Just a little something that came to me last night. Wouldn't leave me until
I wrote it down. So this is going to be a real rough draft.
A New Life
A fusion of Ranma 1/2 and ?
Any C+C greatly appreciated.
You can contact me at sommer@nb.net
Standard Disclaimer:
A disclaim I own any of these characters. They are owned by other people
with more power, money, and influence than I.
A New Life
Happy Birthday, Shampoo.
Those were the first words Shampoo thought as she woke up and gazed at the
world outside her bedroom window. Outside it was a day like any other day,
at least to everyone else. To her it was a special day. Her favorite day of
the year, ever since she was a little girl. The sort of day that comes only
once a year. Yes, it was her birthday. At long last she was seventeen. And
like a fine wine she got better with every year, and this one was no
exception. Her martial arts had improved, though not as much as she would
have liked. She had grown more beautiful, and graceful. And she was
married, almost. This was a time for celebration. At long last, this year
she WAS going to get Ranma to admit she was his one and only wife, no
matter what it took. She was the first of the women that pursued him to hit
her seventeenth birthday, and Ranma was going to celebrate it with her.
Even if it killed him.
She jumped out of bed and quickly threw on her most attractive (and
tightest) red and green dress to impress her airen. His day couldn't start
until she got her morning glomp on him to get him going. He was always so
excited to see her, yelling out with a great deal of energy. She ran out
into the hall, and found herself in front of her great-grandmother's
bedroom before she remembered that she had gone back to China two days
earlier for some sort of council with the other elders. The Amazon gave a
sigh, her great-grandmother was going to miss her birthday. Come to think
of it, she hadn't even left a present for her. That was odd. In all her
years, Cologne had never forgotten Shampoo's birthday. Never. Maybe the
meeting with the council was far more important than she let on. It wasn't
impossible that that was what had distracted her and made her forget
Shampoo's birthday. The idea that her own great grandmother forgot the
important date was depressing, but she wasn't going to let a little fact
like that ruin her day. Time to march over to Ranma's house and get him to
celebrate with her.
She had dropped several hints that her birthday was coming up and told him
what she wanted for it. Since it wasn't likely he would run off to China
with her (the first choice) she gave him an alternate gift idea of a
beautiful pair of earrings that she had seen in a store the other day. The
best part was that the jewelry was dirt cheap. After all, it wasn't as
though he had much money, thanks to Nabiki. Shampoo would have cracked her
in the head long ago for taking advantage of her airen, if it wasn't for
the fact the blasted girl somehow managed to trick her out of money on a
regular basis as well. But each time Nabiki came up with some plan, it
seemed so appealing that Shampoo simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to
pay the girl and follow through on whatever it was she paid for. Last
Christmas, when she shelled out the money for spending time alone with
Ranma, was a perfect example of what sounded like a good plan. How
unfortunate Kodachi and Ukyou bought into the scheme too, and ended up
ruining Shampoo and Ranma's quality time together. That whole bit was a
dismal flop. Like so many other things lately.
As she exited the Neko-Hatan, she took note that Mousse wasn't present.
Shampoo chided herself for dwelling on such depressing events. That
horrible wedding fiasco literally almost blew up in her face. Ranma hadn't
talked to anyone for almost a week before forgiving all of them for blowing
up the wedding. Offering to repair the damage went a long ways to that
forgiveness though. She hadn't wanted to destroy Ranma's house, but she
also didn't want to see her husband forced into a marriage he obviously
didn't want. When Shampoo at last managed to talk to him and explain the
motive of her actions, he seemed to accept the answer. Still, he seemed so
sad upon hearing it was well. Ranma was an impossible man to understand
sometimes.
She was prepared to hop on her bike and race down to the Tendo's when she
remembered what shape it was in. Nothing left but a crumpled lump of metal
that looked more like a sculpture of modern art than a bike. Using it as a
weapon to run down Tarou wasn't such a good idea. True, it had bought Ranma
the time he needed to get some hot water to change the arrogant jerk back
into his human form and beat the snot out of him, but Tarou smashed the
hell out of her primary mode of transportation before that happened. Her
luck had been running that way lately. Mousse had offered to fix it, but
somehow he never got around to it. That was downright bizarre. Mousse
always dropped everything he was doing to help her out, but this time he
didn't. Now that she thought about it, he had been behaving very strangely
the last few weeks. The blind idiot hadn't even tried to ask her out on a
date in almost a month. Maybe he found some other girl to obsesses about.
