Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to
her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. The story below is
for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially.
...Obviously.


"Learning Curve"
        Part XIII    (v1.3)

by:   J. Wagner



Thump, thump, thump.

Ryouga's eyes narrowed, and scanned to his left and right quickly.
Snorting, he realized he'd been hemmed in. Ranma was in front of him,
hands out, body tensed to strike. Things were bad. Ryouga's left foot
pivoted slightly, in preparation to move, but Ranma saw it and
compensated appropriately. Shifting a bit, Ryouga took a step towards
his opponent, shoulder low.

"Here!"

A flick of the wrist, and the ball was gone. A third year student
caught it, spun, and moved down the court. Ryouga heard Ranma hiss in
frustration, and move to cover him as the two edged to the left. The
boy dodged a cover from another kid, and passed off to another boy who
tried for a two pointer. Ryouga saw, the moment that it was off, that
the shot would be wide.

"Damn it!" He faked to the right, to get in Ranma's way, but the
slightly faster pigtailed boy was headed for the ball, also knowing
that it would miss, and got past without missing a beat. Daisuke got
his hands on the ball, and instantly passed it off to Ranma.

"Here I come, pig boy!" Ranma charged in, and Ryouga moved to
intercept him before he could get halfway down the court. Ranma
stopped short, as he always did when faced with a virtual wall of
Hibiki, and jumped a bit, trying to get the three-pointer all the way
from where he was. Ryouga, however, had both hands up, and one of the
meaty palms got in the way of the shot, forcing Ranma to fall
earthward, ball in hand, and unable to keep moving.

"You were saying something, transvestite?" Ryouga made a quick lunge
for the ball, and Ranma leaned back, avoiding it.

"Shut up, piglet!"

"Watch Hiroshi!" Ryouga yelled, and hopped someone was on Ranma's
classmate. Everyone knew Hiroshi was Ranma's favorite carrier in
basketball, because while he couldn't shoot worth a damn, Hiroshi was
fast, and had a good eye for passing around the ball.

"I'm on it!" A voice from behind confirmed it. Ryouga focused on
Ranma, and smiled. Any second now...

"Come on. Come on." Ranma bounced the ball low, in the direction of
Hiroshi. Ryouga looked over his shoulder, saw the kid who should have
been covering Hiroshi miss the ball, leaving Hiroshi open to get it
and head down the court.

Ranma bolted, but Ryouga stuck with him, keeping him covered. Hiroshi
paused near the net, as another older boy came to try and block any
attempt at a three pointer. As was to be expected, Hiroshi hesitated,
and checked to see if Ranma was open. Ducking a bit, and breathing
heavily, Hiroshi waited, before passing it off to the team captain.

"Snatch!" Ryouga's right hand found the ball's surface an instant
before Ranma's, and the larger boy spun out as Ranma reached for it,
keeping his hand low and heading down the court.

"Somebody cover him, damn it!" Ranma headed off himself, but Ryouga
had a head start on him. There was no way he'd catch up in time unless
someone got in Ryouga's way.

"Oh... shit!!" Daisuke's eyes widened, and he jumped out of the way as
Ryouga steamrolled past him without stopping, flexed his feet, and
took to the air. The net shook like a leaf, and the ball hit the
ground hard and bounced off to the side. Ryouga landed, saw Ranma, and
smiled broadly, flashing his canines. Fist raised, he went over to the
other juniors and they exchanged high fives.

A few of them, the faces he recognized, patted him on the back. Actual
words of praise reached his ears, and Ryouga carefully sorted through
the voices for hints of sarcasm or hidden intent. He'd been 'guest'
attending Furinkan for weeks now, getting to know people, and going to
some of the classes. He'd placed well in the tests they'd given him,
but his 'at home' education hadn't covered all the little nuances, and
it had been recommended that he take part of a third (senior) year of
classes over the summer. He'd come close to waving the whole thing
off, but...

