[FFML] [Ranma 1/2: Teaser]Story title formerly, 'Curing the Cat Fist'

***

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Pre-Story Notes:
16 November 2001
Hi,
Firstly, I want everyone to know I'm still alive.

Secondly, I've totally revamped 'Curing the Cat Fist'. So
far, this is the result (it's unfinished, but I really wanted
to release a teaser since it's about 75% complete).

Thirdly, a list of changes:
1. The title has been changed to better reflect the story.
Actually, I haven't yet thought of a new title, so the story
will be called 'A Ranma 1/2 Continuing Series' until a new
title is discovered.
2. I've combined all the previously released chapters into
one single chapter.
3. I've decided to show the story's progress by re-releasing
it every time I've changed something (on my website. This
will be its only posting to the FFML until it is 100%
complete). It shouldn't be too difficult to gleam what is
different from the original version in any case.
4. I've cut out scenes and revised dialogues I felt were
ruining a good conflict in the making.

Anyway, read on, for the story waits.

***

A Ranma 1/2 Continuing Series
By Troy Thomas

Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the creations and properties
of Rumiko Takahashi. Excepting flames, if you have any
comments or criticisms, feel free to send them my way.

***

Chapter One
Curing the Cat Fist

It was early in the summer morning, when three people, two
who were walking, entered the Tendo dojo.

"Are you sure you've thought this all the way through?" Akane
Tendo, with her hands folded across her waist, a bead of
sweat running down the side of her face, asked the leader.

The leader, Genma Saotome, ignored her actual question, and
answered a question he wanted to hear, "Akane, I believe I
finally have the answer to Ranma's fear of cats!" His face
glowed with light, which wasn't healthy.

"Um, but are you sure he wants to be cured right now?" Akane
enquired, emphasising the word he. She looked worriedly at
the squirming young man, who was riding on Genma's shoulder
tied up by a thick steel chain and wrapped in meaty looking
bologna. "It would seem the cure is worse than the
problem..."

"Don't worry about a thing, Akane." Genma patted his son,
Ranma, on the back, and began to smile. "After tonight, Ranma
will have an entirely new opinion about his old man. Right,
Boy?"

The young man squirmed in reply, and if weren't for the gag
in his mouth, he would've also have been screaming.

Tears ran down Genma's face. "You see, after I taught Ranma
the Cat Fist, I never again tried to cure my boy of his
girlish fear of cats..."

"I'm a girl, and I don't fear cats, Mister Saotome..." Akane
warned.

Genma thought for a moment, running a hand over his bandana,
which covered his bald head. "Then let me rephrase myself...I
never again tried to cure my boy of his cowardly fear of
cats.

Ranma spit the gag out of his mouth. "I ain't afraid of
nothing!" He began thrashing his body about, which caused his
father to lose grip on him. After being dropped, the boy
jumped to his feet, and glared at Genma. "And it's all your
fault anyway!"

"Boy, quit complaining!" Genma threw a cat at Ranma, and
began to point at his son, who was a moment later frozen in
place by fear with the cat sleeping on his head. "You see
Akane, tonight, after all these years since that tragedy..."
The tear returned to Genma's face. "I think I finally have
found the answer!"

Akane stared hard and worriedly at the Master of Saotome
School of Anything Goes. The bead of sweat running down her
face's side seemed to be larger. "But how's that..." She
pointed to Ranma, who was still frozen in shock, and
specifically at the bologna, which was being eaten by the
cat. "Going to cure anything?"

Shooing the cat away, Genma picked the boy up and tossed him
over his shoulder. "It just will, okay? Now would you mind
opening that trapdoor?" He pointed to the dojo's floor, where
there really was a trapdoor.

"Do I hear cats?" Akane wondered aloud. She crouched, and
then opened the door. "Oh my..."

Before having any chance to comment on the especially hungry
yowling coming from beneath the dojo, Ranma was tossed
screaming into the pit.

"Are you kitties really hungry?" Genma asked, crouching
beside Akane looking into the pit, his voice hollering after
the falling form.

***

She looked down at the mass of cuts and bites. Her eyes were
narrowed and disbelieving. "Why the heck did I even believe
you?" she asked. "Why the heck did you even think bologna
would cure him?"

