Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Communications. Don’t sue me, I’m just having fun here, and I will never profit from this. That’s all.

Author Notes for Chapter 9: Well, here we are at chapter 9. It’s Neko-ken time, boys and girls, as well as introducing the big antagonist for the next few chapter. Well, I could call her a villain, but she’s not really evil, just annoying. looks around for a second. Anyways, let’s get the show started.

First I Giveth

Chapter 9: The Trouble with Kittens

By Marik Kurakashi

Akane and Nabiki had arrived at Ranma’s side almost simultaneously. Both eyeballed the other for a long second before checking on the boy who was currently passed out in front of their gate. It seemed odd for him to faint for no reason, as he had plenty of energy in sparring against his father.

They were curious where the kitten came from, and why it seemed so cozy on Ranma’s chest. Was it a long lost pet of Ranma’s? They both dismissed that thought, as he wouldn’t have screamed like that if he was happy to see it.

It simply perched as if it belonged there, even if this was probably the first time this kitten and Ranma had met one another. It was even more peculiar that Ranma had a look of complete terror on his face, his mouth frozen in a scream. Neither Tendo sister knew what to make of it, both silent as they tried to make sense of this whole predicament.

Then Mr. Saotome landed.

“What was that boy of mine wailing about?” he asked, before he spotted the kitten and went silent.

“Saotome-san,” Akane queried, “do you know what’s wrong?”

“I-uh-me? Why would I know anything about this?” he shot back in defense, old guilt and a sense of dread running through his body.

“Because you’ve been with him for the past ten years,” Nabiki answered, narrowing her eyes at the Saotome patriarch. “Let’s hear what you know.”

“I don’t know anything.” he said, looking around for some cold water.

“OUT WITH IT.” both sisters demanded, employing a form of their father’s old demon head trick, which made it appear as though they were towering over him.

“Urk! Um, it’s just that the boy is afraid of cats…. Very of afraid of them. You could say he’s almost scared to death of them, that you could.” the portly man babbled, sincerely terrified.

“And why is that?” Akane pressed, her anger rising as she had an inclination that Genma was somehow behind this.

“uh hee-hee…” he chuckled, before bolting away in a bid to reach the pond.

“Get back here!” Nabiki yelled as she and her sister took off after the elder Saotome.

‘I can’t let them catch me,’ the portly man thought, ‘The pain, oh the pain would be too much for me to stand.’

He had almost reached the koi pond when an image of his old friend raced through his mind. Tendo was out there, rediscovering himself as a martial artist, while he stayed here in the city. He came to a stop, remembering what his old friend had said.

“Saotome-kun, I’m trusting you to take care of my daughters while I’m gone.”

‘Damn,’ he thought, ‘I can’t escape this, not if I want to keep my word to Tendo.’

He skidded to a stop about 2 meters from the pond, slowing down and breathing to reign in his panic. He would face these problems instead of letting others learn of the terror of this secret second hand. Of course, he couldn’t shake the feeling he had made a big mistake in doing this.

Then Akane and Nabiki slammed into him, sending all three tumbling to the ground in a mess of limbs. There were various protests and shifting as they tried in vain to free themselves from the pile. After a while, they finally separate themselves from one another, with the girls smoothing any misplaced clothing.

Akane then slapped Genma hard across the face, causing him to reel back from it.

“What was that for!” he asked, holding his cheek.

“That was for running away and then stopping like you did.” she answered, looking disgusted with herself for her outburst of violence.

“Akane,” Nabiki said, placing her hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, he probably deserved it.”

“No,” the younger sister said, shaking her head, “there’s no excuse for just randomly hitting people. I’m a martial artist, I should have more control than that. Did I really let Kuno and those perverts get to me so much that I forgot how to control myself? Is this all I’m ever going to amount, an emotionally unstable thug that lashes out at everything? It has to stop Nabiki, or what good am I going to be if I can’t control myself?”

“A-Akane,” Nabiki stuttered, stunned by the profound answer from her sister. “You’re right, all we do is make excuses for you to believe what you’re doing is acceptable. Me, Kasumi, even Daddy encouraged you when we should have tried to teach you WHEN to hit someone, not tell you it’s alright for hitting whoever makes you mad. I’m sorry that we didn’t think well enough of you to believe you were mature enough to understand.”

“Why?” Akane asked, her tone one of hurt and confusion “Why would you all do something like that?”

“Why?” the older sister echoed, pondering her answer carefully. “Well, it’s probably because I thought you were spoiled from how everyone treated you. That, and I had this strange idea that you liked everything that went on, so I didn’t think about it. You know how Daddy was, he would say anything to avoid getting one of us mad at him, not now of course, but that was before he started acting his age again. Kasumi… well, oneechan probably wanted to comfort you in the quickest way possible and trying to find the root of your problems would take too much effort for her.”

“That is true,” Genma interjected, breaking up the sisterly bonding in favor of getting their questions answered before his son woke up. “Sometimes, evading the problem seems to cause it to disappear faster.”

“Oh yeah,” Nabiki said, “we had a few questions for you.”

“Why did you stop?” Akane asked, curious as to why the portly man quit running.

“Because I made a promise to your father to respect you while he was away.” the balding man answered, crossing his legs as he continued. “He’s out there, rediscovering himself as a martial artist and as a man, and yet I turned down a chance to spend time with my best friend in order to live comfortably at the home he left behind. I probably couldn’t face him if you had to beat the answers out of me, so for my own peace of mind and yours, I could run no longer.”

