[Xover][Ranma/AMG][Fanfic] Of Cats And Kittens

[Frank Wustner]

From the versatile mind of The Deadly Nightshade comes:

Of Cats and Kittens

A Ranma 1/2 - Ah! My Goddess! crossover Fanfiction

Most of the characters used in this story are the creation of Rumiko
Takahashi (Ranma 1/2) and Kosuke Fujishima (Ah! My Goddess), and are
copyrighted by whoever it is that copyrighted them. I would never claim
otherwise nor would I use them for profit, as that would be dishonest
(and because I don't want to get sued into oblivion). On the other
hand, THIS story and one or two of the characters herein are created and
copyrighted by ME. So you had best give me credit if you use this story
in any way, else when I catch up with you I shall make the Black Rose
herself look like the poster-child of sanity.

Any comments can be sent to: niteshade<at>mindspring<dot>com. C&C
appreciated. Flames and trolls ridiculed or ignored, depending on what
mood I'm in. This and other fanfictions are archived and can be found
at http://members.tripod.com/~deadly_nightshade

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Author's Forward (yay! clapclapclapclapclapclap)

"Of Cats and Kittens" is a cross-over of "Ranma 1/2" and "Ah! My
Goddess", though it is focused more on R1/2 than AMG.
This story was largely inspired by "The True Neko-ken" by Jeff
Groves. As I explained to him via e-mail, the Muses grabbed me and
demanded I write this after I saw his work. Further inspiration for
this story came from "Tiger Claw" by Madam Hydra. Also, I would like to
lavish my thanks on Brett Handy for permission to use his character
Chia-yao from his "Ah! My Goddess" fanfic series "Oh My God". I could
not have done this with any other supporting bit-part character.
Free plug: "Oh My God" by Brett Handy is VERY good (despite being
a very blatant self-insertion work). I heartily recommend reading it.
You can find most of it at: http://www.ozanime.com/darkwind/
One last thing. For the Ranma-verse, I'm going strictly by the Viz
translation of the manga. No Japanese words and no anime references.
Strictly English-translated manga. For some reason, I just prefer it
that way. In addition, this story assumes knowledge of the ending of
the manga (manga volume 38).
So. On with the show.

------------------------------------

The feline, concealed safely in the branches of a tree, watched
with a satisfied air as her prey left the school building to head for
his home. By his side walked his mate, but she was of no concern. Only
he mattered.
His walk was both graceful and alert, the walk of a warrior. That
stride alone made it clear that he had the potential to be the best
among her followers, if only she could get him alone for a short while.
"Yes, Ranma Saotome," she breathed to herself, "you have great
potential. I shall enjoy making the most of it."

------------------------------------

For a change, Ranma's day had been going fairly well. The skies
were clear, which meant no rain. He had managed to get out of the house
and off to school without getting into an argument with Akane. Shampoo
had not appeared to harass him. Kuno had been home sick with a bad case
of the flu. Ukyou had been relatively restrained during the day, which
kept Akane from getting too annoyed. And through it all Ryouga had
never shown up, neither as himself nor as P-chan. All in all, a rather
good day.
Not that it was going to last.
"Ranma, I found this great recipe that I'm thinking of trying,"
Akane mentioned as the two of them walked home that afternoon.
Ranma shivered in spite of the warmth of the day, wondering what
toxin Akane was going to concoct now. Akane's cooking was not as bad as
it used to be, but only when she stayed with the recipies she knew. Her
trying something new was a disaster waiting to happen. He opened his
mouth to respond.
"...." was as far as he got before a large tortoiseshell colored
cat leaped out of a near-by tree and onto his shoulder.
"Meow!" it commented.
Ranma froze for an instant, then gave a scream of terror and bolted
for the roof tops, dumping the cat onto the sidewalk.
"Meow!" it protested, going off in pursuit.
Akane stared after the panicked boy and pursuing cat for a few
moments before she shook her head and set off for home.

------------------------------------

It was several minutes later when Ranma finally stopped running.
With a tired huff, he leapt down off the roof tops into an alley and
leaned up against the wall, panting.
"Damn it, I KNEW I shouldn't have felt so good about the day," he
mumbled between breaths. "Whenever I do, something goes wrong." He
panted for a few moments longer before he composed himself. "At least
that c...c...CAT...couldn't have followed me over the roofs," he added.
As if in answer to his thoughts, the cat suddenly appeared on the
fence top above his head. "Meow!" it said.
With another scream of terror, Ranma leapt across the alley,
plastering himself against the opposite fence. He stared at the cat in
abject horror.
The feline watched him with what Ranma would have taken as an air
of amusement, if he had been calm enough to notice. It then leapt down
to the ground a few steps away from him. Ranma was about to scrabble up
the fence out of fear when his attention was captured by a strange aura
surrounding the animal. It was a dark navy blue, almost black. The
aura pulsed for an instant, and then the cat began to grow. Ranma's
terror almost sent him into the Cat Fist before he noticed the cat
morphing into another form.
A few moments later, where the cat had sat was standing a young
woman. She was about Akane's height, with lustrous black wavy hair that
reached down to her waist. She was wearing an outfit that complimented
the generous curves of her body very well and showed off her well-formed
legs. Her skin was a lemon-yellow color, and her eyes were silver
surrounding bright red pupils. Above her eyes, covering her forehead,
were two dark slash marks, almost like scars, one over each temple.
Peaking out of her hair were two cat-ears. And behind her, Ranma
could see a cat's tail which twitched occasionally.
"Sorry for the overly-dramatic entrance," she said wryly, her voice
sounding both melodic and menacing, "but I had to make sure that you and
I could talk alone." She grinned ironically as she spoke.
Ranma attempted to recover his scattered wits, but failed
miserably. "W...why? You aren't another fiance, are you? I already
have one who can turn into a cat, I don't need another!"
The woman gave him a pitying grin. "Shampoo, you mean? I know of
her. And no, I'm not another fiance, Ranma." The young man heaved a
sigh of relief. "I'm here for a much more important reason," she
continued.
"You are?" Ranma asked dumbly, unable to think of anything else to
say. There was a brief silence between the two of them before another
question occurred to him. "Who are you? You know who I am..."
"Let's go somewhere else first," she interrupted in response.
"Someone could still stumble onto us here." With movements so fast that
Ranma couldn't follow them, the woman grabbed his arm and gestured into
the air. A few spoken words later there was another flash of her dark
aura, then the sound of a small explosion.
The two of them suddenly disappeared in a flash of sulfurous smoke.

------------------------------------

The woman suddenly let go of Ranma's arm, allowing him to stumble
backwards and fall into a chair that had not been behind him just a few
moments earlier. He looked around with amazement, noting that they were
in a room furnished with expensive looking furniture and paintings.
"Where are we?" he demanded, not knowing what else to ask.
The woman sat down in a chair across from him. "We're in an
apartment of mine that I keep in Tokyo. As to how we got here, it was a
simple teleportation spell." She gave him a piercing gaze, causing him
to fidget uncomfortably. "Now. To business."
"Business?" Ranma asked tensely. "Did Nabiki send you?"
The woman's cat-ears flattened against her head in annoyance. "Why
are you assuming that I'm working with anyone you know?" she spat. "I'm
here for my own purposes. Neither your friends nor your family know
anything about me, so do please forget about them for the time being.
In fact, don't even tell them about this; this is between you and me,
GOT IT?!"
That last was accompanied by a flash of her darkened aura, and
Ranma felt his cat fear clutch his stomach at the sight. "Yeah. Got
it," he hastily agreed.
"Good." The woman settled down again. "Now. My name is Bast.
I'm a demon."
Ranma blinked. "A demon?"
Bast nodded. "Yes. I'm a demon." Ranma opened his mouth. "And
no, Happosai didn't send me, so don't ask!" she snapped. Ranma closed
his mouth. "As I said, I'm here for my own purposes. I wish to offer
you my assistance."
For the first time, Ranma smirked. "You want to help me? Right.
All the demons I've ever met just wanted to kill and destroy, and stuff
like that."
Bast raised a single eyebrow. "And how many have you met?"
Ranma shrugged. "Um, maybe four or five."
The cat-woman snorted. "Great. Then let me give you a quick
geography lesson." She sat up straighter. "There is more to the
Universe than just what you mortals can see. It has three layers, or
plains. There is the mortal plain, where we are right now. Up above
the mortal plain, there is Heaven, where the gods live. And down below
the mortal plain, there is Hell, where demons like me live. Now, when
mortals like you die, your souls usually go straight to Heaven. That's
the default place, not-withstanding certain religious stories about sin
and all that bunk. But sometimes, mortals make deals with demons like
me for their aid, and a clause of those deals is that upon death, the
mortal's soul goes to Hell instead of Heaven. That's why demons come to
the mortal world: to make such deals with mortals."
The demon stopped talking, and Ranma gave the lecture some thought.
"And that's why you're here?" he finally said. "To make me a deal?"
Bast nodded.
"And you expect me to make any deal with you that will send my soul
to Hell?" he scoffed. "I don't think so."
Bast gave a vicious smile, and Ranma gulped nervously. "Exactly,"
she said triumphantly. "You'd never make that kind of deal now that
I've told you everything, which is why I'm going to make you a much
better offer." Her smile changed to a much more satisfied grin as she
leaned back in her plush chair. "You see, I have many functions here in
the mortal world. Among other things, I'm the matron spirit of cats."
She radared her ears around for emphasis, then leaned forward as if
imparting a great secret. "I'm also the mistress of the Cat Fist."
Ranma sat up straight as a shiver ran through him. "The Cat Fist?"
Bast smiled slyly. "That's right. I'm its inventor, you see. I
created it about 5000 years ago during the reign of the Egyptian
pharaohs and taught it to a few select Egyptian warriors." She leaned
even closer, practically drawing Ranma into her powerful eyes. "Ranma,
today there are less than a dozen mortals alive who possess the power of
the Cat Fist. And you...are not one of them."
Ranma blinked. "What?"
The demoness grinned sardonically and sat back up. "You do not
possess the power of the Cat Fist. You're close, but you're not there
yet. You see, a mere mortal like your father can not teach it properly,
and would be a fool to even try. As I'm sure you can realize. Your
fear of cats is a clear demonstration that you are not a true Cat Fist
warrior. If you were, you wouldn't fear cats; you'd actually like them,
even consider them to be your brothers and sisters in a way."
"And you're offering to teach it to me properly?" Ranma asked
skeptically. "Why would you do that? And how could I know that you
wouldn't send me to Hell when I die?"
Bast's grin slipped into a tight businesslike smile. "Simple. As
to why, anyone who learns the Cat Fist from me becomes my follower. I
don't teach it to anyone who refuses to swear obedience to me. And
you'd be an impressive follower. That is what's in it for me. As for
your soul, it would never be sent to Hell because you would be under my
personal protection. Our contract would include that exact clause. In
exchange for your loyalty, I would teach you the true Cat Fist and
guarantee that your soul will be bound for Heaven upon death."
Ranma still looked skeptical. "Why should I trust you?" he asked
bluntly. "How do I know this isn't some kind of trick?"
In reply, Bast snapped her fingers. There was a dark flash and two
pieces of paper appeared in her hand. She gave them to Ranma. "These
are two copies of the contract that would exist between us. One copy
would be yours, the other mine. Read it over and see what it says. And
keep this in mind: the gods and the demons take these deals VERY
seriously. Once we give our word, we aren't allowed to back out of it.
If I promise you that your soul will go to Heaven, then it will go to
Heaven. No ifs, ands, or buts about it."
Gingerly, almost expecting them to burn his hand on touch, Ranma
took the offered papers and read them over.

"Undersigned hereby promises unconditional loyalty to first
class demoness Bast, matron spirit of cats, mistress of the Cat
Fist, guide to thieves and assassins and other shadow warriors. In
exchange, first class demoness Bast hereby guarantees the teaching
of the unarmed combat technique known as the 'Cat Fist' to
undersigned, as well as passage of the soul of undersigned to
Heaven upon death of the mortal body of undersigned. Any current
or future deal which condemns the soul of undersigned to Hell is
hereby declared void. Undersigned:"

Ranma dropped the two contracts on a near-by table and gave Bast a
questioning gaze. "Fine, then. What's in it for me? My soul is
already going to Heaven. And now that I know the consequences, I don't
plan on ever making a deal with a demon. Besides, I already know the
Cat Fist. What can I get from this deal?"
The cat-woman gave another vicious smile. "But that's just it,
Ranma. You DON'T know the Cat Fist. Tell me, how much power do you
possess while under the influence of your fear of cats?"
Ranma shrugged. "Well, I've never seen it in action, but I know
that I can shred trees to ribbons without even touching them. That's
quite a bit of power, I'd say."
Bast snorted. "And how is that useful?" she demanded. "In serious
combat, being able to shred trees is nothing. You need to be able to
shred your opponents, and you can't do that! All they have to do is
distract you with a plaything or some cat nip or some such and you'll be
off running around the countryside, completely forgetting the fight! In
other words, the Cat Fist gives you no power at all! What it really
does is take away what little power you DO have!"
Ranma blinked. "I...I've never thought of it that way," he
admitted.
"My training will completely change that," Bast promised, once
again leaning towards him for emphasis. "As it is, the power you have
at your fingertips due to the Cat Fist is completely inaccessible for
you. But if the Cat Fist is taught properly, you will ALWAYS have it
available. And, the TRUE Cat Fist that I'm offering you is ten times
more powerful than the paltry joke that your father taught you! Imagine
being twice as fast and strong as your cat form is even now! Imagine
having complete control over that power, to use whenever you wish!" She
suddenly grabbed Ranma's head and dragged him closer, forcing him to
look straight in her eyes. "Imagine no longer having to humiliate
yourself with your silly fear of cats!"
Ranma shivered, partly from the feeling of darkness emanating off
the demoness, but mostly from the promise of ending his fear. "Can...
can you really do that?" he whispered hopefully.
"All that and more!" she promised, her whisper heavy with power.
"You can be a man again! You can stop trembling in fear like a little
child over a mere cat! You can get revenge against your father for
subjecting you to that horror in the first place! All that, AND a
guarantee at a spot in Heaven after you die! Just the contract, Ranma.
You won't regret it."
Ranma trembled in agonized indecision for a few moments before
tearing himself out of Bast's grasp. She let him sit back up as she
once again leaned back.
"If I sign, what will happen?" he asked. "I want to know what
you're going to do before I agree."
Bast shrugged. "We'd leave tomorrow morning for a private training
place that I've chosen. We'd be there for a couple months at least. It
will take that long to undo your father's mistakes and imbue you with
the power of the true Cat Fist. Fortunately, you are already a highly
skilled martial artist. For anyone else, it would take years of work.
You'll only need a few short months."
"And even after the deal with you, I'd still be bound for Heaven
after death?"
"That's what the contract says, Ranma." She waved a hand at the
papers. "We demons don't lie about the deals we make with you mortals.
If we did, the deals would automatically be void. We make sure you
mortals agree to these deals knowing full well what you're getting
into." She waved another hand at the contracts. "They say you'd be
bound for Heaven, not Hell. So you'll be bound for Heaven."
There was another moment's silence. "Of course," she added, "if
you're too scared, you don't have to sign."
"I ain't scared of nothing!" Ranma shot back, and grabbed the
contracts. "You have a pen?"