That was a laugh, neither of them could be so fortunate.
So she strolled down the road, watching out for the little old lady that
threw water out in the street for no apparent reason other than to make
life inconvenient for Jusenkyou cursed people. She arrived at the dojo to
hear the sordid sounds of silence. Ranma hadn't done anything to anger
Akane, yet. That was good, it meant he would be physically able to give her
the present himself, and then the brute would hammer his skull for it.
It took her a moment to decide whether or not to make one of her
spectacular entrances to impress Ranma (i.e., destroy a wall) or just go in
the front door. Deciding she had destroyed enough building material for the
next few months, she entered the quiet way. Today would be memorable enough
when she got her gift. Kasumi answered the door and smiled pleasantly at
Shampoo.
"Nihao! I come to see Ranma." She gave Kasumi the bubbliest greeting she
could muster.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Shampoo. Ranma isn't in right now."
That annoyed Shampoo slightly. It was still early in the morning and not a
school day. He should have stuck around, waiting for her to come by and
collect her gift. "Where he go?"
"I believe he and Akane mentioned something about going on a training trip,
alone."
Shampoo nearly fell over, stunned. They had gone together? Alone? She had
to put a stop to that immediately. "Can Shampoo talk to Nabiki?"
Kasumi nodded. "Of course. Come right in."
Kasumi ushered her inside and led her straight to Nabiki, who was sitting
down, watching television.
"What is it Shampoo?" the middle Tendo asked in a tired voice.
Shampoo cut right to the chase. She pulled out a wad of money and plopped
it down in front of Nabiki. "Where Ranma and violent tomboy go to train?"
Nabiki shook her head. "They managed to keep that particular information
from me. Believe me, if I knew where they were going to train, I'd be the
first to sell...I mean tell you where they went."
Shampoo just nodded her head sadly and let herself out. If Nabiki didn't
know, there was no way anyone else knew. Her birthday was off to a
wonderful start.
She briefly thought about going over to Ukyou's. Surprisingly, she and the
chef had gotten along a lot better since they teamed up to break up the
wedding. Part of it was they both openly acknowledged that they were losing
in the Ranma Fiancee Wars. He and Akane seemed to be getting closer, as
though the idea they were going on training trips together wasn't evidence
enough of that. It was taking all of their combined resources to keep the
two apart, and it still felt like they were losing ground. If they hadn't
teamed up there was no telling what would have happened. It looked like
they were going to have to plan something together again, soon. On the
bright side, Ukyou would wish her a happy birthday. Shampoo silently hoped
the chef had gotten her a present, even if it was only an okonomiyaki with
"Happy Birthday" written on it. It may have been a bit much to wish for,
they were still rivals after all, but they were getting along well. Maybe
even good enough to call friends. Something Shampoo never had many of.
She entered "Ucchans" and gave yet another bubbly greeting, though this one
wasn't as joyful as the other. Ranma's absence really bothered her. Ukyou
would be able to cheer her up though. As Shampoo entered she saw there was
only Konatsu behind the grill, making okonomiyaki. That was more than a
little surprising, Ukyou never let anyone else cook at her restaurant but
her.
"Nihao, Konatsu! Where Ukyou?"
Konatsu greeted her in return. "Hi, Shampoo-chan." Konatsu had taken to
calling her that since she dropped by so often. The Amazon didn't really
mind it. "She said something about going to visit her relatives in Kyoto.
She should be back in a couple of days. In the meantime she's letting me
run things. And she's paying me an extra twenty five yen an hour!" He
beamed.
Shampoo thought that was nice, he was almost making minimum wage. The news,
however, depressed the hell out if her. She had really wanted to see Ukyou.
Wasn't there anybody to celebrate her birthday with?
"Umm," Shampoo began, "Shampoo hate to ask you this, but did Spatula Girl
leave anything for me?"
