This is the followup to 'At The Movies' and it is a prequel to that
story. Both are part of an alternate timeline so do not strictly 
adhere to either Manga or Anime canon. C-C and MST-ies are 
welcomed and appreciated either publicly or privately.

Disclaimer: All characters mentioned herein are the property of
Takahashi Rumiko and are used without permission on a solely
non-profit basis. All rights reserved to her and her authorized 
licensees.

Note: '...Cats and Dogs' takes place within the first two months 
of Ranma's stay at the Tendou Dojo. 

Thanks go to my pre-readers, without whom this fic could not 
have been written, and to Rhialto for help with the latin in this
chapter. 

What went on before: One day, while Akane is away on an 
extended school trip with the Drama club, Ranma is eating
lunch in the Cafeteria with Ukyou when he is challenged to 
a duel by a particularly irate Kunou. 

PART 2

	As the crowd started to break up and head back to their
tables, Nabiki stayed behind a moment with her subordinates.
They stood before her like officers waiting for marching orders
from their Commander-in-Chief. "OK, everyone, I guess we know
what the next fight is going to be."
	Pointing to the second-year boy on her left, she snapped,
"Hiro, go post the results and pay the winners of the
guess-the-challenger pool."
	"Yuriko," she barked to her chief assistant. "Start
canvassing for the early action, but remember since it's Kunou,
we probably won't get any direct result betting, so hype up the
secondary pools.
	"Nouri, since you only have one class left today, go and
start setting up the recording equipment at the site now. Don't
worry about cutting your last class. I'll take care of it with
Harita-sensei, he owes me," Nabiki pronounced.
	"The rest of you, start working on the tickets and
concession. Stress what happened in the cafeteria and give
this fight a strong sell. Something's going on here, that scene
before was over the top, even for Kunou. If it's any indication of 
what we can expect later, it'll be a good show. Now, get moving.
I'll follow in a minute," Nabiki said in a clipped, commanding 
tone.
	Once they were gone, she made her way to Kunou, who
had retreated to the Kendo Team's customary table with his 
group to discuss, in detail, what he planned for Saotome.
	At the table, Kunou, in the midst of boasting to his team
about the day's challenge, said  "....Fear not! While it is true
that, until now, Saotome's foul magicks and uncanny luck have
saved him, I have made special plans for today. With the 
assistance of my loyal ninja, Sasuke, and his reconnaissance 
efforts, I have discovered Saotome's achilles heel. It seems that
the boastful fool has a fear of cold water. Can not endure it, even
for an instant, and avoids it at all costs. Well, there will be no 
such avoidance today. Luring that braggart into a formal duel, in
front of everyone, saw to that. On the battlefield, I will bring 
Ranma face to face with his worst nightmare and he will be 
brought low. Forced..."
	'Hah!' Thought Nabiki. 'Trust Sasuke to miss the obvious.
Won't Kunou be surprised when he sees how little his scheme
does. That is, if it actually works at all. Still, thank the Kami that
Sasuke is such an idiot and didn't find out the truth about 
Ranma's nekophobia. Otherwise he could actually have been in 
trouble. Still, Should I tell Ranma about this?'
	Frowning, Nabiki answered her own question. 'Nah, he's
broke so I couldn't get any cash out of him for the information.
After what happened at lunch, he already owes me another favor
so that's out. Can't bleed yen from a stone after all. Besides, so
what, it's only cold water. At worst, Kunou gets lucky, actually
nails him with it, and he changes. Kunou will deny reality as
usual, dismiss what his eyes tell him, and Ranma will beat him,
again. What could possibly happen?'
	Nabiki did not notice the loud thunder that accompanied
that thought as she continued. 'Still, I can't believe Sasuke was
spying on us and I didn't know it. Must be going soft in my old
age. Hmpf.'  On that note the bell rang and Nabiki walked away,
headed towards her next class and to catch up with her soldiers.
	"... so yes my loyal foot soldiers, I have sought
assistance to negate Saotome's advantage in all things arcane.
I have hired my own Practitioner of the mystical arts, the
underclassman, Gosunkugi Hikaru. With his help I will level the
playing field as it were. I will confront the accursed Saotome
in combat and with my superlative fighting abilities, the great
Warlock Gosunkugi's magicks, and my trusty bokken I will use
his own weakness to destroy him. Think of the glory my team! 
Oh we few, we blessed few, who go forth on this, St. Caspian
Day...'" Kunou went on as he led his team out of the lunchroom.