------------------------------------

Bast appeared in her pocket dimension of Hell, laughing
victoriously. In her hand, she clutched her copy of the contract Ranma
had signed. She held it up, reveling in her accomplishment, and once
again laughed out loud.
"Oh, Ranma, you are now mine!" she cackled gleefully. "I shall
enjoy having you as my servant!"
With a quick gesture, she teleported herself into her office and
filed her copy of the contract in her desk. Then she began bustling
about her dwelling, preparing for her training journey with Ranma. She
was about half-way prepared when there was a flash and a low popping
sound behind her.
"Bast!!!" came an outraged voice. With a sigh, she lazily turned
to face the speaker, stretching like a cat. Facing her was a demon
about a head taller than her. His short-cropped hair was jet black,
contrasting sharply with his ghostly-pale skin. His red pupils were
drilling into her with hot anger.
"What's your problem, Fil?" she asked, her tone laced with boredom.
"And by what right do you enter my private domain without permission?"
As she spoke, one of her feline familiars leapt onto her shoulder and
hissed angrily at Fil. The demon ignored the cat, instead waving a
piece of paper in the demoness' face.
"THIS is my right!" he spat. "This is a printout of a contract
that you just now made with a mortal. And I would like to know exactly
what you were thinking when you guaranteed him a place in Heaven! You
know damn well that our job is to consign mortal souls to Hell, not to
let them escape to Heaven!"
Bast gave Fil a pitiful look. "And what use would that be to me?"
she asked, turning away from him and back to her preparations for her
journey with Ranma. "I get nothing by consigning them to Hell, so it
makes no difference to me."
"You get prestige and power by fulfilling your duty," Fil
explained. "Or don't you want a seat on the Council of Hell?"
Bast glanced over her shoulder at him. "Tell me, Fil. Just how
long have you been working as an administrator for Hellnet?"
Fill blinked. "Two mortal years. Why?"
Bast turned her full attention back to him. "Because it means that
you know nothing about me, that's why. You don't know what motivates
me, why I go to the mortal world, or any such thing. I'm the matron
spirit of cats, Fil. Why would I give a flying fig about politics here
in Hell? I care about myself and MY power!" She marched forward and
glared right into Fil's eyes, causing the demon to give ground a step.
"By guaranteeing a spot in Heaven to the mortals I make deals with, I
win something much more important than prestige. I win their loyalty!
They become my followers, obedient to my orders, which gives me that
much more power! How many people, mortals or no, will follow YOUR
commands unconditionally, Fil?" she asked, putting all her scorn into
the question.
When Fil didn't answer, she continued. "On top of that, by
teaching them my ultimate combat technique I make even a single one of
them a force to be reckoned with! By the time I'm finished with him,
Ranma will stand a chance of taking on the whole of Hell and WINNING!
No other god or demon alive has any followers which are that powerful!
And I have nearly a dozen of them!
"I'm in this for myself, Fil, and ONLY myself!" she scowled.
"Never forget that! Now get out of my home!!!" With those words, a
mighty cat-shaped aura of navy-blue power appeared around her and she
leapt for Fil. With a scream of terror, the demon quickly teleported
away. Bast let the aura slip away.
"Idiots!" she spat as she went back to her preparations.

------------------------------------

Peorth quickly turned her attention to the computer screen as it
beeped and called, "Emergency. Attention, please." The goddess tapped
a few buttons to bring up the report, then sighed and rolled her eyes as
it appeared.
"Great. Just great," she muttered, and quickly paged the office of
the Security Daemons. Moments later her vid screen lit up, revealing
the captain of the Daemons.
"Chia-yao, god of truth," he said.
"This is Peorth," the goddess replied. "You'd better get down
here. We just got another contract between a demon and a mortal."
Chia-yao scowled. "I'll be there immediately." He signed off, and
Peorth set the computer to print out the contract. Chia-yao appeared in
a flash of light just as the computer spat out the contract.
"What have we got?" the daemon asked shortly.
Peorth handed him the printout. "This is it. According to the
computer, it is a deal between the mortal 'Ranma Saotome' and the
demoness 'Bast'."
"'Bast', huh?" Chia-yao mused as he perused the printout. "I've
heard of her. The spirit of cats. I wonder..."
Peorth looked up at him as his voice trailed off, immediately
seeing the confused look in his eyes. "What's wrong?"
The god looked at her. "Are you sure that this is the contract?"
he asked. "Because these conditions don't make any sense."
The goddess blinked at him. "That's the contract that the computer
brought up. What's wrong?"
"According to this," Chia-yao said slowly, "Ranma Saotome's soul is
still bound for Heaven after his death. The contract specifically says
so. It also specifically says that any present or future deals which
would condemn his soul to Hell are void." He looked back at Peorth.
"And you're sure that this is the contract that the computer gave you?"
Peorth nodded, at a loss for words.
A silence stretched between the two deities as both absorbed the
information.
"Let's look up the demon and mortal," Chia-yao finally suggested.
"That might give us some idea of what's going on." Peorth nodded and
turned back to her keyboard, typing in the requests. A few moments
later, the information appeared and the computer began speaking.
"'Bast'," the computer spoke. "'Demoness, first class. Matron
spirit of cats, mistress of the Cat Fist, guide to thieves and assassins
and other shadow warriors. Age: 6000 mortal years. Major History:
worshiped by the ancient Egyptians as Bast the cat goddess; highly
instrumental in the rise and subsequent fall of the Egyptian empire;
created and teaches the unarmed combat technique known as the Cat Fist.
More information?'"
"According to the contract," Chia-yao said carefully, "Bast is
going to teach the Cat Fist to Ranma. Let's see more information about
that."
"Right," answered Peorth, entering the request. The information
appeared quickly. "'The Cat Fist: Legend holds that the Cat Fist,
developed by demoness Bast, is the most powerful and lethal of all
unarmed combat techniques. Modeled after feline combat skills, the Cat
Fist gives its user unequaled strength, speed, and agility. The user is
also able to manifest a large cat-shaped aura of chi which further
augments the user's physical attacks.'
"'The Cat Fist can only be learned directly from demoness Bast.
The demoness uses knowledge of the Cat Fist combined with a guarantee
against condemnation to Hell as barter to buy the life-long loyalty of
her students. It is estimated that knowledge of the Cat Fist gives a
mortal combat power equal to the combined power of four or five first-
class gods.'" Peorth and Chia-yao exchanged a nervous glance as the
computer continued.
"'Previously, it was unknown what would have happened if a mortal
attempted to learn the Cat Fist without the intervention of Bast.
However, due to the actions of one Genma Saotome, that question has now
been answered.'"
"Saotome?" Chia-yao hissed sharply. Peorth pursed her lips.
"'Genma Saotome attempted to teach his son, Ranma, the Cat Fist
when Ranma was seven mortal years old. His method, garnered from a
handbook of legendary martial arts techniques, was to wrap fish sausages
around Ranma and throw him into a pit of starving cats. He repeated the
procedure several times over the next few weeks until Ranma finally
snapped and went insane from fear of the cats.'
"'Since then, Ranma has been possessed by a horrible phobia of
cats. Upon the mere sight of a cat, Ranma is forced to run away until
the animal is no longer in sight. If unable to do so, he shall continue
to become more and more frightened until he once again goes insane and
begins acting like a cat. His speed and strength are increased
exponentially and he gains the ability to shred any solid object with
his hands from several feet away using nothing but air pressure.
However, unlike someone taught directly by Bast, he no longer has any
control over his actions nor any memory of what he does while the
insanity controls him. He can be snapped out of the insanity by
sleeping on the lap of someone he loves or by being splashed with water
to activate his curse. More information?'"
"That's the most horrible thing I've ever heard!" Peorth said in an
outraged tone. "What kind of monster is that man to subject his son to
that kind of torture?!"
"I wouldn't want to know," Chia-yao said tightly. "But if I'm
interpreting this information right, then demoness Bast is actually
going to fix this Genma's mistakes by teaching Ranma the real Cat Fist."
"You actually think that Ranma would be better off a servant to a
demoness than merely insane with fear?" Peorth asked in an astonished
tone.
"Of course not!" Chia-yao snapped at her. "I'm just pointing out
that Bast seems to be doing Ranma a really big favor. There has to be a
catch, but Ranma still isn't going to be condemned to Hell! It's right
here in the contract!" The daemon shook the print-out for emphasis,
then turned to leave.
"The contract has already been signed, so we can't prevent it from
being fulfilled," he said. "But one thing I CAN do is to keep watch
over the proceedings." He vanished in a flash of light.

------------------------------------

After he signed the contract, Bast took her copy and teleported
them both back to the alley where they had met.
"Remember," she admonished. "This is between you and me. Don't
tell anyone else about this. In particular, don't show the contract to
anyone." Ranma nodded his head firmly. "Good. Now, come back to this
alley tomorrow morning. Be here by six in the morning, no later. From
here we'll go to the place I've chosen for our training. Understand?"
Ranma nodded again, and Bast disappeared in another blast of sulfurous
smoke.
Ranma quickly made his way back to the Tendo house, having no more
trouble on the way. He sighed in relief as he entered the compound, a
sigh that quickly turned to a gag as a noxious odor wafted across his
nose.
"Oh jeeze, Akane's cooking again," he moaned to himself, trying to
sneak into the house without being seen.
"Where have you been, boy?" his father demanded as he suddenly
rounded the corner of the house and spotted Ranma. "Akane got back more
than an hour ago!"
"Nowhere, Pop," he growled back, not in the mood to talk to him.
He kept walking, but Genma wasn't going to let him get away so easily.
"Akane said that you had been scared away by a cat," Genma gloated,
dropping a heavy hand on Ranma's shoulder.
Ranma's temper suddenly exploded and he threw Genma into the fish
pond. The panda emerged and held up a sign. "What'd you do that for?!"
it read.
"That cat stuff is all your fault, Pop," Ranma snarled. "Just keep
away from me!" He stalked into the house and to the room he shared with
his father, then began packing his backpack as quickly as he could.
"The sooner I get it done, the less chance that someone will find out
about this and try to stop me," he reasoned to himself.
He had almost finished when there was a knock on the door.
"Ranma!" came Akane's voice. "Are you in there?"
"Yeah, why?" he called back before he realized what he was doing.
"It's time for dinner," she replied, confirming Ranma's worst
fears. "So hurry up, I worked hard on this!"
At that point Ranma seriously considered leaving right away and
spending the night in the alley where he was to meet Bast, but the plan
was destroyed as Genma shoved the door open, grabbed him, and dragged
him out.
"Get out here, boy! We aren't going to suffer without you!" he
growled. They got to the dining room, where upon Genma threw him down
at his spot at the table. The rest of the household was already there,
watching him expectantly as he peered dubiously at the plate set in
front of him. The stuff on his plate looked suspiciously like pond scum
sitting over rocks.
For a long time, nobody moved.
"Well, Ranma?" Akane asked, an edge to her voice.
"Um, what is it?" Ranma asked, trying to sound casual.
"OOOOOOOOO!!!!! STOP STALLING AND EAT IT!" Akane shouted, hopping
up and down furiously. Nobody else said a word.
Steeling himself, Ranma lifted one of the rock-like bits with his
chopsticks towards his mouth. He placed it on his tongue and closed his
mouth, instantly feeling his stomach rebel at the toxic flavor. Almost
immediately he spat it out onto his plate.
"Oh gods, that was horrible!" he said without thinking.
"WHAT?!" Akane shrieked. "ARE YOU SAYING THAT I CAN'T COOK?!" She
pulled a hammer from nowhere and swung it at his head. Ranma quickly
shoved the plate of food away from himself, letting his face slam into
the table rather than Akane's toxic food from the hammer strike. The
sound of running footsteps and slamming doors announced Akane's
departure from the dining room.
"Oh how horrible!" Soun exclaimed. "Why won't you two stop
fighting?! If you don't, the families will never be joined!!!" He
began crying, cutting off his rant.
Ranma sighed and sat back away from the table, nursing a bloody
nose. "It ain't my fault if she's in denial about her cooking," he
commented.
"Now look boy!" Genma growled. "You have a responsibility to..."
"SHUT UP, POP!!!!!!!" Ranma shouted, kicking him across the room.
He quickly left for the bathroom before anyone else could say anything.

------------------------------------

The rest of the evening had been tolerable, at least. Akane and
his father were avoiding him. And except for a single snide comment
from Nabiki, nobody else said anything about the disastrous meal. Ranma
spent the evening finishing his packing and making sure that he would
wake up early enough to escape the house without anyone stopping him.
And so the next morning, he was able to get up, dress, and leave
the room with his backpack without waking up his father. He crept to
the front door and was about to exit when Kasumi appeared in the
hallway, getting ready to start the day.
"Oh, Ranma," she exclaimed. "You're up early. Where are you
going?" She eyed his backpack significantly.
"I'm just going out on a training journey," Ranma said with a
dismissive wave of his hand. "I wanted to get out of here without Pop
trying to follow me is all."
"But what about school? And Akane?" she asked.
"This is more important," he said firmly. "Believe me, Kasumi,
this is something I have to do, and I have to do it now. This could be
the most important bit of training I've ever done."
Kasumi blinked, then shrugged. "If you say so. How long do you
think you'll be gone?"
Ranma grimaced. "It should probably be at least a couple months.
But not much longer than that, if I'm right. Don't worry, I'll be back
eventually. You have my word."
He opened the door and left before Kasumi could say anything more.
Again she blinked and shrugged, then went back to starting her morning
routine.

