Having avoided the Neko-ken for years, Ranma's secret
has finally been revealed. Turning his cute fear of kittens
into one of the most powerful and forbidden forms known.
     Now Ranma's past and present threaten to collide. What
else is buried in Ranma's past. Can Akane and Nabiki learn
the truth before it's too late?

     Greetings...
     This story is set somewhere shortly before Happosai's
arrival. Although, I may alude to later plot themes.
     I have listed it as [DARK] as it deals with atleast
twilight if not dark themes.
     It should go without saying, that I own none of the
characters in this story with the possible exception of
Hiromi, Yuota, and Koji. And should bear no resemblance to
any real person alive or otherwise. (If so, you may need
help.) As such, please please don't sue me. I have no
intention of earning money from this story. This is only my
way of paying homage to a great story filled with fun and
wounderful charcters. Thank you Rumiko Takahashi-san.



    Of Cats and Men (Part A Ver: 2.5)
    By Kit          [12/01]


     "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" slurred a
tall skinny boy as he slipped out from the shadows ahead of
a little girl, that couldn't have been older than 10, on her
way home from school.
     "Come this way often, sweetie?" sneered another, larger
boy, as he stepped out behind her.
     "W- What do you want?" the little girl answered, trying
not to sound as scared as she felt. They had waited until
she rounded the corner that met into this back alley. The
storage boxes and garbage cans dispersed throughout the
alley cut off any hope of someone seeing her. She stiffened
her stance as she prepared to sprint past the fat one, and
back the way she came. Four others stepped into view,
devastating her hope of getting past either one of them.
     "Well, me and the boys here, ya see," Koji, one of the
local high school bullies, began, "saw that you were walking
down this alley with no one ta escort ya." She took an
unconscious step backward. "So, we thought we'd help." She
couldn't help but shiver at his predatorial grin.
     "T-th-that's okay. I can make it by myself."
     "Oh, I don't think you understand," Koji smirked. "I
know for a fact, there is no way you could make it through
here without our help."
     She jumped when she felt the wall on her back. They
moved up to form a semicircle around her so that she would
have no where to run.
     "Look at her. She wants this so bad, she's trembling."
The other five chuckled in response. It sounded so hollow
she could feel it grating against every nerve in her body.
Her eyes flickering, pleading with them to let her go. She
opened her mouth, desperate to scream for help, but only a
panicked dried whisper escaped.
     Koji growled as he leaped forward, slapping a beefy
hand around tightly over her mouth. "I wouldn't scream if
 I." He was cut off by someone screaming to his left.
     Out of no where a foot slammed into the shoulder of one
of the boys. A gray blur bounced away. It balled up while
landing on two bare palms against the rough alley floor.
Before the shape could be made out, it was again in motion.
Unfolding itself straight back into the same boy. He bounced
off the opposite wall, shook his head, then launched himself
at his attacker. A hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him
further forward while his arm twisted painfully. A second
hand descended with a crack. He passed out from the pain.
     Standing above the broken unconscious boy the oni
appeared to take the guise of a ten-year-old boy. He was
dressed in a dirty thread-bare gi and heavily worn slippers.
He looked up from his first victim revealing eyes so filled
with darkness that they almost seemed to shine with black
flame.
     A moment passed before anyone reacted.
     Koji squeezed the girl's jaw tightly as he grabbed her
shoulder with his free hand. Twisting her around to his
front, he yelled to the others "Get that little animal and
teach him what it means to deal with the Alley Dogs."
     "Let her go," the oni-boy demanded. One of the boys
pulled a knife from his pocket, two others grabbed two handy
pipes.
     "Or what?" one of the Alley Dogs sneered as he
unwrapped a length of chain. "You'll go easy on us?"
     "You really shouldn't have done that." The tall skinny
one growled while taking a few practice swings with his
pipe.
     "Maybe he wanted her for himself?" The fat one
chuckled.
     "Too bad, after what he did to Ken, there wont be
enough of him left to let watch," the one with the chain
answered.
     "Too bad for you, kid," the fat one chided.
     For the young girl, time stopped and allowed a soft
wind blew through alley. A small chill went up the her back.
To her, the young boy's small pigtail seemed to wave in
challenge.
     "It's a martial artists duty to protect the weak," the
words of his father came automatically to him. The young boy
smirked as he made his plan. "And I'd ne'er dream of goin'
easy on ya," he said with finality.
     "Ha!" the first cried out. His chain swung out in a
beautiful arch. The oni-boy vanished just before the chain
could reach him.
     The fat boy looked up. Two feet planted themselves
heavily in his face. Leaning forward into a fall, the young