"No. She didn't. Was she supposed to?"
Shampoo shook her head. It was too much to expect that Ukyou had
remembered, or cared enough, to get her a present. Well, Ukyou would just
get the same when her birthday rolled around, Shampoo thought bitterly to
herself. Maybe Konatsu would like to celebrate it with her. She was going
to ask him about it when several groups of customers came in. He was going
to be busy all day. No chance of him celebrating with her, not that she
really knew him that well to begin with. It was with a depressed sigh she
made her farewell and departed.
The most wonderful day of the year was turning into one of the most
terrible. Everyone had something better to do. Time to go to the only
person left. The one person that would always celebrate her birthday with
her. Heck, he looked forward to it almost as much as she did. It was one of
the few times of the year she would openly accept a gift from him without
her throwing it, and him, out.
He was always reliable. There wasn't a year that went by that he didn't
prepare for her birthday weeks in advance. She still remembered the chorus
he had brought together to sing to her on her last birthday. Of course she
flattened him for embarrassing her in front of her of the village, but at
the same time she was really flattered. Heck, she would make his year by
agreeing to go out with him. Not on a real date, that went without saying,
and he would have to pay for it all, but he would be happy that the two of
them would be together with only each other as company today.
Just as she returned to the Neko-Hatan she saw Mousse heading out. As she
called out to him he jumped, as though scared. That was a surprise. The
only time he did that was when he was up to something. Now that she got
closer to him she saw that he was very apprehensive. In fact, he had his
hand behind his head and was laughing nervously, just like Ryouga would. He
was up to something all right.
"Hello, Mousse," She greeted as seductively as she could. She would get
whatever it was out of him, and she was certain she knew what he was so
skittish about. Her birthday gift. He was probably waiting until the right
moment to give it to her, and was nervous about her accepting it. Well
there was no fear of that, even if it was tickets to that horrible, bad
taste play he had taken her to once before, she would be ecstatic about it.
"Oh. Hi, Shampoo," he replied in a very subdued voice.
What kind of a greeting was that? He should have been jumping up and down
for joy at her close physical proximity, exclaiming it was her birthday and
that they should go out on a date to celebrate. He did that first thing
every year. But here he was, acting as though there was nothing special.
Did he forget her gift? Hell, she was so lonely it wouldn't make a
difference to her. Just so long as she spent some time with someone.
Mousse continued. "Since we're closed and all, I'm going out. See you
later."
What was going on? Mousse didn't say a word about her birthday. That was
just not possible. Something was going on, and she WAS going to get to the
bottom of it.
She sidled up to Mousse and actually rubbed herself next to him. She would
have been appalled at her own actions if she wasn't so desperate. "Would
you like some company?" There was no way he could resist her, not Mousse.
It would only be a matter of moments before he would cry out in joy and
glomp onto her.
"NO!" he cried out, then relaxed. "What I mean to say is, not today.
Sorry." He gave her a sad look as he turned to leave.
Shampoo just stood there in shock as Mousse walked away without a backward
glance. Something terrible was happening. Someone must have drugged Mousse
or something. Maybe the Contrary Jewel? No, he would hate her if that was
the case. But there was no other explanation for his behavior. She waited
until he was out of sight before following him, staying out of sight by
leaping from rooftop to rooftop. She thought about the situation some more.
Perhaps he was being blackmailed. Maybe he received a private challenge he
didn't want Shampoo to know about, afraid he might lose in front of her. It
could be any of a thousand reasons. The only way to find out was to follow.
Eventually Mousse's path took him into one of the parks. To Shampoo's
knowledge, he never spent anytime in the park. Perhaps she would discover
what was going on now. From her vantage point on one of the nearby rooftops
she witnessed Mousse suddenly stop, happily wave at someone, then pull out
a bouquet of flowers. Shampoo looked up the path to see who the center of
his attention was.
It was a pretty, young girl who was waving and smiling just as much in
response. The identity of the individual was a total shock to Shampoo. A
total shock.
Akari Unryuu rushed up to Mousse and leaped into his arms, laughing in joy.