“So,” Nabiki said, accepting his answer with a nod, “why is Ranma-kun afraid of cats?”

‘It’s “Ranma-kun” now?’ he thought to himself before he answered. “It’s because of a training mishap when he was a child.”

“What kind of mishap?” Akane inquired, shooting her sister a sidelong glance. ‘I thought they were mad at each other?’

“A dreadful technique that I discovered.” Genma said, shifting uncomfortably as he reached into his gi and pulled out a training manual. “It was a technique that had been forbidden due to the danger posed to the trainee. I had discovered this training manual on our trip, and in my infinite stupidity and the pride I felt at Ranma’s progress in the art, I decided to train him in it.”

“Let me see that,” Nabiki said, taking the book from Genma and looking through it.

“What’s in there,” Akane asked her sister, deciding not to crowd her sister.

“A bunch of techniques that only an idiot or someone who is too enthusiastic to see their danger would use.” Nabiki said, shaking her head in disgust.

“I believe I would fall under both in this instance,” Genma replied, hanging his head before he looked up again. “Turn to the page talking about the neko-ken.”

“Ok,” Nabiki said, roving through the book in search of it. “Ah ha, found it.”

“O-oneechan?” Akane nervously asked, seeing Nabiki’s expression darken to one of barely restrained anger.

“Just read it.” Nabiki answered, handing the manual to her younger sister as she affixed the Saotome patriarch with a withering stare.

“W-what the…?” Akane gasped in horror. “Who could come up with such a horrible thing?”

“Someone very, very sick.” Genma replied in barely restrained anger. “He was a sensei who got off on abusing the sacred trust between master and pupil and came up with as many dangerous as he could, just to see who would actually go through.”

“If I ever meet him,” Akane started, before handing the manual back to Nabiki and breathing deeply to calm herself.

“He won’t be teaching anyone anything ever again,” the rotund martial artist stated with absolute certainty, causing a silence to pass over the group as they thought about the technique and what he had said.

Ranma sat up from his unexpected nap and looked around to gain his bearings. It had appeared that the c-c-c-cat had gone away, so he didn’t need to worry about it at the moment. Who brought that creature here anyways? Did that person truly hate him enough to embarrass him like this?

He shook his head clear of the depressing thoughts, reminding himself that he didn’t whine about things like Ryoga did. Standing up, he decided to see if he could find where everyone was, as he was sure that his scream drew their attention. He would assure them that it was nothing, that something else had surprised him. He would simply make sure they understood he wasn’t afraid of anything, that the scream was nothing to be concerned about.

He didn’t want them to know his shame, not desiring any pity for this great weakness of his.

Ranma leaped up on the roof, using the feel of being airborne to erase the swirling emotions that were plaguing him at the moment. Landing on his feet, Ranma quickly crouched to down to stop his remaining momentum from pitching him over. Silently, he frowned as he had not meant to put THAT much force behind his leap.

With the advantage of height, he knew he could spot them easily if they were outside. He padded across the roof in silence, he didn’t want to alert them of his approach if they were outside. He finally spotted them by the koi pond, discussing something that he was sure had to do with why he had fainted.

He had to put a stop to this now!

“If you’ll turn the page, you’ll have done something that I, in my infinite wisdom, failed to do when I was in my overly excited state.” the Saotome patriarch said, breaking the silence.

Nabiki did just that, reading the page in question. Her face ran an interesting gamut of emotions; shifting from anger to incredulity, to disgust to an overwhelming look of intense disbelief. She shook her head and handed the manual to her sister without a word, the page having a similar effect on the younger one.

“Yes, now you know why I wanted to run away from you two.” Genma said, sighing as he resigned himself to a beating. “If I had read that the technique was too extreme even for the nut who thought it up, I probably wouldn’t have trained Ranma in it.”

“I guess-” Nabiki started, only to be interrupted by the subject of this discussion.

“Bullshit!” Ranma hollered from the roof in anger, his rage causing him to forget his manners.

“Now son,” Genma started, only to be cut off by his son making a prodigious leap from the roof and coming down with both feet on his head, smooshing the elder Saotome’s face into the ground.

“Don’t feed me that crap, pop!” the pig-tailed boy yelled, clinching his fist in anger. “As if I’d believe you actually cared about my well being after what you put me through with that farce of a technique.”

“Uh Ranma.” Nabiki said, trying to get his attention.

“I can’t believe you’d sit here and try to fed them your crap about actually caring that you left me terrified of cats for the rest of my life.” he ranted on, ignore the girls behind him.

“Ranma…” Akane tried, noting the elder Saotome’s lack of movement.

“You worthless liar! It’s always about you being innocent of everything and it being the book’s fault for it all.” he continued with his diatribe, still ignoring them.

“Ranma….” both girls tried this time, with little success.

“As if you actually gave a damn about the consequences of the technique. An invincible berserker, shouldn’t THAT have tipped you off about how bad the technique was? Martial arts is about control, how is a technique that makes me lose it supposed to help make me a better martial artist?” he demanded of the man he was perched on, unaware that his rant was falling on deaf ears.

“RANMA!” both girls screamed, causing the ranting boy to tumble backwards and land on his backside.

“Ow!” he yelped, rubbing his bottom from the sudden fall. “What is it?”

“Your father’s unconscious,” Nabiki stated, pointing at the prone man who appeared to be breathing shallowly.