------------------------------------

Ranma and Bast appeared suddenly in a deserted forest clearing
later that morning. Ranma set his pack down against a tree and looked
around. It looked like a perfect spot for martial arts training.
"So where are we?" he asked.
"We're about a week's hike north of the Tokyo city limits," the
demoness explained. "We shouldn't be disturbed out here. Now. First
things first. Sit down here." She sat down on the ground in the center
of the clearing and gestured to a spot right in front of her. Ranma
complied.
"Now what?"
"Now clear your mind. Meditate," the cat-woman instructed. "Just
close your eyes and relax."
Ranma did so, forcing his mind to go blank. He held his mind blank
for several minutes until he felt Bast's hand touch his forehead. Her
palm was light and silky, and for an instant he almost lost his state of
meditation. He quickly forced his mind away from the sense of her
touch.
Suddenly he felt a rush of power wash over him. It had a cold and
dark feel to it, causing him to shiver, but it was gone as quickly as it
had come.
"You can open your eyes now," Bast said. He did and looked around,
seeing nothing different. He looked back at his teacher.
"Did you do something?"
"I locked away your fear of cats," she explained. "It was a very
simple magic spell. It will temporarily keep you from feeling fear of
cats."
Ranma blinked. "You can do that?"
Bast rolled her eyes. "Of course I can do that! Your fear is of
cats, and is the result of Cat Fist training! Therefore, I have power
over it! As I said, the block is only temporary. However, it should
last long enough so that when it wears off, you won't need it anymore.
But first, to test it."
Her dark aura suddenly reappeared and closed in on her, shrinking
her down into her cat form. She leaped onto Ranma's chest, and he
braced himself for the feeling of terror. To his surprise, it never
came.
"See?" she said, her voice sounding the same as a cat as it had in
her human form. "You no longer feel your fear of cats." Ranma just
stared at her in surprise. "Go ahead, pick me up." Hesitantly, Ranma
did so, cradling the cat in his arms. "Stroke my fur," she ordered.
Again Ranma obeyed, petting her. He was surprised to hear her begin to
purr. "Ooooh, this feels sooooo good!" she said between purrs. Ranma
quickly set her down again, and she looked up at him.
"What's your problem?" she demanded.
"Uh, let's just get on with the training," he suggested nervously.
The demoness smiled sardonically and changed herself back to her
human form. "If you say so," she said. "This is how we'll start..."

------------------------------------

And so the training began. For the first two of weeks Bast had
Ranma concentrating on strength and speed drills to boost his natural
skills. After that, she began sparing with him. Ranma quickly learned
not to hold back against her. In spite of her appearance she was much
faster and stronger than him.
A week later she began augmenting his skills with small magics.
Each morning she would spend a few minutes casting spells designed to
enhance his senses, his physical abilities, and his chi. Then she would
put him to work exercising his newly strengthened skills by having him
practice extremely arduous physical skills and chi blasts. Within that
first week he had created and used more chi techniques than he had ever
thought possible.
It was a week later when Ranma suddenly realized that Bast's fear
block spell had expired. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. But
for some reason he didn't need it anymore. Bast regularly used her cat
form or a hybrid of cat and human to teach him, and he no longer felt
any fear of her cat forms. When he mentioned it, she merely smiled and
said that he was making great progress.
And so it went for several more weeks, with Ranma's skills
increasing to the point where he was able to easily hold his own against
Bast in their sparring sessions. Then, two months after the training
began, Bast announced that he was ready.

------------------------------------

Darkness had long ago fallen when Ranma returned from his hunt. At
first Bast had hunted for all their food, but as his skills improved she
sent Ranma out to catch their meals. Of course, at first Ranma had been
a dismal failure, but hunger was a great motivator. Soon Ranma began
trusting his senses and combat instincts, and his skill at the hunt
became as good as his teacher's.
This night he had caught two rabbits for dinner. He carried the
two animals, both dead from twisted necks, by their hind legs and tossed
them both to Bast, who sat by the fire.
"Your turn to clean them," he commented, sitting down across from
her.
Bast grinned at the ill-concealed relief in his voice. Ranma still
did not felt comfortable with skinning and gutting their catches, even
after weeks of doing it. She had insisted that he learn and practice
the skill, "to bring him closer to the feelings of the cat," she said,
but he still did not like it. With a small shrug, she went to work.
"Ranma, you are ready for the final exercise," she said suddenly as
she propped the two conneys on spits over the fire. "You are as close
to the true Cat Fist as possible without going through the last phase of
the training."
"I'm ready," he said simply, his voice having none of the conceit
or arrogance that it would have the first few weeks. Two months of
learning to become the essence of the hunting cat had erased those
feelings from him.
"Good," Bast said with a small smile, knowing full well that once
the test began, Ranma would quickly realize that he was not ready at
all. "The test will happen after dinner."
The two fell silent, watching patiently as the rabbits slowly
cooked over the fire. As they sat, Ranma closed his eyes and stretched
out with all his newly keen senses, probing his surroundings with his
ears and nose. The crackle of the fire suddenly rushed his ears like
the sound of a waterfall. His nose burned from the smell of the
rabbits' burning blood. The hooting of owls and chirping of crickets
warred with the crunching of underbrush by prowling predators and the
screams of mice and squirrels. The crisp night air carried the scents
of the trees, bushes, and the near-by animals. The forest slowly came
alive for him in a way that it never had before his training. And then
he felt Bast.
For an instant, his animal senses jarred him. Her aura, her
scents, they were all wrong. Out of place. Unnatural. Dark. Evil.
He shivered.
"Something wrong?" her voice came.
He opened his eyes and noticed her regarding him. "No, nothing at
all," he lied easily. "I was just feeling the chill of the night."
She returned his gaze for a few moments, then turned her attention
back to their cooking dinner. It was about ten minutes later that Bast
announced that their meals were finished and passed a rabbit to Ranma.
Teacher and student settled down to eat.
Ranma soon finished his conney and tossed the blackened spit into
the fire. He licked the grease off his fingers and wiped his hands off
on the damp grass behind him. He looked to Bast and watched her finish
off her meal.
Once she finished and had wiped off her own hands, she poured dirt
on the fire to douse it and gestured at Ranma to approach. "Now is the
time for the final test, Ranma," she said, standing. "Come here
please." She walked away from the fire pit and into the darkness
beyond, stopping and sitting down on the foot of Ranma's bed roll.
Ranma followed her unhesitatingly, his eyes having long ago learned how
to see clearly even during the blackest of night. Bast waved her hand
at the head of Ranma's bedroll, indicating that he should sit. He did
so.
"The final trial begins now, Ranma," she intoned. "Close your
eyes."
He closed his eyes, only barely hearing Bast approach. She always
moved as silently as a cat, and even with his hunter's senses he almost
could not hear her. He felt her hand brush his forehead and cheek.
Then she kissed him.
His eyes flew open as her kiss became more passionate, as her body
pressed against his, as his animal desire flared...
Her lips moved from his mouth to his chin, to his jaw, moving up to
his ear which she nipped playfully. Her hands began rubbing his chest
through his shirt, then began slowly unbuttoning it. He felt his desire
soar as his hands moved unconsciously to embrace her and pull her
closer...
"NO!" came his ragged cry. He tried to push her away but was
unable to break her hold. But she did pull back slightly and smiled at
him. This time, her smile was seductive.
"Oh yes, Ranma," she breathed into the darkness. "This is the
final test, and you have come much too far to avoid it. Don't
disappoint me, warrior!" She leaned back against him and went back to
unbuttoning his shirt, even as she began kissing him again. Ranma tried
to fight it still, even as his new instincts pulled him closer. But his
instincts quickly won the battle. With a small sigh of defeat, Ranma
began removing Bast's clothing.

------------------------------------

Hours later, when their love-making finally ended, the two lay
naked together, basking in each other's presence. But for Ranma the
episode was clouded with guilt and shame. His mind kept returning to
someone else, seeing her outraged face, even as his hands absently
stroked Bast's hair.
The demoness suddenly shifted against him, bringing his attention
back to her. Ranma was slightly surprised to note that she was purring
like a contented kitten.
"Ranma," she sighed. "You have surely passed the test. Now you
are truly a master of the Cat Fist."
"Why?" he asked bitterly. "Why did you do this to me?"
"Because I promised you," Bast said, smiling up at him cutely. "I
promised that you would learn the true Cat Fist. How else were you to
do that if you did not experience my essence in its purest form? And
now you have." She snuggled closer to him, and he held her tighter
involuntarily.
"And there was no other way?" he demanded.
"Oh, there are other ways," she conceded. "But none of them are as
fast. Or as fun." She went back to purring.
Ranma sighed, his passion long ago spent. "And when will we do
this again?" he asked, his voice even more bitter.
Bast chuckled slightly. "We never will," she said. "All the users
of the Cat Fist taste of my essence once, and only once. You will never
do so again."
Ranma's brow furled. "Does that include the women?" he asked
curiously.
This time the cat-woman laughed out loud. "There are no female
users of the Cat Fist," she said, "for precisely that reason. My tastes
are only for men." She shifted slightly in his embrace, cuddling closer
to Ranma's chest, and sighed contentedly. "Now, it is time to sleep."
With a much less contented sigh, Ranma decided that she was right
about that last part and allowed himself to drift off.

------------------------------------

Other eyes were on the sleeping pair besides the forest animals.
Chia-yao, god of truth, sat under the first layer of trees surrounding
the clearing, keeping himself carefully cloaked with his best hiding and
misdirection spells. He was scowling dangerously, his fury climbing to
rare heights over the demon's actions against Ranma. And knowing that
he could not do a thing about it made him all the more angry.
"Damn demons," he spat softly, wanting nothing more than to rush in
there and separate Bast's head from her shoulders with his holy sword.
Not that he could. Her contract with Ranma was more than enough
protection against the retaliation of the Security Daemons. The only
thing he could accomplish by acting was getting himself in trouble for
interference in a legally binding contractual agreement.
And so he had forced himself to be content with setting watchers
for the past two months, instructing them to wait for Bast to slip up by
going outside the boundaries of her contract. Then they would have all
the leverage they needed to deal with her by the letter of the Midgard
agreement. But the slip-up never happened. Bast had been absolutely
scrupulous the entire time, never once doing anything that was not in
some way connected to teaching Ranma the Cat Fist.
And now this.
It was bad enough that the encounter between the two was fully
justifiable under their contract, in spite of Ranma's feelings for the
affair. But even worse, Chia-yao found himself in the uncomfortable
situation of feeling jealous for the pair in spite of the nature of
their joining. His own relationship was proceeding much more slowly.
He sighed.
"I just wish that Skuld wasn't so hung up against men," he muttered
to himself. "She's almost eighteen years old, for God's sake! Can't
she get a bit more interested in me? Even Urd has gotten herself a
steady boyfriend!" He chuckled slightly. "Who'd have thought that
would ever happen?"
He suddenly felt himself start to drift off and cast another stim
spell. He felt wakefulness flood him once again and he turned back to
the pair with a determined air. "Hell will break loose before I fall
asleep on my watch," he muttered stubbornly to himself.

------------------------------------

Ranma awoke the next morning to the feeling of Bast slipping out of
his embrace. He opened his eyes and watched as she stood and stretched
luxuriously, displaying herself in her full natural splendor. After
last night, though, Ranma no longer felt any desire for her. Besides
which, for some reason all his senses were even more acute than last
night, and now he felt her cold and evil aura much more clearly. Even
if he had any desire for her left, that would have been more than enough
to kill it.
The cat-woman suddenly snapped her fingers and chanted a few words
of magic, clothing herself instantly. Deciding that was his cue, Ranma
stood and pulled on his own clothing.
"How do you feel?" Bast asked him without preamble.
The young man paused and thought. "I feel...more," Ranma said.
"More of everything. It's as though some flood gate has been opened.
Last night I had to concentrate to use my advanced senses. Now they're
working on their own. I don't even have to think about it."
"Good," she said, and jabbed a finger to the edge of the forest.
"Destroy ten trees!" she snapped.
Ranma crouched, a brilliant blue cat-shaped aura exploding into
being around him with a low roar. A moment later he leapt to the
attack.
Three seconds later, ten trees lay on the ground, each one reduced
to a pile of mulch and shredded leaves. Ten small craters pitted the
ground where each tree had been standing, all ten having been pulled out
by the roots. The task completed, Ranma zipped to a stop next to the
cat-woman, his aura quickly vanishing.
Bast nodded sedately, but behind her her tail lashed excitedly.
Such speed! Even she had had trouble tracking his movements as he had
struck! And such strength! Such ferocity! Without a doubt, Ranma was
the best of her followers. The best she had ever had! Not by much, to
be sure, but still the best without question. She almost licked her
lips but restrained herself.
"Very good, Ranma," she said, and struck at him with all her speed.
He blocked it effortlessly, and the next and the next. He then struck
back, and for the first time in millennia Bast found herself on the
defensive. She marveled at the fact even as she defended and struck
back, teacher and student exchanging blow after blow. They sparred for
two minutes, five, ten, neither tiring, neither gaining the upper hand.
Finally, after an eternity of twenty minutes, Bast leapt away from her
student. "STOP!" she bellowed, and Ranma instantly obeyed the command.
Bast looked around the clearing in satisfaction. It was completely
trashed. Large chunks of ground had been gouged up. Several dozen
trees had been knocked over and shredded. Several dozen more were
missing limbs and standing at unnatural angles. Their campsite had been
ravaged. And as a show of their skill, all their personal possessions
were completely untouched. The demoness smiled a satisfied smile.
"My promise has been fulfilled, Ranma," she intoned. "You now
possess the true Cat Fist, and I have nothing more to teach you. It is
time for you to return home."
"What about the rest of your promise?" Ranma asked as she began
packing up her supplies.
"You mean about Heaven?" she queried, not even looking back at him.
"Don't worry, the promise will be kept. In exchange for your loyalty to
me, I will ensure that your soul will never be condemned to Hell. Just
remember your part of the deal."
Ranma nodded and began packing up. "Two more things." He stopped
and returned his attention to her. She was standing with all her
possessions packed up.
"First, remember what I said before. This is between you and me.
Tell nobody about this." Ranma nodded. "Second," she continued, "keep
in mind that Tokyo is to the South." With that, she recited a spell and
disappeared in a flash of smoke.
Ranma glared impotently at the spot where she had been. It had not
occurred to him that she might not teleport him back home. But he
quickly shrugged it off and resumed packing. A week North of Tokyo, she
had said. Somehow, he knew instinctively that she was right.
He soon finished and shouldered his pack, preparing to leave.
"You do realize what you've gotten into, don't you?" came a new
voice from the edge of the clearing.
Ranma spun on the new speaker even before he finished speaking. He
found himself facing another man. For an instant he felt a flash of
territorialism, but quickly suppressed it as he examined the other. He
had the face of a young man, maybe early twenties, but his silver-gray
hair made his age much more indeterminant. He was wearing some strange
body armor that seemed to shift colors in the daylight. But most
importantly, just as Bast's aura had radiated evil, this man's aura
radiated goodness. Ranma relaxed slightly. But not too much.
"Maybe I do," he replied. "Who are you?"
"I am Chia-yao, god of truth, first class," he responded. "And you
are Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Unrestricted Martial Arts."
Ranma nodded. "A god, huh?" he commented, filing the information
away. "Interesting. And why are you here?"
"To tell you a few things about your new teacher," the god replied.
"I couldn't interfere during your training because Bast was acting in
accordance to a legally binding contract. And now that the training is
finished, I can't undo what she has done but I can at least warn you
about what you've gotten into."
Ranma cocked his eyebrows at the god. "And why would you do that?"
"Two reasons. First of all, I'm an officer of the Heavenly
department that enforces the ban against demons traveling to the mortal
plain. Second..." he began to grin. "I AM the god of truth. Giving
out information is one of my jobs."
Ranma grinned sardonically. "Fine, then. Do your job."
Chia-yao's smile slipped. "Watch your back, Ranma," he warned.
"In spite of the help she has given you, she is still a demon. And
demons are not to be trusted. She would not have made that deal with
you unless she felt that she could gain more from it than you could."
Ranma nodded. "This isn't the first time I've been in this kind of
situation. I've made it out before, I can do it again."
Chia-yao shook his head. "Not this time. You signed the contract,
which means you are stuck in this deal. You owe her your loyalty now.
We have records up in Heaven of all the mortals who have learned the Cat
Fist from her over the millennia. Most of them didn't end up very well.
Tread carefully or your fate will be the same as theirs." There was a
brilliant flash of light and Ranma once again found himself alone. He
shrugged and walked out of the clearing, heading South for Tokyo.

