This is the fault of a variety of sources. Probably the predominant was
watching the first 4 episodes of the Anime series Cat's eye the night before.
It could easily be the basis for a series of stories, but I'm not about to
write them.

   The prose in this story is too terse. I need criticism that goes beyond
that. If anyone likes the idea I've set up, please tell me.

   <Insert rediculous disclaimer about how no one in particular was thought of
when I wrote the drug dealer. The name was constructed by agglutinating parts
of other Japanese names. To the best of my knowledge I've never heard of
anyone named that before>

   The working title is "Cat's Eye, Catpaws, Cat Burglar"

   Nabiki fishes a soaking wet Shampoo-neko out of the Koi pond. No one else
is around, as Akane, and Ranma with a female body, and a feline mind have
drawn everyone else away. "I wonder if Cologne chose your cursed form as a
joke. You are her cat's-paw after all."

   "Nyaaa?"

   "Whether or not you will wind up with Ranma, you are years away from being
a leader of your tribe. I'd make a better leader than you right now, even
though you could defeat me easily. While you are in Japan, you have the
perfect opportunity to acquire some personal power. If you capture Ranma, your
grandmother will whisk you back to China. Your grandmother's position in the
tribe will improve, while you and Ranma blindly support her power. You may get
Ranma, but you will never lead people like that. If you ever want to get some
personal power that isn't a hand-me-down from Cologne, visit me without
Cologne knowing. You'd better get back to the Nekohanten, before Akane
remembers you, and tries to exact revenge while you're still a cat."

   Shampoo-neko jumps away, giving Nabiki a strange look before running off.

			*	*	*

   Later that evening, Nabiki receives a visitor in her bedroom. Shampoo (now
in human form) leapt onto Nabiki's window sill, and entered her room. "Why do
you say you are a better leader?" Anger and curiosity are both evident on her
face.

   "You completely ignore everything else in your pursuit of Ranma. While you
chase after Ranma, you should be improving yourself. You could return to China
with money, or more experience, or at least with Mousse a devoted follower of
you. None of these things would help or hinder your fight for Ranma. If you
change your mind, I could help you pursue these goals, and I'd profit also."

   "Now I understand. You would be willing to work with me on something other
than Ranma. Maybe I need a new hobby. You are right, Cologne holds much more
power in village than I. How do you think I can get more power?"

   "Using our skills we could get money without anyone else knowing you have
it. Hidden money is much more powerful than money others know about because it
allows you to do things others think you couldn't. You could also look at all
of the ways Cologne uses Mousse. Mousse hates her, but she keeps him under her
thumb, you have no way to deal with your enemies but fighting. You should also
look at making connections with people outside your village that might help
you within your village. You should learn from people here that are masters of
things other than martial arts."

   "OK, you are best here at making money. You show me how to make money?"

   "I already have one plan, It would be easier if you can work with
Mousse. It doesn't involve Ranma. Do you think you can work with him?"

   "If Grandmother can get him to wash dishes, I should learn to make him do
what I want."

   "Good, my next choice would have been Kodachi or Happosai, and they're both
too crazy to be safe allies. How do you feel about robbing criminals?"

			*	*	*

   The next night, Mousse and Shampoo show up to Nabiki's room. "Mousse, has
Shampoo explained my proposition to you?"

   "She has, but I am still unsure if I will do it. What do I need money for?"

   "How about medical expenses for improving your vision, overhauling your
chains, buying high tech knives that can outperform your steel ones, and the
ability to fly places by plane instead of as a duck? None of these would be
available to you until after you two return to China with or without Ranma,
but it would make your life better after Ranma's fate is decided whichever way
that goes."

   "You're talking about enough money to improve my sight?"

   "If it can be improved medically. We'll be living the same as we are now
while we work on this, but at the end we should have a small fortune to divide
up. It also means you can spend time with Shampoo without the usual crowd of
people hanging around, if you can behave in such a way that Shampoo doesn't
ask you to leave. If you profess your love for Shampoo on a job, or treat her
in a way she doesn't want you to, you're out; if you can manage this you can
spend more time with Shampoo."

   "OK, sounds good. What do you have in mind?"

   "You two would make some of the best cat burglars around, but we don't want
to draw attention of anyone, especially the police. We are only going to
target thefts of stolen items. The police won't be involved, because no one
will report it. We will leave no traces, because you two have exceptional
skills in martial arts, plus your cursed forms, plus equipment I'll buy, and
plans I'll be making. If someone starts to suspect, we can stop at any
time. As they say in the pop-music scene, `you've got the Brawn, I've got the
brains, let's make lots of money'. Our first step is to locate some people who
have stolen items."

			*	*	*

   No one notices as a cat and a duck enter an upper floor of a Tokyo police
building late at night, each with a camera around their necks, and a small bag
of cylinders attached to the duck's leg. Two hours later they leave, leaving
nothing changed, but a damp spot on the floor near the water-cooler, and
several well worn files in the filing cabinet being flipped through one more
time.

   The next morning, Nabiki picks up a bag of used film rolls from under her
bed, and places them in her school bag. and proceeds like nothing has
happened.

   During the school day, Nabiki spends some time in the school's
dark-room. She has a reputation for developing pictures there, but these are
prints Kuno isn't likely to ever see.

