(Neko Chapter 7. Continued from Part One)


*********************

At Furinkan High School, another school day was about to start. In ones and
twos, friends and couples, loners and groups, the students of this
establishment walked into the yard of the school, chatting away about this
and that and nothing of any great importance.

It was into this normal little scene that Kunou walked. He was wearing what
appeared to be his preferred clothes - kendo clothes sans armour. In his
hand (and again, trends were starting to indicate this was usual) he held a
boken, a wooden training sword. For some reason, his exposed arms and face
were covered in several scratches and small bite marks (Perhaps he was into
some rough 'swordplay', if you get my drift. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say
no more *SLAP* ow, sorry).

The random crowd of students did not take long to notice the kendoist in
their midst, as they parted around him to let him through. As soon as Kunou
reached the middle of the crowd, he struck a suitably heroic pose and started
a speech.

"Mobilise, men of Furinkan!" Kunou shouted as he held his boken above his
head in an heroic pose. "After many trials and tribulations, I, Kunou
Tatewaki, the paramount fighter of this school, have returned."

"I told you we shouldn't have stopped going to the shrine to pray for him to
stay away." one of the students whispered to a friend, making sure the nearby
kendoist couldn't hear him.

"How were we to know?" the second student whispered back. "He was gone for so
long, we thought the prayers were actually working. More fools us, I guess."

"I come with glorious news." Kunou continued, oblivious to the lukewarm
response to his return. "'Tis time, once again, to take up my challenge. For
within the hour, the beauteous Tendo Akane shall surely be here."

This brought interest from the boys in the crowd. Several heads turned to
look at the proud kendoist, before one of the braver boys piped up. "Did you
say that Akane's going to be here today?"

Kunou nodded. "That is right. You know the terms of my challenge. None may
date with her who have not defeated her in the glory of combat. Not that any
of you stand any chance in that, but it would not be fair not to offer you
the chance. And Tatewaki Kunou is nothing if not fair." [Ah... today shall be
the day.] he thought to himself as he watched the boys murmur amongst
themselves. Several of the girls in the crowd, seeing where this was going,
walked off, disgusted that three months of weening the boys off their Akane
fixation had been destroyed in one quick speech by Kunou. [Today will be the
day I show myself worthy to be yours, Akane. Worthy by virtue of defeating
you in battle. Worthy indeed.]

Then, while the boys around him geared for the coming battle, Kunou did what
seemed natural. He laughed long and hard, not noticing the nervous glances
those nearby gave him.

*********************

"So..." Nabiki said slowly, thoughtfully, as she and Ukyou walked towards the
gates of Furinkan, "...Jusenkyo gave you a second male form? That sounds a
little strange to me..."

Ukyou started to sweat. Her secret was dear to her, she'd been hiding her
gender for ten years now. Lately, she had started to have second thoughts
about her disguise, but then she had gone to China. With Akane.

Friends like Akane didn't come along too often. She was Ukyou's best friend,
they had done so much for each other. They had helped improve each other's
skills, in fighting and in other things. They had saved each others lives in
their time in China. They had fought, back to back, against bandits and
other scum. They shared a fellowship that Ukyou had not felt since Ranchan,
so long ago.

They had told each other things that they had told no-one else. But Ukyou
had never told Akane that she was a girl. At first, it was simply because she
didn't tell _anyone_ her secret. And later, when she had felt the surgings of
guilt start to sit like a heavy stone in her stomach, it was too late. Akane
had already admitted things to Ukyou, secrets about herself, about how she
felt about people, that Akane would not help but feel betrayed if she found
out about Ukyou.

"I guess that's just the way the springs work." Ukyou finally answered
Nabiki's unvoiced question. "I don't know, we didn't stick around to hear
the full explanation. Akane was almost in shock, and I was worried about what
else we could fall into if we stayed any longer, so we got out of there."

Nabiki pursed her lips before she reluctantly nodded. After all, she knew
nothing more about Jusenkyo than what Mr Saotome, Akane and Ukyou had told
her. Ukyou's curse just seemed strange, there was something about it that
niggled at her.

Ukyou inwardly sighed in relief as Nabiki apparently accepted her excuse. It
was bad enough that Ranma had found out, but if he was still the Ranchan
she'd known in their youth then he would keep his word, he would not tell.
The fact that he'd given his word in the first place probably meant that
there wasn't any worry of him telling. But this Nabiki girl was Akane's
sister, surely she would feel bound to tell Akane if she found out?

No. It couldn't, it wouldn't happen. She'd fought through so much to keep her
secret, for reasons far less important than not disappointing a friend. She
would keep her secret until a time came when she thought Akane was ready to
handle the truth.