Ryouga looked off to the side, and saw Nabiki and a few of her
friends, in their gym clothes, watching the game. He'd been
apprehensive about attending high school at all, even if for only a
few months, but she'd talked him into it. A little too easily, really.
As he thought, she caught him looking in her direction and gave a
little wave. Blushing, Ryouga bit his lip and turned back to the tip
off and the game.

It hadn't been as bad as he thought it would be, to be perfectly
honest. His memories of junior high were nightmarish -vicious,
annoying brats, incessant teasing, self-centered cliques, and no
incentive to even attend. And though he suspected people still
snickered and joked about his directional challenges, it was less
hateful and more ...light hearted. He'd focused and started taking it
in stride, instead of exploding and making a scene. It'd been
difficult at first, when he'd started hearing them, but his
experiences with Nabiki, and knowing that she had underwent something
similar (apparently lots of people did - who knew?) was the greatest
help he could ask for. Having someone he could talk to helped more
than he'd imagined.

Besides, if he graduated over the summer, he'd be a year ahead of
Ranma.

Smirking, Ryouga got in the pigtailed boy's face, forcing Ranma to try
and side step, throwing off his pattern down the court. Though he
hadn't gotten into a real fight with Ranma since... since before he
moved in with the Tendos, and he had largely given up trying to kill
(or maim) his former enemy turned rival, he still derived a great deal
of pleasure from making him miserable, and destroying at least little
bits of his happiness here and there.

Attending Furinkan and giving Saotome a little friendly rivalry in the
one field he was good at: physical education, was almost as
entertaining as trying to pound him into an unrecognizable red blob.
Basketball, Soccer, Track... the only sport he shied away from was
Crew, for obvious reasons. After gym, he attended some of Nabiki's
classes, mostly math and science. He used to go to English class, and
the one on Chinese, but after falling asleep listening to stuff he
already knew inside out, he got thrown out. It didn't really matter -
he didn't have to take those classes when school started next year
anyway.

As Daisuke made an easy two pointer, Ryouga growled, and shook his
head. Unfortunately, all the best male athletes were in the Kendo
Club, thanks to Kuno and his Clan, and while that generally wasn't
saying much, it made a big difference in a team game like basketball.
He couldn't carry the whole group himself, not with Ranma and his
cadre of buddies against him. It was something he'd have to work
towards remedying in the future.

Especially with money being placed on the outcome.

Strange that Kuno had been absent for so long, though.

"They're both so good. I don't know who to root for."

"Who'd you bet on?"

"Ranma's team by a six point spread."

"Better cheer for pigtails, then." Nabiki interrupted the two girls,
all smiles. "88 - 90. Too close for the spread to pay off."

"We all know who you placed your money on." One of the girls, with
long light brown hair, nudged Nabiki and gave her a conspiratorial
wink.

"Do you?" Nabiki's smile didn't fade.

"You and Akane are so lucky. All the good guys just fall into your
hands." The other girl with short, slightly wavy hair put in.

"You mean Akane's hands." Nabiki corrected her, while keeping an eye
on the game. "You'll never see half the student body attacking me
every morning begging for a date."

"Or buying pictures of me." Nabiki's mind added.

"With Ryouga around? They'd have to have a death wish." The longhaired
girl, Ruka, if Nabiki remembered correctly, giggled. Nabiki found it
annoying. She knew this girl, in a way. She was one of Akane's
underclass friends, and she was on the mental list of those who
propagated the myth of the heartless Ice Queen-Bitch Nabiki behind her
back. A minor legend that had only recently began to thaw. And while
Nabiki had never outright done anything to dispute her reputation,
because of its beneficial, if wrongful, nature, she had always
secretly hated it.

Three years ago, when she was a Freshman, trying to make a name for
herself, and, she admitted it, trying to get another student named
Tatewaki Kuno to recognize her from all the other nameless girls that
came in from junior high, she had been quite the opposite. An athlete,
an excellent student, and even a tutor - it had lasted for a year,
before Akane arrived on the scene, and everything went downhill. It
became like home, and she became the 'other' Tendo girl.

