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	A Lost and Found cat
	Part 3 : Mousse tells a lie
	A Ranma1/2 Fanfiction 
	Written by Jenny 'Android18' Chan
	android18@hotmail.com
	www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/index.html
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	Mousse sat at a table, head down, uncharacteristically
calm. Opposite him sat Cologne, who's eyes were shut and who's 
breathing was rather deep.
	Finally, Cologne opened her eyes, a tired look on her face.
	Mousse also looked up and looked Cologne in the face. "So?"
	Cologne sighed, "Dammit, I can't cancel this flight!" She
roared. "This trip has been planned for months. I have to go back
to China! The high council needs me present!!"
	Mousse nodded, still silent.
	Cologne jumped on top of the table and pulled Mousse out of
his chair by the front of his shirt. "If Shampoo comes back, you
had better take care of her, or else I will take every single
weapon on your body, and stuff them down your throat!! Do you
understand me?!"
	Mousse gulped. "Sir, yes sir!!!" He cried.
	Cologne gave Mousse a hard look before releasing him. She
grabbed her walking stick and hopped upstairs to her room to
start packing, all the time, talking to herself.
	"Shampoo, Child, where ARE you? You chose the worst 
possible time to disappear..."

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	Alfred sat back in his chair and rubbed his stomach while
licking his lips. "Kitty, that was delicious! Where did you
learn to cook ramen like that?"
	Kitty beamed at the compliment. "Me no know. Just started
cooking and ramen got made!"
	"That's 'I don't know', not 'me no know'." Alfred 
corrected.
	Kitty dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "Whatever.
Words not important right now." She took some of the bowls
with her good hand. "Kitty, uh, I have to clean up right now."
	"Hey, you're the guest here!" Alfred protested, "I'll 
do it."
	The two argued all the way over to the sink but soon,
the dishes were in the sink, and Alfred was going to wash while
Kitty attempted to dry.
	"Ya know, Kitty," Alfred said, "you're pretty amazing! I
mean, first time I saw you a few days ago, you were in the
hospital! Now, I can't even tell you've even been hurt! I mean,
all your scratches are gone, and you don't even need the cast
anymore! If I didn't want you to be a lab rat, I'd talk you
to the nearest scientist for some answers! This is a complete
phenomenon!"
	Kitty shrugged. "When you fight a lot like Kitty do, you
learn heal fast," she said absently.
	Alfred paused. "Kitty, do you have any idea what you just
said?"
	Kitty blinked. "I... what I just say?"
	"Are you starting to remember?"
	"No... I... don't remember where that come from," Kitty
said softly, "just... say it."
	Alfred sighed, but had a smile on his face. "I think it
means you're on the road to recovery." He said.
	"That good."
	Their conversation was suddenly interrupted when Kitty
turned the tap on, and cold water came onto her hand.
	She gave a shriek.
	"What's wro..." Alfred trailed off as he stared wide
eyed as Kitty became smaller, and smaller, until she sort of
shrunk into her clothes, (which were some of Alfred's old
clothes) and disappeared.
	There was only a pile of clothes on the ground, and Kitty
was gone.
	"Kitty?" Alfred asked softly, bending down, and touching
the clothes lightly. "Kitty?"
	There was sudden movement in the clothes, and suddenly,
a small, furry, purple and white cat head popped out of the
shirt, followed by a cat body. 
	'Kitty' blinked a couple of times, looked at itself, and
mewed. Then, it promptly passed out. Alfred fell to the floor 
with a thud as he copied it, seconds later.
	
