Author's Notes: Well, some of you pointed out that I left out a scene towards the end of this chapter.. That's true, and I apologize.It's completely my fault. I just rushed through the last bit as I was in a hurry to get to my appointed stopping place. -_-' Very, very sorry about that. So here's the updated version below. It's mostly the same, except I added a scene on the train.

And Sterling-Ag, Oyuki, may, Shadow Knight and Ryoushu- I love you guys, your reviews are SO uplifting, even the c&C parts(thanks esp for that). I know from reviewing how hard it is to write what you like about the story and the writing, so you guys are SO appreciated! It really helps when I know what you guys want to see in the story.

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Mousse and I stared wide-eyed after the departing train.

"Grrr, that Shampoo!" I growled hotly, clenching my fists and staring after the departing train as though I could see through the metal compartments. I felt a hot stinging behind my eyes as fury swept through me.

That, that hussy! That BITCH! She'd taken off with Ranma! Some things never changed! And as for Ranma...well! I wanted to stomp the idiot into the ground and I would have if he hadn't already been half a mile away on a train ALONE with the whore of Babylon. I tried to rein in my temper.

"Watch out, Akane!" Mousse threw his weight against me from behind, sending me flying to the ground. A bullet whizzed past, just missing us. The cement floor of the train platform grazed my stomach and ribs as I stopped our slide with my palms. Bullets continued to zing overhead. The police had taken cover behind a cement pillar and were trying to take out the three locals with the submachine guns.

Mousse had untied his hair on the plane, and now it fell like long, soft ribbons of darkness around us as he lay over me protectively , muting the sounds of gunfire, covering us with the illusion of a silken tent. Lying on my tummy, I turned my head slightly, trying to see him out of the corner of my eye. I could feel his warm breath against the back of my neck.

I could feel all 140 pounds of him.

"Ouch," I grumbled against the concrete floor. "Mousse, you're a dead weight."

"Shut up, Tendo. I'm thinking."

I could smell blood now. Someone was injured or dead. I knew southern India wasn't generally a violent place, but we just seemed to attract violence. I listened as someone shouted something close by, but I didn't speak the language.

"Okay, here we go," Mousse muttered.

"What are you doi-?" I began, when Mousse grabbed my upper arms and rolled sideways, taking me with him. Our limbs were still tangled together from the fall and I yipped as we kept turning and the cold cement floor again dug into my ribs and elbows.

There was a brief sensation of falling, and then we landed somewhere muddy and hard.

"Oof!"

"Ouch!" My saviour gritted through clenched teeth. "You're no feather yourself, Tendo!"

Mousse had taken the brunt of the fall, making sure I'd landed on him. I raised my head and looked around. He'd rolled us right off the platform edge and onto the railway tracks. Above us, the locals obliviously continued their battle. I looked back down at Mousse.

"I think we're safe now," Mousse commented, staring up into my eyes. He still held me loosely cradled in his arms, and I was suddenly aware of our position. Blushing, I sat up and brushed at my jeans. Was Mousse hitting on me? Holy Casanovas, Batman.

"Good job, Mousse," I said, trying for a normal tone of voice. I switched my attention to the battle going on above us. I was concerned about the innocent passengers on the platform. "We should do something about that." I nodded towards the platform, deciding that a shift of focus was best.

"It shouldn't be hard," the Chinese boy replied with a smirk. As I watched, a length of chain flew out of his sleeve, wrapping itself around all three of the villains at one go. They cried out in anger and astonishment, unable to immediately tell where the chain had appeared from.

"I think the police can take it from here," Mousse said, smiling. He grabbed my hand. "Time to catch up with Shampoo and Ranma." He pulled me along the rail track until it evened out to the end of the platform.

A bicycle stand and a couple of motorbikes stood there. A guy was just starting up his bike when Mousse sent out another length of chain and yanked the guy off.

"Sorry," I cried, as Mousse hopped on the bike and pulled me up behind him. "Here, we'll pay for it!" I yanked out a few hundred-dollar bills from my wallet and tossed them at the astonished man on the ground. Yeah, it was mercenary, but I wasn't willing to let Ranma and Shampoo spend a minute more together than they absolutely had to.

Mousse hit the throttle and with a roar the bike leapt onto the road, creating a wind that whipped my hair away from my face and that plastered my t-shirt to my chest, making the material balloon behind me. Mousse's hair hit me in the face, too.

It was like a black banner for a Clairol ad.