The thought made her grimace, but Nabiki swallowed her pride, and hid
her thoughts. She couldn't really blame her little sister. Akane
wasn't doing it on purpose, and while she liked being in the
spotlight, she never asked for a lot of what happened to her. She was
far too clueless and lacking in common sense to have been behind any
sort of scheme to throw her older sister into the social backburner,
anyway.

Back in the game, Nabiki saw Ryouga make a quick three pointer, taking
the lead by one. Checking the school clock, she frowned - time for one
last play. Contrary to what Ruka thought, she hadn't bet on the game
at all. It was impossible to predict which way it would turn out, only
that it would almost certainly be a close game. Which meant that all
the idiots who put money on one team far outscoring the other would
default to her. That, combined with her normal cut of the proceeds,
would be a good day's pickings.

On the court, Ranma broke past Ryouga, and in a remarkable display of
not being a ball hog, passed off to one of the younger Freshmen on the
lower classman team, who made an easy under the net shot, that ended
the game. Predictably, Ranma went up to Hibiki to gloat, and the two
started snarling and tossing threats at each other. 'Talking trash'
was the phrase, if Nabiki remembered her English slang. They hadn't
really exchanged blows, aside from their 'sparring' sessions, in
weeks, and after a few rounds, broke off and walked in different
directions.

Nabiki caught up to Ryouga before he wandered off and left the school
grounds. She took his arm, and turned him around. He smiled weakly,
and looked down at her, laughing nervously. "Um... thanks, Nabi-chan."


"I'm buying a leash for you one of these days, Ryo-kun."

"Not again..."

"I mean it this time. A chain one, too, so you won't be able to
accidentally 'break' it like you did that last one."

He shrugged. "You'll never..."

"I'm sure Mousse could make one strong enough."

Ryouga snorted in dismissal. "He wishes."

"Oh, don't be so huffy." Nabiki reached into her purse and took out a
wad of bills, held in a silver clip. "I cleaned up today!"

"You cleaned up? Ah... you mean we cleaned up." He reached for the
yen, but Nabiki dangled it a little out of reach.

"Ah ah  ah... the magic word?"

"Oh." Ryouga scratched his chin idly. "Let's see... is it... 'Hey!'"

"What?" Nabiki blinked, and found the stack of money half gone. "Hey!"

"That's what I said." Ryouga thumbed through the money. "Not bad."

"Ryo-kun! How could you?" She looked up at him, eyes growing watery.
He wavered for a heartbeat, before handing the yen over.

"Geez."

"You really are a gullible softie, Ryo-kun." She gave him a quick peck
on the cheek, and he turned beet red.

"Nabiki! Not in public!" He shrugged into his shoulders, the color
slowly fading from his cheeks. He followed her briskly to the entrance
to the school. "Nabi-chan! We're still on for tonight, right?"

"Yeah." She checked her watch, and turned around. It was starting to
get late. "Why?"

"I dunno... just ...a bad feeling."

***

Saotome Ranma was less than amused.

"What does this stuff always happen to me? Dumb old man. This is all
his fault." The younger Saotome rubbed the rapidly healing bump on his
upper lip. Why had the stupid spirit panda gotten obsessed with him,
of all people? If Genma hadn't stolen his octopus balls then none of
this evening's exercise in idiocy would have happened. Then again,
when wasn't it Genma's fault?

It was bad enough as it was, virtually an entire night wasted on a
date with the... thing, just to get rid of it, without Akane getting
mad and hitting him, and Ryouga laughing his piggy ass off. He'd hoped
he could just enjoy the fair, maybe... maybe spend some time with
Akane without everyone looking over his shoulder and either urging him
on, or trying to 'smite' him, but no: of course, the universe
conspired to ruin things.