martial artists kicked back against his head. The fat
landing pad flew back against the opposite wall, blood shot
out as the crack sounded up the alley. Combined with his
momentum, a hard punch, straight into the other pipe wielder
's gut folded him in half.
     Swish! The blade cut through the air where the
mysterious boy had just landed. Springing up at his elbow,
the boy grabbed his wrist, immobilizing that arm, and pulled
him down in an impromptu throw. The larger boy didn't have
the momentum he needed, so he twisted and dropped into a
roll with him. Mr. Knife screamed as his arm cracked under
the force.
     The boy returned to his feet, hands held out in a
flourish with his head held high. Mr. Knife lay unconscious
with his knife sticking out of his belly. He'd live.
     Dropping to the ground, the chain arched over the
oni-boy's head and wrapped itself around the skinny pipe
wielder's neck. Unfolding his legs again in a powerful leap,
the oni-boy launched several punches into the idiot with the
chain. Stepping back, he leaped into a spinning kick to his
temples and down Mr. Chain went down.
     Back to skinny-pipe. The boy jumped up, flipping almost
horizontal. A quick knee to the head, he rolled cat-like in
mid-air and wrapped his legs around his head. Gravity then
acted to pull them both against the ground. Mr. Skinny-pipe
then mercifully found unconsciousness.
     The oni-boy stood up. He gaze locked on the remaining
two witnesses. Both of his hands clenched and unclenched
twice. He took a step forward, planting his right foot into
the hand of his last victim. Hearing no response, he took
another step forward. His right hand rose to wipe at the
corner of his mouth. It left a bloody smear that appeared
more like some dark demonic markings than a spot of blood.
     Koji may have been the biggest in his gang, but he wasn
't stupidest. He shoved the young girl forward and took off
toward the opposite end of the alley. He had chosen the spot
because it lessened the chance of someone getting away. Now
he was the one running.
     The boy saw Koji flinch just as he pushed the girl
forward. He also saw the paralyzing fear in the girls eyes.
He crossed that distance faster than his father had ever
made him to move. Springing into the air, he caught her by
her shoulders. Sailing over her, he used his momentum to
pull her up right while spinning them both around.  He
landed just a few steps to the other side of her. Quickly
spinning toward the last man he tensed to run after him. A
soft voice called out to him.
     "Stop! Please let him go." The boy stumbled to a stop
before turning  to face the girl with a puzzled look on his
face.
     "They wanted to hurt you," the boy said.
     The girl shivered from the sight in front of her. She
wasn't sure why she called out to him. He was clearly kami
possessed and her mind was still shouting to run away fast
as fast as she could. That he had just saved her couldn't
quite calm the fear he had just inspired. More than anything
the others had did or said, she knew she wouldn't live two
seconds past whenever he wanted.
     "Please, don't you think you hurt them enough?" She
asked in a very uncertain voice. 'He might have killed five
people just now, and you want to provoke him?!' the more
rational part of her mind screamed.
     "But, they were gonna hurt you," he answered as if that
could justify any action. She wondered if, to him, that it
would.
     "Um, you're a lot better fighter than they were. Couldn
't you have just. run them off or something?" She felt a
little more confident, he hadn't attacked her yet. Some part
of her wondered if he might be some kind of personal
guardian kami, like in the stories her father read to her
when she was younger. Only he didn't just chase the monsters
away.
     "Once ya commit, ya gotta go all the way. All or nothin
'," the young boy replied in an almost lecturing tone. "If I
'd let up, they'd just be back here tomorrow."
     "Look at them!" Her voice quavering. The emotional toll
almost breaking her down into tears.
     "They deserved what I had to give'em."
     "No body deserves that."
     He shifted his weight back and forth, his lips silently
moving as he tried to think of a response. "Look," he said
finally while taking a step forward. Wide-eyed, she took an
involuntary step back. He stopped, closed his eyes and took
a deep breath. "I thought you needed help," he said after a
moment.
     She looked down. Everything was still too unreal. 'A
nightmare, this had to be a nightmare, and any moment now, I
'm going to wake up.' After a few seconds of not waking up,
she looked up at the boy. He looked to be about her age. The
expression of his face was closer to that of a lost puppy
than the monster she had just seen.
     "I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome School of Anything
Goes Martial Arts." He began, with the phrase his dad had
drilled into him every since he could talk. "It's a martial
artists duty to protect the weak," he said bowing to her.
Then, looking her straight in the eye with the most vibrant
blue eyes she had ever seen, he finished,  "and I promise I
ain't going to hurt ya."
     She blinked. Whatever she might have expected next,
that had not been it. After a moment of hesitation she
smiled, "Pleased to meet you, my name is---"