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	Something, was licking Alfred's face. Alfred's eyes snapped
open and he bolted upright. Something fell off his face and
bounced onto the floor.
	Fuzzball gave a yelp of disapproval, and Alfred gave a 
breathe of relief.
	"Fuzzball, it's only you," Alfred said softly, scratching
the cat behind the ears. "I had a strange dream! Kitty just 
turned into a cat right before my eyes, so, when you started
licking my face, I thought it was... well, never mind, where's
Kitty?"
	Fuzzball mewed and walked around Alfred, until she was
behind him. 
	Alfred turned around and his eyes went wide. A purple and
white cat was lying on his kitchen floor.
	Alfred sucked in his breathe.
	Fuzzball moved around the cat slowly, ears flat against
her head, whiskers twitching.
	Finally, she moved up to the strange feline, and sniffed
it a couple of times before giving a confused mew.
	If Alfred could speak cat, he would have heard Fuzzball
say, "you're not a cat! You smell like a human!"
	Fuzzball began to paw at the new cat, and pushing at it
with her head.
	The new cat finally stirred and opened it's eyes.
	"Mew?"
	Alfred stared at the cat. "Kitty? Is that you?"
	"Mew!" The cat answered, sitting on it's hind legs, and
seemingly looking at itself. Then, it noticed Fuzzball and stared
at her.
	The two cats seemed to communicate silently for a few 
moments before Alfred interrupted.
	"Hey, Kitty?"
	The cat looked up at him.
	"You're Kitty?"
	The cat nodded.
	"You understand me?"
	The cat nodded again.
	"Okay, I don't care anymore. Lab rat or not, you're going
to a scientist!"
	The cat didn't move but seemed to be giving him a confused
look.
	Alfred moved slowly towards the cat, and picked her up.
"How did THIS happen?" He asked.
	The cat struggled out of his grips, jumped onto his 
shoulders, then jumped onto the counter top.
	It waved a paw at the tap and mewed.
	"The water? Oh, yeah! You screamed when you turned on the
tap." Alfred frowned. "Did someone contaminate the water supply
or something?" He asked aloud.
	Cautiously, he motioned for Kitty to stand back, before he
slowly turned on the tap. Alfred examined the clear liquid
coming out of tap for a few seconds, before he cautiously touched
it.
	"No, it's just normal, cold, water."
	The cat stepped forward again, and gentle touched the
water. Nothing happened.
	Then, Alfred blinked. "Hey, do you remember if you turned
on the cold water, or the warm water? Maybe I'm looking at the
wrong water."
	Alfred turned on the other tap and let it run for a few
seconds and get hot before he examined the water. Then, again,
he touched it, and jerked his hand away. It was hot.
	"No, that's normal water too."
	The cat growled, and touched the water again to see for
herself.
	Then, she gave an alarming mew.
	"Wha???" Alfred stared as the cat lost it's balance on
the counter and fell into the empty sink. She still had a paw
on the counter, but as Alfred watched, it seemed to grow and
grow, and loose all it's hair, until it became a human hand,
connected to a human arm, connected to a human shoulder,
connected to a human...
	Alfred frowned as he pondered about his for a moment. 
~If Kitty turned into a cat... then crawled out of her clothes,
then turned back into a human... then, wouldn't she be...oh my.~
	"Alfred, look away!!!"

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	Alfred gave a groan and put a hand up to his head. He was
on the floor, with a monster head ache. Kitty was kneeling 
beside him, while Fuzzball watched on, a look of amusement on 
her face.
	"I'm sorry," Kitty said, her face full of concern. "But...
Kitty panicked! One minute, was a cat, then found myself sitting
in your sink, and I couldn't find any clothes, and you were
staring at me, and, and... I'm sorry I hit you."
	"You didn't have to you your bonbori, did you?!"
	"Sorry!" Kitty cried, "It just... came to my hand!"
	Alfred grumbled a bit. A few moments later, he realized
that Kitty had stopped talking, and apologizing, so he turned
to look at her.
	She looked like she was going to cry.
	"Oh... don't worry about it," Alfred said, "it... was
an accident. I shouldn't have stared. Mind you, it's not 
every day that a cat turns into an unclad girl in my sink,
but..."
	"You forgive me?" Kitty asked hopefully.
	"I'll tell you what," Alfred said, "show me how you
pulled that thing out from nowhere, and we'll call it 
even, okay?"
	"Okay. If Kitty find out how, then will show you."