“Oh.” Ranma said, feeling foolish for his ranting.

“Oh, he says,” Akane muttered before getting up and going inside. “Since you knocked him out Ranma, you can drag him in for dinner.”

“Aw man.” Ranma said, not really wanting to heft his father’s bulk.

“Should’ve thought of that before you knocked him loopy.” Nabiki chided, getting up herself.

“Nabiki,” Ranma said pleadingly.

“Yes, Saotome?” she responded with indifference.

“Maybe we can talk again sometime…. I didn’t mean what I said.” the pig-tailed youth said nervously, twirling his pig-tail around.

“Maybe, Ranma-kun,” she said with a small smile before turning towards the house, “maybe.”

“I guess she accepted my apology eh pop?” the younger Saotome asked his father, who responded with only a slight twitch.

- -

It was another morning, another dull, dreary morning that she had endured countless times before. But still, for the Elder Khu Lon, it was nice to see yet another dawn. Such an event, one that she had seen thousands of times, was still an important part of her routine.

She had no pupils to train, so she could relax and enjoy the sunrise without preparing the morning repast for her students. Of course, her pupils were out on important missions, such as her great-granddaughter’s quest of vengeance for the outsider girl who defeated. But, as Har Karu reported, something FAR more important had come up.

Her great-granddaughter had been defeated by an outsider male and had given him the kiss of marriage.

At least, that’s what Har Karu’s body language had told her during the girl’s last report. The poor girl had been so intimidated by the Elder’s stern questioning that she had almost crumbled under the strain of keeping her composure. The elder chuckled to herself as she thought over how much fun it had been to scare the girl like that.

She sighed as she thought she trained her heir well enough to defeat most outsiders that she would come across. Apparently, she had overestimated the girl’s skill, so grossly that she let the girl run off on her own. Now that mistake was rearing its ugly head, as it appeared that Har Karu didn’t know WHERE Xian Pu was.

It appeared as though her great-granddaughter was hiding something.

She sighed as she hopped away from the edge of the village where she had watched the sunrise. Why did that child have to be so contrary? She had trained that girl with a much more gentle hand than her mother, and yet she still didn’t grasp what exactly it meant to be an Amazon.

Yes, the laws were important, but it was silly to enact them against every little violation. The red-head had been wrong for taking the feast, but rightfully challenged the champion and won, something that should have been treated with respect, not hostility. The red-head had shown her great-granddaughter tremendous courtesy by fighting for the prize instead of handing over the panda or surrendering to be Xian Pu’s slave, and her heir had arrogantly given the girl the Kiss of Death!

More over, Xian Pu had failed to actually pry any useful information from the Jusenkyo guide beyond the girl’s name, which wasn’t the most important thing he could have told them. It was interesting that the guide made mention of the name when she had personally went to interrogate him a few days later, as well as the curious referral to “he” in reference to the girl, rather than the proper feminine pronoun. Though she had come to suspect that the red headed girl wasn’t a girl at all, her great-granddaughter sent word that her prey had left the country.

Oh the humiliation that her heir allowed her prey to escape China alive!

Shaking off her remembered humiliation, Khu Lon simply focused on the more important things that were to happen. There would be a meeting, at which she would volunteer for the task of retrieving the village’s errant champion. Of course, it would take a lot of maneuvering for her to get the council to allow her to go after Xian Pu, as the members would know the amount of slack that will be cut to the champion.

Ultimately, they would begrudgingly allow her to reign in the foolish girl, not wanting to risk any of the their charges sorting out Khu Lon’s mess. They would of course pompously declare their superiority to Khu Lon, then “graciously” give their permission for something that didn’t need a meeting to decide in the first place. She shook her head, as she knew the importance of the meetings, which were to prevent anyone from just leaving the tribe without warning.

It was their roundabout way of admitting that the outside world held more for their people, as they were odd like that.

“No use wondering about it now,” Khu Lon muttered to herself, “The meeting will be in another couple hours. I must prepare for my imminent departure after it.”

With that, she pogoed away to her hut to prepare.

- -

Kuno Tatewaki breathed in the sweet air of the new morning. Today, his vengeance would be complete and his loves would be freed. All he needed was the proper bait to lure the fiend to his doom, one that he was having trouble procuring at the moment.

“Oh Akane…” a voice belonging to a young male sighed from behind the kendoist.

“What in the name of…?” Kuno said, whirling about to lay eyes on what he could honestly say was the most pathetic example of a boy he had ever seen.

His eyes were sunken in, as if the sockets were deeper than the average man’s. His spindly arms spoke of a lack of exercise, with his gangly legs barely seemed to support the miniscule weight that was pressed upon them. Overall, he was slender in an underfed kind of way, which gave the insane upperclassmen the impression that the boy would break from just a minor flick of the finger.

“You there!” Kuno bellowed, causing the boy to jump and whirl around, “who are you to speak the name of my love with such reverence, when you would insult her by challenging her on the field of battle?”

“Gosunkugi Hikaru, freshman class E,” the boy introduced himself, bowing lightly.

“Very well freshman, I would know what thou were doing uttering the name of my sacred flower, which no weakling could ever hope to grasp?” the arrogant upperclassman queried, drawing a brief look of something on the boy’s face.

“Well,” Gosunkugi began, “is it wrong for someone to have a dream? Is it wrong for someone to pine after something they can’t have?”

