Author’s note: Hello, all. Thank you for being this patient with me. I’ve had so many distractions and interruptions lately, things have gotten pushed aside for quite a while. But, I’m going to try harder to live up to my promises. The character Ai Xiado is not mine. She was created by a good friend of mine, Nicole(shampoo@airmail.net) For simple info: Sifu is the Chinese equivalent to Sensei, or Master Teacher. Well, all that aside, on with the story.

Mousse crested the final hill, and looked down on the village that had been his home for so many years, Joketsuzoku. Chang stood beside him looking expectantly at his new master’s face. They had been traveling and training together for the past 2 weeks. Chang was already becoming quite adept in his training. But that was far from Mousse’s mind at the moment… right now, he was preparing himself for the hardest thing he had ever done. Returning to Joketsuzoku.

It was in this village that he had vowed never to return, without Shampoo at his side. It was in this village that he had learned to become a warrior, contrary to everyone’s wishes, and even everyone’s orders. And he had suffered for it. Every girl in the village used him as a training dummy for most of the years he spent training. And why? They knew he wouldn’t fight back. It was decided that if Mousse was so set to become a warrior, than he would live as a warrior, not as a normal Amazon male. As such, if he defeated any female, he would have to marry her. That idea was Cologne’s.

But that didn’t matter now. Personally, he almost hoped they thought he was still the same as when he left. He was in no mood to be cowed by anyone any more. He motioned to Chang for him to follow him into the village. It was then he heard the cry. A familiar voice cried out, “HEY GIRLS! HE’S BACK! MUU TSU IS BACK! GET READY!”

His sister… Ai Xiado. She was telling the girls of the village to get ready to attack him. Lovely. He’d deal with her later. He turned to Chang, “Get ready, Chang… Amazon Warriors are very skilled. Don’t let them fool you with their appearance.” His student nodded, and gripped his staff tighter. They walked through the main gate together, ready to defend themselves. But no preparation they knew of could have gotten them ready for what happened.

“MUU TSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!! AIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!” came from a chorus of cute, charging amazon girls. But they weren’t angry, or even appeared to be attacking. They knocked Chang aside, and glomped onto Mousse on every available portion of his body they could hug. While they were cuddling and nuzzleing him, he managed to notice Chang’s smirk, then his note. [I’d offer my assistance, but you appear to have things Well in hand.] He was about to say something to his student, when he heard his sister angrily yelling at the other girls.

“WHAT are you DOING!? You’re supposed to be attacking him, so he’ll defend himself, and defeat one of you! JEEZ, do any of you know how to LISTEN?!?!?!”

“Shut up, Eyeshadow. We just wanna hug him now. We’ll attack him later.” Came a voice from the horde of Amazon girls all around him.

“WHAT!?” Mousse yelled, wriggling free of the girls, who were too entangled with each other to do much more than whine when he got away. He stormed over to his sister, “Did… I hear you correctly?” his voice getting an edge sharper than his own sharpest sword. “That you’re planning on having these women attack me?”

“Umm… yeah… I figured… just… like I did before you left… if… they attacked you, you’d… defend… And… beat… on… of… them…” her voice getting more and more sheepish as she cowered under her brothers growing glare.

“ I don’t believe this… I went through years of constant abuse and torture… and it’s my own SISTER’S fault?”

****Many years ago****

Little Eyeshadow sits outside the council chambers, listenning in on a meeting, where they had taken her brother. He had caused quite an uproar when he decided to train to become a warrior. One of the Elders seemed to be making the biggest arguments against it. “He is a MALE! Men’s places are in the home, taking care of their daughters, and fixing meals for their hardworking wives. Then again, what more could I expect from him, considering his FAMILY...”

The man who had been training Mousse spoke up, “What one’s family does has little or no relation to what one chooses to do with one’s life. Besides, It all stems from your great-granddaughter, Elder Cologne. She said she only wanted a Strong man as her husband… So Mousse wants to become strong for her. Even you can see the boy is head over heals in love with her.”

“LOVE MATTERS NOT! MOUSSE IS BREAKING OUR SACRED TRADITIONS!” came Elder Cologne’s bellow. “If Mousse is to become strong, Then he will be regarded as an outsider. If he wants a wife of Any Amazon girl, then he must defeat her in combat. Are we all in agreement…”

A general murmur from through the window told Eyeshadow that they were all in agreement.

“Then it is settled. Mousse Will not be allowed to marry ANY amazon girl… Unless he first is able to defeat her.”

