Cat-scratch fever, the Bet
by Gregg Sharp based on Rumiko Takahashi's situations/char

"How about this timeline here?"

"What's the divergence point?"

"This certainly qualifies as divergent..."
----------------------------
	"Ranma, have you no shame?!" Akane slid the door
open. 

	Genma wept in the hallway. "You sadden your
father, boy..."

	"A-ka-ka-kane Tendo," stammered Kuno.

	"What's SHE got to do with it?!" Ranma looked
up from where she was sitting.

	Kuno sighed, thinking how jealous Akane was
of the pigtailed girl. "So in LOVE with me."

	"You wish," said Akane, striking Kuno.

	"What an excellent idea," thought Kuno as he
landed.

	"Stay OUTTA this, Akane!"

	"Are you THAT desperate to stop being
a girl?!" Akane shouted in Ranma's face.

	"I wish that the pigtailed girl and Akane
Tendo would love me forever, forsaking all their
arguing and jealousy!" Kuno, still prone on the floor
raised the sword Wishbringer above him.

	"Your wish is my command."
----------------------------------
	Toltiir blinked. "Well, I'm the expert
on things like that, so let me give that timeline
my official 'Screwed Up Big Time' stamp."

	"I can see why you would want
to change this one," Hephaestus remarked.
"Look, boy type Ranma isn't under the 
compulsion but whenever he changes..."

	"Let's do him a favor and get
rid of THIS timeline, what change did you
want to make?"

	The Greek god of smithcraft
chuckled. "Personally? Personally I like
Mode 4, Timeline 3216127. That's the one
where Ranma becomes Athena's new 
Pegasus Saint, and I get a cute okonomiyaki
chef...but for the purposes of your 'BET',
I'll have to go with this juncture here."
--------------------------------
	Doctor Amano Mizuno was
trying a new route home, something he 
frequently did, when he saw what 
appeared to be a feral child in a gi.

	He blinked as a slightly
overweight man came running after
the child, and, his curiosity piqued,
followed.
---------------------------------
	"Frankly, Mister Saotome,
I'd be MUCH happier if your son was
no longer in your custody. Because
we're catching it so early, there is a
good chance of recovery."

	"But will he retain the 
Cat-fist?"

	"WHO GIVES A FLAMING...
uhm. Excuse me. Do I understand you
to say that you value your son learning
this particular technique so much, that
you would rather he remain insane and
liable to regress to animalistic state at
any time than take the chance that the
cure would remove said technique?"

	"Well, when you put it THAT
way." Genma Saotome shut his mouth. 
He could always try again if Ranma forgot
the technique.
-------------------------------
	Ranma stretched as his father
went off about yet another training ground.
This one didn't look special at all, being
a number of bamboo poles stuck into a
number of springs.

	"Feh, if I need a bath, fatherrrrr,
warm waterrrr would be sooo nice," Ranma
grinned at his father. Balancing exercises 
against HIM? The old man wanted to lose,
didn't he?

	"You very strange one, no, sir?"
The Jusenkyo Guide looked at Ranma, there
was something about the boy that just seemed
to represent wildly contrasting forces. Ranma
actually made the Guide nervous. "This place
very dangerous, nobody use now. Is more
than one hundred spring here, and every one
have own terrible tragic legend."

	"Ranma, follow me." Genma leapt
to the top of one of the poles. Ranma was a
moment later.

	"Oh Sirs! What you doing!" The
Guide watched as Ranma came to a stop over
Spring Of Drowned Man.

	"I won't go easy on you," Genma
promised.

	Ranma grinned and reached within
to touch his feline nature, that spirit which
seemed to be a part of him yet apart.

	The Guide watched as Genma and
Ranma launched towards each other. "Please
Sir, Very bad you fall in spring!"

	Genma landed in a spring with a 
mighty splash as Ranma twisted past him in
midleap, moving with feline grace as the 
other Self began manifesting.

	Ranma idly landed on the top of
another pole and began to clean his hand,
bored already.

	The panda caught him largely
by surprise, and he leapt back three sets
of poles. Grinning, the game was not over
yet, Ranma launched himself when the 
realization penetrated that he was now
fighting a panda.

	The hesitation was enough,
and Ranma fell down.

	"OH NO!" The Guide yelled.
"Not 'Spring Of Drowned Tiger'! Terrible
tragic story of tiger who drown there,
12,500 year ago. Now whoever fall in
spring take body of..."

	The tiger moved out of the
spring, black fur dripping water, green
eyes flashing with the desire for 
VENGEANCE! It's mouth opened,
revealing LOTS of very sharp teeth
to go with the really big two that were
out front.

	"Urk?" The panda went 
dead still as it saw the tiger looking
at it. "Death," promised those eyes.
"Lots of hurt," promised those sharp
teeth. "Very bad for YOU that I fall in
spring," announced those razor sharp
claws as they extended.

	Genma realized that the
predator looking at him right now
outmassed even a giant panda by
nearly double. He was vaguely aware
of the Jusenkyo Guide's hut door
being closed and locked.

	By the time that Genma
woke up, he realized that he had a
large number of bandages covering
most of his body, had been returned
to human, and there was Ranma 
who looked VERY unhappy with him.

	"Crrrrrazy old man," he
said, getting up and leaving him behind.