And that was that.

*********************

[What a show off.] Akane thought to herself as she watched Ranma walk along
a fence top with the an ease she found herself envying. After a small delay
while Ranma threw together some things into his bookbag, they had started on
their way to school.

[He's probably just trying to impress me or something.] Akane looked around
to make sure that their parents weren't spying on them before she mentally
prepared herself to talk. First, she did a couple of mental calming
exercises, since she was determined not to let this opportunity slip away
from anger, like it had during their spar. She had to get Ranma's support to
end the engagement now. If they delayed in a joint protest for too long,
nothing would sway their fathers from the union.

"We need to talk, Ranma." Akane said as the two teenagers walked along.

"Talk?" Ranma asked. "Uh, sure, what about?"

"About this engagement thing."

"Yeah, the engagement. Look, I know ya must feel about it, Ucchan told me
that you went to China to come after us, so I guess you feel pretty strongly.
Have you already got a boyfriend or something?"

Akane hesitated. "Nnnnnnoooo. No, I don't have a boyfriend at the moment.
But that doesn't mean I want to get married to the first guy who comes along.
I'm not that starved of attention." [Far from it.] she thought as she
remembered the many times that boys had fawned over her.

"So anyway," she continued, "I don't want to be forced into an engagement.
It's not fair to do that to anyone." [Especially me.] a guilty little thought
flashed through her head. "So I need your help." Akane finished.

"Help? So what are ya getting at?" Ranma asked as he leapt off the fence
so that he could walk next to her.

"Look, Ranma, it's just that I..." After a drenching splash of water,
Akane-kun trailed off from his speech. He twisted and turned his head about
to try and find who had splashed him, until he caught sight of an old lady,
partially hidden because she was standing in the alcove/entrance of a nearby
property. The old woman had been splashing water on the path, and had
negligently caught Akane with some of the backsplash.

Akane-kun sighed, trying to ignore the now tight shoulders of his uniform.
It wouldn't do to berate an old lady for an accident like this, it was best
to just deal with the inconvenience. "I guess I'd better get some hot water,
hey Ranma? Lucky I know a doctor nearby, he'll be able to help us."

Ranma gave no reply.

"Ranma?" Akane-kun asked, puzzled, as he looked around for the other boy. He
couldn't see the pig-tailed boy anywhere. "Where did he..." Akane-kun looked
down to see a small black cat struggle its way out of a crumpled red shirt,
which lay atop a pair of black pants, "...oh. Got you too, did she?"

Ranma-Neko looked at Akane-kun, blinked, and then started to groom himself,
licking the excess water off his fur.

"Ranma?" Akane-kun queried when the cat ignored him.

Ranma-Neko looked up from his cleaning, his tongue half-stuck out of his
mouth, ready to lick his fur again. He stared at the half-boy for a few
moments, before going back to his cleansing.

"Well, we'd better go get that hot water." Akane-kun said as he brushed
some water off his face, figuring that Ranma was just annoyed at being
splashed. "Come on, I guess I can carry you..." he said to Ranma-Neko as he
walked over to him.

The cat stopped his grooming when the half-boy started approaching him. When
Akane-kun got too near, he started to back up, clearly nervous.

Akane-kun took a couple of steps closer. Ranma-Neko took scooted back just
as far. The boy edged a bit closer. The cat moved back again. Akane-kun
couldn't help it, he growled in frustration. Ranma-Neko responded by
retreating into the alcove that the old woman had so recently occupied.
Apparently the ancient dame had retreated back inside her house, done with
her path wetting tasks.

Akane-kun saw his chance. Ranma-Neko was trapped. And so the half-boy lunged
for the cat. The feline responded by trying to use his shoulder as a step
to leap off. But this time, Akane-kun was ready. His hands blurred, and he
managed to catch the cat just as it landed on his shoulder. Ranma-Neko tried
to jump off, but he was trapped between Akane-kun's hands and his shoulder.

"Ha! Can't fool me with that one twice!" Akane-kun gloated as he got a firm
grip on the struggling feline. After he was sure of his hold, he pulled the
cat out in front of him.

"Ranma? Are you in there?" Akane-kun asked as he looked into the cat's eyes.
He couldn't see anything to indicate that Ranma-Neko was anything more
than... well... a cat. Last night, before bed, Genma had drawn Akane aside
and tried(in a slightly biased way) to explain to Akane what happened to
Ranma when he got splashed. He had told her about Ranma's cat persona, since
Genma had figured that, as Ranma's fiancee, she had deserved to know at least
some of the truth.