------------------------------------

"I'm sure you did more than enough," Skuld replied after Chia-yao
finished the story.
The young god shrugged helplessly. "I just felt so useless," he
griped, sitting disconsolently under one of the trees at the Norn's
temple. "There was this demon right in front of me, pulling off some
kind of devious plan, and all I could do was watch it happen. Sometimes
I really hate this job."
Skuld sighed. "You aren't perfect, Chia-yao," she scolded him.
"And even if you were, you can not interfere in a mortal's destiny. We
have to let them make their own."
"That doesn't make me feel any better, bug," Chia-yao groused.
"Don't call me that!" she snapped.

------------------------------------

Ranma stepped off the train at Nerima station, thankful that he had
enough money to pay for a ticket. The train ride had reduced his week
long journey to three days. Tugging his backpack into a comfortable
position, he began hiking the last leg of his journey.
He wrinkled his nose as he walked. To his hunter's senses, the
pollution of the city was as bad as the fumes from Akane's last meal had
been. Just one more thing that he'd have to get used to, he supposed.
At least he did not have to smell himself anymore. That public bath he
had stopped in before catching the train had been a god-send.
"I wonder which god sent it?" he muttered to himself with a grim
chuckle.
For a change, Ranma met with no trouble as he walked to the Tendo
dojo, reaching the front gate without incident. For a few moments he
paused, letting the sounds and scents of the grounds reach him. So it
was no surprise to him when he entered to see Akane sitting on the front
porch holding P-chan. He let the gate close silently behind him and
stood still, watching them.
P-chan finally saw him a few minutes later and widened his eyes in
surprise. Then the shock wore off and he began bwee'ing angrily at him.
"What's wrong, P-chan?" Akane asked, looking down at him. She
quickly followed his gaze and stopped suddenly, staring at Ranma in
astonishment.
"Hi Akane, hi P-chan," he said with a small wave, resisting the
urge to walk over and embrace her.
Her surprise quickly wore off and her face became calm. Slowly,
she set P-chan down on the porch and approached Ranma. She stopped a
few steps away and the two looked at each other calmly for a few
moments.
"Ranma you JERK!" Akane suddenly exploded, swinging her hammer out
of nowhere.
Before her hammer could connect, her eyes were blocked by a sudden
blur. When her vision cleared, she quickly noticed that the head of her
mallet had been ripped off the handle and lay on the ground, neatly cut
into horizontal layers. She stared in amazement, wondering how Ranma
had done that.
"What's your problem?" he asked her, bringing her attention back to
him.
"My problem?" she shouted. "You just disappear without warning for
two months, not telling us where you're going or if you're even still
alive! And you have the gall to ask me what my problem is?!"
P-chan bweed agreement from the porch, but the two ignored him.
"I promised Kasumi that I'd be back within a few months, and you
can see that I kept my promise," he replied reasonably. "I had to go."
"Why?" Akane demanded suspiciously. "You told her that it was the
most important training trip you'd ever gone on. What could possibly
have been THAT important?"
Ranma shook his head. "It's a private matter that I'm going to
keep to myself."
"Now look, Ranma, if you don't tell me what you were doing..." she
said dangerously.
"I'm not going to tell you or anyone else," he replied in a normal
tone of voice.
Akane's face twisted in fury and she swung her fist at Ranma's
nose. Faster than her eye could follow, he caught her hand in his own
and pulled her forward into his arms. She struggled at break free but
his iron grip would not release her. She was about to scream at him in
outrage when he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.
"I love you, Akane," he whispered in her ear.
"Wh...what?" she asked, her mind suddenly locking up.
"Of course I was going to come back eventually," he said, one hand
caressing her cheek gently. "I can't be apart from you. I wouldn't
have admitted it before. I was too prideful to say just how important
you are to me. But one of the things I did during these past two months
was get a new sense of perspective. And now I'm not going to hide from
the truth. I love you, Akane, and I'm never going to leave you again."
He released her and walked inside, allowing her to sink to the
ground, completely paralyzed from shock.

------------------------------------

P-chan was not so paralyzed. With an outraged "BWEEEEE!!" he
charged the front door, running after Ranma's retreating form.
"BWEEEE! BWEEEE!" he screamed, trying to force Ranma's attention
on him. But his rival ignored him, making him all the more furious.
"RANMA!"
Soun, followed by Genma and Nodoka, suddenly blocked the hallway.
Seeing Ranma, Soun charged forward, his demon head exploding outward.
"HOW DARE YOU RUN AWAY AND..." he began.
Ignoring the demon head completely, Ranma swung his fist and
smacked the older man square in the jaw. The demon head went out like a
light as Soun flew backwards, landing on Genma and sending them both to
the floor.
"Don't waste my time," he told them with contempt, walking towards
the dining room. "If you really want to know what happened, then shut
up and let me explain. Otherwise, you can keep guessing."
Nodoka frowned. "Ranma, that is very disrespectful of you," she
said, fingering her wrapped katana.
Ranma gave her a disapproving glance. "Respect is a two-way
street, mother," he informed her. "I owe them nothing." Nodoka frowned
at his back as he entered the dining room, but followed. The two older
men quickly untangled themselves and followed her.

------------------------------------

Ryouga had gotten himself temporarily lost as he had run after
Ranma, but for a change he managed to find him again quickly. He
discovered him in the Tendo dining room, sitting at the table with his
parents and Soun. He put himself in one of the corners of the room and
listened.
"So. Kindly explain why you ran away, Ranma," Soun said tersely.
"I didn't run away," he explained. "As you should have figured out
from what I told Kasumi. I was going out on a training mission for a
few months. I promised that I'd be back, and I kept that promise."
There was a short pause. "Or are you going to suggest that I'm not
really here?" Ranma said with amusement in his voice.
"And what kind of training could you possibly do without me?" Genma
demanded. "Kasumi also told us that you left early that morning simply
to make sure that I could not go along with you. Are you saying that
I'm useless now?" he asked dangerously.
Ranma snorted. "You've always been useless, Pop," he replied,
taking a sip from the cup of tea Kasumi had placed in front of him.
"Between multiple engagements, the Cat Fist, and Jusenkyo, you've caused
me more trouble than anything else. Don't deny it, you know it's true."
"Ranma, you will stop being so insolent," his mother snapped.
Ranma just shrugged at her. "How would I do that, mother? It's
not like they haven't provoked it. And like I told Akane, I've got a
completely new perspective on life now, so I'm not going to put up with
their foolishness anymore.
At the reminder of the scene in the front yard, Ryouga felt his
anger snap and began shouting at Ranma in fury. "BWEE! BWEE!
BWEEEEEEE!" the pig shouted.
Ranma glanced at the piglet and rolled his eyes, casting his senses
around for a friend. He quickly found one that had been attracted by
his presence prowling around the Tendo's front yard, and he called for
it, enticing it with thoughts of food.
The stray cat quickly made its way inside through a partly open
window and soon found the dining room. Its eyes soon came to rest on
the black piglet and it crouched, licking its lips and stalking towards
its prey.
P-chan immediately saw the cat approaching him and stopped
squealing as fear gripped him. The others in the room, except for Ranma
who turned his back to the animal, quickly saw the cat as well.
"How did that get in here?" Soun demanded.
Before the three people could react, the piglet bolted, bwee'ing
shrilly in terror. At the same instant the cat pounced, one paw
slamming P-chan in the head and the other sending him rolling into the
wall. P-chan bweed in terror and pain and he struggled to his feet and
tried to run. The cat hissed and pounced again, barely missing as P-
chan switched directions and ran for the door, bwee'ing his little head
off. The door suddenly slid open as he approached, revealing Akane.
"What's wrong with P-chan?" she demanded as he leapt into her arms.
She suddenly saw the cat pursuing her pet and she stamped her feet at
it. "What are you doing here?! Go on, scat!!" The cat screeched to a
halt and reversed directions, leaping out a window that Nodoka had
opened for it.
Akane looked over at Ranma, who was sitting with his back to the
chaos, his eyes tightly closed and his hands over his ears. She glared
at him and he finally straightened up. "Is it gone?" he asked, glancing
around nervously.
"Some help you are," she spat. "That cat almost ate my P-chan!"
Ranma just shrugged again. "Sorry. You know how I am with cats,"
he explained. Akane huffed and stomped out of the room. Ranma rolled
his eyes again and stood, picking up his backpack and leaving the room.
His parents and Soun quickly forgot that Ranma had not really explained
his absence.

------------------------------------

It had been late afternoon when Ranma returned from his journey,
and night quickly fell. The rest of the evening was uneventful, and the
household soon went to sleep for the night. Except for Ranma.
He tossed and turned on his futon for an hour before sitting back
up. He felt strangely restless and knew that sleep would not be coming
to him that night. He looked over at his father, sleeping in his Panda
form as he usually did, and felt a flash of anger at him. The flash
went away quickly, replaced with wonder at exactly why he was feeling so
mad. The anger seemed to have no source.
With a snort he stood and padded out of the room with all his
considerable skill. Not a single floor board creaked as he agilely
leapt over his father, slid open the outside door and crept out. He
felt the dark air surround him, bringing with it the familiar scents and
sounds of the night. With a satisfied sigh and a lazy stretch of his
body, he leapt out of the Tendo compound and began the prowl.
He ran, fence top to fence top, roof to roof, the once familiar
city now a brand-new maze of sounds, sights, and smells. He patrolled,
reveling in the feel of his territory. His home. And as he went, his
smaller brothers and sisters stopped their own nightly prowls to watch
him pass, paying homage. The hunter had come.
With a gleeful laugh the hunter leapt into a tree, landing adroitly
in the branches with barely a quiver of the leaves. Had anyone been
there as witnesses they would have passed the noise off as a small burst
of wind. And if they had looked up into the crown of the tree they
would have seen nothing, for the hunter was long gone by the time the
leaves settled down.
And so the night passed, and nobody challenged the hunter. He was
supreme. In this territory, he was the master.

------------------------------------

Down in Hell, Bast slept, smiling at a dream that only she could
see.

------------------------------------

The sky was turning gray in the predawn when Ranma returned to the
Tendo compound. His night-time run had left him invigorated, doing far
more than a night of sleep ever could have. He dropped lightly on the
roof of the Tendo house, making no more noise than a light breeze.
He stood for a few minutes, a silent sentinel watching over his
turf. Then he felt an irresistible urge overwhelm him and he hung over
the side of the roof, holding himself up by his toes, and peered into
Akane's window. The blinds were pulled but there was a small crack
between the two curtains that his sharp eyes were easily able to see
though.
He saw her asleep, laying on her side and facing him. His heart
began beating faster upon seeing her and he had to force himself calm
before he lost his grip. He then noticed that P-chan was not in sight,
despite having been taken to bed by her the previous evening. Ranma
scowled dangerously, wondering where he had gone.
Then his ears picked up slight sounds coming from the bathroom.
With a feral grin, he dropped to the ground and made his way to the
window of the Tendo's bathroom. It was a matter of a few seconds for
him to unlock it from the outside and slip it open without a squeak. He
lithely slid through and softly closed it again.
Dark as the room was, Ranma was easily able to pick out the little
piglet standing at the bathtub faucet, struggling to turn the hot water
tap on. P-chan had not noticed Ranma enter, intent as he was on the
task. He soon managed to start the water and waited as the tub filled,
then turned it off again a few minutes later and hopped into the water.
Ryouga appeared momentarily and began climbing out of the tub. Then he
saw Ranma leaning against the wall.
"Ranma!" he growled and began approaching, then cast a glance
towards the rest of the house. "What trick are you trying to pull, you
bastard?!" he said in a low voice, trying to not wake the rest of the
house.
"No trick, P-chan," Ranma replied, also keeping his voice down.
"Don't call me P-chan!" Ryouga shot back. "And don't give me those
lies either! You can't fool Akane, and you can't fool me! What's your
game?!"
"I haven't told a single lie since I got back, pig boy," Ranma
said. "Everything I said to Akane yesterday afternoon was the complete
truth."
Ryouga chuckled. "I wasn't born yesterday, Ranma," he spat. "I
know that you couldn't care less about Akane! And you running away for
two months proves it! You've lost her, Ranma! So step aside and let a
real man have her! Akane's mine!"
"Wrong, P-chan," Ranma snarled dropping any pretense of reason.
"Akane belongs to me, and nobody's going to take her away from me. Not
you, not Kuno, nobody. You know why? Because you might be her pet, but
*I* am the man she loves. She's already chosen me, Ryouga, and there's
nothing you can do about it."
"Oh, you think so, eh?" Ryouga snarled back. "Then I challenge
you, Ranma! The loser gives up Akane for good!"
"I refuse your challenge."
"Good. It'll be...what?"
"Why should I accept your challenge, pig boy?" Ranma sneered.
"I've already won. I already have Akane, and I have nothing more to
gain by fighting you. So I'm not going to waste my time answering a
useless challenge. Fight me all you want, but I'll be damned before I
give Akane up to a loser like you!"
Ryouga seethed and opened his mouth.
"Besides, there are three things you've forgotten," Ranma said
before he could talk. "Number one, even if you won you'd have no right
to force Akane's choice. She could still choose me, which she would,
and you'd still be the loser. Number two, what would you do when she
found out about P-chan? Or do you honestly plan to try a relationship
with her without telling her about her little pet piggy? Number three,
I've told her the truth about my feelings, while you're still hiding
yours. You won't get very far while you're still too much of a coward
to tell her the truth."
"You...you..." Ryouga sputtered.
With lightening speed, Ranma grabbed Ryouga's bandanna and dragged
him under the cold water sprayer. He quickly shrunk back down to P-
chan. "Now get out of here, piggy, so that I can take my bath!" Ranma
ordered. He opened the window and threw the piglet outside, then
slammed the window shut again.
"Stupid jerk," Ranma thought with a roll of his eyes as he
undressed to bathe. "I hope another cat finds him!"