"Because when he was...nine...the fish...stakes,
sau...sausages, and...pepperoni didn't...work!" Genma
replied, before falling into unconsciousness.

Stepping gingerly over the beaten man and around the hundreds
of screaming and frightened cats, Akane walked over to her
fianc�, who in a cat-like fashion was washing his paw, or
hand.

"Here kitty, kitty!" she said, after sitting down, gesturing
for Ranma to sit in her lap. A moment later, he was curled up
asleep on it.

***

"Stupid Pop!" Ranma growled. He was sitting at the kitchen
table, having his scratched arm looked at by Akane. "Ow! Be
careful with that stuff. It stings."

"You baby." Akane said to Ranma. "It's peroxide. You need it
so you don't get infected by any diseases!"

Ranma ignored her, and continued to grumble, "Stupid
Pop...Why's he got to be so dumb?"

"An entirely new opinion, hmm?" Nabiki, who was sitting on
the table's other side, asked Genma. "Seems like the same old
one to me."

Sitting alone, his eyes closed, Genma acted as though he
didn't even hear Nabiki's question.

Kasumi, sitting to Nabiki's left, smiled at Genma. "Don't
forget, Mister Saotome, to buy more bologna. We're all out
after this morning."

Although he acted not hearing Kasumi's comment, a troubled
expression crossed Genma's face at the mention of him needing
to part with money.

"Ow! You're too clumsy!" Ranma said, glaring at Akane.
"That's too much."

"You jerk! Sit still!" Akane shouted.

"I would if you weren't torturing me with that stuff! Ow! Are
you enjoying this, you sadist?" A second later, Ranma was
sitting still, a mark of a fist embedded on his face. His
head was turned to the side, as though something both quickly
and forcefully had rushed past it.

"Do you need some ice, Akane?" Kasumi asked.

Alone, Genma sat still, paying no attention to the world
around him.

***

Genma looked at the salesman with distrust. "So you're saying
you don't have any items like I'm describing?" Genma leaned
forward. "Are you sure? You don't have any magical spells
which will cure someone of their fear of cats, without the
caster having to do too much work?"

"No." Not liking the distrust the customer was showing him,
the salesman leaned forward towards Genma. "I only have
objects of immense and terrible power that the hardworking
can use for their own means."

The salesman leaned back, and blew out a breath of annoyed
air. "I do have an object where no spell is cast at all, but
I don't think it's quite what you're looking for..."

"Is this it?" Genma was standing over the glass counter
looking at a one of kind object, which was labelled one of
kind.

"Yes, but I don't..."

Digging into his pockets, Genma brought out a five hundred
yen. "Will this be enough?"

"Sir, you..."

Genma added another two hundred and fifty to his original
sum.

"I..."

"Fine." Adding another two hundred and fifty yen, Genma
pointed to the object. "Now give it to me."

"No." The salesman sighed. "It is not for sale for only one
thousand yen, you cheapskate."

"It's all I got." Genma whined.

"Daddy, who is this funny man?" a girl asked, bringing out a
plateful of delicious food to the salesman. She was referring
to Genma.

"My, what a wonderful daughter you have." Genma said, an idea
beginning to emerge. "You Sir seem to be quite the equal
opportunity employer."

"Well, you know..." the salesman bashfully began to reply.

"Do you know we Saotomes are especially hard workers? Why if
I were to work here, I could have business booming in this
place by the first sunset that I start..."

"It's The Mysterious and Magical Store, Mister Saotome...I
could use a bit of help though..." the store owner replied,
rubbing his chin.

"Well, I'm not saying that I need to work here, but...I do
have a son about your daughter's age...He's quite a handy
hand, you know." Genma asked, leaning on the counter with his
elbow, "Is there anything we could work out?"

"Sir, you have my absolute and undivided attention."

***

Half an hour later, walking out of the store, well fed and
content, Genma patted down on his newly bought, 'Mystery
Tiara of Cat-astrophic Proportions'.

He grinned. "Okay Boy. Once and for all, I cure your one
weakness."

Strangely, if Genma had heard himself afterwards, he might've
wondered why his laugh sounded terribly evil. Since he wasn't
listening to himself, he was instead cackling as he ran down
the street, until he darkened the late summer day street no
longer.