     =====

     "Hiromi-chan!" Ranma breathlessly mouthed. He jumped up
from his seat and sent his disk crashing into Hiroshi's.
Everyone in the class stopped to look at him. He was looking
toward Akane.
     She blinked as she stared back at him. Thoughts of
embarrassment vanished as she caught the wild look in his
eyes.
     "While I am glad you have deemed to wake up for my
class," the teacher barked. "I will not tolerate any
disruptions Saotome-kun. Sit down now, or go out to the
hall!" He couldn't understand why the other teachers couldn'
t maintain order in this class. Of course he had only just
taken over for Suzuki-sensei, who had taken an indefinite
leave, just a few days prior.
     "All right, young man," Hanaka-sensei, their teacher
began, after it became apparent he was being ignored.
     "No!" Ranma shouted suddenly, cutting off the teacher.
With a single step he dove over Akane's desk, right through
the closed window.
     Everyone in the class was suddenly up and over to the
windows before Hanaka could even think. Never had he had a
student try to kill himself before. After the initial shock
wore off, somewhat, he morbidly moved to join the students
looking out the window.
     Below, on the school grounds, Ranma looked around
confused. He had just watched as a ten year-old girl fell
backwards out the window. He had jumped to try to save her,
but now she was no where to be found. He might have
considered it all a dream, if it hadn't been for the pain he
felt when he broke the glass. He wiped the blood from the
numerous small cuts along his brow.
     'How could she have fallen through a closed window,' he
thought. He shook his head, trying to clear the fog away.
'What would she be doing in a high school class room anyway,
' Ranma found himself trying to reason. "Was I dreaming?"
     "I have had enough, Saotome-kun," Hanaka yelled through
the broken window. "Consider yourself on detention. And I
think a parent-teacher conference would be in order to."
     Ranma looked up at his classroom. Students were now
looking out of most of the windows on this side. Dream or
not, he didn't think he would quickly forget the look of
terror on her face. It was like something out of a
nightmare. His expression tightened as he thought of the
girl's expression. 'She was kinda cute, for her age,' Ranma
shook his head, 'What am I thinking.' He took a deep breath
then a thought came to him, "She was afraid of me."
     "Did you hear me, Saotome-kun?" The angry voice of his
teacher settled down upon Ranma snapping him back to his
surrounding.
     Ranma looked around, this was not the time nor place
for this. He turned and started running for the fence. With
a single bound he was up and over the wall and gone.
     "Okay class," Hanaka turned to face the rest of his
class. "I want you to start reading pages 134 - 167 and due
the questions at the end of the chapter." Hanaka turned and
left the classroom, not even waiting for the students to get
back to their seats. 'I need a smoke break,' Hanaka thought
as he walked down the hall. He had quit just 2 years
earlier.