------------------------------------

Everybody had been surprised to find Ranma already awake and up by
the time breakfast was ready, but he simply shrugged off their questions
and ate. His father had been particularly irate that he had skipped
their morning spar. However, a quick explanation and a few blows to the
head convinced him to drop the matter.
So Ranma and Akane managed to get off to school without too much
incident. Ranma quickly hopped up onto the fence as usual and began
walking. But a sudden urge made him look down at Akane as the walked.
Once again he felt his animal desires flare. He could not help
looking at her shapely legs, her bust, her narrow waste, her hair that
bobbed lightly as she walked...
"My mate..." came unbidden to his mind. "MY mate. And nobody else
will ever have her!"
With a grimace, he forced down his desires. But he could not
resist leaping off them fence to walk by her side. She looked at him
curiously.
"Why the change?" she asked, her voice suddenly sounding like sweet
music to his ears.
"Remember what I said yesterday after I got back?" he asked.
He saw her face flush out of the corner of his eye, but said
nothing about it.
"Um, you said...you said that you...love me." The last two words
were said so quietly that before the Cat Fist training, he would have
had trouble hearing them.
"And I said that I would never leave you again," he added. "I was
very serious, Akane. I want to be close to you forever." He grinned at
her sheepishly. "And this is closer than walking on the fence." Akane
snorted and carefully averted her gaze.
Again Ranma grimaced. Obviously, Akane was not fully convinced.
Not that he blamed her, really. After more than a year of trouble
between them, she had good reason to be skeptical. In fact, if his ears
were not deceiving him, one such reason was approaching even now.
Sure enough, a few moments later Shampoo suddenly fell out of the
sky on her bicycle, landing where Ranma had been a few moments before.
Of course, with as much warning as he had it a simple matter to dance
out of the way before the Amazon landed. She beamed at him, ignoring
Akane completely.
"Airen!" she squealed happily. "I so glad you back!" She lunged
at him with open arms, and again he stepped out of her path, letting her
sail past him.
Undeterred, Shampoo leapt in front of him, offering a box. "Stupid
mercenary girl call last night, say you come home!" she said. "Here,
you try new recipe!"
Next to him, Akane rolled her eyes. "Nabiki. I should have
known." Ranma said nothing. Nor did he take Shampoo's offering. He
just stared at her, his arms crossed in front of him.
"What wrong, husband?" Shampoo finally asked, sounding confused.
"Not hungry?"
"He's NOT your husband, you hussy!" Akane shouted at her.
Shampoo gave her a smug look. "He husband by law!" she said
snidely. "I be better wife than pervert girl anyway!"
"FINE!" Akane shouted back. "You can keep the stupid jerk!" She
stalked away, and Ranma moved to follow her. Shampoo grabbed his arm to
hold him back.
"Now we alone," she said, her voice seductive, and held her offered
food under his nose. He had to admit, it smelled great. But even the
food's scent could not hide the foreign smell from his enhanced senses.
Clearly a love potion. Or something similar.
He broke her grasp with a quick flex of his arm and turned to face
her. "I'm not interested in your drugged food, Shampoo," he said with a
sneer. "And I'm not interested in you either. So leave me alone." He
spun to leave. He felt Shampoo try to grasp his arm again so he slapped
her hand away and ran. He quickly out-distanced her before she could
even get over her surprise at his departure.
He sighed as he closed the distance between him and Akane, knowing
that Shampoo would not listen to him. She would be back, and she would
not be so easy to shake off the next time. "For that matter," he added
mentally, "it's not going to be easy to get rid of any of the lunatics
we know."
He managed to catch up with Akane in short order and hopped up next
to her, resuming their leisurely walk to school. Akane looked at him
with bare hostility.
"What are YOU doing here?" she asked with an icy voice.
Ranma looked at her innocently. "Walking to school."
"And what happened to your bimbo WIFE?" she scowled.
"I don't know," Ranma admitted. "I told her I wasn't interested
and to leave me alone, but I doubt that she'll listen to me."
He heard Akane's step falter and stop, so he turned to face her
directly. She was staring at him as though he had grown two more heads
and sprouted feathers.
"Since when have you ever said such things to her?" she demanded.
"Since I decided to stop lying to myself and admit that I love
you," he replied. "Why would I encourage her after choosing you?"
Akane blinked a few times, but could think of nothing to say.
Finally she shook her head and kept walking. Ranma grinned and resumed
walking at her side.
They made it to school without further interruption and entered the
gate, only to find at least half the student body out in the courtyard
and staring at them. Akane stopped self-consciously, but Ranma kept
going confidently. He was the one everyone was really staring at.
Which meant trouble was coming. Better to keep Akane away from it.
"SAOTOME!"
Ranma stopped as Kuno stepped in his path. The other students
moved closer, forming a circle around the two enemies.
"So. The evil sorcerer has finally returned!" Kuno ranted. "Now,
cretin, thou shalt face justice!" He held his bokken in an en-guard
position.
Silence fell as everyone waited for Ranma's response. He let the
silence last for several seconds, ensuring he had everyone's undivided
attention.
Then he spat in Kuno's face.
A nervous tremor ran through the crowd as Kuno's face flushed the
color of over-ripe tomatoes. He wiped his face off with a trembling
hand, then replaced it on the hilt of his bokken.
He struck without another word, slashing sideways at Ranma.
Watching the weapon come towards him as if in slow motion, Ranma
casually flexed the "claws" of one hand. The force behind that simple
movement sliced Kuno's blade into five small pieces that fell to the
ground. The kendoist staggered forward, unbalanced by the sudden
shortening of his weapon, coming within Ranma's physical reach. Ranma
placed one hand around Kuno's neck, lifting him off the ground. His air
supply suddenly cut off, Kuno's eyes bulged as his hands tore at Ranma's
iron grip.
For an instant Ranma considered doing a Darth Vader impression, but
quickly rejected the idea. Instead, he said, "For your own sake, Kuno,
I suggest you to leave me alone." With that said he flicked his hand,
sending Kuno flying head-first into a tree trunk. He collided with a
muffled thud and fell to the ground, quite unconscious. Ranma did not
even look over at him as he walked into the school building, the other
students quickly parting and allowing him to pass.
Akane gave Kuno's still form a worried glance and hurried after
Ranma.

------------------------------------

Akane caught up with Ranma in their classroom as he sat down at his
desk. She sat down next to him.
"That was vicious, Ranma," she hissed, mindful of the few other
students in the room with them. "You didn't have to be so rough with
him."
Ranma looked at her incredulously. "Rough?" he asked, keeping his
voice low. "We've both given him much worse all the time. That was
nothing compared to some of the stuff he's been through."
Akane bared her teeth in frustration. "Physically, yes," she
snapped, fighting to keep from shouting. "But lifting him up by the
neck? Throwing him at a tree like that? That was down-right mean!
You've never been that vicious before!"
"It wouldn't make any difference to him," Ranma said. "Either way
he'll still convince himself that he's the better warrior and that next
time he'll win. The only thing that will make him give up his romantic
delusions of samurai and demons is death. Now, I don't plan on killing
him, but I'm getting fed up with his stupidity. He made this personal a
long time ago. So from now on, I'm going to take it personally."
"But do you have to be so nasty about it?" Akane shot back.
He gave her a hard glare. "You bet I do. I'm not just going to
beat him anymore. I'm going to destroy him. I'm going to utterly
humiliate him every single time we fight, because that's the price he
deserves to pay for all the crap he's put us through." He looked away.
"I just haven't decided if I'm going to enjoy doing it."
Akane decided then to drop the matter.

------------------------------------

After Ranma's display against Kuno, the rest of the school wisely
decided to leave him alone. Except for Ukyou. She arrived in class too
late to great him before the teacher appeared, but she was not so
restrained at lunch time.
"I'm so happy you're back, Ranchan!" she gushed, stuffing a cold
okonomiaki into his hands. Akane scowled at the display and stomped
away, causing Ranma to sigh. Still, even now he was not one to pass up
free food and calmly ate Ukyou's offering. Besides, he did not smell
anything foreign in the confection.
"Let me guess," he said between bites. "Nabiki called you last
night and sold you information that I was back."
Ukyou started guiltily. "Er..."
"I thought so," Ranma announced grimly. "She called Shampoo last
night also, as it happens. By any chance, did she tell you whether she
called the Kunos also?"
Ukyou blinked. "No. Why would she tell me that?"
"I didn't think she would," Ranma explained. "But I figured there
was no harm in asking." He swallowed the last bite. "Ukyou," he said
as he reached for the lunch Kasumi had given him. "Why are you so
fixated on me?"
Ukyou blinked again. "You're my fiance, silly," she said. "And
you're the greatest guy I know! You're hansom, kind, caring..."
"Ukyou," he interrupted, "how could you possibly still be in love
with me after everything that's happened? You're possibly the smartest
and sanest of the four girls after me. I figured that of all four of
you, you'd be the one to figure out on her own just how I felt."
Ukyou sniffed. "I'm not just the smartest and sanest, Ranma. I'm
the best one period, and you know it. I'm the one to choose, so why are
you beating around the bush like this?"
"Because you are not the one that I've chosen, that's why," he said
simply. "My heart has chosen for me, and it's chosen Akane."
Ukyou's hand slammed down on the table. "Now wait one damn minute,
Ranchan..." she began.
"I almost married her, remember," he continued mercilessly. "I
would have if the entire gang of crazies hadn't shown up and destroyed
the house. Probably." Ukyou opened her mouth to protest, but Ranma
kept going. "But then again, that's MY choice and no one else's." He
gave Ukyou a penetrating glare. "So why does everyone around here seem
to think that they have the right to force me to do what they want
rather than what I want?"
"I'm not trying to force you into anything!" Ukyou protested.
"Oh? You tried to force me to not marry Akane, didn't you?" Ranma
needled. "The wedding had been destroyed long before you and Shampoo
showed up, but that doesn't change what you were there for, now does it?
Besides, the Tendos and my parents can't force me to the alter if I
don't want to go, and I'm sure you realize that perfectly well. In
other words, you are trying to run my life for me, just like everyone
else, and I neither want nor need that."
Ukyou was trembling with anger as he finished. "Fine. If that's
the way you want it." She marched away from him, then stopped in the
doorway and turned back. "Don't imagine for an instant that I've given
up on you, Ranchan," she snapped, and spun out of the room.

------------------------------------

Akane did her best to stay out of Ukyou's sight as the other girl
stalked out of the classroom. Her mind was starting to short-circuit
from the unusual day and she did not feel up to an argument with any of
her rivals. Ranma had actually told Ukyou off! He finally told her!
Just as he had told Shampoo that morning! Along with his sudden change
about Kuno, Akane was starting to wonder if this really was Ranma.
Once the chef was out of sight, Akane walked back into the
classroom. Ranma was still at his desk, calmly eating his lunch as if
the conversation had not even happened. And fortunately the classroom
was otherwise empty, so nobody had been around to hear Ranma's admission
of love. They certainly did not need to open that can of worms.
"Ranma, what's wrong with you?"
"Nothing at all," he said without even looking at her. "It's just
like I told you yesterday. This training voyage gave me a whole new
perspective on life.
"So why can't you tell me what happened to you?" she demanded.
"I'm starting to get really worried about this! I've never seen anyone
change so completely over a few short months!"
Ranma shook his head and looked her straight in the eyes. "Akane,
please trust me on this. What happened to me on this last trip has to
remain my secret. For YOUR protection, please don't ask me about it
anymore. I'll tell you some day. Probably. But not right now. For
the gods' sake, PLEASE. Trust me."
The look in his eyes and the tone of his voice were so compelling,
that Akane found herself nodding almost against her own volition. Ranma
smiled as she nodded, and the smile sent little shivers up her spine for
a reason that she could not figure out.
"Good. Now come on, sit down. We have a lunch to eat."
She sat and began to eat with him in silence. But she still had
some nagging doubts. After all, more than a year of anger and suspicion
was not so easily forgotten.

