Finding Your Way Home

Hi got severe writers block to the point I couldn’t even be bothered anymore and pretty much gave up writing. However Daisuki fox was like a birdie whispering (demanding) in my ear and he inspired me to write this tale that has been rattling around my head for months. Warning, it’s pretty out there if you know what I mean.

Think hugs not flames :)

Sid

Mousse didn’t often buy pre-packaged meals; he normally made his own and maintained a very healthy diet of organic fruits, meats and vegetables. He never ate red meat. But his day had been long and he found himself not wanting to have to cook for himself when he got home. So he stopped into a grocery store and bought the healthiest meal he could find and now was walking home, he shouldn’t have been there at that time. By now he was normally at home watching the news and having his nightly herbal tea. But fate decided to step in and change his life irrevocably that night.

He had had the parents hosting a child’s birthday party call him frantically at the last minute when they needed to change their venue as their first choice had been accidently double booked. Mousse hadn’t hosted one at his restaurant before but had a soft spot for children and had agreed. He’d decorated the place, arranged silly games to entertain them and had designed a special menu for the party. He’d personally packed complimentary favour bags and had utilized his martial arts to put on a magic show. The evening had been a success and many of the other parents had taken his card in consideration of them having their tot’s birthday parties there in the future. He smiled how Ranma had liken his martial arts style to palour tricks and ironically, here he was treating it as a means to amuse youngsters. Ranma, whatever happened to him Mousse wondered? Even now four years later when he no longer lived in Nerima and was an adult.

Ranma disappearing had changed Mousse’s life forever, he’d won some money and suddenly girls wanted to date him. He’d gone on a few platonic dates to see if this would make Shampoo jealous, but she’d seemed too upset about Ranma to notice. He’d tried to be there for her in her grief but she just pushed him away and remained indifferent to his attentions, even when he only offered comfort.

One day he’d woken up to find her gone and realized that she and Cologne had drugged him and stole off into the night, leaving him with just a note. She simply told him that she had given her heart to another and would never love Mousse as he needed to be. She urged him not to try and find her as she was searching all of Japan for her love. She went on to tell him he needed to find a life for himself.

After that he’d moved to a small room in a hotel as he couldn’t bear the silence of the apartment on his own and had taken to wandering around the street of Nerima like a ghost searching for Shampoo in a near catatonic state. That is the state that Kasumi had found him in while she was walking to the market. He’d barely eaten and slept, so he was gaunt and had dark circles under his eyes and his luxurious hair fell in greasy strands down his filthy while robe. She’d taken pity on the distraught boy and took him back home to stay with her family. Nabiki had arranged a rate for room and board, which he paid without quibble. For days he lay in the room that they’d appointed him, eating only when someone insisted he do. It was the grieving Akane whose soft heart urged her to share her pain with him and he had responded with his own. Slowly he came out of his shell of depression and took interest in those around him. Realizing what a jerk he’d been, he started helping Kasumi around the house and taking on many of her chores. Her father noticed Mousse’s apparent interest in his eldest and a plan was called into play. The newly wealthy Chinese martial artist being married to one of his daughters meant that he would never have to work. He could retire and leave the running of the dojo to Mousse, who was a powerful martial artist and a master of his own style, albeit it was an unusual form, but under Master Happosai’s tutelage he could easily learn their school and with his wealth he could rebuild the dojo. Mousse, as Kasumi’s husband, would be honour bound to support her household and once Ranma came back to marry Akane, Mousse would be the money man and Ranma the main heir.

This was suggested to both of them and then Mousse understood how come Akane and Ranma had protested their engagement so vehemently; it had been forced on them. The engagements that went on in the Tendo household never took into account the intended spouses feelings or the compatibility of the couple. Mousse wasn’t ready to give up on his dreams of finding and marrying Shampoo and Kasumi not only didn’t care for younger guys, but harboured no romantic feelings towards Mousse. Mousse watched her protest as her father insisted and in the end knew that she would do as he commanded, despite her own feelings. He had come to know Kasumi and had noticed that despite her matronly clothes, she was an attractive woman who had a kind heart and sweet disposition. She would make a wonderful wife to any man. She had a maternal streak a mile wide and could probably soothe away the pain within his trouble heart and inspire tender feelings in him. Yes he was taller than her, but that didn’t change the three year difference that troubled her the most. She seemed like the sort of young women who would prefer and older, settled man and Mousse wasn’t that. Yes he wanted love and acceptance, but not at the expense of someone else’s heart being trapped in a marriage of convenience.

So he made a decision. He bought a map of Japan and threw a dart randomly at it; it landed on Kakunodate and there he went. He’d stolen off into the night, as Shampoo had done to him, leaving behind a note saying that he didn’t want their missing heir’s life, but one of his own. He’d been in Kakunodate ever since with its beautiful historic homes and lovely cherry blossoms. Here he’d found a life and love, until it was taken away from him..........