     =====

     'Why do I have ta go to school,' young Ranma reasoned
with himself. 'It's not like they ever teach anythin' fun or
useful. Nothin' like what dad teaches.' Wearing the school
uniform from his last school made him stand out from the
others making their way into the schoolyard. His father had
told him that it was normal and accepted for a transfer
student to wear the uniform of his last school for the first
few days, so that other students could see where he was
from. A theory that didn't match the reality of how most of
the other kids treated him whenever he transferred in. Ranma
thought it was just an excuse until the old man could find a
proper uniform for him.
     "Ranma?" a voice ahead of him called out.
     Ranma looked up, he eyes searching for the source of
the voice. Someone who knew him already? Finally, as he
forced his way forward, he saw her. "Hiromi? What are you
doing here?"
     "Duh, I go to school here. Are you transferring here?"
She asked.
     "Uh," Ranma responded intelligently. "Ya, I guess, for
now at least." Ranma stood there like a deer caught in
headlights. Normally it took him days before he could find
any good friends, now here was someone talking to him on the
first day.
     "So, you going to tell me your homeroom, or are you
going to keep it a secret."
     "Uh -oh, its uh, its," Ranma reached into his pocket
and pulled out a piece of paper. "Um, 3-E" he finally
answered looking up to see her eyes light up and a huge
smile on her face. He wanted to remember this moment
forever.
     "I know where that is!" She giggled out. "Follow me."
She turned and forged a path through the other students
toward their classroom.

     =====

     Kasumi positively glowed as she leaned back, allowing
the warm waters of the furo to work their magic. Taking a
deep relaxing breath, she wondered at how much she had
really needed this. While she usually didn't allow herself
such luxuries as a mid-afternoon soak, she had found herself
thinking about this all day.
     Most of the wash was hanging, or could wait till later.
Both Father and Mr. Saotome were fed. The cleaning was done.
And her favorite TV soaps had become so boring, for some
reason, lately. Luck, this day, seemed to smile upon her.
     She looked over at her free sample of bathing oil. That
nice young man had insisted she at least take home a sample.
She had tried to politely turn down his sales pitch, but had
been so passionate about it. So when he offered her a free
sample, how could she turn that down?
     She had forgotten to try it last night. And when she
came in to clean the furo, after everyone had gone off to
school, she noticed someone had already added it to the warm
water. While the bottle was larger than she would have
thought for a free sample, she definitely didn't want to
miss out because she waited too long.
     She let out a deep soul-cleansing sigh. Maybe she would
go borrow another book from Dr. Tofu when she was done.
"Ahh," she sighed. "All is right with the world."

     =====

     "Thanks for walking me home," Hiromi said.
     "No problem." Ranma replied, beaming with joy. "I guess
those bullies learned their lesson, huh?" She looked at him
and frowned. Suddenly he felt like he had just been caught
doing something wrong by his dad.
     "Maybe, then again, they might have learned if you had
gone easier on them too." Now it was Ranma's turn to frown.
     "People like that don't learn. You have to show them.."
He stopped when she turned her back to him.
     "Anyone can change, if given the chance. And everyone
deserves the chance. If any of them had died, you would have
taken any hope they had of changing."
     He looked down at the ground while absently rubbing a
recent bruise hidden under his long sleeves. Somehow this
seemed worse than any lecture his dad had given him.  He
still wasn't sure why he enjoyed being around her,
especially when she smiled. And he hated it when she seemed
upset. He became determined to make her happy while he was
here. "I'll think about what ya said. See ya tomorrow," he
said as the turned to head back to the vacant house his
father had found.
     "Wait," she called. Suddenly not really wanting to see
him go yet.
     "What?" he said while turning around.
     Whatever gave her the strength to call out left her.
"I- uh, do you have, I mean, would you like to see my cat?"
     "Sure! I love cats." Ranma beamed. 'Pop should be out
until late tonight.'
     "Great, we have two cats. The big one name is.."
     She led him into the apartment building, telling him
all about their cats.