Mousse held her up for the world to see and smiled back. He gently set her
down as she accepted the flowers, and the two of them sat next to one
another in a much more reserved fashion. For some odd reason, they almost
seemed ashamed of their sudden display of affection, even going so far as
to blush. Shampoo couldn't help but notice their hands creep slowly to one
another, then grip. There was a gentleness in that handhold the two had. It
was a lover's embrace. An embrace Shampoo had never felt.
She had to move closer and be sure. For Mousse, her Mousse, to be going out
behind her back seemed impossible. Maybe there was some other explanation.
Maybe Mousse was going to get her a pig for her birthday. And if that
wasn't grasping at straws, then nothing was.
At last she was within earshot of the duo and overheard their quiet
conversation.
"Have you told Ryouga about us yet?" Mousse asked in a voice filled with
tender emotion. He used that voice with Shampoo every now and then.
"He still hasn't come back. I promise, I'll tell him as soon as I see him,"
Akari answered.
"Are you sure you don't want me there?" Mousse asked, concern now in his
voice.
Akari shook her head. "You know how temperamental he is. If you're there
he'll pull a 'Mousse, prepare to die!' speech and try to kill you. Remember
how he was with Ranma and Akane? Can you imagine what he'll be like if he
sees a second chance of happiness slipping through his fingers? He'll
probably unleash a volley of those Shi Shi whatzits."
Mousse put his arm around her and drew her closer, "Which is why I want to
be there. I won't let him hurt you. You can't defend yourself the way
Shampoo, or even Akane can."
"It won't come to that. Ryouga would never hurt a girl, no matter what.
Even one that," Her voice caught a little, "that breaks up with him. If he
gets really angry, I'll just point out that he was betraying me and Akane
when he slept with her as P-Chan."
Mousse perked up at that. "We may have to use Akane as a last resort. If
she finds out what he did, I'm certain she would crush him. Shi Shi
Houkoudan or no."
"I don't want to see him crippled, Mouse. Just because it didn't work out
doesn't mean I have any ill will towards him. He's a nice guy, it's just
that you're better." She rested her head onto this chest at that point, and
spoke in a quieter tone. "Have you told Shampoo yet?"
Mousse shook his head. "There's nothing to tell. There was never anything
between us. I was the one chasing her. Heck, she hasn't even noticed I'm
not pursuing her anymore. I thought she would have asked about it at
least."
Akari lifted her head back up and looked at him. "Please tell her. I bet it
affects her more than you realize."
Mousse sighed. "All right. I'll tell her later today. I mean, one day is as
good as another, right?"
Akari nodded in agreement. With that decided, they looked deeply into each
others eyes. Soft words Shampoo couldn't make out were exchanged, then the
duo looked nervously at one another. Slowly, Mousse cradled Akari's face
and drew it closer to his. Then the two kissed. Tentatively at first, then
passionately.
That was enough for Shampoo. She quietly sneaked away, not that the two
would realize anything other than each other. The two really were in love.
It wasn't so much she minded it. She would never love Mousse the way he
loved her, but to have it happen today was the absolute worst. The one time
when she would have appreciated his suffocating attention and he didn't
have any to give. Damn Mousse! He always screwed everything up. She had
half a mind to hunt down Ryouga and tell him what happened. That would fix
the blind idiot's wagon. No. That was wrong. Ryouga would end up in a
murderous fury that even Mousse couldn't withstand. She was angry at him,
but didn't want him dead. But that line about one day being the same as the
next hurt to the core. Even if he had fallen for Akari, the least he could
do was remember her birthday. It was like being a discarded piece of trash.
It seemed all she really was to him was someone he could throw his
affections to, and now that he had someone else, Shampoo was left blowing
in the wind. What a wonderful birthday it was turning out to be.
It was a full two minutes before the duo broke off the kiss, blushing
furiously. Mousse cautiously gazed over in the direction Shampoo had been
moments before. "She's gone," he whispered.
"That was," Akari paused to catch her breath. "something else."
Mousse turned even redder. "Yes. It certainly was." He shook his head to
recover. "We'd better tell the others." He pulled a walkie-talkie out of
his robes and hit the transmit button. "Blind Man to Twisted Pervert. Blind
Man to Twisted Pervert. Over."