"Maybe there are worse pools after all." Akane-kun sighed as Ranma-Neko
struggled in his grip. He gritted his teeth as the cat kept trying to
wriggle out of his grasp. "Would you stop struggling please?" he asked the
cat.

Ranma-Neko responded by struggling some more.

"Please, Ranma, stop it! You're going to make us late!" Akane-kun said in an
almost pleading tone. When that yielded nothing positive, desperation dredged
up the memories of how Ukyou had handled Ranma's cat form, when they had
first met the cat-boy.

[Anything's worth trying, if it'll quieten him down.] Akane-kun thought. And
so he started to stroke Ranma-Neko's fur as he looked around to make sure
no-one saw him petting the cat(especially his father, the gods only knew how
Soun would overreact if he saw his 'son' petting his iinazuke, but the
chances were it would involve immediate wedding plans).

It was a pleasant surprise to the half-boy when Ranma-Neko responded to the
light stroking by purring. Akane-kun's eyes widened, as a small smile touched
his lips. [Well... that was easier than I thought it'd be. Now I just have
to get to Dr Tofu's so we can get some hot water.]

Akane-kun suddenly had a stray thought pop through his head and say 'hi'. It
went something along the lines of [Say... aren't you a guy right now?]

To which, of course, his mind impatiently answered [Of course I'm a guy right
now, that's what happens when I get splashed.] Akane-kun idly scratched
Ranma-Neko's ears, wondering what his mind was trying to get at.

The stray thought wasn't quite finished with him though. [So...] the stray
thought 'said' a bit too casually. [You're a guy right now. Tell me, you did
wear your school dress today, didn't you?]

[Yes, of course I did. What else would I have worn!?] Akane-kun's mind shot
back. And then he realised the problem. His eyes widened as he looked down at
the now very much higher up on the legs, now very tight on the shoulders, now
very _inappropriate_ dress he was wearing.

"Oh no..." he groaned. "I can't turn up at Dr Tofu's clinic like this, he'll
think I'm a pervert. I need the time to explain the curse to him. What do I
do?" he asked, before his eyes alighted on Ranma's discarded clothes.
"Ahhhh..." he breathed, "I guess that will have to do."

But he couldn't change here, what if someone caught him doing it? There was
only one solution. Find a place to change. FAST. And so, with a speed born
of desperation, Akane-kun picked up the clothes, Ranma's bookbag, and then
raced off to find an out of the way place, with Ranma-Neko cradled in his
arm.

*********************

Akane-kun panted as he raced into the nearest alley to the old lady's house
that he knew off, cradling Ranma-Neko in one of his arms, Ranma's clothes and
the two bookbags in his other hand. He'd used every bit of cover between the
path wetter's place and here, from trees to lampposts to any shadow big
enough, so that no-one had seen him. The last thing he wanted was to be
branded a pervert for wearing a dress while he was a guy.

Akane-kun set Ranma-Neko down as he fought to regain his breath from the
strenuous dash. [Lucky I had some practice in hiding over in China.] he
thought as he slowly started to breath at a normal rate again. [Don't know if
I would have made it unseen otherwise.]

He sighed as he set down the bags and looked at Ranma's clothes. "No choice,
I guess." he said. "I just hope you cleaned these recently, Ranma."

Ranma-Neko chose not to reply. Instead, he just sat there, looking up at the
boy.

"Don't you even think of looking..." Akane-kun warned the cat in a dangerous
tone as he squeezed his feet out of his (now almost too tight for him) shoes.

Ranma-Neko gave Akane-kun an 'how-stupid-can-you-be?' look. But then again,
maybe it was just a normal cat's stare, it was hard to tell.

Akane-kun blushed as he realised how stupid it was to worry about Ranma
perving at _his_ body, even if what Uncle Saotome had said about Ranma and
his curse wasn't true. "Sorry." he said, "I'm just not comfortable with you
sitting there, even if I am a guy right now. Could you turn around?"

Ranma-Neko just stared back at him.

"Uh..." Akane-kun said when the cat continued to stare at him. "Look, I'm not
asking for much here, just turn around, would you?"

Ranma-Neko blinked, before he went right back to staring at the half-boy.

Akane-kun gave a low throated growl of exasperation before he bent down,
picked up the placid cat, turned Ranma-Neko around so that the feline's back
was to him, and then set the animal down again.

"Now just you stay that way..." Akane-kun warned as he took one last quick
look around to make sure no-one was in sight. Then, he took Ranma's pants and
pulled them on up beneath the dress. Once that bit of modesty was covered, he
shucked off his dress, grimacing briefly at the now totally inappropriate
bra. Akane-kun deftly unhooked the bra and placed it on top of the discarded
dress(he'd learnt over in China that a boy wearing a bra raised questions,
and that somehow circumstances could always come along that ensured that
people found out). He then completed the clothing change by throwing on
Ranma's shirt and buttoning it. Lastly, he squeezed his feet back into his
own shoes. With that finished, he stuffed his dress and bra into his bookbag,
and gingerly put Ranma's boxers and shoes into Ranma's bag.