***

It was late in the summer day, and a father and son were
alone, sitting in a dining room at a table, speaking.

Eventually, the son, who was named Ranma, looked at a tiara
on the tabletop, and then at his father, who was named Genma.
He slowly said, "I'm not wearing that."

"Why not? It'll cure your one weakness, Boy!"

"It's for girls." Ranma pointed at the tiara, and then
himself. "I'm a guy. Understand?"

"Son, I've gone through a lot of trouble to find that find
that crown. Put it on, and don't let all my hard work be for
nothing!" Genma commanded.

"Humph. Hard work..." Pointing at his father, Ranma scowled.
"I bet you just walked into the first store you saw, and
ended up buying the first thing you saw that had a fancy
name!" Leaning back, after seeing the nervous denial writing
itself on his father's face, Ranma smirked. "I'm right,
aren't I?"

"Boy, you need to learn..." Genma sprang forth, the tiara in
his hand. "To do what's best for yourself!" However, before
he could force the tiara on to Ranma's head, his face met the
unmovable force of a steady foot.

"Give it up, Pop. I am not..." Ranma booted his father out of
the house, out towards the setting sun. "Wearing that stupid
girly thing!"

A second later, Ranma's mother Nodoka entered the kitchen.
"Where'd your father go, Ranma?" She looked about. "I thought
he was just here...I swore I heard him speaking with you."

"He had to fly, Mom." Ranma, using his thumb, pointed towards
the sun.

***

It was the start of a new day, and Ranma opened his eyes to
the sight of his father standing over him holding a bucket of
cold looking water. He instantly reacted by kicking his foot
up.

A wet panda stood where Genma Saotome had just been standing.
"Growf." it growled. It was an ancient Chinese curse Genma
was under where he would turn into a panda when splashed with
cold water. Hot water would reverse the curse, returning
Genma to his human form.

"Pop, this really is too early..." Ranma sat up, and then
clenched his fist.

The panda held a tiara in its paw, which glinted from the
early morning sunlight. In its other paw, it held a sign
reading, "Son, I just thought that if you were a girl, you
wouldn't have any reservations about wearing this." An arrow
on the sign pointed to the tiara in the panda's other paw.

A teakettle flew into the room, and splashed over Genma,
reversing the Jusenkyou curse, reverting him to his human
form. "Not my manly son!" Running into the bedroom,
brandishing a sheathed katana, Nodoka screamed at Genma,
"Out, out, out!" She clubbed him over the head.

"Ow, that hurts!" Genma whirled to face his wife. A large
bump grew on his head.

"Darling, you shouldn't be using your position as your son's
father to force him into such unmanly apparel." A tear rolled
down Nodoka's face, as she watched Genma with an expression
of misapprehension.

Ranma sat back on his bed, and watched his parents in
confusion.

"Nodoka-Dear..." Genma rubbed his head. "I wasn't trying to
force Ranma to not be unmanly...You see, the promise was
fulfilled..."

Both parents lowered their heads, staring at the floor.

"Yes, you're right..." Nodoka concurred. "We no longer need
to hold Ranma to a promise he's already fulfilled." She began
to rub her chin. "Yes Genma, I think I understand what you're
trying to do now."

Standing, Ranma snuck out of the room.

When outside of his room, he quietly shut his bedroom door
and began leaning back against the frame. He sighed in
relief. "Whew. That was weird." He rubbed the back of his
head. "I should take a bath." he finally said.

***

Stunned, Genma walked through the kitchen. It had been nearly
twenty minutes since Nodoka and he had spoken in Ranma's
bedroom, but he still couldn't believe what he had heard.

He rethought.

It had been nearly twenty minutes since Nodoka had told him
what she was going to do concerning Ranma.

He blinked his eyes repeatedly, and then shook his head.

Was that Ranma sitting at the table eating his mother's
delicious breakfast?

Genma wasn't certain, but he didn't bother to see if it was.

He needed to think about things.

***

"Pop? Something wrong?" Ranma asked, looking up to see his
father quietly walking through the dining room.

Genma didn't answer, instead continuing his mindless amble
through the dining room.

"He didn't even notice breakfast was ready..." Ranma
shrugged, and then grabbed his father's plate to dump its
contents onto his own. "His loss, I guess."