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	Mousse had been uncharacteristically silent and rather
calm the last couple of weeks. He told himself he had to be,
because he knew he would never find Shampoo if he lost his head.
	Mousse sighed and looked at the calendar. Shampoo had been
gone for a full two weeks. He had went out and looked for her
nightly, and couldn't find her. He couldn't go during the day,
because of the Nekohanten, and Cologne told him the place had
better still keep running.
	Finally, he had admitted to himself that something bad
might have happened to Shampoo, so he began to check the hospital
for her.
	He hadn't found her yet, and  didn't know whether to be 
incredibly happy or incredibly sad.
	Mousse looked at the phone book took a deep breathe. It was
the last hospital phone number in all of Tokyo. One way or
another, his search for her in hospital would end.
	"Good evening, Jyuban Hospital."
	~Jyuban?~ Mousse thought to himself, ~nah, Shampoo couldn't
be there. It's too far away.~
	"Hello? Hello? Can I help you?"
	Mousse swallowed. ~Wouldn't hurt to try.~
	"Hello? Hello?"
	"Uh, yeah, hi!" Mousse finally answered, "I was wondering
if you could help me. Was a Chinese girl with purple hair 
admitted to this hospital within the past two weeks?"
	"Do you have a name?"
	"Her name is Shampoo."
	"Shampoo?"
	"Yes."
	"One moment please."
	Mousse waited an agonizing minute before the person came
back onto the line. 
	"I'm sorry, but no one by that name has been admitted yet."
	Mousse's heart sank. "Are you sure?"
	"Quite sure."
	"She's a Chinese girl, with long purple hair with buns in
it, and reddish purple eyes?"
	"I'm sorry but, no Chinese girl, with purple hair and 
reddish purple eyes has been admitted to this hospital in the 
last couple of- hey!! Doctor, what are you doing?! Let go of 
that phone now, let-!!"
	Mousse frowned at the struggle over the phone. Finally, a
new voice answered.
	"Hello? Hello??" The person asked.
	"Hello?"
	"Sir, could you give me the description again?"
	"Uh... Chinese girl. Long purple with buns. Reddish purple
eyes. Uh... she's really beautiful, and she doesn't speak
Japanese very well."
	The person on the other side of the phone was silent.
	"Hello?"
	"Yeah, I'm still here," the person said. "Sir, I believe
we have a match. I operated on a girl of that description two
weeks ago."
	"You did?!" Mousse shouted, "you have her?? Great!!! I'll
come right away!! Thank you!! Thank you so much!!"

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	For the first time in weeks, the Nekohanten radiated some
of it's normal cheer.
	Customers walked in and saw that young man running the
place was in a much better mood.
	Mousse hummed to himself happily in the kitchen while
cooking. Ranma came up to him with some orders, and Mousse fought
down the urge to attack him. 
	When Cologne had left, Mousse had to get help with the
Nekohanten, and Akane had volunteered. Apparently, she thought
that Shampoo's disappearance was somehow her fault. When Akane
said she'd help, Ryouga said he'd help too, and then Ranma 
insisted on coming.
	Ryouga wasn't much help, as he was currently lost somewhere
out there, but Ranma and Akane managed to do a good job.
	"Here's table six's order," Ranma said.
	Mousse nodded and took the order, looking it over, then,
he put it with the other orders, and began cooking again.
	Ranma glanced at Mousse. "Hey, Earth to Mousse! What's
wrong with you?" 
	"What are you talking about?"
	"You put that order into the food!!"
	Mousse looked down and shouted. He fished out the piece
of paper and gave a nervous laugh.
	Ranma snorted. "Man, I thought your eye sight was getting
better the past two weeks. What happened to you?"
	"That's none of your business!" Mousse snapped. "Get back
to work!"
	Ranma stared at Mousse for a few more moments, before he
slowly backed away from the him.

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	"Hey, Akane," Ranma remarked, "have you noticed something
strange about Mousse today?"
	"Come to think of it," Akane realized, "yeah. I mean, he's
been great the past few weeks. Without Shampoo around, he could
concentrate more, and he makes less mistakes. He didn't mistaken
people for someone else the last few days at all."
	Ranma nodded. "Yeah. Then, suddenly, today he's back to
making all those stupid mistakes. He was so happy, he couldn't
concentrate at all! He called me Ryouga this morning. You know
what this means, right?"
	"He knows where Shampoo is?" Akane asked hopefully.
	Ranma nodded. "I'm betting that's it."
	"That's wonderful!" Akane cried.
	Ranma gave Akane a strange look. "You seem rather happy
for someone who just discovered that her arch rival has come
back from where ever she was."
	"Yeah, well," Akane said softly, "I still feel kinda 
guilty about it. I didn't know I'd hit her that hard."
	Ranma tsked. "That's 'cause your just so violent Akane!"
	"Hey, I don't have to take that from you!!" Akane
snapped back.