Pulling off his shirt, and tossing it into the nearby hamper, Ranma
looked in the mirror, and at the bump below his nose: a goodnight
kiss/headbutt from the evil spirit-panda before it had gone back into
the cursed scroll it came from. Near the end, when it looked like the
panda was going to kiss him, actually kiss him on the lips, and he had
frozen up, Akane had yelled and...

"This night was... priceless. Simply priceless."

"Shut up, porkchop!" Ranma kicked off the last of his clothes, and
turned on the shower, letting it run through his thick hair.

"Don't be mad, cross dresser. I'm just pointing out what a nice night
it was watching you try and French kiss a bad drawing."

"Shut your hole, Bacon breath!"

"She-male!"

"Pig fetish!"

"Oh, that's a new one." Ryouga frowned as Ranma turned off the shower,
and relaxed in the furo, the steam turning him male before his ankles
even got below the surface. "Hey, did I say I wanted your Sideshow
Freak self in the same bath as me?"

"Hey, and I don't want to end up smelling like pork products!"

"Why you... the stage entrance is in the back, bearded lady."

"Bearded lady?"

Ryouga frowned. "That didn't work, did it?"

"Eh," Ranma said and yawned. "At least you didn't call me a
'villainous sorcerer.' I hate that."

"More than being called a She-male?"

Ranma growled.

"I didn't think so."

"Why do you call me that, anyway." Ranma's hand uncurled from the fist
it had been in. "I'm a guy, damn it!"

"And I'm not a pig. What's your point?"

Ranma frowned. "Just... don't call me that."

"What? She-male, transvestite, cross dresser, pervert, freak show...?"

"All of them!"

"Nah." Ryouga smirked, cruelly. "I like calling you those things. I'd
consider stopping, if you did the same, but I don't think you could go
a day without calling me something insulting."

"You're such an asshole."

"And you're most comfortable in ladies' underwear."

"Look... Ryouga, I'm really not in the mood for this right now." Ranma
held up his hands, in a gesture offering a truce. "Can't I just sit
here and enjoy the water? In silence?"

"Whatever." Ryouga raised his hands and rested them behind his head,
looking up at the ceiling. The two sat there, in total quiet, for all
of a minute.

"So..." Ranma started.

"So..." Ryouga mimicked. "Did you actually kiss that drawing? We left
after you two stood there for five minutes without moving."

"After half an hour it head butted me, so I ended up kissing it on the
forehead."

Ryouga smiled, and Ranma noticed it wasn't the normal cruel smile he
used when the two talked, or did anything together. "Akane must've
been relieved."

"Why would that tomboy...?"

"Don't pull that crap with me, Saotome. Save it for school. ...Save it
for Shampoo." Ryouga didn't hide the anger in his voice at that last
part. "You're digging your own grave, you know."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't. So you didn't kiss the ...whatever it was?"

"Nah. Not really." Ranma cracked a grin, and pointed at the lost boy's
face. "Did you know that you've got red smudges on your face?"

"Er," Ryouga replied softly, quickly dipped his head into the water,
and started vigorously rubbing his cheeks and the side of his mouth.

"I was only kidding." Ranma smiled sardonically. "Yeah. You and Nabiki
must've loved that movie you went to."

Ryouga laughed nervously, as he tended to do when thinking about those
kinds of things in front of other people. "It... it was ...dark."

"Must've been."

Ryouga bit his lower lip.

"Looks like she's a real dynamo." Ranma chuckled. "Then again, knowing
you, all she'd have to do is touch your hand now and then. Seriously:
did you see any of the movie?"

"How dare you, Saotome! Making such statements..."

"Oh, right. Ryouga the perfect gentleman." Ranma rolled his eyes. "I
hate it when Akane calls you that."

"I hate it when anyone calls you that," Ranma amended, a little too
quickly.

"You've got real interpersonal problems, you know that, Saotome? I
mean, I've spent my life wandering around Japan aimlessly, but
sometimes you're more lost than I'll ever be."