Akane-kun sighed at the strange clothes. "I guess it will have to do." he
said to himself. "Come on Ranma, let's go get some hot water." he looked
around, and saw that his feline companion was nowhere to be seen. "Ranma?"
Akane-kun called.

There was a clattering from a little way down in the alley. Akane-kun looked
over in the sound's general direction, to see Ranma-Neko exploring a junkpile
of old electronic gadgets. The cat was sniffing around curiously, seemingly
bored.

Akane-kun groaned, before he walked over to the junkpile. "Come on Ranma." he
said, reaching for the cat. Ranma-Neko, apparently still nervous around
people, retreated further into the junk. Akane-kun growled, before he reached
into the junk. "Rrrrrr! Don't do this to me now Ranma! We're late enough as
it is!"

The cat just inched further away. After a few more seconds of fruitless
reaching, Akane-kun growled, and withdrew his hands. "Great." he muttered.
"I can't just leave him here, I'd never hear the end of it from Dad if he
found out." With a sigh, Akane-kun looked around to make sure no-one was
looking, before he crouched down in front of the garbage pile and began to
beckon 'come-hither' with his forefinger.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." he said, embarrassment in his voice. "Here kitty,
kitty, kitty." [I swear, if I ever find out you were faking this 'mind of a
cat' thing, I'll kill you Ranma.] he thought grimly as he continued to make
the hand gestures.

Ranma-Neko peeked out from behind a piece of rusty metal, before he slowly
squeezed out of the junkpile as only a cat could. Then, he cautiously padded
up to Akane-kun, stopping near his outstretched hand. Akane-kun narrowed his
eyes, before he made a grab for the cat.

Ranma-Neko, however, was too fast. He skittered out of the way, before he
scooted back into the junk.

Akane-kun blinked, realising that he was back to square one. With an
heartfelt sigh, he started beckoning again.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty..."

*********************

Nerima had a certain problem; it was a problem that had plagued the ward for
far longer than most would have thought. The problem was that Nerima suffered
from a martial artist population that reached plague proportions. The gods
only knew why, perhaps the martial artists willingly gathered, so as to
improve themselves through studying other fighters, or perhaps it was an
instinctual thing, like when salmon swam upstream to mate.

In recent times, however, there had been a noticeable drop in the martial
artists living in Nerima. This, to most sane people's surprise, was actually
NOT A GOOD THING. It was NOT A GOOD THING because(as any fatalist, cynic or
realist could tell you) it meant that when the Fates finally redressed the
imbalance, chances were that they were going to go... let us say... a little
overboard.

One case in example: St Hebereke Girls Academy. St Hebereke was an expensive
girls-only private school that had the unenviable task of educating Nerima's
'finest' young women. It was an orderly place, the students dressed neatly,
no girl had an hair out of place and no girl wore a piece of jewellery nor an
iota of makeup more than was allowed in the strict school rules.

St Hebereke was, in a word, boring. Really, really boring. The school had no
soul, there was no school spirit to be shared by the girls. Only one thing
had ever given meaning, had given pride, had given reason for the girls of
St Hebereke to hold their heads high when they met students from other
schools.

That one thing was St Hebereke's rhythmic gymnastics team. Ever since the
team's greatest leader had taken over, they had been undefeated in match
after match. But 'had' and 'was' were the operative words. The gymnastic
team's great leader had just disappeared one day, by all appearances never to
return. Without her unique leadership tactics, the team suffered and a long
tradition of Hebereke wins came to a close.

The one thing that the students could take pride in was no longer worthy of
that pride. The school spirit plummeted to an all time low. The girls
entering the school grounds were quiet, listless, their heads were downcast,
laughter was absent... in other words, things were dull.

The almost palpable quiet from the school girls made the sudden mutterings
at the edge of the crowd all the more obvious. Heads rose and turned, to try
and pinpoint the source of the disturbance to the drudgery of their starting
day.

Kodachi idly twirled a black rose in one hand as she absently straightened
her school dress with the other. She looked around at the girls as she
walked into the school grounds, not seeming to notice the stares and comments
she was getting. The other students parted in front of, moving out of her way
with respect in their eyes. Several eyes were drawn to the dozens upon dozens
of small furry rodents that surrounded Kodachi's feet like some weird animal
entourage.