Eyeshadow ran away from the hut, to watch from behind another hut as Mousse and his master came out the door. She couldn’t help but be impressed by his trainer. The man was a Giant! But he moved as if he weighed no more than a feather. Even more surprising, was that he was completely blind. No one knew what his eyes looked like, since he always wore a black silk band around his eyes. What caught everyone’s attention, aside from his HUGE build, was his hair… it flowed in long, silvery gray strands down almost to his feet. His robes' sleeves ended just past his elbows, but even Eyeshadow knew that the man had more weapons hidden up just ONE sleeve than the entire village had put together. This outsider was someone everyone but Mousse avoided.

“Don’t worry, Mousse. I have a feeling most girls in this village would rather be defeated for their hand than not. Especially that Shampoo girl. She seems adamant about it.”

“But I don’t wanna hit her, Sifu. I love her. It’s wrong to hit the people you love. I know it is.”

“Mousse… You have no idea how good it does this old heart to hear you say that.”

Eyeshadow didn’t hear any more. She was too busy running home… She couldn’t believe it… her own brother, deemed an outsider… And all because of that Shampoo girl! She hated the way Mousse pined over her, often confessing his undying love to her.. or what his poor eyes thought were her. Eyeshadow KNEW her brother deserved better, and wouldn’t rest until he had better.

On her way, she learned she wasn’t the only girl who had been checking up on Mousse.

“If Mousse attacked ME for my hand,” she heard a young girl say, “I don’t know how much of a defense I’d put up.”

“What do you mean, Conditioner?” asked a friend of hers.

“He’s GORGEOUS! That’s what I mean! If he even thumped me, I’d probably just lay down and say he beat me. Then he’d be ALL mine!”

“No way, girl, Mousse is MINE!”

The pair continued to argue over who would get Mousse as they walked away. Eyeshadow would later consider this both her greatest moment of inspiration, and her greatest mistake. “HEY GIRLS! Wait up! I’ve got an Idea!”

***Now…***

“Every day of my life, up until I left this village… I would be attacked Savagely by at LEAST one girl… Often they came at me in groups… I always wondered whose idea it was, to inflict such pain on me… And then I learn it’s my own SISTER!!” The last word Yelled In the girl’s face.

“I figured you would have at least BLOCKED, Mousse… But you just let them hit you…”

“You don’t think I heard their plans a time or two? I knew if I made ANY combative moves, I’d be forced to marry one of them. Gods, Ai Xiado… Didn’t you CONSIDER the possibility that I wouldn’t give up that easily?”

“Well… no…” she sheepishly admitted.

Mousse was about to say something more to her, when a hand tapped his shoulder. He turned to face Chang, who held up a note saying, [Hey, Mousse? I’m kinda tired after that hike. Where are we staying?]

“Huh? Oh… Hmm… Eyeshadow, Is my master still living in the village? Eyeshadow?” he looked at his sister, and discovered the source of her silence. She was staring… no Drooling was more appropriate… at Chang.

“WOW! Mousse! Who’s your friend?!” as she hopped between Mousse and Chang, “HI! I’m Eyeshadow, Mousse’s little sister! What’s your name? Ooo, Nice Tattoo! Are you single?”

Chang… blinked a time or two… And began to write… [I’m Chang. Could you talk slower please? I’m deaf, but I read lips.]

Mousse shook his head, and rolled his eyes, as his sister began to flirt with his new student. He began to question his sanity in returning, but didn’t have much time to do so. The horde of amorous Amazons was coming in for another glomp attack. Now, All Mousse could do is run.

***Back in Nerima***

Shampoo was having her favorite dream, in which she was laying back, head in Ranma’s lap, as he fed her grapes. She closed her eyes and felt his hand stroking her cheek lovingly. She opened her eyes to stare up into his face, but things had changed. Now, instead of Ranma, it was Mousse’s face she was looking into.

{Aiya… When Mousse… get so handsome?} her dream-self pondered as Mousse leaned down and kissed her tenderly on the lips. It was then that the dream took a VERY different turn from her usual dream that involved Mousse. And Shampoo didn’t mind one bit.

When Shampoo awoke, some time later, she looked up at the ceiling, wondering, {Why Mousse have to make everything so hard? Before, Was simple… Mousse stupid weakling, who always lose. Now, Mousse strong… Even beat Ranma. And everyone else in town, too. Why Mousse be so difficult? Should have give up when Shampoo turn down First time…}

Her thoughts continued like that for quite some time, as she got dressed, went downstairs, and openned up the doors for the temporary help. Shampoo was a good cook, but she couldn’t run the whole business by herself. She hired the new people about 3 weeks ago, shortly after Cologne left to find Mousse. The day went by slowly, as they all did. Business was like usual. But Shampoo felt so empty lately. She’d lost her Fiance, and her only true friend almost a month ago, and things hadn’t improved since then. After closing time, she sat in her room, as she did almost every night, and thought about things more. For some reason, the image of her and Mousse kissing, among other things, kept showing up in her train of thought.