------------------------------------

Akane had to stay after school for a project she had been working
on with some friends, so Ranma reluctantly left her and headed for home
by himself. "I supposed it IS unreasonable to expect that we'll be
together ALL the time," he muttered to himself.
He suddenly stopped stock still as his ears picked up a familiar
sound. It was about three blocks to his left, if he was not mistaken.
But if he did not know exactly where it was, he did know exactly what it
was. He grinned a feral smile of pleasure as he bounded up to the roof
tops in pursuit.
Three blocks over, he found what he was looking for. A mob of
outraged women wielding brooms, rakes, and other house-hold tools were
charging down the street after a shriveled old man holding a huge sack
that bulged with bras and panties.
"Nyahahahaha!" he cackled. "You ladies are several decades too
young to catch me!"
Ranma's smile grew wider. Beating on Happosai for a while sounded
like fun. He owed the old man a debt or two.
In a flash he had himself concealed in a tree that hung over the
sidewalk. His eyes glinted as Happosai passed underneath him and his
hand lashed out. His "claws" neatly severed Happosai's handholds from
the bag, dumping the collection of stolen underwear onto the sidewalk.
The women careened to a stop around the pile, reclaiming their clothing.
"NO!" shrieked Happosai. "NOT MY PRECIOUS GOODIES!"
"'Fraid so, pervert," Ranma said snidely, flashing to the fence
above him. "Looks like all your work today has been for nothing." He
grinned smugly.
The old man turned to face him slowly, his eyes flashing the threat
of holy terror. "You DARE do this to your master?!" he growled.
"Not at all," Ranma said. "But I DO dare to do it to you, you
shriveled old waste of skin. You aren't my master, after all."
Happosai gritted his teeth. "I will make you regret that, Ranma,"
he promised. "You'll never dare cross me again after I'm through with
you."
Ranma spat at his face.
Unlike Kuno, Happosai was more than fast enough to dodge that
insult and leap at Ranma. Like Kuno, though, his speed was no match for
Ranma's. The cat-warrior's hand blurred and grabbed the old man's,
diverting his charge by slamming him down into the sidewalk. A small
kick sent Happosai flying into a near-by fire hydrant, denting it badly.
Ranma crossed his arms over his chest insolently as the mob of
women behind him put up a cheer. Happosai ignored them, focusing his
glare on Ranma as he stood woozily.
"Not good enough, you dirty old fart," Ranma chided. "You'll have
to go quite a bit faster than that to defeat me."
"Happo Fire Burst!" Happosai shouted, throwing one of his chi bombs
at Ranma. With a sneer, Ranma lazily sent a tiny chi-blast at the bomb,
exploding it two feet from the old man. The blast deflected back into
Happosai's face, once again throwing him back against the hydrant.
"You're too weak to take me on, pervert," Ranma gloated. "Why
don't you crawl back to your cave for another ten years?"
Happosai growled furiously as his battle aura flared around him.
"You insolent little creep!" he gritted. "I'll teach you a lesson
you'll never forget!"
The old master leapt for Ranma, fists extended. Ignoring the old
man's aura, Ranma flashed his left hand to each of the old man's,
knocking them wide, then pounded on Happosai's unprotected head a dozen
times with his right hand. The counter and attack had taken less time
than an eye-blink, but it was more than enough to knock the ancient
pervert unconscious. He flopped to the ground and didn't move.
Ranma leapt back up to the fence and addressed the women. "There
you go, ladies. He's all yours." Ignoring their thankyous, he leapt
for the roof tops and headed home, smiling at the sound of the pounding
Happosai's victims were giving him.

------------------------------------

Other eyes were watching from a roof across the street as Ranma
leapt away from Happosai.
"Interesting," Cologne thought. "Son-in-law must have done a lot
of training while he was gone. He is much faster." For an instant the
old woman wondered if she would still be able to beat him in a fight,
then quickly banished the thought as unworthy of an Amazon warrior.
"Beautiful sight, isn't it?" Ranma said from behind her.
Cologne spun around with a curse on her lips. "Where did you come
from?" she demanded.
Ranma grinned smugly. "Trying to spy on me, Cologne? You're very
good, better than Happosai, even. But even you can't sneak up on me."
"How did you know I was here?" the ancient Amazon snarled.
"That's for me to know and you to never find out," he said lightly.
"Just know that if you come for me, I'll know where you are. You'll
never be surprising me again." He dashed to the edge of the roof and
jumped away before she could reply.
For a while Cologne glared at the spot where Ranma had disappeared,
then left to return to the Cat Cafe'. Ranma had shown her a lot of
disrespect over the past year, and enough was enough. It was time to
show him once and for all that nobody crossed her. And to do that, she
had plans to make and allies to enlist.

------------------------------------

The setting sun found Ranma resting on the Tendo roof. He had been
up there most of the afternoon, considering the day's events. He did
not want to admit it, but the confrontation with Cologne had put him on
edge. It went to prove that there were other hunters in his territory
that he had to watch for. Cologne was not one to accept being mocked.
Not that he worried about her attacking him. He was certain that
the Cat Fist was more than enough to take care of her in a direct fight.
No, the real danger was her deviousness. She had pulled off many plots
against him before, and most of them failed due to simple luck rather
than his fighting prowess.
A sudden impulse had him leaning over the roof and knocking on
Akane's window.
She looked out her window at him, a sour expression crossing over
her face. It was gone in a heart beat, but not fast enough for him to
miss it. She opened her window.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Just to be with you, Akane," he answered, swinging down into her
room. "Do you think I've been lying to you?" he asked as he landed
neatly on his feet.
The question took Akane aback. "Well, no. I'm just not used to
you behaving this way."
"Bweee!" agreed P-chan from where he lay on her bed.
"P-chan's back, huh?" Ranma asked, not looking at him.
"Yes. So don't you pick on him, Ranma!" Akane ordered.
Ranma laughed. "Don't worry, Akane, I have something much more
interesting in mind."
With a tiny hop he was next to her, folding her into an embrace.
"And P-chan doesn't figure into it at all," he said in a low voice,
stroking her hair with a hand.
Akane stared up at him, shivering slightly in his arms. He heard
her heart beat speed up as he leaned closer and kissed her lips lightly.
She stiffened as their lips joined, then relaxed and melted into him as
the kiss lingered.
"BWEEEEE! BWEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" P-chan suddenly screamed at them,
leaping for Ranma. In a flash, Ranma lifted Akane from the floor and
dodged the piglet's attack by jumping across the room. He set Akane
back down and loosened his hold slightly. She looked over at her pet.
"What's wrong with P-chan?" she asked, confused.
Ranma cast a blank look at the enraged animal. "Maybe he thinks
I'm attacking you," he suggested.
"BWEEEEEEE!" P-chan confirmed, leaping for Ranma again. With all
his speed, Ranma snatched up Akane's hand and guided it to close around
P-chan's bandanna collar. He released her and let her cradle P-chan in
her arms as the two of them sat down together on her bed.
The piglet snuggled into her hold and glared at Ranma suspiciously.
Akane just looked down at him in confusion. "Don't worry, P-chan, this
is just Ranma! He won't hurt me!"
Ranma put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in. She
leaned against him unconsciously. "That's right, P-chan. I love her,
you know. I'll be very nice to her." He winked at the piglet when
Akane was not looking at him. With a tiny growl the piglet began
struggling against Akane's hold, trying to reach Ranma's hand and bite
him. Akane held him tighter.
"P-chan! Stop it!" she demanded. "P-chan!" Still, her pet would
not listen to her. Finally she stood, opened her door and tossed the
piglet out in the hall. "If you can't behave, you can just stay out
there!" she said, slamming the door before the pig could get back in.
"Honestly," she said, sitting back down next to Ranma and letting
him hug her again, laying her head on his shoulder. "I don't know
what's wrong with him tonight!"
Ranma sighed. "He's never liked me, Akane. Maybe you should get
him fixed or something. Or buy him a cage. I doubt he'll ever leave us
in peace if you let him roam around in here."
"Maybe if you treated him nicer, he wouldn't hate you," Akane said
sarcastically.
Ranma grinned and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "Look, Akane.
I'm through with P-chan. I'm not going to do anything else with that
pig, and that's a promise." He turned her head toward him, looking her
in the eyes. "You're the one I really care about."
Again he leaned forward and kissed her, and this time Akane was
already relaxed in his arms as their lips met.

------------------------------------

Ryouga hiked, thinking incredibly evil thoughts about Ranma. "How
DARE that bastard move in on Akane like that?! Treating me as though I
wasn't even there?! DAMN YOU TO HELL, RANMA!!!!" Unfortunately he was
not able to shout out his favorite curse against his rival, seeing as
how a pig's snout was not made for it. And as if that was not bad
enough he had somehow gotten turned around while looking for the Tendo's
bathroom and had ended up outside their yard, walking the streets of
Nerima.
"This is all Ranma's fault," he assured himself. "It's his fault
that I'm stuck outside as a pig! And as if that's not bad enough, now
he's got Akane believing his lies!" His mind's eye saw the two of them
alone in her room, holding each other, kissing, even...
"NO!" he screamed mentally. "That will never happen while I'm
still alive! This is the last straw!! Now I'm going to get my revenge
against him!!!" He looked around the unfamiliar surroundings and
sighed. "As soon as I get back, anyway. And then I'll make Akane see
just what kind of monster he is and she'll come running to my arms!
Then what will you do, Ranma?!" His thoughts blurred as he began
daydreaming. "Oh, Akane..."
His daydream abruptly halted as a strong hand closed on his
bandanna and lifted him into the air. "Bweee?" he said, surprised.
His captor spun him around and he found himself looking at a
withered old face.
"So, Ryouga," Cologne said. "Lost again, eh? Come with me, we
have some things to talk about."

------------------------------------

Ryouga stared at the old ghoul's back suspiciously as she led him
out of the Cat Cafe's bathroom. She had refused to answer his
questions, simply ordering him to "get dressed and follow me." The two
of them had worked together before, but that did not mean that he
trusted her.
Soon they came to the dining room of the Cat Cafe'. The restaurant
had been closed for the evening, but it still was not empty. Sitting
around the largest of the tables were Kuno, Mousse, and Happosai.
"What are they doing here?" Ryouga demanded.
"We might ask the same," Kuno soliloquized. "For we have been
brought here on naught but a promise of conversation!"
"Shut your yap, boy," Happosai ordered. "Let the old woman speak."
Kuno looked outraged and seemed about to attack the old man, but
Cologne's voice stopped the violence before it could start. "We are all
here," she said, pushing Ryouga into one of the remaining chairs and
taking another for herself, "so all of you shut up and listen. I have
brought you here because we all have a common interest. You all wish to
avenge yourselves against Ranma Saotome." A low, angry mutter circled
among the four men.
"I, too, wish him to be put back in his place," Cologne explained.
"His insolence against me has gone too far. In other words, we five now
have a common interest against him. It is simplicity itself that we
should team up and work together against him."
Cologne paused, seeing that she had their undivided attention. "I
see that you are all interested in my proposal."
"Why include me in this, you old...I mean, honored elder?" Mousse
piped up, addressing an empty chair. "You've never cared about my want
for revenge before."
"I'm over here, you myopic fool!" she snapped. "And what's this
talk of caring? Let's be honest with each other. Nobody here cares a
thing for each other's desires. As it happens, however, we all desire
the same thing. So we might as well put our differences aside for a
while and work together to achieve our common goal."
"So how do we do that, then?" Ryouga demanded.
Cologne rolled her eyes. "Isn't it obvious, idiot?" she snapped.
"It is questionable whether any of us could defeat him by ourselves.
Even me. But together the chances are reversed. Ranma could take on
any one of us and hold his own, if not win outright. But what could he
do against all five of us at once? If we all attack him at the same
time, he'll fall for sure!"
Silence met her remarks. "Are you actually offering to fight by
our side, Cologne?" Happosai said, humor evident in his voice. "Would
it really be all five of us, rather than just four?"
"I would be at your side," she assured them. "I have an interest
in this as well. Why would I sit out of it?"
"Hmph," Kuno snorted. "A TRUE samurai such as myself would prefer
to fight alone, as he should. After all, though Saotome is truly a
demon my considerable prowess is by itself enough to take him. But this
proposal has wisdom, and so I accept! When do we strike?"
Cologne looked at the others in turn. "And the rest of you?"
"I owe Ranma a lot for what he's done to me," Ryouga swore. "Count
me in."
Mousse nodded. "Me too."
Cologne looked at Happosai. The old man shrugged sourly. "I have
nothing to lose, I might as well do it."
The old Amazon nodded. "Good. We meet tomorrow morning at 9
o'clock across the street from the Tendo residence. Being a Sunday,
Ranma will undoubtedly be in the dojo practicing. We'll strike him
there." The four men nodded and stood to leave. "Mousse, take pig boy
with you for the evening. You are responsible for making sure that he
gets to the rendezvous spot on time."
Mousse and Ryouga both looked ready to argue, but Cologne's stern
glare silenced them both. They climbed the stairs without another word.
Happosai also left without further comment.
"Ah, tomorrow will be a day long remembered," Kuno ranted as he
left the building. "We shall finally see the end of the demon Saotome!"
His voice was cut off as the door closed behind him.
Cologne waited a few moments more, then knocked on the floor three
times with her staff. At the signal, the kitchen door opened and
Shampoo appeared, accompanied by Ukyou and Kodachi.
"Do you three remember the rest of the plan?" the ancient Amazon
demanded.
Kodachi laughed insanely. "But of course! We wait until darling
Ranma is kept busy by yourself and those four cretins, then attack the
evil Akane Tendo and end her spell over darling Ranma!" The other two
cringed from her laugh, but nodded agreement.
"Good," Cologne said firmly. "And make sure that none of those
four get wind of this, not even Happosai. They'll try to stop you if
they do. You three can fight among yourselves for Ranma after we take
care of Akane. Until then, remember the plan!"
The three girls nodded and left the room, each already privately
planning how to catch Ranma after Akane was out of the way.
Cologne snorted once she was alone, and allowed herself to feel
satisfied. "Now, Ranma, you will learn the hard way not to mock me."