"Hey!"

"Lemme tell you a story, Saotome. Something I heard a while back."
Ryouga tapped his finger on the side of the furo while Ranma rolled
his eyes.

"A story?" Ranma began. "How is a story supposed to...?"

"Just listen. Now, long ago, in Britain, a young King Arthur was..."

"King Arthur?"

"Yes! King Arthur. Haven't you ever heard of...?" Ryouga arched an
eyebrow at Ranma's blank expression. "Look, he was a mythical king,
ok? A legendary great king and warrior."

"Ok." Ranma paused. "Was he real?"

"What?"

"Was he real?"

"Ranma, I just told you he was mythical!" Ryouga replied.

"Yeah. But... you know, it could be based on a real life person or
something."

"I don't know. Ok? I don't know!" The lost boy sighed. "Anyway, he was
ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom..."

"Why didn't he fight his way out?"

"The monarch could have killed him," Ryouga continued, ignoring the
question. "But was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So he offered
him freedom, if he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur
would have a year to find the answer. Then if he still had no answer,
he would be put to death."

"Sounds fair."

"Shut up and listen!" Ryouga took a deep, calming breath and counted
to ten. "The question was: What do women really want?"

"Here we go..."

"...Arthur returned to his kingdom and polled everybody: the princess,
the prostitutes, the priests, the wise men, the court jester. He spoke
with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer. Many
people advised him to consult 'the old witch;' only she would know the
answer. But the price would be high, for she was famous throughout the
kingdom for her exorbitant prices."

"Sounds like Cologne."

"...On the last day of the year, Arthur had no alternative but to talk
to 'the old witch.' She agreed to answer his question, but he'd have
to accept her price first. She wanted to marry Sir Gawain, the most
noble of the Knights of the Round Table and Arthur's closest friend.
Arthur was horrified: She was hunch-backed and hideous, had only one
tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises... the works. He had
never encountered such a nasty, repugnant creature."

"At least she wasn't a tomboy... OW!"

"He refused to force his friend to marry her." Ryouga drew back his
elbow from Ranma's face. "Gawain, upon learning of the proposal, told
Arthur that no sacrifice was too great to save Arthur's life and the
preserve the Round Table. Hence, their wedding was proclaimed, and the
old woman answered Arthur's question thus:"

"What a woman really wants is to be in charge of her own life," Ryouga
spoke sagely, and for once, Ranma didn't interrupt. "Everyone
instantly knew that the old woman had uttered a great truth and that
Arthur's life would be spared. And so it was. The neighboring monarch
granted Arthur total freedom. Finally, came the day of the wedding,
and what a wedding Gawain and the old woman had! Arthur was torn
between relief and anguish. Gawain was proper as always, gentle and
courteous. The old woman put her worst manners on display, and
generally made everyone very uncomfortable. The hour approached.
Gawain, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the
bedroom. But what a sight awaited him! The most beautiful woman he'd
ever seen lay before him!"

"What?"

"The astounded Gawain asked what had happened. The beauty replied that
since he had been so kind to her when she'd appeared as 'the old
witch,' she would henceforth be her horrible, deformed self half the
time, and the other half, she would be her beautiful maiden self. She
then asked him: which would he want her to be during the day, and
which during the night?"

Ranma leaned back in the furo, thinking.

"What a cruel question! Gawain pondered his predicament. During the
day: a beautiful woman to show off to his friends, but at night, in
the privacy of his home, 'the old witch'? Or would he prefer having by
day 'the old witch,' but by night a beautiful woman with whom to enjoy
many intimate moments?" Ryouga paused. "Well, Saotome. Can you guess
what Gawain said?"

Ranma ran a hand through his hair and scratched the back of his head.
"He... I don't know. No clue."

"Gawain replied that he would let her choose for herself." Ryouga
nodded to himself. "And upon hearing this, she announced that she
would be beautiful all the time, because he had respected her enough
to let her be in charge of her own life. The End."