There was the sound of static as Mousse received the response. "What the
hell is that 'Twisted Pervert' crap?!" the voice on the other end answered.
"They're code names so no one knows who we are. Blind Man is suitable for
me, Twisted Pervert is appropriate for you."
The sudden shout of "Why you!" was stopped by a thump on the other end.
Mousse had a feeling he knew who was behind the noise. "Hammer, is that
you?"
"Yes it is, Blind Man. What's your and Swine Girl's situation?"
Akari asked for the walkie-talkie, which Mousse gave to her. "Miss Kitty
has been given the bag. She should be going to the Kennel soon. ETA about
twenty minutes, if she takes her time."
"Thanks, Swine Girl. Is there anything you want to say to Compass?" Hammer
said.
Akari blushed at that. "No. I'll see him soon enough. Swine Girl and Blind
Man out." She handed the walkie-talkie back to Mousse.
"Well, I guess we should be going. I mean, the others will want us to help
with the event," Mousse said with little enthusiasm.
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Akari sounded about as happy. "We can take
our time though."
Mousse smiled at that. Akari smiled in response.
"We should probably hold hands. I mean if Shampoo doubles back to check on
us it'll look good." Mousse found he was anxious to hear the answer.
To his surprise, Akari brightened even more. "Okay. Sounds good to me." And
without another word she grabbed Mousse's hand. The two walked slowly along
the path leading out of the park. So lost were they in thought, that Mousse
almost didn't notice the rain in time. He quickly pulled out an umbrella
from within the confines of his robe and drew Akari closer. She never gave
a word of protest, but rather, drew closer to him on her own.
Mousse paused in thought. Even if Shampoo didn't find a dry spot before the
rain hit, she could make her way back to the Neko-Hatan on her own. Knowing
Cologne wasn't in the restaurant, he had set out hot water bottles, in case
of emergencies, right before he left. Shampoo could make her way through
her special cat door and use the hot water on herself. No need to worry. He
was happy right where he was.
Back at the Tendo Dojo, 'Hammer' placed the walkie-talkie back in 'Twisted
Pervert's' crumpled hand.
"Ranma! You should stop arguing with Mousse. We're doing something
important here." Hammer berated him.
Ranma picked himself up. "Well, he shouldn't have called me a twisted
pervert!"
"If the shoe fits..." Hammer let the saying trail off.
'Compass' finally spoke up. "Why did Akari have to go with Mousse?"
Ukyou stopped pinning up the banner she was working with. The surprise
birthday party for Shampoo was never going to be ready if everyone kept
arguing. "Because, I was supposed to be out of town, and she would have
been happy if it was Akane." Ukyou indicated Hammer. "It had to be someone
she was neutral about. Quit your whining, Ryouga." She told him.
"What's the matter, 'Compass'. Afraid she's gonna develop a fetish for
ducks instead of pigs?" Ranma teased.
"Ranma! Prepare to di---" Ryouga's threat was cut off by Akane.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Both Ranma and Ryouga suddenly became nervous. "Nothing. Nothing at all."
Ranma said.
"Oh!" Akane shrugged and began blowing up more balloons.
Ryouga went back to tying the bow on the new bike everyone had chipped in
for Shampoo. It was especially made with a new kind of special metal alloy
Ryouga had stumbled across in the middle of the desert. It was really
weird, that huge, damaged, metal saucer he found in the middle of nowhere.
If he hadn't known better, he would have sworn it had crashed, but everyone
knew flying saucers didn't exist. It was probably just some large radar
dish that fell off a plane or something. The metal was tough, though. Even
Ryouga couldn't bend it. Of course, that meant when she crashed into
someone it would hurt all the more, but they would deal with that when the
time came.
Ranma made certain the gift was hidden away carefully. Akane would just
misinterpret the situation if she spotted Ranma with it. It wasn't like it
was anything special, just a pair of cheap earrings, but he wanted to make
up for treating Shampoo so badly after the wedding. She had even
volunteered, and subsequently repaired the damage she had done to his home.