I clenched the bike with my thighs and shoved his hair away with both hands, doing my best to tuck it over his shoulder. Mousse glanced at me slightly with a grin.

"Where are we going?" I yelled over the wind.

"We're following the train tracks!" Mousse yelled back, pointing at the tracks going parallel with us. "We should catch up with the train soon!"

I looked at the dash of the bike over his shoulder. The needle on the speedometer was climbing. The country around us was mostly farmland, with uncultivated belts of forest and scrub. We passed a pond with a few water buffalo lazing chewing cud deep in the water and slim women in colorful saris washing clothes. They looked startled as we whizzed by. Here and there, straw and mud huts dotted the landscape.

An hour passed. Despite the picturesque scenery, I was starting to get bored. I knew that it would take time to catch up with the train, and I had been hoping that Ranma and Shampoo would have jumped off the train by now. I wondered if Mousse was being a little optimistic. The countryside was only bound to get rougher from here.

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"Another fine mess you've gotten us into, Stanley," I muttered. Beside me, Shampoo looked puzzled.

"What did you say, Ranma?" she said.

"Never mind," I replied grouchily. "Why in the world didn't you warn me that you weren't Akane when I grabbed your hand?"

Shampoo and I were walking the length of the train, trying to find a way off. All the exits were closed, which wasn't that much of a problem on an Indian train, except that Indian police were standing guard at each exit. Presumably, they had been waiting to ambush the three stooges from the platform. This made me worry about Akane all over again. I was supposed to be her bodyguard, dammit. What a dumb mistake to make!

"Well, I did not want to be left behind to be slaughtered," Shampoo muttered.

"That's why you left Mousse behind, hm?" I couldn't believe her. The chick was as selfish as ever. I couldn't figure out why Akane was jealous over a bit of fluff like her.

I checked the next exit. No luck. We moved on. I was debating over pulling the emergency stop as a last resort, but I didn't want to bring special attention to us if I could avoid it.

Shampoo flushed and muttered something.

"What's that? Speak up, woman. I can't hear you."

"I SAID- Mousse can well take care of himself, and Akane too, if you are still worrying about her."

Yeah, that was supposed to make me feel better. Yeah.

"Though I do not see why you ARE worried about her," Shampoo went on. "She is not for you, Ranma. You can see, if you wait till the train reaches your destination, what is it, Egmore, you can both of you meet up there." She gave a careless shrug. "This interruption, it is not such a problem."

"I'm responsible for her safety, Shampoo." You pest, I silently added.

"What about MY safety, Ranma?" Shampoo asked, running her hand down my arm. "Don't you remember that night before you left Nerima? What we had--"

"I'm being paid to guard Akane, Shampoo," I clarified, and watched relief settle over her features, knowing I would squelch that relief with no guilt. "And what we had that night was-"

We had nearly reached the end of the train, and I stopped.

"Look," I said, seeing the answer to our problems. Oh, wait, my problem. I had the distinct feeling that Shampoo would have happily stayed on the train if I'd let her. Screw that. I headed for the small window set high in the ceiling that was going to be my salvation.

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The countryside was passing by at a satisfying blur and I started to feel like we were going to catch up with the train soon. And then I did catch sight of it, the tail end at least.

"There it is!" I shouted in excitement, half rising in my seat.

"Sit down, Akane," Mousse ordered.

I subsided, but I was feeling energetic again.

"Oh, no!" cried Mousse suddenly.

I saw what Mousse was seeing and my breath left my lungs in a rush of fear. A few yards ahead of us, a chasm yawned in the ground. Actually, it was a creek cutting deep into the ground, but the train's tracks were built on a bridge crossing it and they enabled the train to pass over without trouble.

Mousse and I wouldn't find it so easy.

"Hold on!" Mousse bent over the bike and I could feel his attention focusing hard on the drop.

I grabbed on tight, noting in passing that Mousse had a very nice back. I could feel the smooth muscles tensing beneath my arms as he stepped on the throttle and the bike reared up and shot forward like our tail was on fire.

He was going to try and jump the canyon. I held on, keeping my eyes open with sheer willpower. Being martial artists, there was little chance that either Mousse or I would be seriously injured if the bike fell into the creek, but that little chance still had me breaking out into a cold sweat.

