****Note: Yes I know that all these characters and more belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. She is a god send to us all!!!

bWhen I Thought I'd Lost You/b

Ch.1

The Nekohanten was alive with business as the supper rush started up one Nerima night. Cologne as usual was behind the counter quickly whipping up meals and throwing them out into the crowd. Shampoo flashed by as she caught two bowls of ramen and headed to a table. Mousse scurried about, taking orders, and cleaning up tables along with serving food at times Shampoo wasn't there to catch it. The night flowed by easily as the customers slowly dwindled in number. Fifteen minutes until closing time, Mousse was leaning up against a wall as he waited for the sole customer of the eatery to be done and on his way. He would have been sweeping and running around cleaning to pass the time, but somehow he didn't have the energy for it. Even standing there was enough of a strain on him.

"Thank kami, this night is almost over. I just haven't been feeling myself today and working these hours wasn't helping at all." Mousse thought to himself.

The door to the Nekohaten slammed open and five people entered. Shampoo ran by Mousse in a flash and he knew who had entered.

"Airen!!"

"Shampoo, don't!"

Shampoo ran up and jumped at the staggering figure of Ranma.

"Airen come to see Shampoo, yes? Why bring violent-girl and rest of family?"

"WE, Shampoo, are here to get some food! Now let go!"

Beside him Kasumi and Nabiki were having a good laugh and Akane was slowly fuming at Shampoo. Behind them Soun walked past the group and sat down at a booth.

"You are still able to serve us right? We have had a horrible night with food." Soun said addressing Cologne who had hopped over to the group.

"Yes we still are, Soun Tendo. Why is it that you are not eating at home?"

Ranma pried Shampoo off of him and sat down in the booth across from Soun.

"That idiotic father of mine and that old lech said that they were going to go on a trek somewhere, so they decided to eat EVERYTHING IN THE HOUSE!"

"Yes, it is such a dilemma that we were to loose all that delicious food. I was so looking forward to Kasumi's cooking tonight." Soun said, his eyes watering, as Nabiki, Kasumi, and Akane also sat down in the booth.

"Yeah those guys wasted so much food on themselves that we are going to have a huge drop in profits buying more food to replace it all." Nabiki said as she pulled out a calculator and averaged out the amount.

"It isn't really that bad. I could have gone to the store and picked a few things to make a meal for ourselves. We would have eaten a little later, but-"

"Kasumi, don't push yourself on this. Anyway we needed to get out of the house, what with all of their pleading to be let go."

Ranma smiled evilly as he pictured how they had punished the two for eating all the food.

Back at the Tendo house, Genma-panda and Happosai were both tied up, head to foot and hanging upside down from the dojo roof.

"This is all your fault", said the sign Genma- panda managed to stick out from the ropes.

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"Shampoo get you ramen right away!" she said as she ran off to the kitchen.

Mousse stayed where he was. Normally he would have jumped into the conversation or accosted Ranma for letting Shampoo jump him, but right now it felt as if this wall was the only thing holding him up. He had to be sick with something. It wasn't a cold, they never took such an effect on him before.

Shampoo rushed by Mousse laden with bowls of ramen, but not before saying to him, "Mousse, you lazy duck, get to work!"

Mousse sighed as he watched Shampoo serve food to Ranma and the Tendos. He gasped to realize that his lungs felt like they were being crushed. It was getting hard to breathe. That sigh alone made his chest pound like a sledge hammer hit it.

Maybe,...maybe if he could just get back to his bed, he could sleep this thing through. He could find the herbs that he'd kept for such a bad sickness that he could take too.. That is if he could get to it. Taking a step forward, streaks of pain flashed across his chest invoking a coughing spasm. Mousse stopped, cringing from the pain. He yelled at himself for being such a wimp. Pain like this shouldn't be affecting him so bad. Determined to get to his room, Mousse pushed forward again, walking only three steps before he had to put a hand up on the wall to steady himself.

Ranma, Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, and Soun were eating as they talked with Shampoo and Cologne. Everyone seemed to be intent on the conversation to notice any thing else happening around them. Shampoo saw the last customer leaving as he slid the door closed behind him. She turned to yell at Mousse to close up the shop and get to cleaning, but stopped short. She had been ready to yell at him, her mouth open, but it was how Mousse was acting that stopped her. He was for some reason, struggling to walk into the back room. He staggered to take a step and his whole body seemed to shake violently.

"Mousse?" Shampoo said quietly to herself, questioning what was happening to him and slowly started to walk towards Mousse.

She watched as Mousse struggled again with another step forward and then stop. He tried again but his footing fumbled and he fell to the floor like a heap of clothes.

"MOUSSE!" Screamed Shampoo as she ran to his side.

Startled from her outburst, the rest of the group got up from their seats and ran over to where Shampoo was crouched over the slumped figure of Mousse on the floor.

Cologne eyed the unconscious Mousse warily as he wheezed, his lungs trying desperately to get more air, and the violent tremors that were shaking his body. She knew her knowledge of pressure points and medicine were not enough to help this time. She turned to Ranma who was standing beside her, shock evident in his face.

"Ranma, call an ambulance. I can't help him now."

He looked at Cologne, as if he was slowly recognizing what she had said and then ran into the back room towards the phone.

"Mousse? Mousse, what's wrong with you? Wake up! Wake up, Mousse! Why won't you answer me?" Shampoo pleaded as she shook Mousse's unconscious form.

She looked up to realize that Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi were beside her. Remembering instructions given to her from Dr. Tofu, Akane knelt down beside her, "Shampoo, we gotta get him on his back. It'll be easier for him to breathe that way."

Shampoo looked at her and nodded, though no emotion could be seen on her face. Together, Akane and Shampoo shifted Mousse to laying on his back.

"Maybe we should call Dr. Tofu? Do you think that he could help out at the hospital?" Kasumi said trying to sound helpful, because at this time she actually didn't know what to do.

Nabiki looked at her, surprised with her awkwardness, "Honestly Kasumi, he wouldn't be any help with you around." Soun and Cologne stood silently beside the hovering girls, knowing that they could do nothing at this moment.

All heads turned towards the front door and Ranma jumped over the counter from the kitchen as a ambulance wail emerged from the darkness and grew louder until they could see it's flashing lights through the doors.

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Well there goes my first chapter, hopefully I'll have the next up in a day or so, whenever I get to typing it out. And sorry if some characters are out of normal personality. Thanks a lot for reading!!!

Cyancat