***

"I must put things into perspective." Genma said, sitting
outside his home, watching the morning sun creep overtop the
houses of his neighbourhood. He held two fingers to his
temple. "Before Nodoka begins her mad quest, I must resume my
own: to cure the boy of his one weakness."

He didn't need to explain to himself why he wanted to cure
his son.

It was his wife. She didn't know about Ranma's Cat-Fist
training (and the Boy's intense fear of cats), and if he
could help it, she would never need to know.

Standing, he turned towards the house. "Boy, you will wear
this tiara, no matter what."

The crown sparkled in the morning sun, and then Genma's
stomach growled.

"But only after I've eaten."

***

Alone, he sprinted down a street, which led to Furinkan High.

He raised his arm to wave, and called out to his fianc�e, who
was entering through the school gates, "Akane!"

She turned her head, and when she saw Ranma, she stood still
to wait for him.

"Saotome!"

Ducking his head, Ranma wasn't surprised to see a bokken
crash through the school wall where his head once was. A
moment later, the wall fell apart revealing Tatewaki Kuno.

"Upperclassman Kuno! Good morning!" Ranma said, smiling.

"Ranma Saotome, you selfish, inconsiderate, and evil
sorcerer! It has been over four days, and I've not seen the
beautiful pigtailed goddess even once!" Kuno swiped at Ranma,
only to miss the boy as he ducked under the blade. "Where do
you hide her? Bring her to me, so that she and I might
reunite..."

A kick to his head ended his speech. Ranma stood overtop the
kendoist, smiling. "Sorry Upperclassman, but I have to run.
Classes and everything, you know!"

A moment later, and Ranma was gone, having locked hands with
Akane and entered the school grounds.

***

Kuno sat up, and frowned. "I think he refuses to listen to
reason. It was a simple request too. Give me the lovely
pigtails, and then die."

A panda walked over to him, and handed to him a tiara.

"A messenger from the heavens?" Kuno asked. "A gift I am to
present to the girl of my dreams?"

The panda seemed to develop a sweat drop on the side of its
head. It raised a sign, "Uh, yeah, and I am to help you..."
Strangely, written in a smaller font on the sign was,
"Because I can use you to my advantage since you'll do all
the work, while I can sit back and take credit for all the
results. Hee, hee, hee."

Kuno took the crown after he had read the sign up to 'yeah',
and then raised it to the heavens. "My love will wear
this..." He frowned. "It seems I wasn't dramatic enough."

Standing, Kuno raised the tiara again, and then proclaimed,
"I declare, I will place this work of heavenly beauty on top
of my love's head, to show to the world the strength of my
heart." Lightning erupted from the heavens, outlining Kuno
for a brief second. He turned to Genma. "Oh thank you,
Heavenly Beast! Today shall be the day of the gentleman, and
it is all due to your panda benevolence. "

Genma blushed, bashfully holding his head away from Kuno's
gaze. The panda shyly swung its leg back and forth behind
itself.

"Now, we must begin the day, for no gentleman waits for it to
come to him."

"Or any gentlepanda, either!" Genma's sign proclaimed.

***

"Saotome!" Kuno ran into the classroom, a panda trailing
behind him. "As before, I demand the goddess be set free from
your tyrant's grip!" Kuno stood beside Ranma's desk, his
bokken waving to and fro in preparation to strike.

"Kuno, I'm kind of in the middle of class right now..." Ranma
pointed to the classroom's front.

"Silence!" Kuno cut down through the desk, slicing it in
half. "I will not be denied! On your guard, mongrel!"

Immediately hefting the broken desk over his head, Ranma
threw it on top of Kuno's noggin. However, Ranma didn't
notice the panda preparing to throw a bucket of cold-looking
water at him.

"Growf!" The panda was stopped by a well-thrown textbook,
which had been thrown at its face.

The book fell down, leaving an imprint on the face of the
animal.

"Ouch." was written on a sign the panda held up, before
falling down.

"Idiots." Ranma said.

***

It was the end of the school day. A bandaged up young man and
panda were standing outside the school, under a shady tree.

Kuno looked at the panda. "You say if I offered the pigtailed
girl a challenge, she would appear?" He rubbed his chin. "It
sounds incredible, but perhaps it is true."