	"Uhm."
---------------------------------
well just a short treatment, based on
a Pebble someone sent me. Ranma's
personality has largely fused with his
neko personality, due to psych therapy
and hypnosis sessions shortly after the
catfist. Since the catfist is akin to a 
spirit possession (at least in the anime
episodes it LOOKS like it has elements
of such) his personality has a number
of feline elements and is in contact with
a cat-spirit.
Because of his greater skill, he avoided
falling in 'Spring Of Drowned Girl' and
got a much older spring instead.
------------------------------------
	"Ahhhgggghhhh," Nabiki
backpeddled as a HUGE cat came into
the room, followed by a panda a few
moments later. Everyone backed away,
even Akane, as the creature before them
sniffed at the three girls.

	Akane reached over, grabbed
the edge of the table, and brought the
table down as hard as she could over
the beast's head while it was examining
a cringing Kasumi.

	The tiger glanced back at her
with a vaguely amused glance then, quite
very deliberately, licked the face of the
eldest Tendo daughter.

	"Uhhhhgghhh," Akane
managed.

	Kasumi started to faint,
then looked into the cat's eyes. "Oh
my."

	"You think it's tame?" 
Nabiki managed as the welcome
realization that she wasn't the lunch
special began to register.

	The tiger stopped licking
Kasumi long enough to glance at
the middle sister.

	"Uhm," Kasumi began,
"would you mind not licking me 
anymore? I've got to fix supper
soon."

	"It's a tiger, Kasumi,
it can't..." Nabiki ran out of words
as the tiger backed off of Kasumi,
making a basso purring noise as
it rubbed against her once as it
gave her room.

	"Quick, Kasumi, run
for it! I'l cover you," Akane looked
around. She needed something 
heavier than the table.

	"No way," said Nabiki
as something clicked. "I've seen 
pictures of these but the colors were
all wrong. That's a smilodon!"

	Soun was still a terrified
lump and didn't answer.

	Kasumi brushed herself
off, pleased that the big kittycat
hadn't shed on her, and stood up.
"Oh my, Mister Smilodon, would
you like some milk?"

	"...but sabretoothed 
tigers are supposed to be extinct,"
Nabiki managed as the big cat 
nodded enthusiastically at Kasumi,
then followed her into the kitchen.
"...they're certainly not supposed
to be..." Nabiki fainted, her mind 
having just gone into overload.

	Soun Tendo twitched,
looking around the corner as he 
watched his eldest daughter pour
a big saucer of milk for their 
houseguest. Said houseguest
butted her hip with his head,
purring in a deep bass thrum,
before beginning the task of
lapping up the milk.

	"AH HA!" Akane
had found a sufficiently heavy
object and came running up with
her heaviest dumb-bell, only
to be confronted with her elder
sister scratching a VERY contented
looking 1300#+ tiger behind one
ear. An ear flicking on the tiger
somehow communicated to her:
"I know where you are, what you're
planning, and I am NOT concerned."

	Suddenly the dumb-bell
didn't seem nearly large or satisfying
enough...
-----------------------------
a scene for a little later:
	Nabiki thought about it.
Thought about it carefully. The guy
was a dumb jock, that's all. Just kind of
laid back most of the time, though he could
get VERY nasty if angry, or all cute
and fuzzy when he wanted to be 
playful.

	He could make her a LOT
of money, especially with his cursed
form. If she walked one path, she 
could make a lot of money off his
curse. Animal trainers and their acts
made BIG money. Not to mention 
what kind of funds she could pull in
to various paleontology groups.

	A pure black sabre-tooth,
green eyes glinting, white teeth 
gleaming. Used as a symbol for a
product, the ad agencies could fork
over big bucks for an image that
powerful.

	The problem, Nabiki decided,
was to go for short-term profit and
ruin any chance of a friendship OR put
herself in as the fiancee of choice and
as the Agent, make large amounts of
money off her to-be-husband?

	She glanced at where Kasumi
had just thought of some things she
needed at the market. The cat somehow
got underneath her then stood, causing
her to grip it as if riding a horse.

	The tiger then took Kasumi
on a ride to the market. Nabiki blinked as
she realized Kasumi's squeal had NOT
been the expected burst of terror.

	Sweet, innocent, housewifely
big sister Kasumi was holding tight as the
tiger RAN. The sound that Nabiki heard
had been...laughter?!?

	What do you do when a
tiger bigger than most Japanese cars
decides it's a good evening for a run?
Nabiki blinked then answered herself.
You get the heck out of its way...

	Plan B it is, Nabiki decided.
----------------------------------
	Kuno looked at the beast
standing next to Akane Tendo and
wanted a bigger bokken. "Akane Tendo!
I shall save you!"

	The tiger thought this guy
HAD to be joking, right? A sound thwack
from the bokken impacting his skull 
convinced Ranma this guy didn't have
a clue.

	A casual swipe turned the
bokken into thin slices of wood. The 
second swipe had retracted claws but
enough force to knock the kendoist
back twelve feet.

	Green eyes glittered as
the crowd that usually attacked Akane
Tendo in the morning decided they
had business ELSEWHERE!

	Ranma sighed. Why did
he have to go to school anyway? He
just wanted a nap, or to chase some
birds or something. Or see what Kasumi
had in the oven. He licked his chops.

	Unfortunately he was looking
directly at Tatewaki Kuno when he did
that. The Blue Thunder's life passed before
his eyes. He was prepared to go out with a
fight. Only to watch as Akane and the tiger
both went into the school, the tiger growling
softly as it did so.
------------------------------
	Obviously I could always go back
and change it so the tiger fell into a second
spring while chasing Genma, becoming the
tiger-girl as the curses merge.