“It is good you see this,” Kuno said, scowling at the impudence of the boy. “But you, you insult my fierce tigress even uttering her name. I demand you make reparations for this slight.”

“What!” came the skinny boy’s answer. “You have no right to demand that!”

“As Tendo Akane’s future husband, I have every right to demand that for the slight given to the woman who will be my wife.” the pompous boy thundered, taking a step forward in a threatening manner.

“If I have offended her, tell her to come here and ask me for reparations.” Gosunkugi said, his voice wavering only a bit as he backed away from the deranged kendoist.

“And waste her precious time on a fool like you?” Kuno roared. “It is to laugh that thou wouldst make such a ridiculous request of me!”

“Then why are you wasting your time on me?” the younger boy said, tears of fright pouring down his cheeks. “I-if I cannot ever take Akane from you, why b-bother with m-me?”

“Because,” the elder boy stated evenly, hiding his disgust well, “you look to be the perfect person to help me be rid of Saotome.”

“S-Saotome!” the freshman wailed, “How can I help you do anything to him?”

“Just a simple decoy, while I send him to Cat Hell.” the upperclassmen stated plainly, his hands clenching into fists.

“Uh, ‘Cat Hell’?” Gosunkugi queried, not understanding.

“Come with me and I’ll explain it to you.” Kuno said simply. “And if we are successful… I will reward monetarily you for your help.”

‘Help him,’ Gosunkugi thought, ‘For money? Maybe I can buy a real spell book if we succeed.’

“Well?” questioned the elder boy

“Tell me about your plan, Sempai.” the younger replied.

Truly, the gods were with Kuno Tatewaki this day.

- -

“ACHOO!” Ranma sneezed, making sure to turn his head from the table.

“Bless you, Ranma-kun,” Kasumi said, glad that he didn’t sneeze all over the food she prepared.

“Ah, thanks Kasumi-san,” Ranma said, taking a spare napkin and wiping his nose.

“You’re not coming down with anything, Saotome?” Nabiki asked in disinterested interest.

“Don’t think so,” he replied, digging back into his food. “It’s been a while since I last came down with something.”

“Ranma…” Akane started, pensive about bringing the neko-ken up.

“Whuff?” the pig-tailed one asked, his voice muffled by some food.

“About the neko-ken,” Akane said, ignoring his lack of manners. “Is it really that bad?”

“That’s none of your business,” the boy huffed, having swallowed his mouthful after she had finished the question.

“We have a right to know, Ranma.” Akane stated evenly, fighting for control with her anger.

“Yeah, right,” Ranma muttered, rolling his eyes. “You’re just being nosy for the sake of being nosy.”

“Well excuse me for caring, you jerk!” she snapped back, clenching her fists. “What if someone decided to use that against you?”

“Like anyone would know about it.” he shot back.

“Ranma-kun,” Nabiki said, sighing at the boy’s immaturity. “You have to be concerned at what problems this may cause you because of a certain curse.”

“What does my curse have to do with this?” Ranma asked, thoroughly confused.

“When we found you, you were completely dead to the world in a faint.” the middle Tendo said, flinching internally as she could see that this wouldn’t go over well. “Well, what happens if you fainted like that as a girl and someone like Kuno showed up and took advantage of you in your frightened state?”

“W-w-what?” he stammered out, an image of Kuno doing very BAD things to his girl half, causing him to shudder in revulsion.

“That’s why we have to know Ranma,” Akane said quietly, her anger having guttered from Nabiki’s statement.

“No…” he whispered.

“What was that Ranma? We can’t hear you,” Akane said, leaning closer to hear what he said.

“NO!” he bellowed, causing Akane and everyone else to fall back from the force of the shout. “I ain’t telling you nothing, and that’s that!”

“Gah!” Akane said, rubbing her ears as she had been the closest to his shout.

“I’m going to school now,” he grumbled as he got up, “I’m not that hungry anymore.”

“Jerk,” Akane muttered, the ringing in her ears subsiding as everyone recovered from Ranma’s outburst.

“I doubt it’s that Akane,” Nabiki said drolly, rolling her eyes at her sister’s sudden bout.

“I was only trying to help! If we could gauge how bad it was, who would no longer look after the neighbor’s cat and keep strays away.” Akane retorted, her tone holding little to no anger.

“You have a point, imouto-chan,” Kasumi said, gently to smooth over her sister’s hurt feelings. “But don’t you think that this is a little personal?”

“Yeah, I know,” Akane said, “but still.. I can’t help being concerned about this.”

“Hey,” Nabiki said, drawing her sisters’ attention, “I thought you promised daddy not to steal food from Ranma anymore.”

“The boy left it,” Genma said in an even tone while he finished depositing the contents of Ranma’s plate onto his own., “so why should it go to waste? Besides, it isn’t all that healthy to freeze and reheat this stuff anyhow.”

“I was going to ask Saotome-san if he wanted them anyways.” Kasumi added, glad that her sisters had remembered Genma’s promise as well.

“Well, let’s hurry up Akane.” Nabiki said, sitting back at the table as she prepared to finish off her food. “We don’t want to be late, and you can’t blame Ranma this time.”

“Yeah, like I do that every time I’m late.” Akane bristled, but mimicked her sister’s posture to eat as fast as she politely could.

With that, the Tendo sisters finished their meal and left for school with thoughts of the neko-ken plaguing their steps. They were both interested in the boy for varying reasons, but this new phobia put a new spin on things. The once fearless and immortal Saotome Ranma actually wasn’t all that immortal or fearless, he was just as normal as they were.