------------------------------------

Akane woke up slowly, slipping out of a wonderful dream about
Ranma. The dream was already dissolving from her memory, as dreams
usually did, but she still tried laying back to recapture it. She
quickly gave up and rose from bed, stretching luxuriously. The house
was very quiet that Sunday morning, which was unusual. Normally there
were the sounds of Ranma's exercises coming from the dojo.
She stood and dressed in sweat pants and a tee shirt and went out
in search of someone. A quick search of all the rooms quickly showed
her that everyone else was still asleep, except for Ranma and Kasumi.
Their beds were empty. Even Nodoka was still asleep in the guest room.
Naturally, she found Kasumi in the kitchen tidying up. "Ranma?"
told her little sister. "He's out in the dojo, I believe. He said he
was going to do some exercising."
Akane blinked and went out towards the dojo, glancing at the hall
clock as she went. "8:45?" she read. "Usually Ranma's made such a
racket that everyone's awake by now." She shook her head and went out
to the dojo.
Ranma was in the dojo all right. He was sitting in the center of
the room in the lotus position, his back to the door. Even from across
the room Akane could feel his concentration. "Is he meditating?" she
asked herself.
"Come on in, Akane," Ranma said suddenly, causing her to start.
She had entered the dojo as silently as she could manage and thought
that he had not noticed her. She entered and walked around in front on
him to see what he was doing. What she saw surprised her.
He had his hands cupped in front of him and held a ball of glowing
chi in them. Even as she watched the ball grew and shrunk several
times, constantly contorting into new shapes even as the size changed.
"What are you doing?" she asked. "Kasumi said you were in here
exercising."
"I AM exercising," he said, looking up at her face and letting the
chi dissipate. "One of the main things I did on the training trip was
study chi techniques. It's really amazing what you can do with the
stuff if you dedicate enough time to it."
He stood. "How do you think I was able to shift my perspective on
life so drastically?" he asked. "No matter what kind form of the art
you're studying, simple physical work won't do that much to a person."
"So are you going to tell me what happened to you now?" she asked
hopefully.
Ranma grimaced. "I can't afford to, Akane," he responded. "I need
to deal with it alone. Telling you about it can't do anything except
get you involved, and I don't want anyone else to be involved with me.
It's just too dangerous."
Akane felt her temper peeking and was about to shout at him when he
suddenly cocked his head. "What? What is it?"
"We have visitors coming," he explained, stepping between her and
one of the sliding doors. She was about to ask him how she knew, but a
furious shout preempted her.
"SAOTOME!!!!!!"
"Kuno," she breathed.
"And a few others with him," Ranma said tersely.
"Huh?"
Akane was unable to say anything more before the door slid open,
revealing an enraged Kuno. With him was Happosai.
"DEMON! YOUR EVIL REIGN ENDS NOW!!!" Kuno shouted, brandishing a
katana. A real steel katana, not a wooden bokken.
"Good to see you two," Ranma said casually. "Where are your other
two friends?"
"How did you know about them?" Happosai demanded as he and Kuno
began spreading out.
Ranma was not able to answer before the door on the opposite wall
slid open, revealing Ryouga, holding his umbrella, and Mousse. They
both entered and began flanking him, until the four formed a rough ring
around Ranma and Akane.
"Akane!" Ryouga called. "Get out of the way! This is between us
and Ranma!"
"Yes, beauteous one!" Kuno called. "Get thee hence, that we may
deal with this evil one!"
"What's going on?" she demanded of them.
"Do what they say, Akane," Ranma said calmly. Akane looked at him
as if he were crazy. "Like Ryouga said, this is none of your business."
"Now wait just a minute!" she shouted.
"Stop arguing, Akane!" Mousse called. "Just get out of our way!"
The door from the house suddenly opened, revealing the rest of the
household. "What's going on in here?" came Nodoka's voice. Everyone
crowded into the dojo, gaping at the scene.
"Are you all crazy?" Nabiki demanded. "You can't all have a fight
in here, it'll wreck the entire house!"
"This is none of your business," Happosai shot back, "so all of you
had best stay out of this! Just get Akane out of our way and we'll get
down to business!"
"Akane!" Soun shouted. "Do as they say! Get out of there!"
"But...but what about Ranma?!" she demanded.
There was a sudden blur through one of the open sliding doors and
Akane was suddenly thrown towards her family. Genma neatly caught her
and set her back on her feet as Cologne joined the circle around Ranma.
"He will have to do without your help, Akane Tendo," she said. "He
brought this upon himself anyway."
There was silence as the five and the one regarded each other.
"Very well!" Kuno shouted. "Have at thee!" He moved forward and
attacked, swinging his Katana for Ranma's neck. Mousse advanced at the
same moment, swinging his arm claws as they suddenly popped out of his
sleeves. With a small leap and a mid-air contortion, Ranma dodged both
strikes, letting each warrior parry the other's blows with a loud clang.
Thinking he was distracted, Ryouga charged Ranma from behind,
jabbing at the small of Ranma's back with his umbrella. With faster-
than-lightening movements, Ranma shredded the umbrella into coleslaw
with his "claws" and landed a split-second two-kick combo on Ryouga's
face and chest, sending the lost boy flying backwards.
At that moment Mousse and Kuno recovered from their first blows and
swung for Ranma again. Happosai chose that moment to attack, leaping
over the pair and coming down on Ranma from above. In a flash Ranma was
down on the floor, sliding between the two young men and letting the old
pervert crash down where he had been standing. Before Mousse and Kuno
could turn around he grabbed their heads, slammed them together, then
threw them towards Happosai. The old man managed to leap over the two
human missiles, letting them hit the floor and slide into the wall of
the dojo with a heavy thud.
The two wobbled to their feet as Ryouga once again charged, trying
a spinning high kick followed by a heavy jab to the solar plexus. Ranma
easily ducked the kick and leaned sideways to let the punch speed past
him, then stepped backwards as Happosai once again leaped for him. The
old man once again landed heavily on the floor, tripping Ryouga as the
lost boy began advancing on Ranma. The pair went down in a tangled
heap.
Cologne suddenly charged, her staff leading the way. As with
Ryouga's umbrella, Ranma shredded the staff into sawdust and began
stepping backwards as Cologne began striking. Her hands blurred as they
probed for holes in Ranma's defenses, but there were none as his own
hands blurred to block every punch. He gave a feral grin and sped his
hands up even faster, still blocking the old crone's punches but
beginning to reply with his own. Several dozen managed to land before
Cologne tightened her own defense. Still, the old woman was being
pushed back steadily. With a yawn, Ranma began aiming his punches for
Cologne's limbs rather than her chest. Her hands continued blurring to
block his punches, which gave him plenty of opportunity to start landing
kicks on her chest. His feet also began blurring, striking Cologne
repeatedly and sending her flying into a wall post.
The four men stopped in astonishment, unable to believe that Ranma
had just beaten Cologne so easily, and gaped at him.
With a growl, Cologne stood and approached the four. "Very good,
Ranma," she spat. "I can see I underestimated you." Her battle aura
flared around her. "I'm going to have to raise the stakes a little
bit." The other four also stood ready, their confidence restored with
Cologne's presence.
Ranma simply watched them smugly, his arms crossed over his chest.
"ATTACK!" Cologne shouted, and all five leapt for Ranma at once.

------------------------------------

Akane watched, biting her lips in fear as Ranma began jumping and
weaving between his attackers. The fight had seemed furious before, but
now that all six were going at it tooth-and-nail, it resembled nothing
so much as a feeding-frenzy of sharks. Blurs and flashes of chi raged
across the battle field, making it impossible to tell who was winning,
or even if anyone was winning at all. From what little she could see,
Ranma did not even seem to be fighting back, but simply dodged everyone
else's attacks without striking back.
She wanted to shout out at him, order him to actually defend
himself, but she did not dare distract him.
She was so intent on the battle that she did not notice the
gymnastics ribbon snaking towards her until it had already wrapped
around her neck. She gagged and tried to shout for help, but her air
supply had been cut off. She was unable to resist as the ribbon hauled
out out one of the sliding doors, away from the melee.
The ribbon suddenly dropped her and unwound from her throat,
letting her take in a gasp of cool air. She struggled to her feet, then
noticed that Kodachi was not the only one present. Shampoo and Ukyou
also surrounded her.
"What do you want?" she demanded of them.
"Simple, you little tart," Kodachi said in a superior voice. "We
want you out of the way!"
"That right!" Shampoo declared. "We fight for Ranma later. Right
now, just you being put out of contest!"
"No more chances, Akane," Ukyou shot at her. "Ranchan will never
be yours, and we're making sure of it!"
The three lifted their weapons.
"AKANE!" her father shouted, running for her, but he was too far
away.
Akane tried to back away, but there was nowhere to back to. Fear
gripped her and she began screaming.
"RANMA!!! HELP ME!!!!"

------------------------------------

Ranma almost laughed as the five began attacking him. They were
going all out, he could tell, but it was not nearly enough to take him
down. Just for fun he began dipping, dodging, and weaving through the
melee, not even hitting back, seeing how long his enemies could last.
Already he could see Kuno and Mousse tiring out, both almost unable to
even hold their weapons any longer. Ryouga and the two old warriors
were a different story, but he was confident of out-lasting them also.
Then he heard Akane start screaming, and his blood ran cold.
"RANMA!!! HELP ME!!!!"

------------------------------------

The five attackers heard it as well and the fight suddenly stopped.
"What's going on?" Kuno demanded, seeing the three girls that
surrounded Akane. "This was not part of our glorious plan to punish the
evil Saotome!"
"Not part of yours, perhaps," Cologne gloated. "But I had a
different idea of punishment in mind."
"WHAT?!" Ryouga screamed. "You're putting Akane in danger?! You
old liar!!" He charged Cologne, but was quickly thrown back by the
ancient Amazon.
"Don't even try to interfere, boy!" Cologne said. "You are a part
of this plan, you know."
"This...was your plan?" Ranma asked calmly.
Cologne turned on him smugly. "Yes. Now you shall learn the price
for mocking me."
"This...was your plan?" Ranma repeated, a brilliant-blue aura
surrounding him. The aura flashed like a blue forest fire, then
crystallized into the form of a huge cat.
And for the first time, Cologne realized that her plan was a huge
mistake.

------------------------------------

The fools had attacked him. That was stupid enough. Nobody could
defeat the hunter. But then they decided to attack his mate. HIS mate.
And that could not be forgiven.
"I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!" he roared, his aura flaring like a super
nova. The five fools attacking him were scattered from his path, and he
ignored them, concentrating on the three who were threatening his mate.
The three of them and his mate all spun towards him as he leaped
for them, his three enemies getting a wonderful view of their doom as it
thundered down upon them.
"Ranma darling!" cried the one with the gymnastics ribbon, opening
her arms as though to embrace him. He sneered. The fool.
His claws tore into her, lifting her off the ground and throwing
her against the wall of the yard, leaving long bloody gashes along her
torso. Knowing that she was either dead or unconscious, the hunter
turned to the next. She backed away from him, her bonbori drooping low
and leaving her undefended.
"Airen!" she called as he stalked closer to her. He snarled and
jumped, covering the distance in an eye-blink. She screamed and swung
her weapons for his head, but his paws effortlessly caught the weapons
and tore them into tiny chunks. He then back-handed her, sending her
flying into the crown of one of the trees in the yard.
A small bound carried him in front of the third, placing him
between her and his mate. He crouched to the ground and gave a feral
snarl of anger.
"R...Ranchan..." She slowly backed away, her weapon held before
her defensively. The hunter tensed to spring.
"RANMA!!! STOP!!!!" his mate shouted to him. He felt her put her
hands on his shoulders, trying to hold him back. He snarled one last
time at his remaining enemy before letting the haze of battle leave his
mind.

------------------------------------

Ranma stood back up, letting his cat aura vanish. He turned and
pulled Akane into an embrace. "Are you all right?" he asked her
desperately.
She looked into his eyes, fear shining in her own. "I...I'm
fine...Ranma...what the hell was that?!"
Ranma opened his mouth to reply.
"Uh, Ranchan..."
Ranma turned his head and shot Ukyou a hate-filled glare. "Leave!
Now!" he snarled. The young chef took a couple steps back in fright,
then jumped the fence and ran down the street.
Soun was suddenly by their side, hugging them both. "Oh, my poor
baby girl!" he wailed. "You're safe!!!" He began crying and Ranma
quickly slipped both of them out of his embrace before they both got
drenched.
Kasumi hesitantly approached as they walked towards the dojo. "Um,
I've just called doctor Tofu..." she said, staring nervously at Ranma.
"That's a good idea, Kasumi," he replied briskly without breaking
stride.
He stepped back in the dojo and let Akane move over to the rest of
the household. He then turned his gaze on the five who had attacked
him. They all flinched, except for Cologne, who was looking back
steadily. To his surprise, her gaze held no anger, only curiosity.
For several seconds the dojo was eerily quiet, except for the sound
of Soun's sobbing as it drifted in from the yard.
Then someone began clapping.
The entire mob looked over to the corner of the dojo to see Bast
standing there, applauding enthusiastically. Her lips were upturned
into a smugly satisfied smile.
"Bravo! Bravo!" she called. "That's the best performance I've
seen in centuries! Ranma, you are truly the best of all my students!"
"YOUR student?!" Genma shouted, marching forward. "Who are you,
and by what right do you call MY son your student?!" he demanded,
stopping inches from her and glaring down at her.
Bast gave him a look of contempt and blasted him in the chest with
a small fireball. The blast was enough to send him flying back to
Ranma's feet, his chest smoking.
"I am the demon Bast!" she shouted. "And my rights to your son
come from God himself! Never insult me, Genma Saotome! You are on my
special list of enemies!"
"What are you talking about?" Nodoka called, rushing to Genma's
side and helping him to sit up. "What has my husband done to anger
you?"
Bast sneered. "Have you ever heard of the 'Cat Fist'?"
Nodoka looked blank. "No." An amused looked crossed Bast's face.
"Then your 'husband'," she spat, "has never explained how, when
Ranma was seven years old, he tied fish sausages around your son and
threw him into a pit of starving cats?"
Nodoka's eyes widened incredulously and she glared at Genma. "And
what, exactly, is she talking about, husband?"
"Well, you see..." he said, cringing.
"Your 'husband' somehow managed to get his hands on a manual of
martial arts techniques that gave a bare-bones description of a
technique called the 'Cat Fist'," Bast explained. "Apparently, he
became enamored with its descriptions of the 'unbeatable powers' and
'god-like strength' of those people who master it, and tried to teach it
to your son. The pit of cats was how he tried to teach it."
Nodoka's glare increased to laser intensity. "You tied fish
sausages around our son and threw him into a pit of starving cats just
to teach him a martial art technique?" she queried, her voice glacially
calm.
"Yes," Bast answered for him. "And when the first session did not
work, he tried it several more times."
Nodoka's glare increased to nuclear intensity.
Genma seriously considered a vacation to Antarctica at that moment.
"But...but...it worked!" he squeaked. "You saw what he just did..."
Nodoka's glare increased to solar intensity.
"It didn't work, you fat old fool!" Bast snapped, jumping to his
side and slamming her foot into his face, knocking him back several
feet. "Or are you really stupid enough to believe that this display you
just saw was the result of YOUR pathetic teachings? You never taught
Ranma the Cat Fist! What you did was literally drive him insane with
fear of cats! What JOKE of a 'powerful' technique is that?!"
Another leap took her to Genma's side again, where upon she locked
her hands around his neck and lifted him off the ground. "The Cat Fist
is MINE! NOT YOURS!!!!!" she screamed in his face, shaking him. "I
created the Cat Fist! I decide who learns it! I teach it! ONLY ME!!!
NOT YOU!!!"
Genma's face was turning blue from asphyxiation when she spun and
threw him at Ranma's feet.
"I took it upon myself to fix your blunders, you thieving coward,
and my investment of time and magic has paid for itself in spades!" she
hissed. "It was MY teaching that made Ranma into the killing machine
you saw today! And now I'll let you see first hand just what my
teachings can do! RANMA!"
Ranma took his eyes off his father and looked up at the demoness.
"What?"
"It is time for you to fulfill your part of the deal," she hissed,
and jabbed a finger at Genma. "Kill him! NOW!"
"What?!" he shouted, taking a step back. "That was never part of
the deal!"
"Says who?" she said, smiling suddenly. It was not a nice smile.
"We have a legally binding contract, Ranma. Signed by you!" She held
her hand up in the air and a piece of paper suddenly materialized in it.
She shook it at Ranma. "Remember this? It says specifically that you
will give me your unconditional obedience in exchange for the Cat Fist!
Well, now I'm giving you an order, Ranma!" She pointed at Genma again.
"KILL THAT FAT OLD COWARD!!" she roared.
"NO!! Ranma! You can't!!" Akane shouted.
"SHUT UP, GIRL!" Bast screamed back at her. "This is none of your
affair!" She spun on Ranma again. "Well, Ranma?"