     =====

     "Hey, wait up." Nabiki shouted to her young sister as
they left the school at the end of the day. Akane turned and
looked very annoyed, but she waited. Nabiki smirked. That
meant she wasn't really angry or she would have just kept
on, oblivious to her calls. 'You are so easy to read, Akane.
'
     "What do you want?" snapped Akane.
     "Just to have a nice walk home with my sister, like we
use to do," Nabiki chimed.
     "We never walk home together and I'm not in the mood."
Akane replied, not really turning down Nabiki's offer.
     "Want to talk about it?" Nabiki probed. She had heard
several versions already. Everything from Ranma attacking
Akane and she throwing him out the window to Ranma tying to
kill himself. In short, nothing believable. The only thing
she was sure of was that Ranma had jumped through a window
then ran off.
     "No," she said after a few seconds.
     Nabiki hid her smirk; 'about 2 more blocks should do
it.'
     "Why, Nabiki?" Akane stopped 2 blocks later and turned
to face her sister. "Why would he just take off like that."
     Nabiki blinked. "We could ask him when we get back."
     Akane humpf'd. "Probably went to go see that violent
Chinese bimbo of his." Akane's expression darkened
considerably.
     'Akane calling someone else violent,' Nabiki quipped to
herself. "If that's true, you could maybe get father to
forget about the engagement." Nabiki watched Akane's
expression soften as she cast her eyes down at the ground.
     "You think so?" She said meekly.
     "He wasn't very happy when she first showed up, as I
remember." Akane only nodded slightly. 'Time to up the ante,
' Nabiki thought. "I am sure I could get a picture or two
that would that would make daddy's blood boil."
     "So, you think he likes her more?" Akane said in a
slightly higher pitch than normal.
     "Who cares. With the way she acts, I could probably get
a whole roll of shots in no time. If I presented them to him
just right, he would kick the both of them out without
hesitation," Nabiki turned away slightly, to pretending to
be look away.
     "Y-you don't have to do that," Akane said very softly
while staring intensely at the ground.
     "Oh," Nabiki said turning back around smiling. "I
thought you said you didn't want to be engaged to him."
     "Why would I want to be engaged to a stupid perverted
jerk like him!" Akane snapped, unable to stop the burning
feeling in her face as Nabiki cornered her. After a moments
pause, she continued, "it's just . you don't . wouldn't that
destroy their family name?"
     "It's just an offer." Nabiki had a few thoughts herself
on the Saotomes' good family name. "Just let me know if you
change your mind." Nabiki turned and continued on as if
nothing had happened, a little to Akane's relief. This
conversation had been very illuminating, even if she didn't
learn what she really wanted to know. 'Ranma, you had better
be worth my little sisters attention.'

     =====

     Yuota waited as Hiromi saw Ranma to the exit of the
building. Once she came back in and closed the door he
called over to her.
     "What," she asked with all the annoyance that a 10
year-old girl can deliver to her older brother.
     "I don't like you playing with that boy," he said
matter-of-factly.
     "I don't care what you think, oniichan," she replied
and started to head off to her room.
     "Well, Mom and dad don't know it yet, but I heard he
put 5 boys in the hospital last week."
     "I know," she replied over her back.
     "You know!" He said jumping up and following her down
to her room. "What do you mean you know?"
     "I was on my way home, and they tried to attack me. He
saved me," she said with quite a bit of enthusiasm.
     Yuota blinked. He wasn't sure what to think of that.
"Well, I see. Still you don't need to be around that kind of
person," he tried lamely.
     "And what kind of person is that, huh? One who would do
anything for me?" she replied thinking of that fight, and
the dozen romance mangas laying about her room
     "I heard both he and his father are drifters," he said
indignantly. "You can't trust those kind of people. They
think they can do anything they want without care for other
people." He walked around the room, his arms waving back and
forth. "I have heard that people have started losing stuff
every since they came to town."
     "He's not like that!" She defended.
     "Of course, you don't think he's like that. Your just a
little girl, what do you know of the world."
     "You're only one year older than me, and I know you don
't know that much more than I do."
     "Listen to you. A few days with him and your back
talking your older brother."
     "Like I never put you in your place before!"
     "Just wait till mom gets back from shopping!"
     "You wouldn't dare!"
     "Just watch me!"
     "You do that, and I'll tell her about your picture
taking."
     Yuota's eyes got real big, "You wouldn't!"
     "As long as you don't," Hiromi finished with a smirk
and crossed her arms.