If only the damage she and the others had inflicted on his and Akane's
relationship was so easily mended. Still, Akane and he were closer now, and
he had a feeling that this time next year Shampoo might not be so happy.
Shampoo was incredibly depressed over the whole events of the day. It was a
microcosm of her life. Nothing ever worked out. Her husband rejected her.
She was stuck with a stupid curse. She had no real friends here or in
China. The price of being the best there meant everyone saw her as a goal
to shoot for instead of a human being, so no one other than Mousse ever
really talked to her. And now he had lost him. There wasn't anyone to give
her any attention. She felt alone
Maybe the problem was with her. Was it possible the fault was hers, and not
everyone else? Was there some huge character flaw she possessed that drove
everyone away from her? She knew she came on strong sometimes, but was it
so wrong to be straightforward in everything? What was it she did that
drove EVERYONE away from her? Even Mousse was lost to her now. It was
amazing how much she missed him, and he hadn't even gone anywhere. But she
was just so used to his attentions, now it was like she was missing an arm
or something. Oh well, she could survive that particular amputation. It was
just that the timing couldn't be worse. Why couldn't he have fallen for
Akari after her birthday? Then she would have been happy for him and the
pig girl. It was supposed to be her favorite day of the year, instead it
had turned into the worst. So lost was she in depression that she failed to
notice the rain until it triggered her curse.
That was the final straw. Tears mixed in with rain as she cried to herself.
She hated the curse. Because of it she would never have Ranma. He was
afraid of her. He would never admit it to her face, but he was afraid. She
turned into a cat and Ranma was terrified of cats. He could never be happy
with Shampoo. Never live comfortably with a wife that could make him afraid
with the merest drop of water. Not bringing him back as her husband was
going to hurt her, as though not getting Ranma wasn't agony enough. She had
no idea how she would deal with the rejection of the one man she had ever
truly loved.
As she made her way down the back alleyways she thought about her situation
further. Once she returned to the village she would be treated like dirt
until she could restore her honor, and it would take years to do that. She
was a little surprised to discover that she didn't even want to go home.
Save her great grandmother she was never very close to any of her family,
and as she thought before, she didn't have any real friends. Cologne had
been the only one who volunteered to help her once they discovered the
truth about Ranma. And a lot of that had to do with restoring her honor,
and subsequently the family's. Maybe that was the only reason she had come
to help.
Her reverie was interrupted as some shop owner spotted her walking behind
the store and yelled at her, saying he didn't need no "stinking alley cat
messing up his garbage."
That was quite the indignity. The best of the young Amazon warriors being
insulted by an outsider male who treated her like an unwanted animal going
through garbage. She had no pride left. Not today. She let her feline
shoulder slump in defeat and slink off, much to the man's satisfaction. She
wouldn't even seek retribution later. The man was right. She wasn't
anything more than a worthless human being that no one cared about.
Happy Birthday, Shampoo.
She didn't care anymore. She had hit rock bottom. Nowhere to go but up, and
it looked like that wasn't going to happen in her lifetime. Why couldn't
the pain go away? Now she knew exactly how Ryouga felt. It was probably a
good thing she didn't know the Shi Shi Houkoudan. She might have been able
to blow a hole to the center of the earth with the mood she was in.
Her depression ended up costing her. She never even realized she had
wandered out into the street. Her head whipped around when she heard the
car horn honk and the sound of screeching tires come straight for her. She
had enough time to reflexively jump in the air.
Then pain.
She flew through the air as the car impacted with her body. Her mind shut
down momentarily as pain beyond imagination ripped through her. Then the
mind reset itself as synapses started to alert her to what exactly was
wrong with the body. Everything. She didn't even have time to go into shock
as even more pain flooded into her. She couldn't breathe, she was coughing
up blood from lungs punctured by ribs and filling with her own internal
fluids. More messages of pain came in from an appendage as she could dimly
see a bone sticking out of her leg. Sticking way out. Her body overrode
that injury and made her pay attention to what was going on inside. Her
internal organs were a mess, it felt like someone was sticking flame
throwers in her guts and firing them. Too much pain. Too much.
