaven or that other
place."

     "What does that have to do with anything?" Keiichi asked, frustrated
at not being able to see that kind of thing.

     "I don't know... yet." said Skuld.

************************************************************************

     Urd woke up to the sound of birds chirping. She had trained herself
not to open her eyes as soon as she woke up for days like this. She
reached over to the dresser near her bed and put her sunglasses on. Some
would think it strange to keep sunglasses on your dresser but she knew
that no matter what she did, it seemed that as soon as she opened her
eyes, the sun would always shine unmercifully onto her eyes, almost as if
scolding her for getting so drunk. Her movements were sluggish. She
stretched to get the kinks out of her system when she noticed a familiar
essence in her room. Her fogged up mind slowly worked out who it could be. 

     <He was here!> she thought. She dashed out of the room as best as a
hungover person could and went to the kitchen, where Belldandy was already
making breakfast.

     "Hey Belldandy!" she said, sounding almost desperate. "Was there
someone here last night? Uh, someone with an almost dirty looking aura?"

     Belldandy turned and said, "Why yes. He carried you home from the
bar. And you do know how far it is from here. I would appreciate it if you
thanked him in person."

     <Stop being so damned sweet for once!> she mentally screamed.
"Belldandy, do you have any idea where he might have gone?" Urd asked,
hoping not to sound to desperate.

     "Urd, is something wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." said
Belldandy, concern evident in her voice.

     Urd was quickly losing patience. "Belldandy, do you know where he
went?" she growled.

     "Well, he said he worked at a place called the Nekohanten..."
Belldandy stopped as she saw Urd slump to the ground.

     Skuld, standing a room away, examining the device she used to make
Urd unconscious. "Hey, it worked! It really worked!"

     Belldandy stood over the sleeping form of the Goddess of Love and the
Past. At a loss for words as to what was happening.

     "Older sister, what was Urd going on about? I could hear her from my
room." Skuld said, walking up to the two.

     Belldandy shook her head and said, "I have no idea. She seemed to be
worked up about Mousse. Maybe she does know him from someplace, maybe
they're in the same situation as Keiichi and I were."

     "Somehow I doubt that." Skuld said, looking at Urd and her sleep
device. <I still can't believe it works!>

************************************************************************

     Ranma woke up to the smell of okonomiyaki wafting into his tent. In
his deep sleep, very few things could wake him up willingly. Okonomiyaki
is one of them. He opened up his tent and the delicious smell of Ukyo's
culinary artform hit him as hard as a punch. He saw that there was already
a healthy amount of okonomiyaki set out.

     "Hey Ucchan, you makin' up for lost food?" Ranma asked.

     "You're up early. Anyway, my dad always said, 'A day without an
okonomiyaki is like a day without sunshine.' You hungry?" she asked.

     "Of course!" Ranma said with flourish.

     Ukyo handed him a plate and served up an okonomiyaki straight from
her grill. As always, she hoped he would notice the words 'I love you'
which she had placed on his food. But as usual, the plate was empty in
seconds.

     "Man, that technique sure tires a guy out. I feel like I could eat a
horse." Ranma said, offering his plate for another 'Japanese pizza'.

     "Isn't that bad luck or something? Your name means 'horse' or
something doesn't it?" Ukyo said, giving him another fresh okonomiyaki.

     "Maybe it is bad luck. I mean, consider all the stuff that's happened
to me, to everyone." Ranma noted.

     The two ate and cooked silently for a moment as they both thought of
anything else they could talk about.

     "So, how are the repairs going to the restaurant?" Ranma asked.

     "Oh, just great! I think it's going to be a blessing in disguise.
Konatsu drew up some plans to make 'Ucchan's Okonomiyaki' seem even
bigger. His designs are really gonna open up the restaurant. I can't wait
to see it."

     "So I guess this means you forgive Ryoga and me for fighting in
there?" Ranma asked, ashamed at letting the fight get out of hand.

     "Well, not completely. As punishment, you won't be getting free
okonomiyaki for a month when we get back. You have to buy what you eat,
half price of course." she said, in a matter-of-factly voice.

     Ranma smiled and said, "I'll pay full price if it helps out."

     "Oh, I'm just kidding. You can get free food anytime you like." she
said, giving him a very cute smile.

     "Nah. I should pay full price, me an' Ryoga really trashed the place.
So, Konatsu's interested in designing stuff?" Ranma asked.

     "Yeah, I guess it's a hobby of his. He's been bugging me about
remodeling, I gave him a chance and he showed that he knew what he was
doing. Funniest part is seeing him boss around those big construction
guys." Ukyo said, barely maintaining her composure.

     "Maybe I'm come over and watch that." Ranma said, trying to imagine
it. <Stop beating around the bush and get to business!> he scolded
himself.

     "So, Ucchan, did Mousse ever tell you what we were fighting for?"
Ranma asked.

     Ukyo stopped her laughing fit and said, "No, he never told me. So
what _are_ you two fighting over?"