**** 	

	During Kunou's speech, the great Warlock in question was
at work later in one of Furinkan's art rooms.
	"Damn! Where'd I put that lens? Oh here it is. How did it
get all the way up on the top shelf... nevermind.  Lemme get
this chair over here, and now if I reach up and stretch I can
get it... OW!!!" Gosunguki Hikaru just discovered how much 
pain one felt when a shelf, six feet high and loaded with 
camera equipment fell on them. "Uhhhh.... that's the third time 
this month. When am I gonna learn? Now I have to crawl out of 
this mess and hope the shelf didn't hit my camera."
	Once Gosunkugi managed to get back to his feet, he began
to search through the wreckage of the shelf. Gosunkugi was
saddened to find his camera crushed underneath the remains of
what appeared to be a small clay statuette of a cat. "Oh well. 
Who cares? No film in it anyway so I don't have to worry about
losing any pictures of Akane. Thank GOODNESS!" Sighing with
relief, Gosunkugi went to his work bench and saw the mess.
Annoyed, he began the long process of cleaning up.
	"With the money Kunou-sempai is paying me to make it rain
at his fight today, I can always get a new one. Wonder why he
wants a weather spell so badly. How's some rain going to help
him beat Ranma? Eh, what do I care? It's his money after all
and anything that can help get rid of Ranma will only get me
closer to Akane. If nothing else though, I can test another one
of my new spells..." Excited, Gosunkugi lost his train of
thought when he found the one item on the table he needed
for his newest project.
	"Yeah, a rain spell shouldn't be a problem. Besides, I'm
getting better all the time. Yesterday I managed to turn my
desk purple! Too bad I was trying to make my desk levitate. 
Glad the color washed out of my hair though. I wouldn't want 
THAT hair color. I mean, how ridiculous! And Akane would 
never talk to me if I had to walk around with PURPLE hair. 
One of Ranma's other fiancees wears it and I wouldn't to bring
up anything to do with Ranma. It would only upset her. Oh 
Akane..."
	Picturing the love of his life, Gosunkugi lost himself in
visions of Akane. Gosunkugi would have stayed in his 
fantasies longer but he was wrenched away by a sudden 
sneezing fit. "...but it's only a small shower Kunou wants, 
no problem. How hard could it be? Still though... I hope I got 
the ingredients right... took me all night to translate that 
Ancient Latin....." He looked at the antiquated book and 
smiled at it's title: Tempus Vita Libri Ordo: Arcani 
Magicarum Liber Sex: Venefica, Sagus, Et Tempestas.