And somehow, this new fear made him slightly more appealing in a strange way. It had a lot to do with the fact that neither girl didn’t felt like they had to climb Mount Fuji for the sake of his favor. But their was something more… maternal about it, something that was instinctively hardwired into them, a desire to protect and nurture, one neither would have associated with the pig-tailed youth.

It left the both of them all the more confused.

For Akane, it was a conformation of something she had privately dreaded. It was a conformation that she did indeed have more than friendly aspirations towards the Saotome heir, and it shook her to the core. She had seen how gaga Kodachi and Shampoo had went over him, causing her to bridle in disgust over their open lusting for the pig-tailed boy.

Which is why she dreaded falling for him in the first place. Would she lose all her self-respect as a woman and prostrate herself before him for his every perverted desire? But more importantly than that, could she honestly love a boy who lived everyday as though it were his last?

She told herself she couldn’t, but it still rang hollow in the void of fear that occupied her stomach.

In contrast, Nabiki was elated to find that her budding feelings were proven to be true. She had held a private fear that she was only after him out of loneliness and the need to have someone care about her in more than a family way. It filled her with a giddy warmth, one that both excited her while making her feel nervous.

Doubts began to creep in, but she managed to ignore them for the time being. She knew that she didn’t need to worry herself about what was to come, she just had to focus on the here and now. Her only worry was being able to get the fool to actually reciprocate her feelings, which made all others seem immaterial.

She would just have to keep trying, and eventually, those worries would go away.

In that moment, both sisters shared a look of mutual understanding. They acknowledged each other’s very personal desire to protect the wild Ranma from harm, well, the harm he had no way of protecting himself from. But in that moment, a spark of a rivalry flickered between them, then just as quickly died.

Both saw no point in a silly rivalry over a boy who wasn’t worth splitting their family over. The look passed along their knowledge that neither would ever allow it to get to a point where it would endanger the family. For an eternity, they seemed have been locked into a staring contest, each offering up something that was accepted by the other.

And then the moment was over and the walk to school resumed in earnest.

- -

School progressed as normal, with the exception of Kuno’s usual challenge to Ranma. The raving kendoist was nowhere to be seen, which caused a bit of stir, but that quickly guttered out at the thought of looking for the arrogant upperclassman. No one really wanted him to get the idea that they missed or his poetry and penchant for shouting at odd moments.

After a short celebration and a small prayer that he stay wherever he was at the moment, school proceeded in an absurdly normal fashion. Several students had to be sent home after gibbering in terror about some big cataclysm that was sure to befall them all, as Furinkan never had a day go by without some kind of incident happening. Lunch passed quietly, with only peaceful chatter amongst the students, as any normal high school student would expect.

But it was positively unnerving to those who had become so used to the chaos, that they sat around waiting for something crazy to happen. The skittish behavior was slowly spreading, that when lunch ended without incident, mental alarms began to blare for most of the students. It was getting so bad, several of the teachers began discussing plans to cause something to happen in order to calm the students down.

Luckily for them, all that was about to be relieved.

“You want me to what!” Gos said archly, not daring to shout at the lunatic samurai-wannabe.

“I need you to acquire a girl’s school uniform. The fiend is stupid beyond all measurements, so he shan’t know the difference between you and my fierce tigress.”

‘Yeah, right!’ Gos thought to himself, ‘no one is that stupid.’

“It is integral to the plan that you have that dress,” Kuno said, “or else my plan fails, and you will not be rewarded.”

“Oh, alright,” Gos sighed, rubbing his forehead while questioning why he was doing this, “I’ll get it.”

“I can acquire-” Kuno started, only to be shocked into silence as the younger boy boldly interrupted him.

“Don’t worry yourself sempai,” the skinny freshman said, fluffy Kuno’s ego as best he could. “You really shouldn’t lower yourself to this level, I can get them easily.”

“But-”

“No one will even notice I’m there. I easily blend in,” Gos said, cutting Kuno off and getting up.

“Just wait a sec-”

“I’ll be back before you know it.” Gos said as he turned around and dashed off down the hall.

“But I already have a plan,” the kendoist said to the empty hall.

- -

Gosunkugi Hikaru was currently questioning his sanity as he hid outside the girls’ locker room. The girls of Furinkan were notorious in their pervert bashing, having hospitalized several students for even the slightest offense. To the shy, nerdy boy, it was akin to diving into a lion’s den and attempting to steal the lion’s mane.

He swallowed again, his great idea not seeming so great. A vision of a circle of girls trampling him into the floor came vividly to his mind, causing him to shake in fear. He knew that Kuno was pissed at him for bailing out before he could unveil his plan, so retreat was not an option.

He waited until the sounds inside died down and snuck in.

Breathing, yes that was the key. Short, small, and quiet breaths were needed, lest he pass out from holding his breath too long. He continued on into the most dangerous part of the school, looking for a locker with an easy lock to pick.

Arriving at a locker that looked easy enough to open, he did a quick check and began to pick the lock. He cursed as he fumbled with it, as he had underestimated the difficulty involved. So intent on his task of getting the lock off, he didn’t notice the sense of foreboding that he was in deep trouble.

That was until the female behind him cleared her throat, causing him to jump in surprise.

He didn’t turn around, just closed his eyes and hoped she would go away. The sound of a foot tapping on the floor told him that she was still there and getting more ticked by the minute. Quickly, he opened his eyes and inspected the lock for a name.