   That evening she spends a little more time in her room than she normally
does on her homework. No one notices; no one ever notices Nabiki, unless she
is actively doing something. After all, Ranma and Akane are always providing
enough distractions to keep everyone else's attention.

   Later that week Kasumi accepts delivery of a small package delivered to
Nabiki. No one thinks twice about it, as Ryouga attacks Ranma that evening at
dinner, everyone has more interesting things to discuss.

			*	*	*

   "OK, Shampoo, Mousse, I think I've got your first mission planned. I've
bought you some equipment that'll make your jobs easier. These small boxes
have two compartments. One is large enough to hold minimal clothing for you to
wear as humans, including gloves and cloth face-masks to protect your
identities, the other can keep water hot for a few hours, and spray it when
you press here. With this, you can sneak in as animals, and change to human
when convenient."

   "I've also got these goggles for Mousse, They're a little stronger than
your current prescription, reasonably shatterproof, and incorporate starlight
scope technology. This'll lessen your sight disadvantage. Neither of you
should wear anything that might be traced back to you. This includes leaving
behind all of your usual weapons, I'll buy untraceable ones of whatever you
think you need, but leave your usual stuff at home. Unfortunately, you won't
be able to use bonbori or a swan potty, if anyone saw those, you'd be more
easily suspected."

   "If either of you can learn to use them, I've got lock-picks of several
different kinds, and glass cutters. Both of these could be grounds for being
arrested if someone sees them, but you should have no problem keeping them
concealed. A cat and a duck who can move through glass and locks should be
able to go nearly anywhere."

   "You'll still be vulnerable to infrared beams, motion detectors, heat
sensors, ultrasonic echo-location, pressure pads, capacitance detectors, human
guards, animal guards, alarms based on air pressure, and a host of new
technologies, but this stuff should make most simple operations a
cakewalk. Since we won't be robbing normal folks, you'll be encountering alot
more security than normal. Luckily you two can case a place out beforehand in
your cursed forms without raising suspicions."

   "When we gain a bit of capital, we'll be buying more equipment to alleviate
these weak spots. We'll also be laundering our gains by investing in medium
growth businesses. The stock purchases will be made from a broker up
North. Before we do that, I'll investigate the companies thoroughly through
the information they are forced to disclose, and then you two might
investigate some more to make sure the owners aren't running any scams
themselves. This will significantly decrease our chances at a loss, will keep
the money growing, and the money will be used productively by the
company. Unfortunately, the profits from the investments will be taxable, but
the returns will be money unlinked to any crimes. I'm ready to set up a dummy
group who will own the stock, and who will cease to exist once we divide the
profits. The corporation will be foreign owned, so that our money will be
outside Japan and China when we start to draw from it."

   "I've compiled the information you've photographed from the police files,
and I've got a few targets in mind who the police suspect, but can't convict
yet. The files on Yakuza was especially interesting, but if we steal from
them, it has to look like the money was irretrievable lost, not stolen. If no
one suspects that we exist, we'll be safest."

   "Our first target is Matsumoto Hikaru ..."

			*	*	*

   For the third time Mousse lets himself into Matsumoto's apartment
window. Apparently the only security this apartment had was a few pressure
pads on the floor, and alarms on the front door and the windows near the fire
exit. As a duck, Mousse didn't weigh enough to trigger the alarm, and he
entered and left through an unguarded window. So far he'd found no trace of
the money, and was beginning to suspect it didn't really exist, or wasn't kept
here.

   Matsumoto was a medium-level executive, who traveled on business out of
Japan. The police believed that he was using those trips to smuggle in a
moderate supply of narcotics, and smuggle out money into a foreign bank
account. The police were waiting for his next trip to try to trace the method
he got the drugs into the country, in order to assure a conviction. They had
already verified that he carried a satchel of yen on his last trip out of the
country. Mousse's mission was to find where the money was hidden. Apparently
the police had invented some pretext to search his office building, and found
nothing.

   Shampoo, in cat form, was on a building across the street, watching for a
return of Matsumoto. She'd only had to yowl once before to alert Mousse to
leave early. On previous trips, Mousse checked all of the places he could
without ruffling anything that might be detected. This time he had more luck,
looking through Matsumoto's clothes. Rolls of bills large enough to choke
horses were stuffed in the toes of his shoes, and inside one suit was a flat,
hanging bag of Yen notes.

   As per their plan, he arranged everything as he found it, and picking up a
feather he'd lost, he flew out the window and closed it behind him.

			*	*	*

   The next evening finds Shampoo on the roof of the building with a basket
and cable the color of the side of the building, and a bucket of water. Inside
the bucket is a pile of clothes.

   Shampoo spots Mousse flying towards her in duck form. This was the signal
that he saw Matsumoto drive off, and Mousse was about to enter through the
window again.. Shampoo lowers the basket to the window, and Mousse pulls it
into the apartment with his beak.

   Now it is Mousse's turn to be busy, as he fills up the basket with all of
the money he found. Tugging on the cable, he helps Shampoo get the basket out
the window. While Shampoo raises the loot, Mousse covers every trace of his
activity he can find, and flies off to an alley besides the building. There he
waits for Shampoo to lower the basket to him. He removes the clothes, changes
back into a man, and gets dressed. He pulls a sports bag from the basket, and
puts the basket and the money into it.

   Meanwhile Shampoo changes to a cat, packs her clothes, and takes everything
with her, but the empty bucket.