****

	As the bell rang and the school day came to an end, 
the student body of Furinkan began to exit the building. En
masse, they made their way to the field behind the lunch room 
to watch the fight. Word of the scene at lunch and Kunou's 
challenge had spread quickly through the gossip pool. 
Between the witnesses in the cafeteria, the promotional 
efforts of Nabiki's assistants, as well as a few vague rumors 
leaked by Nabiki herself about Kunou's mystery surprise, she
was easily able to sell out the fight and the field would be 
standing room only. Even though the crowd didn't actually 
expect Kunou to win, there was still an air of mystery 
surrounding the fight. If the surprise turned out to be another
typical failure, watching Kunou being beaten to a bloody pulp 
by itself still had a unique entertainment value. The crowd filed
into the field and was settling in for the show as Ranma stood 
with Ukyou, going through his warm-ups.
	"O.K., Ran-chan, everyone's here and we're only waiting
for Kunou so it shouldn't be long now," said Ukyou.
	"Right, won't take me more than a minute to kick his butt,
as usual. Then we can go open 'Ucchan's' and I'll help you with
the dinner crowd like I said," Ranma answered while running
through a kata.
	Ukyou nodded. "Thanks again for volunteering to help out
tonight. I know you don't normally like working on your night off
but with the place doing so well right now I can't handle the 
dinner crowd without Konatsu. While he is stuck in the hospital
with the measles, you are the only one I know who would be 
willing to help out on such short notice. "
	"No problem. I don't mind the work and you'd do the same
for me, right?" Grinning, Ranma threw a spin kick into the air.
	Ukyou couldn't help but smile at him. 'That's my
Ran-chan.', she thought with pride. 'Loyal and strong. He
deserves a wife who'll love and respect him. Not like Akane.
She's so angry all the time, not to mention violent. She doesn't
care about Ranma at all. She just doesn't appreciate him, not 
like I do.'
	Her fists tightening, Ukyo went on. 'It proves that I'm
the only real fiancee for him and that we're meant to be
together. If it weren't for his dishonorable, good-for-nothing, 
thief of a father we'd probably be married by now. Damn that 
stupid Panda!'.
	Meanwhile, Ranma looked away from Ukyo and started a
more advanced kata. "Besides, 'Ucchan's' is a breeze compared
to working at the Neko Hanten with Shampoo and the old ghoul.
That witch is usually a slave driver."
	"And it's my fault that you even have to work there in the
first place sugar, I'm sorry." Ukyou said regretfully.
	"Eh, it's ok, it was the only way we could get the ghoul to
give us the Red Tiger's Tear. Without it, we couldn't have gotten 
to Kazurou's castle and saved you and Mr. Tendou." said Ranma.
	"Anyway, like I was sayin' about Cologne, since she got
that letter from her village she's been a nightmare. It came on
Monday, and the next day, when she showed it to Shampoo
Shampoo started yelling and cursing, throwing dishes around. 
That scared the customers off."
	Ukyou snorts, "Sounds like Shampoo alright, overreacting
like that... the tramp has no self-control at all."
	Ranma, who could only imagine Akane's reaction, or
worse, Nabiki's comment to that, quickly moved on, "Cologne
saw that and started talking in Chinese. Whatever she said, it
must have been something, because it stopped Shampoo cold.
Shampoo turned around, looked at all the empty tables and 
then she started talking again."
	"Now, my Chinese ain't very good, so I couldn't make out
most of what they were sayin', but it sounded like they were
talking about someone, another amazon I think... what was 
her name... Perfume? Toothpaste? Tissue? Conditioner? Gel?
Something like that."
	Finishing the kata, Ranma turned back to his friend and
continued. "Anyway, this girl is coming to Nerima soon and 
that's what the letter was all about. Don't know what the big 
deal is though. Here's the strange part, later on that day while 
I was clearing the tables I saw Shampoo stop and look at this 
glass on one of the tables. The woman had ordered milk with 
the Super Spicy Special, so the glass was all cloudy, you 
know what I mean. We've seen it a hundred times before at 
'Ucchan's'. Well, Shampoo just looks at this glass and gets 
this look all of a sudden, like someone had died or something."
	Frowning, Ranma quietly said, "This goes on for about
a minute or so and I'll tell ya, I kinda felt sorry for her. It was
like for that minute she wasn't the Shampoo who had given me
the Kiss of Death at the village or the one who keeps trying to
trick me into marrying her, she was just someone I knew that
was sad."
	He took a breath and concluded, "I wanted to go over and
say something but, you know, I'm not really good with any of 
that mushy stuff. Figured I would only make things worse or 
she'd take it the wrong way and try glom-. Hey, Uc-chan, 
something wrong?"
	"What? Oh, no. Nothing at all, why?" Ukyou said with a
start. She was unaware of the fact that she had been grinding 
her teeth at the thought of Shampoo glomping onto him. She 
looked up and immediately saw that Ranma had stopped his 
warmups and was staring at her.
	"Well, you had this strange look on your face, like you were
mad or something. You O.K.?"
	"Oh yeah." She assured him, "I'm fine. Just thinking about
what you told me and about this fight You know, Kunou really 
has some nerve calling you a coward!"
	Suddenly Ranma flipped over Ukyou. Landing, he smoothly
executed a leg sweep against an imaginary opponent. From 
behind her he said,  "Forget about him. I'll take care of it when he
gets here. But like I was saying, Ucchan's tonight isn't a big
deal. It doesn't even feel like work. It isn't tiring for me."
	Jumping up, Ranma quickly dropped down again, stretching
his legs as far as they would go in the process."When I was
traveling around with Pop during training, I got used to being
on my feet all day. Besides, I get to spend time with my best
friend. What more could I want?" Finished, Ranma stood up 
and gave Ukyou a friendly pat on the back.
	From his position behind Ukyou, Ranma couldn't see the
sadness in her eyes and the small smile she was wearing.
Forcing her feelings back, she asked rhetorically, "Yeah, What
more could you want?" Clearing her throat, she turned around
to look at Ranma. "Ran-chan, be careful, all right? I know this 
is Kunou but still, even he can get lucky. Watch yourself and
remember I l--- "
	"HEY RANMA!!! Get ready over there. Kunou's coming
and he looks mad!" yelled Nabiki suddenly, drowning out 
Ukyou. She stood with Hiro and Amiko in the front of the 
crowd.
	A bolt of lightning flared and a wave of thunder crashed
in the sky heralding Kunou's arrival. Leading the Kendo Team,
he regally strode onto the field, they serving as the loyal
knights to his majestic king. Seeing Ranma, he immediately
stopped and began to speak. "AH!!!! I see by the great
multitudes gathered around us that news has spread of our
impending battle. No doubt they have come to watch and 
cheer as I, Kunou Tatewaki, The Blue Thunder of Furinkan 
High, The Rising Star of the High School Kendo World, shall 
finally bring low the Scourge of Furinkan. The foul and 
malevolent presence that hangs over our beloved Nerima like 
the dark and angry clouds in the sky, the plague that is 
SAOTOME!!"
	Turning to address the crowd, like an emperor poised to
address his subjects, Kunou continued, "Look to the heavens,
all of you!  See the furious sky, feel the raging wind in your
hair, hear the thunder as even the gods themselves do cheer 
upon my entrance."
	Focusing his wrath once more on Ranma, he went on,
"Yes, on this day even Mother Nature herself rallies against 
you, Saotome!!! It is my only regret that neither of my loves 
can be here now to see your downfall but rest assured that 
once I have dealt with you I will find them and we will be 
reunited joyously in the bliss that is our love. This day will 
long be remembered as the day I exposed you for the weak 
and pathetic wretch I know you to be. You will cower before 
me in terror before I am finished with you on this day. The 
day that you are defeated and the two halves of my heart 
are freed from your capivity!!" Ready to begin, Kunou drew 
his bokken and charged his enemy.

End Part Two

In Part Three: The fight begins and more on Gosunkugi's 
attempt at weather manipulation.