Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Don't you know it's love ❯ Chapter 1

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Perfume stood at the crest of the hill and looked down on Tokyo.
Her hair did not flutter in the breeze, not that there was one. It was in twin braids, like cerulean snakes in moderately tight coils over her ears. Her eyes flashed a shade of chocolate that many would describe as "delicious," her skin a healthy off-white. She shimmered, the light reflecting from the gold silk that covered her from neck to wrist and ankle.
She consulted the map. Yes, the person she sought was quite close. Extremely close… "Welcome back to the Nekohanten, Mint."
I twitched nearly out of my chair and gave a second look at the ancestor that had greeted me when I entered the restaurant. With the exception of "Nekohanten," it was all in perfect Chinese. I hardly remembered what Chinese sounded like since the move, and it was just a week or so ago. It was only to be expected I know, since nobody here seemed to speak it except for Herb and Lime and of course me, and I'm not the kind of person who talks to myself but still it was kind of embarrassing to not remember. I squinted a bit, trying to remember this person in particular.
I remembered in a minute, and spent another two remembering the words to use. "Oh yeah, um, Cologne, was it?" Mediocre. Maybe acceptable for someone who hadn't spoken it all their life, but not by my standards.
She laughed. It reminded me of cat claws on a wall. "Excellent. I thought you'd never recall."
"Ramen, please." I pretended to find fascinating patterns in the tablecloth.
"All right." I could hear her laughing in the next room even with my hat pulled tight over my ears. I took it off and put it on the table.
I might have left the Nekohanten right then and not given the ramen a second thought, but the cat came in. It was a cute cat, even wet, but then again that might have just added to the being-cute of it.
I had a candy bar, one out of four stuffed in my various pockets-I'd forgotten where I'd gotten them but they hadn't melted yet. I wasn't sure if cats ate them but Lime had them all the time since the move and tigers are just big cats after all so I figured it was all right. I tore off the wrapper and held it out, leaning out of the chair. "Here, kitty."
It snapped the bar up in three bites, and probably would have eaten more. Would have.
I was taking the wrapper off another one when Cologne came in.
At first, I think, she kind of goggled. At least that's what I think she did since I didn't see her, and I didn't hear a noise for about ten seconds (though that might not be quite right, I probably exaggerated it since it seemed like forever) after I heard the kitchen door go open. And in fact she wasn't the one who spoke first.
"YOU!"
The next moment the table sliced apart. I knew it was him from the yelling. And I really knew when he dropped for what was probably intended as a graceful landing on the table, only problem was, the table wasn't quite there; so he fell through the rift with a crash and immediately got himself tangled in the halves of the tablecloth.
Then Cologne spoke.
"Shampoo, there's hot water in the bath." And the cat ran off to what was presumably the bath. I looked after it for a few seconds, then turned my attention to the guy who currently was untangling himself.
He stood straight and talked with importance he must have assumed he still had. "I am Mousse, and I will kill you for shaming Shampoo!"
"Shampoo?! All I did was give candy to that cat-" I indicated the general direction it had gone- "and now you accuse me of shaming-"
"Mousse, you fool! He didn't know about the curse to start with, so how in the name of whatever gods are out there could he shame me?"
It was then I noticed her. And I realized she'd come out from the door from which the cat had left.
It was her. The cat who'd eaten my candy bar and the girl I'd asked for a date on the way to the Nekohanten the first time were the same.
"OH SHAMPOO!"
WHAM! BAM!
Shampoo looked up through the new hole in the ceiling. "Sorry, Mint-san." Japanese. Well, at least I wouldn't be obliged to reply in Chinese this time.
"It's all right." In case you were wondering, I meant that.
"He's just stupid." She'd switched to Chinese. Oh rats.
Cologne interrupted. "Your ramen," she announced, indicating the bowl on a nearby table. "You can sit there. And we won't charge for the table."
I handed her the yen and turned back to Shampoo. "So, uh, do you still want the candy bar?"
"No thank you." At least she'd taken the first one.
Mousse jumped me after I finished off the ramen and stepped out the door.