     <Good, he didn't tell. Okay, remember Ranma, just stick to the
story.> "Well, he said that if I won, he'd teach me his new techniques. If
he won, he... uh... gets to become a Saotome."

     Ukyo was about to scream in shock but Ranma covered her mouth saying,
"Hey, some people are still sleeping."

     Ukyo calmed down and asked, "Why would he want to become a Saotome?"

     "Well, he said he wanted to be a Saotome in order to be able to marry
a Tendo girl." Ranma said from memory.

     "Don't tell me he likes Akane too." Ukyo exclaimed quietly. <What is
with that girl?>

     "Actually, if he does become a Saotome, all the girls are available."
Ranma said, proud that he was staying on target.

     "Maybe you should stop hitting him on the head or something." Ukyo
joked. "This sounds like something your father and Soun would think up."

     "Or maybe there's something else he wants..." said Ranma. He was
completely intrigued by this new train of thought that he didn't listen to
his conscience that was warning him that this whole situation could be
snowballing in on him. "Maybe he thinks that his honour was stolen and
that in order for him to regain it, he has to become a family member of
the person who stole his honour."

     "That sounds kinda hard to believe Ranchan." Ukyo said, trying to
understand Mousse's 'motives.'

     "Like it's hard to believe that if an outsider male defeats a female
from a tribe, they have to get married as soon as possible?"
Ranma countered.

     Ukyo 'hmmed' thoughtfully and said, "You know, your idea would seem
to fit in with those crazy Amazon laws. That's probably why he wants to
become a Saotome."

     "Hey, Ucchan. Speaking of Amazon laws, what do you think about my
engagement to Shampoo?" Ranma asked, hoping to sound as if the thought had
just come to him.

     Ukyo's anger shot up at the mention of Shampoo. "Well, I think that
the Amazons are barbarians. How could they expect people to follow rules
just like that. It doesn't leave any room for love." she said, trying
contain her anger.

     <I think she's on a roll.> Ranma thought. "Come on Ukyo, let it all
about tell me everything you think about Shampoo."

     Ukyo turned off the grill and finished flipping her last batch of
okonomiyaki on the grill. She couldn't completely trust herself not to
spoil her food while talking about the purple-haired Amazon. "I think
she's bound by the rules and is just blindly following them. I can't trust
a relationship based on a simple rule. And they way she goes 'aiya', 'wo
da airen' and everything else in that damned high-pitched voice of her. It
makes me want to puke. Sometimes I think she could lead dogs around since
they can understand her in that voice."

     <When she lets go, she really lets go.> "Okay, how about Akane? What
do you think about her?" Ranma asked. He was quite surprised that Ukyo
didn't even noticed that she was just telling all this to Ranma as if he
wasn't involved in it. <Must be the old Saotome charm>

     "Hmm, Akane. Well, I hate how she always boots you into the sky like
she always does. It makes is really hard to be with you. And that anger,
it's like she can turn it off and on. One minute, she's okay to be with,
the next, she's launching you into orbit. Other than that, she's a good
friend. So Ranma, what's with all..." Ukyo looked around to see that her
fiancee had already left. <What was that all about?> she thought.

************************************************************************

     Urd woke up for the second time that day. This time, she didn't have
her trusty sunglasses with her. She opened her eyes as she braced for the
inevitable. It never came. The light was being blocked by her sisters and
Keiichi. Then she remembered what had happened.

     "Belldandy, do you know where that guy went?" she asked.

     "Not until you tell us what's so important about that guy." said
Skuld, who had her sleeping device at hand. She obviously wouldn't use it
to put Urd to sleep again, but it could be used as a blunt object.

     Urd sighed. "Well, it's a long story."

     "It's the weekend Urd." Keiichi said dryly.

     She wasn't going to get out of this one. "Okay, I'll tell. But first,
I need some sake." <I'm almost positive just being close to that guy sucks
my energy away.> she thought.

************************************************************************

End part 6

Author's Notes: This part came out because of KaraOhki's shortfic, The
Substitute. It's a great little fic that is worth a read. It got the old
gears in my mind turning again.

Okay, about calling Belldandy 'Belle'. Since, Belldandy and Keiichi have
so many nicknames, I've decided to add my own. Plus, in French, Belle is
the feminine version 'beautiful'. I pretty much stole the name from
Disney's Beauty and the Beast. So sue me (NO! Wait! Don't! That's just a
figure of speech!). See, all those years the school system forced us to
learn french really helped! Now, I can _completely_ make myself look
stupid in front of a French speaking person.

C&C is highly appreciated. Previous chapters can be requested via e-mail
me for at mabli@idirect.com


And now, I leave you with my favourite French class joke. (It really
happened in class.)

Witless Student: Hey teach, what does 'Je ne sais pas?' mean?
Smart-ass Teacher: I don't know.
Witless Student: Come on, you've got to know. What does it mean?
Smart-ass Teacher (in matter of factly tone): I don't know.
Witless Student (to whole class): Does anybody know what it means?
Class: I don't know

Get the joke yet?

No matter what anyone tells you, I am NOT that student, and yes, it really
did happen. I had a funny French teacher.