     =====

     "What do you think your doing!" Akane huffed, after
having climbed onto the roof.
     "Uh," Ranma jumped a little in surprise, realizing just
how little attention he had been paying to his surroundings.
     "Well!"
     "Thinking. What's it to ya?"
     "And you have to do this over MY room?"
     Ranma looked around and from the position of the tree
found she was right. "I just needed to be alone, and this
was a comfortable spot."
     "Okay," she began. She looked around, as she wasn't
quite ready to let him off the hook yet. She fidgeted with
the question she wanted to ask, but wasn't sure she wanted
to know the answer.
     "So, is this where you ran away from school to?" She
asked instead.
     "I didn't run away!" was his knee-jerk response. Taking
a deep breath, he tried again. "I went to a couple o'
places, but there just seemed to be too many people, so I
came here 'nstead." He didn't know why he tried to hold back
on his usual responses. After all, he had already tried
being nice when he first got here, but everyone made it
obvious they didn't want him here. Just for some reason, he
didn't feel like being alone right now.
     "Who is Hiromi?" Akane finally brought herself to ask;
her voice was almost a whisper.
     "I don-" he began, his face contorted in that silly
expression she had seen when he was trying to remember
Ryouga's name. She had to fight not to laugh.
     'She's that girl I saw.' Ranma thought. "I don't know."
     "Then why did you shout her name before you jumped
through the window?" Akane growled, growing angry again.
     "I shouted her name?" He didn't even remember saying
it.
     "So you do know her!" Akane countered.
     "No." Ranma shifted his position back to looking off
the roof into the distance. Akane anger continued to grow as
he just sat there, obviously lying to her. "At least I don't
think so," Ranma said at last, narrowly avoiding being
kicked off the roof.
     "What do you mean you don't think so?" Akane asked,
barely holding in her anger in check.
     "I thought I saw a girl fall out the window."
     "There was no one at the window, you must have been
dreaming," Akane pronounced, case solved. He is an idiot and
possible insane as well as a pervert.
     "Usually, my nightmares don't get me to jump out of
windows."
     Akane blinked. Something in what he just said didn't
quite sound right. "How often do you dream of girls throwing
themselves out of windows?"
     "This is the first, I think," he smirked. "Usually I
don't remember too much, just the." he trailed off. He
almost admitted to being afraid of a stupid dream. It was
bad enough they now knew of his fear of cats.
     "H-how often do you have nightmares?" she asked, unsure
what she thought he was going to say.
     "Oh, about the same as everyone else I suppose. Only a
couple of times a week."
     Akane turned away from him, trying not to cry. Ranma
caught her movement out of the corner of his eye. 'Great,
now she thinks I can't handle stupid dreams.' "Well, guess I
should wash up before dinner." He stood up, and jumped back
down the ground. Akane turned back to stop him, but couldn't
find the words.

     =====

     "Hey you," a boy called out across the yard to where
Ranma and Hiromi where having lunch. Ranma looked up at the
boy making his way toward them and smirked.
     "Your that kid that put my brother in the hospital,
aren't cha." The boy stated. Several other boys started to
form a circle surrounding them.
     "Maybe, what of it." Ranma said simply.
     "You must be dumb or something." He smirked. "First you
come here, and attack my family. And now you're trying to
take my girl away from me."
     "They tried to attack me. And I'm not your girl, Giru!"
Hiromi replied.
     "They attacked you?" One of the boys in the back asked,
he hadn't heard that part of the story.
     "All six of them tried to, anyway." Ranma said as he
shifted positions slightly. He was still sitting, but now
could easily jump or strike out. He cursed himself mentally
for letting himself relax into the less defensible position.
A mistake he would not be telling his father about.
     "He beat-up all six of Koji's gang?" Another boy said
softly.
     "Not all of them, Koji didn't have a mark on him."
     "That's because he ran away." Ranma added nonchalantly.
     "He made Koji run away," yet another boy paraphrased.
The more the other boys heard, the more it was clear Giru
had not told them the whole story. It was also becoming very
clear that they might not want to mess with this boy.
     "You got lucky, that's all. Your nothing," Giru
shouted, realizing that he was losing most of his crowd.
When it became apparent that he might lose them all if he
didn't do something, he decided to do just that.
     Giru launched his fist forward, the blade of his knife
pooping out of its sheath so fast, almost nobody noticed it.
And just as suddenly, Ranma was not where he was suppose to
be. Looking up, he was rewarded with two feet planted in his
face, and he went down fast. Ranma jumped off him, before he
hit the ground, landing just to Giru's right.
     "Your gonna pay for that one." As Giru got back up and
glared at Ranma, Ranma saw the stern look on Hiromi's face,
that some how seemed to shout at Ranma that she was not
happy.
     Giru revealed a second knife in his other hand and he
launched into a combination of punches and jabs. Ranma
started dodging and weaving throughout. Giru had some
training in marital arts and had been, until now, the
toughest boy at school. It was clear to about everyone
except for Giru, that he was very outclassed.
     Quickly teachers came and broke up the fight. Sending
Giru to the principal's office. All of the teachers who had
come over, where very please with how Ranma had handled it,
having only seen him dodging and refusing to even once hit
his opponent, so they didn't bother sending him to see the
principal.
     Ranma was happy because that meant his father wouldn't
be called in. The other kids were happy to see Giru get
trashed, even if he hadn't been hit after the first initial
kick. Happiest of all was Hiromi; 'Everyone deserves a
chance!'