------------------------------------

For the first time, the hunter quivered in indecision. He might
have been master of his territory, but he was not master of himself.
And now, the one who WAS his master, mistress, rather, was giving him an
order that he did not want to follow.
"Well, Ranma?" she said again, an edge to her voice.
"No! Ranma, you can't do this!" Nodoka pleaded. "This isn't
honorable! This..."
"SHUT UP!" his mistress screamed. "He might have been yours once,
but he is MINE now! And he WILL obey me! KILL HIM!"
Suddenly, the hunter knew what to do. His aura flared to life
around him.
"N...n...now wait a moment, Ranma, uh son! Son! You...you really
don't want to do this! You know that..." his father jabbered.
Without warning, the hunter's paws bolted for the babbling old man
and seized him. His words suddenly stopped as his eyes rolled up in his
head. The hunter let go and the lifeless body dropped to the floor.

------------------------------------

The entire room gasped as Ranma's aura grabbed Genma. They watched
as he held onto his father for an instant, then let him fall to the
floor. Everyone leaped as the body thudded to the floor.
Except for Bast. She simply stood there and seethed.
"Pressure points?" she snarled. "You killed him by stopping his
heart with PRESSURE POINTS?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT KIND OF USELESS KILLING
IS THAT, YOU CRETINOUS FOOL?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I WANTED BLOOD AND GORE!!!
NOT A DEATH THAT YOU'D SEE IN A WALT DISNEY MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Ranma let his aura blink out. "You ordered him dead. He's dead.
What's your problem?"
Bast snarled incoherently and stepped towards him, her own blue
black aura flaring to life. Ranma took up a ready-stance and let his
aura flare once again.
Bast's advance was stopped as four daggers suddenly thudded into
the wooden floor around her. Blue-white lines of power began flowing
between the knives, forming a cage around the demoness that stopped Bast
in her tracks.
"NO!!! YOU CAN'T STOP ME NOW!!! I NEED MY REVENGE!!!" she shouted
in impotent rage, bashing her fists against the invisible walls that
surrounded her.
"Demon Bast!" a pair of voices intoned from across the room. "We
of The Truth and The Future banish you back to the Hell you came from!!
BEGONE!!!!"
"NO!!!" she wailed.
"BEGONE!!!!" the voices shouted again.
Bast turned a baleful eye on Ranma. "I shall be back, my student!"
she snarled, and vanished in a puff of sulfurous smoke. As she left,
the lines of force between the daggers flickered and died.
This time, what the entire mob saw was a youngish looking man being
accompanied by a slightly younger woman. Both were dressed in very
esoteric clothing. The man carried a glowing katana in his hand while
the woman was hefting a huge hammer.
"Good thing we didn't miss the entire party," Chia-yao, god of
Truth, said into the silence that followed the demon's departure.
"That's it?" Ranma demanded as his aura flickered and dissolved.
"Just shout 'begone', and she's gone?"
The woman shrugged. "We have a lot of power over demons, Ranma
Saotome," she said, then cast her eyes at Genma's still form. "Perhaps
we should see to him, now," she suggested.
"He...he's already dead," Nodoka said, kneeling at his side.
"Yeah, but I can take care of that," Ranma said, also kneeling by
him.
Nodoka glared at him. "You?" she snapped. "You're the one that
killed him!"
Ranma nodded. "Yep. Now watch." Once again, he began glowing a
brilliant blue, then laid his hands flat in the air about a foot above
Genma's chest. He gave a low growl and suddenly pushed his hands
downward about half the distance to his father's body. Genma's chest
shuddered under Ranma's power, then he suddenly sucked in a ragged
breath and began coughing. Ranma let his aura slip away once again as
his mother helped Genma sit back up.
"But...but...I thought...you were going to kill me!" he stuttered
to Ranma between coughs once he found his voice.
"I did, pop," Ranma explained. "I just stopped your heart for a
minute or two, then resuscitated you.
"And...the demon...?" he asked hesitantly.
"She's gone," the hammer-toting woman said, kneeling down next to
the three. "We banished her back to Hell. For now. But she won't be
confined there for very long."
"And who are you two?" Nabiki asked, making sure to stay with Akane
on the other side of the dojo.
The woman looked back at Chia-yao, who gestured at her to stand
next to him. "My name's Skuld," she said, stepping back to his side.
"And my name's Chia-yao," he chimed in, putting a hand on Skuld's
shoulder. "And we were just leaving." There was a brilliant flash of
white light and the two were gone.
There was silence for a short while. Then Cologne cleared her
throat. "I think you had best explain what's going on, Ranma." The
rest of the assemblage quickly agreed.

------------------------------------

"...and then I came back here to Tokyo," Ranma concluded.
His audience simply looked at him as he finished the tale, and he
mentally thanked himself for having the presence of mind to not tell
them about Bast's final test. The last thing they needed to know was
that he had sex with a demon!
"So," Kuno said grandly. "The evil sorcerer finally admits to
consorting with demons!"
Ranma snorted. "Only because I really am this time," he said.
"Gee, who'd have thought that one of Kuno baby's delusions would
actually come true?" Nabiki commented wryly.
Several others in the room tried to stifle laughs as Kuno glared
daggers at Nabiki. "I hate you, you know," he said to her.
"The feeling's mutual, Kuno baby," Nabiki countered, poking her
tongue at him.
"So let me get this straight," Ryouga said. "Not only did you
learn the Cat Fist from that demon, but we were all just saved from that
demon by a couple of gods?"
Ranma shrugged. "Well, I know for sure that Chia-yao is a god. So
I'm just assuming that the lady with him was a goddess."
"And how do you know that they aren't both also demons who are just
trying to fool you?" Genma asked pointedly.
Ranma gave Genma a pitiful look. "The Cat Fist makes me very
sensitive to the way a person...feels, for lack of a better word, pop.
And those two don't feel anything like Bast does. Bast has this dark,
evil feel. The feeling from those two was exactly the opposite."
Akane shook her head. "You've really gotten yourself in deep now,
Ranma," she said with a sigh. "You heard what Bast said, didn't you?
She said that she'd be back, and that goddess confirmed it."
Ranma just shrugged. "I know, but it's too late for that now. I
signed a contract with her, Akane. Not even she can back out of it, and
she's VERY powerful, and VERY ancient. I'm certainly not going to be
getting out of it myself. It's just like Chia-yao told me before I
returned here. I'm stuck with it."
"Ha! It is as I always said!" Kuno shouted, kneeling in front of
Akane. "My love, surely you see now what a monster he is! I beg you,
come with me, who is a real man!!"
Akane's face became ugly. "GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU BRAINLESS ASS!"
she shouted, slamming him in the face with her hammer. He flew out of
the door, landing unconscious on the ground near where a heavily
bandaged Kodachi and Shampoo were laying.
"And what do you plan to do now?" Doctor Tofu asked Ranma, ignoring
Kuno's quick exit. "I don't know much about demons, but what little I
do know frightens me more than I care to admit. That Bast has a very
powerful hold over you. What happens when she does return?"
Ranma shrugged. "She won't kill me, that much I'm certain of. I'm
too useful to her as a master of the Cat Fist. And I'm pretty sure she
won't harm Akane either. I'm betting that now she doesn't trust her
hold over me enough to test me like that."
Ryouga surged to his feet and grabbed Ranma by his shirt front.
"You're 'pretty sure'?!" he demanded. "You're risking Akane's life over
a 'pretty sure'!!"
Ranma casually wrenched Ryouga's hands from his shirt and tossed
him back to his spot on the floor. "That's the best I can do, Ryouga.
Remember what I said to you before! It's her choice, not yours!"
"What's my choice?" Akane demanded.
Ranma knelt before her and took her hands in his. "Just for the
record, Akane, I want everyone to hear it. I love you. More than life
itself. And I'd gladly give my life to protect yours."
"At last!!" Soun shouted to the skies, weeping tears of joy. "Now
the families can..."
"SHUT UP!" Ranma shouted. "I'm talking to Akane here! You can
scream and holler all you want after I'm done!" Soun froze under his
glare and sank back to the floor. Ranma looked back at Akane with a
grimace.
"Now. As I was saying." He took a breath and continued. "Akane,
after everything that's happened, I wouldn't blame you if you rejected
me completely. We've been through some really weird stuff, but this
time Hell's broken loose. Literally. I can't guarantee your safety if
you choose to be with me. I can only guarantee that I'd do whatever it
takes to make sure nothing happens to you. Even if that means defying
Bast directly."
"Ranma, what does danger have to do with anything?" Akane asked
him. "I'm a martial artist. I've accepted a dangerous life since I
first began practicing." She leaned closer. "Of course I'll stay with
you. I love you too." She closed the distance and kissed him.
There was a strangled sound from Ryouga, but only Ranma heard it
over the sudden cheering from the rest of the household.
"Atta boy!" Genma crowed. "That's how you catch a girl!"
"And how would YOU know, Genma?" Nodoka asked petulantly.
"Way to go, sis!" Nabiki called.
Soun simply sat and bawled his eyes out.
Cologne suddenly appeared by their side and cleared her throat.
The two reluctantly disengaged their kiss. "Yes?" Akane asked in a
frosty voice.
"I have decided to invoke an ancient and largely forgotten Amazon
law," she explained. "'If an outsider is discovered to be consorting
with powers of darkness, the tribe is absolutely not to permit that
outsider from becoming a member of the tribe.' I think we would all
agree that a demon is a dark power, wouldn't you, Ranma?"
Ranma blinked. "Well, yeah. I guess so."
"This law therefore nullifies your marriage to Shampoo," Cologne
said. "And in case you think I'm being too nice, rest assured that I am
doing it for the tribe. I do not particularly want this Bast demon to
become interested in us. I would prefer that she harass you instead."
Ranma gave a sardonic smile. "Thanks," he said wryly.
"You're welcome, Ranma," Cologne said without a trace of sarcasm.
"Shampoo and myself will be leaving within the next few days."
"At last!" Mousse shouted. "Fair Shampoo will now be mine!"
Cologne snorted as she walked out the door. "You're an idiot, boy.
You know that, don't you?"
"We'll see about that, you withered old monkey!" Mousse returned,
following her. "Now nobody stands in my way!"
"Except for one person," she said dryly as their voices receded.
"Shampoo herself still rejects you, and I doubt that will change any
time soon."
"Hah! She'll understand my love soon!" Mousse asserted, and the
rest of their conversation was lost to the distance. Happosai chose
that moment to leave without another word.
Ryouga cast a single dark glare at Ranma before he also left the
dojo.
Doctor Tofu also excused himself. "I think I'll go out and see to
the Kunos," he announced, leaving the room.
Soun finally became coherent. "Now nothing stands in the way of
the marriage!" he cried. "We can have it tonight!"
"Oh jeeze, not again!" Ranma muttered darkly.
"Um, would that really be so bad, Ranma?" Akane said as the rest of
the household began arguing about the ceremony. Ranma gave her a
curious look, and she forged ahead. "I mean, we've already almost been
married once. And this time we've admitted that we love each other."
She leaned closer, an earnest expression on her face. "Besides, with
the threat of Bast hanging over us, we might not get another chance to
be together."
Ranma felt a shiver run though him as he realized that she was
right. He smiled at her, his grin looking a little foolish. "Then will
you marry me, Akane Tendo?"
"Of course I will, you jerk," she said, hugging him fiercely.

------------------------------------

Down in Hell, Bast felt her anger slip away as she sat in her
living room and absently stroked the fur of one of her familiars. A
mysterious smile touched her lips as she reviewed her confrontation with
her newest student.
"He's a lively one, that Ranma," she spoke outloud. "I like my
followers like that. Someone who fights me like that is someone not
likely to give up in a battle. And someone I won't have to supervise
constantly."
With a shrug, she stood up and carried her familiar to the pond
that gurgled in front of her dwelling. A lightning-fast grab caught her
a fish that she gave to her cat, who sat down on the ground and began
devouring the offering.
"Yes, Ranma, please keep that spirit of yours!" she called out to
her pocket dimension. "You will be much more useful to me as a fire
brand than as a stupid cudgel!" She began laughing victoriously, the
sound ringing around her home like a death knell.

------------------------------------

Up in the mortal world, the hunter slept next to his mate, smiling
at a dream that only he could see.

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The End

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Author's Afterward (yay!!! clapclapclapclapclapclap)

I managed to churn this out in about a week and a half (after about
two weeks of thinking and plotting). But I've been forced to delay
releasing it due to problems with my school server. My apologies to
those people I promised to mail this to. I'll be sending it off ASAP.
Now, to the important stuff.
Nice ending, huh? The observent reader might have noticed that the
ending was actually very ominous. Ranma has a very close connection to
Bast now. So what was he dreaming? And why would he be smiling at it?
Time may yet tell.
I do have a few ideas about sequels, but I'm rather reluctant to
write them. If I wasn't careful, a sequel would quickly become a long
string of "Ranma-gets-attacked-Ranma-wipes-the-floor-with-them" scenes.
That's the problem with having such a powerful person running around in
an action story.
Anyway, we'll see. Thanks muchly for reading.
Also, thanks to Jeff Groves for giving me the go-ahead to write
this thing (seeing as how his story "The True Neko-ken" was the major
inspiration for this work), and for one little tip that made this story
slightly more consistant with a certain ancient mythology.
Lots of thanks to Brett Handy for letting me use his character
Chia-yao (and for being patient with me regarding my many requests for
parts of his very wonderful "Oh My God" series, even though he may not
remember those requests!). Again, check out his OMG story, it is a very
fun read.
Thanks to both Krista Perry and Madam Hydra for writing their own
interesting stories about the Cat Fist, which served as the ultimate
inspiration for such works (including this one).
And, of course, thanks to Rumiko Takahashi for creating "Ranma 1/2"
in the first place, and for leaving the ending completely open so that I
may apply my own brand of insanity to it.
And, of course, thanks to Kosuke Fujishima, the creator of "Ah! My
Goddess", for giving me the perfect back-drop for this adventure.

Please send comments to: niteshade<at>mindspring<dot>com.

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Latest revision: 9/26/98

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