The skinny boy did well not scream, knowing it would do him no good. Of all the lockers he had to choose, why did it have to be hers? He looked towards the ceiling as if to ask if this was punishment for giving into his greedy impulses.

The lock read Tendo Nabiki… he was SO dead.

“Mind if you tell me what you want with my locker?” Nabiki asked in a flat tone. Just her luck to have a pervert pop up and try to steal her clothes, her gym clothes not giving her a much of an intimidating look.

“T-T-Tendo-s-san.” the pervert in question stammered, completely terrified.

“Well?” she asked, her patience running thin. She didn’t have time to deal with this, as she was being called to meet with several teachers. “Do I have to call the rest of the girls in here about you, or are you gonna talk?”

“NO! NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT!” the boy wailed in terror before breaking down into sobs.

“Well? Talk, or they’re gonna be coming in soon.”

And with that, the boy began to tell her everything… at once. Most of what he said was gibberish, as he was too scared to talk straight. After five minutes of gibbering, Nabiki figured she had a good grasp of what he was saying.

It appeared that Kuno Tatewaki was planning something. She was sure it involved Ranma in some fashion, but just what was the mystery. She also knew that Kuno needed this boy to get a girl’s uniform, so she could believe that the idea to sneak into the girls’ locker room came from her classmate.

But what was she to do about it?

She put it from her mind for now, deciding that she couldn’t concern herself with it. Quickly, she ushered the boy from the room and went back to her locker in order get her school uniform on again. Idly, she wondered why she was being taken out of gym class by the faculty, but decided not to worry about.

Habitually, she smoothed the skirt out to make sure it didn’t ride up in anyway. Once she was sure she was presentable, she left the girl’s locker room and headed for the cafeteria, which is where they said for her to go. Her mind idly wandered back to Kuno’s mad scheme, and just what he was trying to accomplish.

And how bad it would be for Ranma and everyone else.

She arrived the cafeteria, and was greeted by the vice principal and a few of the teachers upon entering. They all appeared nervous, glancing about as if the world was going to end shortly. She pulled up a chair, and blinked when she found Ranma occupying the seat next to her.

“Ok,” Nabiki said, arching an eyebrow as she looked at Ranma, “what the hell is going on Saotome?”

“I don’t know,” he said, shrugging his shoulders, “these guys wouldn’t tell me what was going on.”

“We called you here,” the Vice Principal said, clearing his throat, “because we’re concerned with how quiet the day has been going.”

“I thought you’d be relieved by that,” Nabiki said, taken aback by the teachers’ nervous twitching.

“We thought so too,” said one of the teachers, glancing about. “but the students are nervous and some are beginning to panic about being kidnapped by aliens. To that end, we have contacted the two of you.”

“Us?” Ranma asked, cutting in before Nabiki could reply. “What could we do?”

“We know that you, Saotome-san, happen to be the center of the disturbance more often than not,” the vice principal answered, sighing. “We are also aware that Tendo-san here is in the higher percentages of both IQ and test scores at this school.”

“So what does all that mean?” Ranma queried, eyes narrowing at the implied accusation.

“Well,” said another of the teachers, “we figured that since you and Tendo-san live together, we could ask the two of you to plan some wacky event to assure the students that they’re not going insane.”

“Short walk,” Ranma muttered, rolling his eyes.

“Anyways,” Nabiki said, clearing her throat to get in a word. “Your fears seem to have already been alleviated.”

“Really?” the vice principal asked, a look of hope dancing in his eyes.

“Yes,” Nabiki said, “I was late for this impromptu meeting because I discovered a boy had snuck into the girl’s locker room and was attempting to take my clothes.”

“A pervert?” said the lone female teacher present, “At our fine school?”

A collective cough from the rest of the gathering alerted her to her oversight, to which she promptly blushed and hid her face in her hands.

“Moving on,” Nabiki said, “I interrogated this boy and found that he had been asked to steal just a girl’s uniform for some plan Kuno-chan has.”

“Did he say what it was?” the vice principal pressed.

“I had to threaten him with getting the other girls in order to get him to talk,” Nabiki said, an apologetic look on her face. “He was too frightened to make too much sense.”

“So,” a teacher said, “Kuno-san is apparently planning something, and it involves a girl’s uniform.”

“And me too.” Ranma said, “I bet it’s another lame attempt to defeat me.”

“It makes sense.” Nabiki said, noting the frowns of doubt sprawling across the teachers’ faces. “Kuno-chan has devoted a large amount of effort in defeating Ranma, so to say that this may have something to do with that is more than we have now.”

“Ok,” the vice principal said, agreeing with logic put forth. “It would appear we have no need to actually have you two plan anything.”

“Yeah,” Ranma said, “I guess it does. I’ll be on the look out for whatever Kuno’s gonna try.”

“Hopefully it will assuage their fears…” concluded the vice principal, writing the two passes back to their classes.

- -

Kuno Tatewaki was caught in another quandary. His first helper had scrambled off and was surely never to return after foolishly daring to trifle with the women of Furinkan High. Now he would have to find another helper, one who could be swayed by his unparalleled charisma.

But where to find one such as Gosunkugi Hikaru? Where was he to find one as noble and foolish as him? Aye there was the rub, a school filled with fools and not a noble one among them. They were all cowards who would tremble before him, but would be worthless once the plan was enacted.

It seemed the foul dog would escape his fate once more.