     =====

     "By soft what light through yonder gate would grace
such a fair and noble warrior. Tis the morning, and my
chance to renew her hope of being freed from the bonds of
that miscreant Saotome would place upon you."
     "Doesn't he ever learn?" Ranma asided to Akane.
     "And fear not pig-tailed girl, where ever his dark arts
may have hidden thee. I shall endeavor to free you both, so
that you may enjoy the attentions I may visit upon you."
     A shiver ran up Ranma's spine as Kuno's words reminded
him of certain dreams that he had awoken from in a cold
sweat. An angry battle aura flared around Ranma, to those
who could sense them. "She is never going to like you Kuno!"
Ranma shouted as he started toward Kuno to teach him a
lesson or two.
     Akane, however, got to Kuno first, with her fist
readied to knock him into next week. She had plenty of
reason to be upset with Kuno for just being here. When she
noticed Ranma's reaction to Kuno's speech, of which the
implications disturbed her greatly anyway, she felt she had
to react.
     "So, the beautiful tigress wouldst spar again with me."
Kuno pinned. "If you should win, I will allow you to date
with me!" Kunou called, as he attempted to block Akane's
strikes.
     "Hey, he was mine!" Ranma shouted at Akane, extremely
upset to have a girl fighting for him. Then he saw it. Kunou
was bringing his boken down with all his strength, and his
target, standing with her back to him completely unaware,
was a little girl with short dark hair dressed in a light
brown school uniform looking scared.
     In a flash, Ranma jumped over Akane taking the boken
hit square on his back. Following through he tackled Kunou
to the ground. Both, rolling over, sprang back to their
feet.
     "So Saotome, you would fight with me at last." Kunou
called. The fog that veiled Kuno's mind and protected him
from all the evils of a world filled with his insane family
lifted slightly. He had hit Saotome fair. And knew that
whatever dark magics he used to protect him were not working
now. He was the best fighter of the most powerful marital
art. Victory was his today.
     Ranma huffed, as he tried to get his bearings back.
Fortunately, Ranma's tackle knocked his arm such that the
effectiveness of his attack, already weaker since he was
striking at Akane, was substantially less than his full
strength, which could break concrete with air pressure
alone.
     Ranma looked over to where the little girl was standing
by Akane. Both were looking at him very angry for his attack
on Kunou. He Turned back to look Kunou straight in the eye.
"If you ever try to hurt her again," Ranma said softly, yet
with as much hatred and venom as he could, "I will kill
 you." Ranma's battle-aura flashed as he said the last.
Then, leaving the entire student body behind stunned, he
walked into the school.
     "Wow, did you see that, Ranma stopped Kunou without
even hitting him!"
     "Oh, that's so romantic, how he took that hit for his
fianc�e!"
     "Did you hear what he said to Kunou?!" Everyone began
gossiping about what they thought they had just witnessed
thus a large number of students found themselves late for
their first class.
     The fog that protected Kunou's mind from the evils of
the world slowly descended back to its proper place. Kuno
was now convinced more than ever that he had always been
right about Saotome. Only a demon's eyes could flash the way
his did. And the way he took that hit, even knowing his
protection was not strong enough to stop his righteous
blade, proved that the best way to defeat the black curse's
hold on both his tigress and his pig-tailed goddess was to
beat them. Oh, how he hated and loathed the idea, but he
would not - no, he could not betray them. He would do what
his duty, his honor demanded, and free them both personally.