Ranma said nothing.

"Think about the story, Ranma." Ryouga got out of the furo. "I didn't
tell you it for no reason."

As Ryouga dried his hair with a large yellow towel (he called it
'mustard' colored), Ranma thought about the story. The more he thought
about it, the more he was convinced that he would have told the woman
to be beautiful; he wouldn't have even thought about allowing her to
decide for herself, even after hearing the moral of the story just
seconds before. He hardly even noticed when Ryouga wrapped the towel
around his waist and headed for the door.

"Wait!"

"Yeah?" Ryouga's voice didn't seem that patient.

"Why do you hate me, Ryouga?"

The lost boy seemed a bit surprised by the question. "I don't hate
you... not anymore, Saotome. You just test me sometimes... you don't
know when to stop pushing people until they're already off the cliff."

"Yeah... I... I know." Ranma looked away, at the fogged up window.

"And you did Curse me. Let's not forget that."

"You're the one who followed me to China."

"Oh please." Ryouga shook his head. "That could have been anyone
standing there that day. It could have been some villager, minding his
own business. You could've killed somebody, broken their neck, and you
wouldn't even have known."

"I... I didn't mean to!"

"Doesn't change facts. Sure... I was late to our duel..."

"Four days late."

"But you knew about my directional problem. You sure said so enough
when we fought back then... you knew, and you still left with your
father."

"You didn't have to follow us!"

"You don't get it Saotome." Ryouga said, voice sad. "...I did. I did
have to follow you... you were my enemy- you were my goal. This sounds
stupid, but I really don't think I had anything better to do with my
life."

"Hey." Ranma rubbed his upper lip nervously with his thumb, not used
to making any sort of apology. "Look, I'm sorry 'bout knocking you
into the pool, ok?"

"I know you are. If you weren't..." Ryouga didn't feel the need to go
there in any more detail. Instead, he 'hmfed' and left without another
word. Ranma sat in the furo, alone, and thought.

***

    "Ok. Here's one." Mousse poked the fire with one of his swords,
before twirling it in his palm and burying it into the soft ground.
"What do you call a room with fifty lesbians, and fifty politicians?"

    "Oh brother... what?"

    "A hundred people who don't do dick! HA!"

    "Ugh!" Ukyou groaned. "Yes. That was bad. Much worse than mine. I
concede defeat."

    "Victory!"

    "Don't let it go to your head or anything. By tomorrow, I'll have
something much worse than that thought up." Ukyou looked into the pot
that was warming over the flames. "Looks done."

    "Excellent." Mousse started spooning out the trail soup. It was
warm, and while many orders of magnitude better than Akane's cooking,
and far from the worst thing Mousse had made in their little trip,
both silently knew that they looked forward to the days when it was
Ukyou's turn to make the food.

    "How far are we from Jyusenkyou, do you think?" Ukyou broached,
like she did every day.

    "Well, we're definitely in the Baiyankara Range. Nekonron should
be around here somewhere... they kind of skirt the edges of the
Jyusenkyou area, all the way to the other side of the mountains, but
travel around a lot. I wouldn't mind stopping by there to see the
place for myself, but they're not particularly friendly to Joketsuzoku
now a days."

    "No one seems to be very friendly to Joketsuzoku around here."

    "It's the Elders. They insist on fighting the Musk whenever they
show up, they provoke the Phoenix Tribe, and they bully the Shichi
Fukudoujin." Mousse rolled his eyes and continued. "One of these days,
they're going to bite off more than they can chew. I think they
already did with Saotome. Trying to get that guy to commit to anything
is like moving a mountain."

    "I still can't believe that he and Ryouga-kun got drunk back at
that stupid race. Or that I had to drag you in the right direction...
honestly, someone needs to glue those glasses onto your face, sugar."

    "Those trees looked just like the goal post! Identical! Down to
the smallest detail!"