Ranma hands shook at she cooked the heroin in the spoon until it liquefied, with a trembling hand, she sucked it into the needle. Her last john had paid her just enough for a single hit and she had bought it from her usual guy. He’d often hinted that he would give it to her for free once in a while if she bestowed on him her sexual favours, but she wasn’t going to do that ever again. She looked longingly at the veins in her arms which were still virgin and with a sigh injected it into her groin so that she would keep her merchandize pretty as she had been taught to do. She groaned with ecstasy as the first wave hit her, drowning out the despair her life had become and the goose flesh that decorated the skin of her inadequately covered body. She laughed at how she used to think she was so special, the heir to a martial arts style with four beautiful fiancées. Yet she hadn’t been happy and had run away, to this.........She leaned against the wall enjoying her high and frowned momentarily that she had had to negotiate money with her last john as he didn’t like fat girls. But she wasn’t fat, she was......she gasped as waves of pain washing over her and liquid seeped down her legs. Hiking up her too short skirt she touched it and gasped at how her hands came away covered with blood. She stared at it with disbelief, not sure how she felt. Surprise galvanized her forward and she stumbled into the street and clutched onto a pedestrian innocently walking by. “Help me please” she begged him, her eyes were wild and appearance unkempt.

Mousse dropped his bag in surprise and regarded the young woman before him; she had a too thin face that still held traces of former beauty and her greasy hair was done in a sloppy pigtail that probably hadn’t seen the benefit of shampoo or a brush in weeks. She wore a grubby black denim skirt that had been cut off right below her pubic region, an equally stained red cut off tank top and apparently no bra. But it was the blood slowly running down her thighs and coating her hands that bothered him, he quickly deduced that she must have been raped. He thought that she looked familiar, when her features clicked into place. “Ranma” he said in surprise.

“Please help me” she cried again, not recognizing her former enemy. Mousse sprung into action. Questions were for later, she needed help. He quickly wrenched off his jacket and wrapped it around the tiny shivering woman and picked her up. “It’s okay, there’s a hospital close by and I have a friend who works there. Just hang on, you’re safe” he whispered to her. She just snuggled close to her saviour, not used to people being kind to her anymore.

Mousse sat in the hospital waiting room trying to fill out the paperwork for her admittance and realized how little he actually knew about Ranma, when his friend Dr. Cho joined him. “How is she?” he asked him.

“She’s going to be fine; she’s been living rough and is malnourished and dehydrated. She needs proper food, rest and fluids. Mousse how well do you know this woman?” he asked him cautiously.

“I met her in Nerima before I moved here and haven’t seen her since. Was she raped?” he asked, feeling badly for Ranma.

“No, she’s lucky that I had a gynecologist on staff to perform an emergency D&C to get rid of the blood clots; she miscarried” he explained. Mousse sat down heavily, Ranma pregnant, was that even possible? “There’s more, I’d say based on her appearance and that she recently had intercourse that there’s a possibility that she’s a prostitute. Also due to the track marks around her groin and in her navel, possibly a heroin addict as well. There are agencies to help such women. I can put you in contact with one of them and get her into a methadone treatment program. So she would get the help she needs and you wouldn’t have to be involved. It’s a long hard journey that she’s facing and I’m not sure that you wish to go to hell and back with her because of a simple teenaged friendship or crush. Drug addicts can break your heart and rarely ever remain clean, it’s not too late to walk away” he said.

Mousse thought about it, no matter what their relationship may have been, Ranma had always had Mousse’s back when he needed help. “No she would never abandon me and I certainly won’t her” he said firmly. “Can I see her?” he asked.

“The nurse is just sponge bathing her; you can see her in a few minutes” he said.

“I guess she was shocked when she changed into a guy” Mousse said, faintly amused by this idea despite the circumstances.

“Changed into a guy? I don’t see what you mean” he said.

“She’s Jusenkyo just like me, but her natural form is that of a male” Mousse explained.

“It must not be working because she’s definitely remaining a girl” his friend said cautiously.

Mousse wrenched open the door and dashed in to find the emaciated body of Ranma being washed, that she was nude didn’t bother him, that she was still a woman did. “You can’t come in here!” the nurse protested. Mousse shakily tested the temperature in the basin beside the bed and found it to be warm to the touch and should have been enough to change Ranma back.

“You there, get me hot water!” he demanded of her.

“Do it” Dr. Cho ordered her. Grumbling, the nurse filled a glass with hot water and then diluted it with a bit of cold. Mousse took it and dashed it over the girl; all it caused her to do was sputter and grumble as she’d been given something to help her sleep. Mousse’s eyes went wide with shock at this.