“I dunno Dai,” said a blond haired boy to a black haired boy as they passed by Kuno’s hiding spot.

“Yeah, I doubt anything weird happened to cause it to be normal, Hiro,” Dai replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“I’m just surprised Saotome hasn’t exploded by now.” Hiro added, looking sidelong at his friend.

“You and me both. I would have expected him to find and challenge Kuno, just to get things back to how they were.” Dai said, snorting to himself.

‘So these two know Saotome eh?’ Kuno thought to himself, a small grin appearing on his face.

“I wonder what happened to him anyways?” Hiro asked, looking up at the ceiling.

“Who know-” Dai started, only to be interrupted by a familiar voice.

“If this he you speak of is I, then I am simply behind you.” Kuno proclaimed, standing with his arms crossed.

“Gah!” both boys yelped and spun about to stare at the insane kendoist.

“I would ask how you two know of Saotome,” Kuno said, before waving his hand to cut off their replies. “But I have little time and am in urgent need of help.”

“What could YOU need help with?” Hiro asked, eyeballing the wannabe samurai like he had two heads.

“I need bait for my trap for Saotome,” Kuno said, “and should you choose to help me, I will reward you for your help.”

“We’re talking money right?” Dai asked, before being elbowed in the side by Hiro.

“Are you trying to sell Ranma out?” Hiro whispered harshly.

“If I can afford to ask a girl out without having to ask Nabiki for a loan, then Ranma will understand.” Dai whispered back.

“No asking for a loan?” Hiro whispered in awe, as though the concept was foreign to him.

“We’ll do it.” Dai said, turning around to face Kuno.

“Excellent,” Kuno said, smiling broadly. “Now if you two will walk with me, I’ll fill you in on the plan.”

- -

“Man, why do I have to dress up as a girl?” Dai groused as Hiro tied him up.

“Because your hair color is closer to Akane’s than mine.” Hiro answered, finishing the knot.

“Where did he come up with that story?” Dai said, hoping no one would see him dressed like this.

“Oh, the one about him having a cousin?” Hiro asked, pausing for Dai to nod before continuing. “He’s probably been putting a lot of thought into it. Even the most neglected brain works I guess.”

“I guess so.” Dai said, sighing to himself before giving Kuno the signal.

Kuno smirked to himself and waited for the sports teams to file in. School had passed and after school activities were beginning. He didn’t enjoy playing the decoy, but he couldn’t allow anyone to see his bait before Ranma arrived.

“Soon,” he said, smiling maniacally as the teams finished arriving. “Soon those pigtails will be mine! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Needless to say, the sight of the half-crazed kendoist unnerved the other occupants of the gym. That he was hugging himself and drooling caused many to turn green in revulsion. All in all, the distraction was effective, as no one had even looked at the stage.

‘Soon, Saotome…’ Kuno thought, ‘you will be in cat hell.’

- -

“I guess Kuno’s not going to do anything,” Ranma muttered to himself, before he shuddered with a sudden spasm of revulsion.

“Saotome?” Nabiki asked, who had been talking at length with Ranma about when Kuno’s great plan was going to jump in effect.

“It’s probably nothing…” Ranma said, before trailing off. “Say, isn’t that Akane?”

“Yeah, so?” she asked, curious about the question.

“It’s just this note I got.” he said, holding up a piece of paper.

“Let me see that,” she said, snatching the note away. “Let’s see… ‘Help, I’ve been kidnapped ! Save me please, Ranma! I’m being held in the gym, please hurry!’ Well, she certainly doesn’t look kidnapped to me…”

“Unless the sender already fumbled the kidnapping, I’d say this is trap.” he replied, eyeing the younger Tendo girl before checking to make sure there was no one else around to kidnap her.

“It looks like it.” she agreed, folding up the note and sticking it in the front of her dress. “Think it’s Kuno?”

“I’d bet good money on it.” he quipped, turning his head before his eyes could follow her actions.

“Hey sis,” Nabiki called, gaining her sister’s attention.

“Hey sis, Ranma,” Akane said in lieu of a greeting. “What’s up?”

“Well…” Nabiki began, looking at Ranma.

“We think Kuno is trying to spring a trap for me using you for bait…” Ranma continued.

“…Without using you as bait,” Nabiki finished.

Akane blinked and looked at the pair. They themselves blinked as well and looked at each other in shock. An odd moment passed between them, before Akane cleared her throat.

“Never do that again.” she said, shaking her head.

“Uh, yeah…” Ranma said intelligently.

“Anyways, we should head to the gym and see what that idiot has planned.” Nabiki said, changing the subject back to the important thing at hand.

“Yeah,” Akane said, “let’s go see what he’s up to.”

- -

The trio busted their way into the gym, ignoring the stares of the various clubs practicing there. They quickly spotted Kuno off in his own little world, which caused all three to shake their heads in disgust. Ignoring him, they pressed onto the peculiar sight of…

“Ranma, save me!” Dai squealed, failing miserably to even come close to sounding like a girl.

“Dai?” Ranma asked, eyes wide in disbelief.

“Is he wearing a girl’s uniform?” Akane asked, causing the boy to squawk in terror.

“You have weird friends, Saotome,” Nabiki commented, glaring at the boy.

“I-I-I Kuno made me do this!” Dai wailed, struggling against the ropes.

“Don’t worry about it Dai,” Ranma said, an assuring smile on his face as he walked over to untie his friend. “It’s not like too many people will know.”