She was dying and in agony. But she didn't want to die, not like this. Even
if she didn't have friends, she still wanted to live. And she wanted the
pain to go away. Make the hurting stop. Please make the bad hurt go away...
She was dimly aware of being lifted, mostly because it sent a whole new
wave of agony shooting through her body. She thought it was a boy who held
her. Ranma? Could Ranma be here to make her pain stop?
The boy held the dying cat in his arms. He was bawling at the top of his
lungs and begging his father to save her. The man held his forehead. He
loved animals as much as his son, but this one was hurt bad. It looked like
it should already be dead, but he could see it was still coughing up blood.
Amazing how resilient life was. It would hold in until the last second,
desperate to avoid death, and this little cat was no exception. But there
was no way it could last much longer. Part of him wanted to help ease the
creature's pain. Take it to a vet so it could be put out of its misery.
And than he saw her eyes.
The idea of a vet was obliterated. Perhaps it was because he had hit the
cat and felt responsible. Maybe it was his son's pleading. No. None of that
was it. They might have helped contribute to his feelings, but the real
reason was those eyes. The cat wanted to live and was fighting every inch
of the way. Fighting for life. He was damned if he wouldn't fight alongside
her. That was why he and his son were on the run. He loved life too much to
ever see his creations responsible for death. And that was what his
employers had planned. He almost went along with it. Stay quiet. Toe the
line. Collect your paycheck. Don't make waves. Don't feel responsible for
what they do with your creations. It's not your fault. You just come up
with ideas. They are the ones responsible for how they're used. Your hands
will be clean of any blood. Besides, if you don't do it, someone else will.
So just continue doing what you were, and leave the conscience driving to
others.
But he didn't go along with it. He escaped from their cubicles and
factories and took everything he made with him. He wouldn't allow others to
kill with his inventions. They would have to find someone else's toys to do
their dirty work. But there were still doubts. He may have acted like the
independent, mad as a hatter, scientist sometimes, but inside he was scared
that he had made the wrong choice. He had kidnapped his son, with the boy's
consent, and ran off, but what kind of life could they expect? It would be
a life on the run. He knew his employer, she would never let either of them
go. So he had seriously considered going back. There wouldn't be any
reprisals. He was too important to them, no matter how much his boss hated
him now. In fact, he was thinking about turning the jeep around when his
son had screamed at him to hit the brakes.
And now know he knew what he had to do. The dying cat had showed him the
way. Those eyes that almost seemed to burn with an intelligence all their
own. It could just as easily have been some child he had never seen in the
same state. Dying because of his creations. His weapons. He would never do
that to another human being. He would never have been able to live with
himself. He would never allow his son to live with someone like that. He
had made the right choice.
Barely, and he had the cat to thank for it.
Now he would do everything in his power to save the one creature in the
world that helped save his life, and his son's. The one creature that had
saved his soul. But how to do it? The cat could die at any minute. He had
to think fast. How could he keep it from dying? Then his eyes fell to what
was in the back seat of his jeep. That might work. Yes, if he worked
quickly it just might. At any rate, it was the cat's only chance.
He gently took the dying cat from the boy. The youth looked into his
father's eyes and understood.
Later:
[NEURAL SYSTEM LINK: FAIL]
[ABORT, RETRY ,FAIL?]
RETRY
[NEURAL SYSTEM LINK: ESTABLISHED]
[MOTOR SYSTEM: ONLINE]
[AUDIO SYSTEM: ONLINE]
[VISUAL SYSTEM: ONLINE]
The world suddenly came into focus for it. It stared at the two beings in
front of it. The neural link informed it of the name and purpose to
everything in the room. It already knew, somehow.
"How do you feel?" This was asked by a man in a lab jacket with a cigarette
dangling form his mouth. He appeared to be in his late twenties or early
thirties with dark hair which hung low and covered his eyes.
[SYSTEMS OPERATING AT 100% EFFICIENCY]
"I feel fine." Though there was something odd. Some feeling of wrongness,
as though it shouldn't be here.
"All right!" This was said by the young brown haired boy next to the man.
There was a faint resemblance between the two. The youth appeared to be
about twelve years old.