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	Kitty and Alfred were at the hospital. They had gotten a
call from Kitty's doctor that one of her relatives have come to
pick her up.
	Kitty was ecstatic about this, so Alfred was happy for her,
but was also rather sad because he was getting attached to this
girl who fell into his life.
	Alfred felt someone touch his shoulder and he turned to
see Kitty looking at him with a frown on her face.
	"You are sad," Kitty stated. "Why? Are you not happy for
me?"
	"Hmm?" Alfred asked, "oh, well. I'm happy for you. Your
family's come and you'll regain your memories faster that way,
but, I'm going to miss you, Kitty." He said softly.
	"I will miss you too," Kitty said, equally softly. "But
we will keep in contact, and always be friends, okay?"
	Alfred smiled. "You're improving on your Japanese."
	Kitty nodded, beaming with pride. "How about you? Can
you do the 'bonbori trick' yet?"
	Alfred grinned. Reaching into nowhere, he brought out a
bouquet of flowers. "For you."
	Kitty grinned happily as she accepted the flowers. "Thank
you, Alfred." 
	There was a knock on the door, and the doctor came in,
with a young man wearing Chinese clothing.
	"Shampoo!!!" Mousse cried, barreling over the doctor and 
throwing himself on top of her, crying. "You're alright! Thank 
the gods!"
	That was when he realized something wasn't right. Shampoo
was trying to throw him off, but couldn't quite seem to lift him.
He let go of her person he was holding. "Shampoo?"
	"What are you talking about?!" Alfred shouted, shoving
Mousse away. He was embarrassed and angry at being hugged by a
total stranger. "Who are you talking too?!"
	Mousse blinked. "You're not Shampoo."
	"Very good, you idiot!! If you're talking about the girl,"
Alfred motioned to Shampoo, who stood beside him, amused by
the happenings, "she's over there!"
	Mousse squinted at Shampoo before giving a happy shout. He
ran to her, and hugged her tightly. "Shampoo!! You're alright!
Thank the gods!!!"
	That was when he realized for the second time that day, 
something wasn't right. Shampoo hadn't given a shriek of 
indignity and thrown him to the floor. Mousse let go of Shampoo
and looked at her to make sure he was talking to the right
person. He was.
	"Shampoo?" Mousse asked.
	"Are you talking to me?" Shampoo asked politely.
	"Yes."
	"Shampoo," Shampoo repeated. "Is that my name?"
	"Yes."
	"Shampoo. Interesting name." Shampoo looked at Mousse. 
"And who are you?"
	"It's me!! Mousse!!"
	"Do I know you?"
	Mousse stared at Shampoo, blinking before whirling around
and staring at Alfred, who was helping the doctor up. "What 
happened to her??"
	The doctor got up. "I told you, she lost her memory. I 
was hoping she'd regain it when she met you but, apparently, 
she doesn't."
	"You- She- lost... her memory??" Mousse echoed.
	"Yes."
	Mousse turned and looked at Shampoo, unbelievingly. "You
don't remember me?"
	Shampoo shook her head apologetically.
	Alfred tapped the doctor on his shoulder. "Doctor, are
you sure this guy knows...'Shampoo'? What if he's faking it? I
mean, he mistaken ME for her!"
	The Doctor shook his head. "No, I've checked him out 
before hand. He does indeed know the young woman."
	Alfred frowned. "I'm not convinced. I'm going to test
him." He said. "I have the perfect test."
	Alfred tapped Mousse on the shoulder and Mousse looked
up at him. "Hey, you. I'm sorry about this, but I'm a skeptical
person, so I have to test you. Do you know a lot about Kit, I
mean, Shampoo?"
	Mousse nodded.
	"Okay then, what happens when she touches cold water?"
	Alfred began to look triumphant when Mousse started to
frown.
	"Uh... I'd rather not say... it's a family secret."
	"Yeah, right," Alfred replied. "Admit it, you don't
know."
	"I do know, and I WILL tell you this," Mousse said, 
"CATS don't like COLD WATER. They like WARM WATER."
	Alfred's triumphant look vanished, and the Doctor looked
on, confused about their secret language.
	Mousse turned his attention back to Shampoo. "Shampoo...
my love... you... don't remember me??"
	Shampoo looked closely at Mousse for a long time before
shaking her head. "No... I'm sorry... I don't remember you. You
are my...???"
	Mousse stared at Shampoo, uncertain of what to say. Should
he tell her the truth, or should he take this opportunity. "I...
I'm someone who loves you more than anything in the world."
	Shampoo stared at Mousse. "Are you my husband?" She didn't
see Alfred's eyes bulge at the question.
	Mousse struggled. "I... no... I'm not your husband... But I
will be someday." Mousse vowed.
	"Oh. Are you my fiancee then?"
	Mousse stared at Shampoo for a long time, before making up
his mind, and nodding frantically. "Yes, Shampoo. I hope to be 
your husband and I love you." ~I haven't lied to her so far...~
	In the background, Alfred hung his head, defeated.
	Shampoo stared at Mousse before smiling, and hugging him.
Startled, Mousse fumbled a bit before hugging Shampoo back.
	"I hope you can help me remember myself before we get 
married," Shampoo joked.
	Mousse smiled weakly.

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