"Yes." The panda held up a sign. "Ranma...I mean the
pigtailed girl wouldn't miss this challenge, because..."

"Because of her great spirit!" Kuno finished. "The foul Ranma
cannot tame her completely, so he allows her this one freedom
so she will obey his lecherous orders!" His fighting spirit
began growing, which increased in significant enough manner
to intimidate the panda.

"Right..." The panda pointed to the tiara, which Kuno held in
hand as though it were a fragile flower. "You only need to
place it onto her head to win. It's perfect. We can't lose!"

"And then the pigtailed girl will know my love for her is
true!" Kuno hugged the crown.

In a tiny font, the panda wrote on its sign, "Idiot. Hee,
hee, hee."

***

After reading the letter, Ranma looked at Akane, who was
sitting beside him underneath a tree, which bordered the
schoolyard. "Kuno's challenging me again, but he wants to
fight my girl-form."

"Really? That's different." Akane replied.

"If he ends up declaring his love for me again..." Ranma's
body went rigid, the memory of an incident from months prior
sending a cold chill down his spine. He crushed the challenge
letter. "Well, this had better be a fight." he growled.

"When is the fight?" Akane asked.

"After school."

***

"Right, so once I have this crown adorning the head of my
beloved pigtailed goddess, I would truly win her heart away
from the evil Ranma Saotome?" Kuno looked at Genma, who was
in his panda form.

The panda smiled, and nodded his head.

"Of course, for what panda sent from Heaven would attempt to
delude Tatewaki Kuno, a simple and noble hearted servant of
justice?" Kuno smiled, his eyes closed. "Not any panda I've
ever met."

Both Kuno and Genma shared a laugh.

"However, I ask you this, Panda." Kuno said, pointing his
bokken at Genma. "What would Dear Akane think should I
endeavour to win the pigtailed girl's heart first?"

"I don't know." said the panda's sign, which the panda raised
in the air for Kuno to read.

Kuno didn't bother to read the sign, instead answering his
own question with more, "Oh! Would her tender heart be
broken? Would she run into the sunset, her tears dimming even
its majestic radiance with cold and disillusioned despair?"

Walking across the school field towards the school, ten
metres away, hand in hand were Akane and Ranma.

"Oh Akane! I mean not to break your heart! Please forgive
me!" Kuno rushed towards Akane, his arms spread apart ready
to glomp the girl.

However, his face met with fist, stopping Kuno in his tracks.

"Would you mind keeping me out of your life's plans?" Akane
asked, her voice in a low growl.

Pulling away from the fist, Kuno looked on the girl with a
tear soaked face. "Oh Akane, you mustn't be angry! I do not
intend to keep you from the centre of my bosom."

"You do know what you're talking about, right?" Ranma asked.

Kuno's body suddenly went rigid.

"Kuno?" Ranma walked towards the upperclassman, and then
knocked a couple times on Kuno's head. "Hello?"

"Like a snake..." Kuno whispered.

"Come on Ranma. He's lost it." Akane said, grabbing her
fianc� by his shirtsleeve, dragging him towards the school.

"Like the lowly serpent, its belly dragging on the ground,
you Ranma, villainous reptile, have slithered your way into
her heart." Kuno concluded. He wheeled about, his bokken
raised in the air ready to strike. "Meet me, Fool!"

"He's already gone." Genma's panda sign read.

"Saotome!" Kuno screamed. "How dare you turn and flee before
I can exact a mighty vengeance!"

Before Kuno could run off towards the school after Ranma,
Genma clubbed the boy on the head with a sign.

"You're not ready!" the sign read. "Besides, you've lost
focus. Putting the crown on Ranma's...I mean the pigtailed
girl's head should be your top priority, not hitting on
girls."

Sitting up, crossing his arms, Kuno looked at Genma. "You're
right, Panda. How should I undertake this task, of placing my
love atop her head?"

"By using the boy's...I mean the girl's greatest weakness..."
the scrawl on the board read. "A tragic trait she shares with
Ranma."

"Ranma's weakness? Why does this rekindle old memories?" Kuno
asked, silently readdressing an old challenge he had once
issued. 'If I discover your...something spot...You will let
me date with the pigtailed girl...'