“Thanks, Ranma,” Dai said, his voice lowering until only Ranma could hear him. “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?” Ranma said, before jumping back as a trap door opened and dumped Dai on his head at the bottom of it.

“Who did that?” Akane demanded, which lead to Hiro sheepishly coming out from his hiding spot.

“I, uh, did.” Hiro admitted. “I was forced to do that by Kuno as well.”

“Kuno wanted you to dump Dai down a trap door?” Ranma asked, eyeing his supposed friend with caution.

“No!” Hiro said, “you.”

“What?” Ranma asked, as Nabiki and Akane came up next to him.

“Well…” Hiro replied, “you’ll see.” With that, he pulled another rope.

WHAM! CRASH!

“Ow,” Hiro groaned, his attempt to drop the statue on Ranma’s head was foiled by Akane snatching him up by the shirt, inadvertently pulling his head into the path of said object.

“Well that worked out well, didn’t it?” Nabiki asked, peering into the hole.

“Get this offa me, Dai.” Hiro whined, the statue balanced perfectly on his head.

“But I don’t want sweet peas Mommy.” Dai said, rolling onto his back, head bobbing strangely.

“I guess I better save those two,” Ranma said, jumping down the trap door.

“Come on sis,” Akane said, snagging her sister by the hand. “I’m sure you want to question them just as bad as I do.”

“Hey wait a second,” Nabiki protested before being drug down the trap door by her sister.

“There you go sis,” Akane said, letting go of her sister.

“Geez, Akane,” Nabiki grumbled, shaking her arm to return feeling to it. “You could have asked first.”

“Yeah, well.” Akane said, before turning away with nothing to counter that.

“So,” Ranma said, pushing the statue off Hiro. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“Just… think well of me Ranma.” Hiro said, whipping out some fish sausage and handing it to Ranma.

“What!” Ranma said, before freezing as he heard the sound that always made his blood run cold.

“Oh no!” Akane said in alarm as cats began to slink in from the surrounding darkness.

“That’s what Kuno had up sleeve!” Nabiki exclaimed as she started towards Ranma.

- -

“Oh, Mr. Saotome,” Kasumi said as she happened upon him in unexpected reflection.

“Yes, Kasumi?” Genma asked offhandedly, not even turning around.

“I was just wondering if you’d like some tea.” she answered, shuffling the tray in nervous unease.

“Some tea would do me some good right now.” he said, turning around and coming back in off the porch.

“Here you go,” she said, having set the tray down and poured him a glass. “Yen for your thoughts?”

“Just reflecting on my mistakes as an overzealous parent,” the older man said, a hint of sadness in his voice as he sipped his tea.

“Just… what mistakes are you talking about?” the girl asked, a look of worry on her face.

“Simply the mistakes one makes when they become overconfident about something.” he replied, looking to the ceiling.

“I… see?” she said uncertainly. Her brow furrowed in worry as she thought about the implications that might have.

“It’s just,” he said, searching for the right words, “The boy was showing such an amazing learning curve that I was searching for that would challenge him.”

“Nothing wrong with that,” she said, trying to ease the man’s grief.

“If only I had read far enough, I would have never trained him in the neko-ken!” he proclaimed, appearing on the verge of a breakdown.

“Ah…” she said, surprised by his outburst. Her sisters had informed her of the neko-ken, and besides the fear of cats, she didn’t see the problem. “It can’t be all that bad.”

“Beyond the fear of cats,” he said, “lies the beast that the fear brings out. As a coping mechanism, Ranma slowly began acting like the thing he fears most.”

“You mean…!” she said, a sense of dread filling her.

“Yes,” he said, nodding his head. “When his fear becomes to overwhelming, he yowls.”

“Yowls?” she asked faintly.

“Like a cat that’s been cornered.” he answered, gesturing wildly. “At that point, he’s uncontrollable.”

“Oh dear,” she said, a sense of foreboding settling in.

End Chapter 9.

Teaser for chapter 10:

“Saotome!” Nabiki yelled from behind Ranma. “Don’t be afraid!”

“Buwahahahahaha!” Ranma laughed, his eyes crossed in concentration. “You think something like THIS will frighten me!”

“Then why are you shaking!” Akane snapped, her concern for the pig-tailed boy overriding her anger at his bravado.

“N-no reason.” Ranma answered, trotting away from the Tendo sisters/ “It seemed like a fun idea.” He paused to scoop up the unconscious Dai. “Let’s go Akane.”

“Ngh,” Dai answered, still unconscious from landing on his head.

“Wait, don’t go that way!” Hiro shouted as Akane silently fumed.

“Huh?” Ranma said, dropping Dai rudely to the ground.

“Too late…” Hiro moaned as a loud growl emanated from the darkness.

“N-nice k-kitty!” Ranma said as he suddenly was face to face with a tiger. “Y-you d-don’t w-want to eat scrawny old me, do you?”

“Ranma!” both sisters screamed with concern as he staggered back.

Then something peculiar happened. If the explosion of chaos and weirdness was peculiar enough, what happened next blew both of them out of the water. One moment Ranma stood there shaking like a leave in a windstorm, the next he had stopped and hunched over.

And this was followed by an inhuman yowl, the kind a human being should never be able to reproduce.

Author notes: Well, another chapter down. Neko-ken, Cologne, plus Soun and Shampoo and Ryoga will allegedly return… maybe even a cameo from Har Karu and Ukyo. Be there.