She shook her head, {No, Aiya, No… Shampoo no want Mousse like THAT… He just friend… Just male friend… just Good looking male friend… Aiya…… just really, really good-looking, studly, strong, smart, sweet… } “AIYA SHAMPOO MISS MOUSSE!” she screamed to her ceiling as her thoughts revealed to her the REASON she’d been so miserable lately.

***Back in Joketsuzoku***

Mousse sneezed, and kept running.

***Nerima***

Shampoo grumbled to herself for the rest of the night, as she looked through every picture she had, trying to find the one she was looking for… And there it was… the one she had taken from Mousse’s room after she destroyed everything. The picture of the Nekohanten staff, taken by Ranma. She looked at Mousse’s face. His eyes glowed with the anger he felt for Ranma, but his smile was all Shampoo wanted to see… the smile he gave her so many times… and she was dumb enough to ignore. Why hadn’t she ever NOTICED how handsome he was? Why hadn’t she ever been nice to him for a change?

She put the picture away, back at the bottom of her stack of photographs. She wiped at her burning eyes, as she walked slowly back over to her bed.

“*Mousse…*”She whispered in Chinese, “*Wherever you are… I hope you’re happy…*”

***China***

Mousse and Chang were both panting heavily as they lay down in Mousse’s master’s hut. The tall man came out from the back, “I hope you realize that they’ll eventually check out my hut…” he said with a chuckle. The huge man hadn’t changed much since Mousse had known him. He was still the huge, powerful man with the warm smile that Mousse trained under, and even lived with, to get away from his mother and sister’s plots to get him both With Shampoo, and away from her, respectively. “But you two should be safe here for a while. Care to introduce me to your friend, Mousse?”

“This is Chang, Sifu. He’s my new student.”

“Student… Does that mean you’re wearing the black robes now?” with a smile on his face. The man’s pride was easily obvious. His Prize pupil had now become a master. “Almost makes me wish my eyes worked like yours did, Mousse. What’s… that sound? What are you writing, Chang?”

Mousse read the note Chang showed him. “Chang is deaf, Sifu. He speaks by writing notes. He hears, by feeling vibrations in the ground, the movement of the wind, and by lipreading. He’s asking why you wear that blindfold, if you’re already blind?”

“Simple, my young friend… The blindfold is to hide my scar. That is why I am blind. My eyes were slashed during a fight when I was a young man, brash, and arrogant. I fought with a master-martial artist… and he repaid my impertinence by cutting out my eyes.”

“He says that’s awful.”

“It was, for a while. Then I heard about the hidden weapons technique, and began studying it extensively. I even found a master to instruct me. Eventually, I was released from my master to complete my training. You see, lad, the key to the Hidden weapons technique is in that it is Unique to every student. No two bodies are alike, so every student must find their own way of hiding their weapons. All either Mousse, or I can teach you… is the basics of weapons fighting, and new techniques for hiding the weapons. The true strength of the technique is the imagination of the master. You are limited only by your imagination. Everything is a weapon. Tables, make excellent shields and Clubs. Feathers, Excellent diversionary tactic, to leave your opponent open to attack. Dust blinds most opponents. Stuffed animals, like most children sleep with, are easily used to smother an opponent. If it’s heavy, it can be a club. If it’s sharp, it can be a blade. Our goal is to find what everything COULD be.”

Mousse Loved it when his master gave that speech.

“So, Sifu, what should we do now?” Mousse asked, when the pause told him his master was finished.

“What else, Mousse? Give him the bag of smoke pellets.” The man said with a smile. He pulled out a large duffle bag, and handed it to the boy. If it were not for the scarf around the man’s eyes, Chang would swear the man could see. He knew exactly where Chang’s hands were. Chang’s questioning glance must have told Mousse what was on his mind.

“Chang, He hears the sound of your pencil on your paper. His ears are as good as your eyes, and your sense of touch.” Mousse said with a smile. “Sifu, this is going to be an interesting arrangement… two blind men, and a deaf one…”

“Not too odd… My master was deaf. We worked it out by using braile, and other things… but we have you, Mousse. You can be our go between. I’ll ring the bell if we need you.” Mousse shuddered.

“You still have that thing?”

“Of course… a bell so loud it can be heard for miles around.”

Mousse groaned, “And if I’m just outside, it’s deafening…”

Chang and Sifu Chuckled. Chang’s laugh was completely silent, but the motions of his body were just like he was laughing hysterically. Mousse hung his head. This was going to be a hard training process.

End, chapter 4, to be continued.

Well ,there it is, after many months worth of writers block, frustration, and even a couple of re-writes, part 4. part 5 will be ready as soon as I can do it. It will be taking a leap forward in time, using flashbacks to relate important or humorous events… That’s to move the story along… I want to actually finish one of these.