"I'm glad to hear it. I was afraid there might have been too much brain
damage. We did cut it close. But as long as you're feeling good, I wouldn't
worry about it," the man reassured it.
It suddenly felt curious about what it looked like and said so.
"Why don't you look in a mirror?" The boy offered. He led it to a mirror so
it could at last look at its appearance. She was a female and appeared
young, about sixteen or seventeen
[SEVENTEEN]
seventeen and had red hair and green eyes. Her body was somewhat
voluptuous. It was what men would consider pretty, though she wasn't
certain of how she knew that. Something wasn't quite right about the face
though. It felt like she was looking into the face of a stranger. The
feeling of wrongness became greater.
"Do you remember your name?" The older man asked.
There was something tingling at the back of its mind, but it wouldn't come
forward.
"No."
"We gotta give her a name, dad. We can't just call her, Hey You." The boy
stated
The older man began scratching his head. "Maybe NK 1124? That is her model
number."
The boy gave an exasperated look and sighed. "Geez, Dad! We can't give her
a name like that. Let's see." The boy paused in thought for a moment, then
snapped his fingers. "How about Nuku-Nuku. It has the initials of the model
number in it."
The man shook his head. "Too childish. Now that I think about it, Akiko and
I were going to call you Atsuko if you had been a girl. Why don't we call
her that? Is that all right with you?" He asked the girl.
"Is all right." The newly christened Atsuko answered.
"Cool, I got a sister now. But I kinda preferred Nuku-Nuku." He turned to
his new sibling. "Would you be terribly offended if I called you that?" The
boy asked.
There was no reason to be offended. In fact, she sort of liked it.
"Nuku-Nuku like it if you call her that. It will be our special name for
me. What your name?"
"Oh, right. Forgot to introduce myself." He grinned in embarrassment. "I'm
Ryuunoske Natsume." He held out his hand which she shook. "And this is my
dad," The boy pointed to the man.
"I'm Kyuusaku Natsume, but you can just call me 'Dad'." He smiled as he
said that. He had a daughter now. That was going to be a little
problematic, but it would be worth it. He always wanted a daughter. His
mind started planning what to do in the days ahead.
"I'll have to program some more basic information into you," The man said,
"but that can wait until after you've had a chance to assimilate with us
humans. Also gives us a chance to shake you down, make sure there aren't
any bugs. Not that my machines have flaws. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" He laughed long
and hard, with the cigarette dangling from his mouth. Both Nuku-Nuku and
Ryuunoske developed large sweatdrops behind their heads.
"Once we settle down, we're going to have to get you into school." Kyuusaku
began scratching his head. "Have to give you all sorts of background
material. Where you're from. Fake blood type. Fake Weight. Fake
birthday..."
"Hey, dad!" Ryuunoske interrupted. "Since this is Nuku-Nuku's first day
with us, why don't we make it her birthday."
Kyuusaku agreed out loud, then noticed Nuku-Nuku stiffen. Something was
happening.
Nuku-Nuku began to shake a bit, catching Ryuunoske's attention. "Is
something wrong?" That was when he saw the tears form in her eyes, then
began to trickle down her face.
"Why are you crying?" Ryuunoske was afraid he had done something terribly
wrong to offend his new sister.
Nuku-Nuku began crying harder. "It because you remember my birthday."
And with that she picked up the boy and held him, firmly, but not tightly,
making certain she didn't hurt him with any of the awesome power she had at
her disposal. The feeling of wrongness was gone now, replaced by a feeling
of belonging.
Happy Birthday, Nuku-Nuku.
The End
For Now
So how long was it until you realized what the fusion was with? Tried to
keep it a mystery as long as I could. Oh well. The idea came to me last
night. Someone may have done it already. Doesn't seem like that difficult a
premice for the fusion. Might continue this. Maybe not. Guess it depends on
response to the idea if it's worth following up. Got a very basic story
plot running around in the back if my head, but it would take time and
effort to do. Oh, and Shampoo 1/2 is not stalled out, I just needed to get
this idea written down. Wouldn't have left me otherwise, and the last thing
I need is an idea that won't die running around in my skull.