***

A shudder ran down Ranma's spine.

"Something wrong?" Akane asked, noticing Ranma's discomfort.

"Just a bad feeling. It isn't anything I can't handle
though." Ranma replied. 'But it's so darn familiar...' he
thought.

***

"Miss Nabiki Tendo, might you know the whereabouts of Mister
Tatewaki Kuno?"

Nabiki looked up at her teacher. "Have you looked outside?"
She laid her chin on top of her knuckles. "He was playing
with some kittens and a panda last time I saw him."

The teacher walked over to the classroom window. A moment
later, he returned to the front of the class. He cleared his
throat, and then began to speak, "Anyway, yesterday we were
discussing..."

***

"The legendary, 'Aerial Cat Attack'," Genma wrote, "is based
on secretly holding a cat so your opponent can't see it, and
then throwing it forward so it lands on your opponent with
its claws facing your opponent's face."

Unfortunately, Genma's student wasn't listening. Instead, his
student was running around trying to dislodge a cat hanging
on his face.

"Would you pay attention?" the sign Genma used to knock Kuno
onto the ground said.

The excited cat, which had sunk its claws deep into Kuno's
face, quickly jumped off and ran away into the school's
shadows.

"You insane animal!" Kuno growled, jumping to his feet. "Who
would dare secretly use such a dangerous technique? My
perfect face is..."

"We're not aiming for the face, in this case." Genma replied,
cutting off Kuno's complaints. "We're really only aiming for
her shoulder, so she'll be too frightened to move, but won't
move for fear of upsetting the cat."

"And then it's the moment when I take her into my arms, to
soothe her tortured and frightened soul..." Kuno began to
imagine his words coming to life. "To alleviate her fears, I
might need to...embrace her gently, and then..." His
imaginings ended with a soft kiss.

***

Another shudder ran down Ranma's spine.

"Seriously Ranma, is something wrong?" Akane asked again.

Gripping the edge of his desk, Ranma apparently seemed to not
hear her question.

Knocking on Ranma's head, Akane asked again, "Something
wrong, Ranma?"

"It's probably nothing you can't make worse." Ranma replied.

"Humph." Akane returned her attention to the classroom front.

'But why do I feel like this has got to do with Kuno in some
way?' Ranma silently asked, not noticing his hands were
leaving imprints on the desk.

***

A sign crashed down on Kuno's head. "Moron! That's when you
put the tiara on her head."

***

Slowly, she walked out to the middle of the school field.
Patiently, she let his gaze run over the field, noting the
crowd of students gather to watch the battle, noticing her
opponent with his back turned towards her only a few metres
away.

"Kuno, I'm here." Ranma said. "Are you ready?" She was in her
girl-form, which like her father's curse, was acquired in
China. "And you better not be wasting my time again with some
silly declaration of your love again."

"My love, it is not silly, Dear Girl." Kuno replied, turning
his head just enough so Ranma could see his eyes. "In fact,
today I am here to prove how deeply in my heart my love for
you runs."

"Humph, whatever." Ranma took a defensive stance. "Aren't you
going to prepare yourself?" she asked.

"I needn't prepare myself again. I am perfectly fine as I
already stand."

"You're pretty confident..." Suddenly, Ranma noticed Akane
yelling at him. "What?"

***

"Ranma! Look out! Kuno has a cat!" Akane called out.
Unfortunately, it seemed Ranma couldn't hear her.

"Urgh!" Starting to run to the field below, Akane quickly
noticed Kuno suddenly turn around and fling the cat at Ranma.

A moment later, Kuno, with a tiara in his hands, was rushing
towards the startled Ranma, who was staring with fear at the
cat lying on her shoulder.

Seconds later, Akane helplessly watched Kuno place the tiara
atop Ranma's head.

A strange glow surrounded the girl, which it seemed Kuno
didn't notice.

"What?" Akane asked.

***

Brushing the cat away, Kuno stepped back to admire Ranma. "My
Goddess, you are beautiful!" He placed his hand under his
chin, and took an appreciative pose. "This gift of mine,
though merely a trinket when compared with thee, surely does
refine your charm."

The cat meowed, which caused Kuno to look down at his feet.
He saw the cat, and searched for words to describe its
actions. "You're...bowing?"