I knew the exact moment when our wheels left the ground. I clutched Mousse hard like he was a lifebuoy, pressing my face so deep into his back that I think his spine left an impression on my cheek. The bike soared over the gap as I feverishly calculated trajectories in my head, and landed with a bone-jarring thud on the sandy ground on the other side. I wanted to sigh in relief, but I had no breath left.

Mousse was laughing, the stupid adrenaline junkie.

"Look, Akane!"

I peeled myself off his back and looked.

Ahead of us, I could see the train; we were getting closer to it now. That's when I saw Ranma and Shampoo hanging off a ladder on the side of the train, getting ready to jump off. Ranma looked up and saw us, then stopped Shampoo from jumping.

Mousse increased his speed and soon we were almost level with them. The noise of the train was so loud we couldn't hear anything they were saying. Ranma looked at me and made an exaggerated come-hither motion with his hands. What was he trying to say? He wanted me to jump onto the train?

I realized it made sense. The train WAS going to Egmore, our destination, and leaving Mousse and Shampoo the bike would give them a mode of transport also. Well, I HOPED Shampoo was going on the bike. If Ranma didn't push her off, my foot was perfectly ready to help her along.

He stopped and yelled something at Shampoo. She yelled back at him and Ranma shook his head. He looked at me and pointed ahead. I saw the outline of a long bridge. Oh, no. A river was coming up. Mousse and I would never be able to cross that!

Mousse had seen it, too.

"You'll have to get closer to the train," I shouted in his ear. "I'm going to jump on!"

Mousse slowly brought the bike closer, veering away slightly now and then, until finally it was steady beneath me. I brought my feet up and crouched on the seat of the bike like a small monkey, balancing carefully. Ranma held his arm out, waiting to catch me.

Judging as best I could, I picked the moment and jumped. A sickening sense of nausea crashed through me as the bike fell away from me and my legs arced in mid-air for an instant. Then, Ranma's strong arms were around me. My feet found purchase on the ladder that Ranma and Shampoo were hanging from.

Now I could hear what Ranma was yelling.

"It's time, Shampoo!"

"Wait, Ranma.."

Without waiting to hear the rest, he peeled an angry Shampoo off the train and tossed her away. I gasped and realized that the train was now crossing over the river's bridge. I watched as Shampoo fell into the river, disappeared underwater and then a spitting, hissing cat slowly surfaced and swam to the shore where Mousse had brought the bike to a stop.

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Mousse regarded the shivering Shampoo sitting across from him wearing nothing but his jacket. He'd fished some of her clothes out of the river and they were drying on bushes nearby. He stoked the fire he'd built a little higher.

"Thought you had found your opportunity to have Ranma alone, eh?" he said genially, smiling into the flames.

"He wouldn't listen to anything I had to say!" Shampoo raged. "He was worried about Akane. Stubborn boy!"

"He didn't listen to you in Nerima," Mousse watched his partner. "What makes you think he is any different now?"

"I don't like giving up," Shampoo muttered. "You know that."

"Looks like you're stuck with me for the night again," her companion said mildly.

Shampoo looked up, and then a calculating look entered her wide, lovely eyes. She looked away and said in a completely different tone, "I'm very cold, Mousse."

He stood and walked around the fire, sitting down next to her and putting his arms around her. He caught her chin and tilted it up.

"Let's see what we can do about that," he said, raising her lips to his.

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Finally back on track, Ranma and I climbed back inside the train. Luckily, no one had noticed all the shenanigans going on. The train was half empty at this time of day. We found an empty compartment and settled in like good passengers until we could get down at Egmore.

I stared out the window silently. Ranma was watching me. He looked nervous.

"Okay," he said. "Go ahead an' hit me. I know you want to."

I gave him a frosty look.

"Where's your mallet anyway?" he asked. "Did you get an upgrade?"

"Don't be silly."

"A rocket launcher?"

"Dream on."

"Lemme guess. Some poor guy is walking around with your mallet up his-"

"Ranma!"

He grinned. I scowled at him, which only made him grin harder.

"I don't know what you're mad about," he said. "You and Mousse looked very chummy together."

I blushed. I couldn't help it. All sorts of bad, bad thoughts went through my head, and Ranma saw them. Like quicksilver, the mood in the tiny compartment changed. Somehow, without even opening my mouth, I was suddenly on the defensive and Ranma was on the attack. A predatory light came into his eyes, and the compartment began to feel airless.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nuh..nothing," I stammered, cursing my hot cheeks.