When the black haired gymnast reached a point about halfway between the
school gates and the school's entrance, she stopped and looked around at the
girls who were looking at her. The lemmings took up position around her,
ready for anything.

"I'm back." Kodachi declared as several lemmings looked about at the
surrounding girls with what might have been suspicion on their little faces.

Louder and louder the murmurs rippled through the crowd of girls who
surrounded Kodachi in front of the school. Girls inside the school building
heard the noise and they rushed to the windows, calling friends over when
they saw who had returned. Several girls pointed to the lemmings as the
murmuring started to rise into a crescendo of sound.

More and more students(along with a fair few teachers) were drawn to the
windows, to the entrance, to the school grounds where Kodachi stood with a
slight smile on her haughty face.

It was then that several members of the by now disgraced gymnastics team
pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Hope fluttered in their hearts
as they saw Kodachi. Their leader had returned. True, Kodachi hadn't been
the funnest leader around, but her results had spoken for themselves. With
her back, victory would soon be theirs again.

And so the gymnasts started to cheer. Other girls took up the cheer as they
too realised that their once great pride, the rhythmic gymnastics team, would
once again be the toast of the school. More and more of the students took on
the cheer, as they started to realise that the glories of old school
victories would soon be theirs again. The cheers soon fell into a rhythm of
two words.

'Kodachi!'

'Hebereke!'

'Kodachi!'

'Hebereke!'

Kodachi felt like she was riding on an ocean of sound, the euphoria of the
moment was making her dizzy, so dizzy that she thought she might fall. In an
attempt to steady herself, she threw her arms out for balance.

Kodachi's stance spurred the crowd on, and their cathartic hollering grew
louder and louder, the chanting of Kodachi's and the school's name took on
a deep, vibrating rhythm that massaged the body and pierced the soul.

The lemming horde looked around in awe at the reception their queen was
receiving as the lemming packleader nodded, as if it had expected this. Then,
as one, the rodents looked up to their mistress. They, like everyone else
present, knew what was about to happen.

Kodachi started to laugh. Starting low, her voice rose to a high, bubbly
pitch as her laughter started matching the tempo of the chanting crowd. The
laughter and the crowds' cheers merged into one amorphous, glorious,
incredible sound, a sound that was, in a way, the very symbol of Hebereke's
soul.

Several of the teachers tried in vain to break up the display, but their
efforts came to nothing. Finally, they gave up, deciding perhaps that this
was for the best. After all, at least now the school had it's spirit back.
In the end, the teachers decided, that made having Kodachi back worth the
discipline breach.

And the minutes flowed by, as the cheering continued unabated, and a girl of
questionable sanity laughed and laughed and laughed, finding herself actually
glad to be back.

Oh yes, it was GOOD to be back.

***************************************************************************
***************************************************************************

And that's Chapter Seven finished. Comments, criticisms and problems are
appreciated.

The 'storage room', BTW, is the guest room that Happosai occupies in the real
series. I was very disappointed when no-one pointed this out to me in their
C&C of Chapter 6, when I threw Ukyou into a tent. (I'm playing with your
minds! I'm putting deliberate mistakes in just to get C&C! Win a prize, see
if you can tell me the deliberate mistake in Ranma's first conversation with
his father in Chapter 1. Actually, the bit in Chapter 1 isn't a mistake, it
just probably looks like one for the moment.) I could go back and change
Chapter 6, but I like the certain symbolism I see in Ukyou's sleeping in the
backyard. I don't know, it's a personal thing.

People might be worried about how slow I'm taking the series so far. Don't
worry, things get a little manic for a while soon enough, the pacing is just
deliberately slow for the moment.

Did anyone find that Kodachi scene scary? I did. Honestly. The image of
Kodachi standing there, arms akimbo, laughing her heart out, as a crowd of
schoolgirls faced her, chanting out 'Kodachi' and 'Hebereke', with a pile
of lemmings looking up at her is burned into my mind. I'll probably have
nightmares about that scene....

Sigh... I certainly seem to be in a 'slow' patch at the moment. I'm not short
of ideas or anything, I'm just finding it hard to get the motivation to
write. After the amount of time Chapters 6 and 7 took me, I cannot, in good
conscience, say how long Chapter 8 will be. It'll be out sooner or later, I
assure you. I think I'll write that Kodachi sidestory after Chapter 8, since
the plan is to have Kodachi truly reappear in Chapter 9 or 10, depending on
how much space I take to deal with Ryouga's first reappearance.

Till next time.

************  
Mark Doherty  -  mdoherty@mailbox.uq.edu.au
My fanfics are at http://www.uq.edu.au/~zzhdoher

"Kawaii must die."