    "You're hopeless." She patted him on the shoulder, and started
eating. He came close to flinching at the statement, but gave her a
small smile instead. She hadn't meant it, of course, but the jibe hit
close to home. He took a tentative sip of the soup, before consigning
it to being a little too hot. As he stirred the contents of the bowl
slowly, his eyes caught sight of a tall Chinese oak, and remembered.

    It had been years ago.

    Mu Tzu had strained his small body to its limit, reaching on
tiptoe for the next branch. His fingertips just brushed it, only
inches out of reach. High above, tauntingly, the highest branches of
the tree danced in a sudden spring breeze, tantalizing him with brief
glances of the sky beyond. On the bridge of his nose, his glasses
almost slipped, and he had to draw back his hand to steady them on his
face.

    He steadied himself and looked down - the ground seemed unusually
far away. He knew he should be happy that he'd gotten this far; most
boys his age certainly wouldn't have been able to double his feat, and
only a few girls of the Joketsuzoku of the same generation. After all,
two branches down, a climber had to swing carefully around the trunk,
moving from one side of the tree almost to the other.

    But this limb, he just couldn't reach, and the trunk was too thick
to possibly shimmy up to a better position. Mousse was foiled, and he
knew it. He'd simply have to wait until he grew taller, if he ever
did. The alternative was...

    To jump for it.

    The branch was thick, and he'd have to jump pretty high, but if he
could snag it, he might be able to pull himself up. And if he missed,
he'd defiantly fall. He was still staring up at the branch, trying to
decide where to go next, when he heard the voices from below start up
again.

    "Mu! Hey, Mu! Come down! Were going to play Amazons and Musk!"

    Why were they bothering him? Couldn't they see that he was busy?

    "Come on, Mu!"

    "Hold on!" Mousse called out and looked down reluctantly. Six boys
from his generation, three of them his year-brothers, and three girls
all stood below. Way below, Mousse amended that. He suddenly started
to feel more than a little dizzy, and he quickly adjusted his glasses
again to keep them from falling.

    "Give it up, Mu Tzu!" It was the group's unofficial leader, Tso
Pu. "Even I can't reach that one!"

    Unlike Mousse, Soap was seven years old, a year older than himself
and most of the other children, but Soap was about a solid head taller
than the boy. And everyone liked Tso Pu, and not just because she was
female and strong.

    "Yeah, come on, Mousse! Before you hurt yourself."

    That was Shan Pu, Tso's sister by one less year. Shan was his
height, and age, and Mousse secretly admired her purple hair and dark
brown eyes. He liked the way she laughed, when she wasn't laughing at
him.

    "Oooh, Shan is worried about poor blind Mu Tzu!" Another girl
called out, her voice mocking.

    "No I'm not!" Shampoo yelled, too quickly.

    He turned his face to the bark so they wouldn't see his angry and
embarrassed blush. Frowning, he turned back to the branch, and jumped
as hard as he could. That would show them.

All of them.

He managed to get his arms around the branch, as the crowd of children
turned deathly quiet down below. Scrambling for a hold, Mousse
realized his timing was off, and that his fingers had never quite met
up around the thick branch. There was nothing to grab onto, and only
pressure and his nails on the bark kept him in place. But it was
pressure he couldn't keep up for long.

He looked down, and that was worse. He was hanging above and off to
the side of the limb he had been standing on. If he freefell, he'd
have no chance of landing on it - he'd have to fall the whole way
down, and probably break something. On the positive side of things, at
least he's shut up the others. Only a moment seemed to pass, and then
a voice spoke up.

"Mu Tzu, you stupid male, hold on! I'm coming up to get you!"

Tso Pu.

She was trying to play hero. The taller girl was already climbing up
the tree.

"No," Mousse thought, desperately, "No way! I don't need to be saved
by a girl! I may be male, but I'm not helpless!"