Ranma leaned forward, his gaze fixed on me. I felt like a butterfly pinned to earth by a scalpel, helplessly fluttering, trapped.

"You're....attracted to him," he whispered disbelievingly. "You're attracted to Mousse."

"No!" I exclaimed, feeling like my head was laid open to his probing inspection. It was a highly uncomfortable feeling. "What's it to you, anyway?"

Ranma stood up.

I stared up at him, my throat dry and my heart thudding in my breast.

He moved, and before I could grasp what was happening, he'd sat down next to me and pulled me into his lap all in one movement. I gasped at the sudden closeness, and the feel of his arms around me, supporting me, encircling me, trapping me.

"I think you need to be reminded of a few things," Ranma said.

"Oh, yeah?" I demanded with more bravado than sense. "And what the hell would those be?"

"This," He replied. He leaned down and caught my lips with his. His mouth was warm and intimate, demanding obedience and submission. My body began to throb from the breathtaking pressure of the kiss.

"And this," he murmured against my lips, slipping his hand beneath my t- shirt and sliding it over the soft skin of my torso to curve his strong fingers around one breast. My mind shut down in an instant. My breath caught in my throat, and a sensation like warm honey began pooling in my belly.

"And definitely this," he said against my jawline as he began to press soft kisses down my throat. One of his hands was splayed against my back, holding me securely, even as his other hand caressed my breast and his thumb flicked the nipple in a way that sent a thread of fire directly from that point to my already overheated nerves. My brain began to fire erratic bolts of electricity, frying my neurons so that I felt as though Ranma's kisses were sizzling along my nerve endings. I began to shake, unable to assimilate the sudden and overwhelming sensations. A wave of incredible pleasure washed through me, and I stiffened in his arms, my head thrown back as I rode the feeling to its completion.

Afterwards, I lay limp in his arms, too content and sleepy to move.

This feeling so dwarfed what I'd felt for Mousse that I forgot about the green-eyed boy, which I guess was exactly what my partner intended. When he raised his head a few moments later, he searched my face carefully, and the look of satisfied male pride that spread through his eyes and showed in his grin made my hand itch to slap him. Or myself.

He tucked my head under his chin and continued to cuddle me, and I was too embarrassed to protest. In fact, I was too embarrassed to do anything but close my eyes and let my thoughts run riot for the rest of the trip.

The small town of Egmore only had a limited number of hostels where guests could stay. We ignored the tension vibrating between us and setoff on our search for Sir Blaine. We struck gold at the third hostel.

"Yes, we have a white man, a British man, staying here," the young receptionist told us in excellent, if accented English. "Room 315."

I knocked on the scarred door of Room 315 with anticipation. Finally, was I getting to the end of this mad adventure? If this was really Sir Blaine, all I had to do was hand him the bag and go.

A tall man in rumpled linen clothes opened the door. He held a sawed off shotgun in his hands, cocked and pointed.

"Yes?" he asked, glaring at us suspiciously.

"Sir Blaine?" I knew it was him. I'd seen his photo.

He stiffened. "Who wants to know?" I sympathized with his suspicion. Ranma and I didn't fit the mold of the local south Indians, and he was bound to be suspicious of anyone who showed up that he didn't recognize. "I'm Akane Tendo," I explained. "I am a Courier." I said it with a capital 'C'.

"A...a Courier?" Sir Blaine relaxed immediately. "Ah, I see. You have a package for me?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Good job, Miss Tendo. Please, come in."

Ranma and I followed him into the small, well-aired room.

"It was quite a feat for you to find me after I spent time covering my tracks. I'm impressed." He scrutinized me carefully, and then did the same with Ranma who was standing nonchalantly behind me. "But of course, your firm is very well recommended by people I trust."

The man looked old enough to be my grandfather, but something about his tall, spare form told me he could be dangerous. There was a glint in his grey eyes that said you had to think twice before messing with him.

"Thank you, sir," I inclined my head regally, trying to look professional in jeans, standing in a small rented room. Fortunately, I'd had lots of practice looking professional in all sorts of places.

"Now, where's the diamond?"

"Here it-," I began, reaching into my bag. My fingers encountered empty space. A familiar sinking sensation ran through me. The diamond was missing. But how? How?

Then I remembered Mousse, embracing me at the railway station.

"That son of a bitch!"

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^_^ Well well, looks like Mousse and Shampoo aren't out of the story just yet. Please click that lil' button down there and review. Do let me know what you guys thought of the added scene.