Ranma's gaze moved from her shoulder to the cat at Kuno's
feet. Her eyes seemed incredibly cat-like; her movement silky
smooth and fluid.

"Like an empress, your every action is noble and
everlasting..." Kuno himself bowed.

"Ranma?" Akane asked, cautiously walking toward her fianc�.

Ranma looked at Akane, who resisted an urge to bow.

"What's with you?" Akane asked.

"Akane..." Ranma said, almost testing the name on her tongue.
"Your name is Akane." It seemed a question, but it also
seemed a fact.

A panda stepped beside Kuno, and held a sign up, which read,
"So, how does it feel, Boy? You don't seem to be afraid of
cats anymore."

"Father...You are my father." Ranma tested.

'Did he just call Mister Saotome, Father?' Akane asked
herself. 'That's not right...'

Ranma looked down at the cat at Kuno's feet, and then meowed.

The cat...nodded, and then jumped clinging to Genma's face
with its especially sharp claws.

"What?" Akane shrunk away from the panda, but noticed a paper
fall out of Genma's paws. "What's this?"

After bending down to pick the paper, she quickly read it.

She looked up at the panda. "Did you read the second page of
this?" she asked. "Wait, why am I even asking? Of course, you
didn't."

In large, bold print letters, at the top of the second page
was written, "Caution! Do not use on cats!"

Slowly, she looked at Ranma. "But Ranma's no cat...What's
going on?"

***

In the medical clinic in Nerima, Tokyo, run by a young and
gentle man, was a gathering. First, was a panda, whose face
was bandaged, covering many cuts. Second, was a young lady,
surrounded by many adoring and mewing felines. Third, was
another young lady, but without worshipping kittens at her
feet. Last, was the young gentle man, whom all the others
were facing.

Doctor Tofu, the young man, said to Akane, "The instructions
say to not use the tiara on a cat. Because Ranma has the
fighting spirit of a cat, and it was placed on him when he
was using the Cat-Fist..."

"Oh my...So that's what wrong?"

"Yes, I can only say a cure should exist. The Cat Tiara,
although rare, is commonly used by the rich for kitties with
issues of insecurity."

Bowing, Akane quickly thanked the doctor, and then turned to
Ranma and Genma, who were sitting quietly near the clinic's
exit. "We're going." she said.

***

A panda sat watching the cooling sunlight reflect off a small
koi pond. Sweat travelled down the side of its face, which
was strained wearing a heavy worried expression. An observer
could note the panda had a lot on its mind.

"You better be worried." Akane Tendo growled, crossing her
arms in front of her, glaring at the animal. "If Ranma isn't
cured of this new weird curse, then you'll be in big
trouble!"

"I am under a curse?" Ranma asked, her expression one of
tranquillity and nobility.

Akane pointedly ignored the other girl, who was on a sedan,
which was being held up by regal looking cats.

Losing interest in Akane, Ranma meowed, which seemed to order
the sedan-carrying cats to whisk her away from the dining
room.

'And I can't get the tiara off.' she thought, unhappily.

The sedan chair re-entered the dining room, left, and then
again re-entered.

"Why don't you just pick a spot and stay there?" Akane
growled.

Ranma looked at Akane, and then had the chair move to the
corner.

"Why aren't you doing anything?" Akane asked Genma.

"I am doing something." the panda replied, his paws together,
a serene expression on his face.

"Praying doesn't count!" Grabbing the panda's ear, she walked
out of the room. "I just had an idea. Let's go, Ranma."

***

"Where are we going?" Genma asked, hastily writing on his
panda sign.

"The rich commonly use the tiara, right?" Akane asked.

"Yes."

"We're going to the Kuno's, because they're the richest
people around here."

Tbc...

***

Author's Notes:
1000 yen is usually about ten dollars in American.

Thanks to Lord Archive for his helpful comments regarding a
minor misinterpretation of mine regarding the scene between
Genma and the salesman, to Howard Ancell and Allyn Yonge
regarding comments about the flow of the story (cutting from
four seperate chapters into one).

This work is highly experimental, because unlike many of my
current works, I started it with the idea of releasing
something whenever I wrote it out, so I could show how the
story was constructed. I hope to get something out every
Friday, regardless of its coherency.