    With a snort, Mousse swung himself and dropped. The children below
gasped like a crowd watching a circus performer as he hit the next
branch, feet first, and teetered there for a long, terrible moment,
before finding his balance. He may have been male, and too young to
start formal martial arts training (even if he had been a girl), but
he had watched countless fights, and practiced by himself whenever he
could. He stood there, fighting the urge to hug the branch and
breathing harder than he ever remembered. Below, he sensed a restless
pause.

    "Wow."

    He peered down. That had been one of the girls. Shampoo? He wasn't
sure.

    "You were lucky," Tso yelled up, after letting go of the tree and
landing on her feet near the others, "You should have waited for me to
help you. You shouldn't even be trying to climb by yourself. We're
supposed to play together! Will you come down now?"

    Mousse bit back an urge to dare Tso Pu to duplicate his feat. It
would be great if Tso tried and failed, but what if she managed it? Or
did better? Right now, at least somebody was impressed by Mu Tzu...
and a girl somebody, at that!

    "Okay," he called down. "But I don't want to be Musk this time!"

    He started the descent. He had played Amazon and Musk many times,
and like all boys, he had to play as the Musk raider, or warrior, or
slaver, or whatever name the girls wanted to call them. It wasn't just
the monotony of the part, but its dullness and the fact that it
offered no real challenges or incentives. Carefully, he jumped the
last few feet and landed on the soft ground, facing the others.

    "You get to be Musk, 'Moo,'" Plun said, and smiled. Plun was an
ugly girl, with the face of a bat, minus its good features.

    "I said I didn't want to be Musk," Mousse repeated, keeping his
voice level.

    "We voted, Moo," she called him that stupid nickname again, and he
started to fume. "We voted, and you have to be Musk."

    "Yeah. It was a fair vote," Shan Pu added in, meaning, of course,
that the girls had decided it without asking him or any of the other
boys. The tone in her voice was clear - so she didn't like him. His
momentary elation faded, but his stubbornness remained.

    "I didn't get to vote!" He blurted out, without really thinking.

    "If you really want to then," Tso Pu addressed the other girls,
"All in favor of Mu Tzu being Musk?"

    All the girl's hands went up. ...Of course.

    "All opposed?"

Mousse raised his hand defiantly. The other boys simply looked away.
They were clearly too afraid or just too whipped to speak up. Mousse
silently cursed them.

"I was Musk the last time! All of us were!" He swept his hand out,
indicating the other boys. "We're always the Musk!"

"But you're just sooo good at it, Moo. You'll probably grow up to be
one, I'll bet."

"You take that back, Plun. You take that back right now!" Anger boiled
through Mousse's veins so fast, it felt like his scalp would pop off.
Plun hesitated. Mousse realized his voice had come out calmly, not
like he was mad at all, the way Elder Cologne's voice came out when
she was really angry. It had a similar effect, too, freezing the other
girl in her tracks. He made a note to remember that in future dealings
with Pun - she was, basically, a coward and a bully, unless someone
stronger came in and gave her some courage to latch onto.

"That's enough, Plun. You shouldn't say things like that," Tso Pu
finally spoke.

"I'm... sorry," Plun mumbled reluctantly, "What I meant was that
you're good at playing one of them. Because you're male, and you run
fast and stuff."

"I tell you what. I'll be a Musk, too." Tso didn't stop when the other
girls seemed about to interrupt. "Just to show everyone that the roles
aren't set in stone. Okay, Mu Tzu?"

Mousse blinked at the older girl. What was... then it hit him. She
hadn't saved him in the tree, so she would save him now. How typical
of her.

"Fine," he said, having no choice at all.

"Hey, Mousse," Ukyou nudged him, and Mousse quickly returned to the
present. "Your soup is getting cold."

"Oh. Thanks, Ukyou," he looked from her to the tree, to the horizon.
With his free hand, he slid his thick glasses up and onto his
forehead. The stars were just beginning to come out, now that the sun
was gone, but Mousse didn't really want to see them.




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