     =====

     "Oh, hello Saotome-san. Won't you have a seat?" The
schoolteacher began.
     "What has my boy done this time?" Saotome grumbled. Too
many times he had had this talk. If only he could get them
to understand that this was part of his son's training, but
they never understood.
     "He is a wonderful boy, Saotome-san. You should be
proud of him." Genma blinked, then decided he would take up
that offer to sit down. "He has been doing much better than
his previous records would indicate." Genma only nodded,
that would allow him to keep him out longer next time they
had to move.
     "And he shows a very active imagination, as you can see
from one of his writing assignments here," she continued.
Genma only nodding. He wasn't really listening, as this was
not the way most of these parent-teacher conferences usually
ran.
     "As you can see, your son has been a delight to have in
my class. And after the other day, I think all of the
teachers wish they had."
     "The other day?" Genma interrupted. "Why, what
happened?"
     Oh, he didn't tell you?" She smiled good-naturedly.
"Well, boys will be boys, I guess." She then proceeded to
tell him about the one-way fight as she and the other
teachers had witnessed it.

     =====

     "I'm home," Nabiki called out automatically. Something
was going on, but she didn't know what yet.
     On her way up the stairs to her room, she took a deep
breath and let it out slowly.
     'Okay. First, Ranma.' She thought. He was acting weird.
Then again, they had only been here a few weeks; this might
not be all that strange of a behavior from him. After all,
considering what she did know of his upbringing, Nabiki
unconsciously shivered, who knows what else may be running
around in that head of his.
     Absently she wondered what it would take to get Ranma
to see a shrink. Not that thought that much more of their
opinion, but if Ranma was dangerous. She let that thought
trail off as she remembered Ranma curling up in Akane's lap.
She was the only one he would let get near him. At some deep
level, he trusted her. 'Of course with that idiot of a
father, ' Nabiki smirked.
     Akane needed to quit hitting Ranma. 'If he stopped
trusting her,' Nabiki thought as she opened her door. She
hadn't had time this morning for her normal soak in the
furo, and she had blamed most of her day on that.
     As she stepped out into the hallway, Genma also stepped
out into the hallway. He turned at her and smiled as he
started down stairs in only a towel, carrying his bathing
supplies. She glared at his back. 'Hadn't he heard of ladies
first?'
     "Want me to drag him outside and beat him up for you?"
Akane asked from behind, only slightly startling her. They
both laughed.
     "Hey, is that a new perfume you're wearing?" Nabiki
asked.
     "Nope." Ranma called from behind Nabiki. "That's a bath
oil." Akane and Nabiki both looked at him with shock. Ranma
made a show of smelling the air and continued. "A special
strawberry-apple mix with yewkuptus and," pausing to think,
"geranium." He smiled.
     "When did you become an expert on bath oils?" Akane
inquired.
     "Just one of those things you pick up on the road,"
Ranma replied with a shrug. "Suppose to help you relax, and
good for the skin," he recited in a soft almost sweet tone.
As he slipped into his room he added, "Oh, and good for
school I think. Something about helping thinking or memory
or somethin'."
     "Well, Ranma is just full of surprises this week,"
Nabiki quipped as she returned to her room. Her soak would
have to wait for later.
     Plopping down on her bed, she though about the stranger
that she had seen talking to Kunou. She was too far away to
hear what they were talking about. She wasn't even sure why
it stuck out in her head as strange, but she always listened
to her gut instinct.

     =====

     Pin-pon, pin-pon.
     "Hello?"
     "Uhm, is Hiromi-chan there?" A tentative Ranma squeaked
through the building intercom.
     "Silly, its me!" Hiromi giggled back.
     "Great! Would you like to go cat huntin' with me?"
     "Cat hunting? What do you want with cats?" Hiromi asked
playfully.
     "The old man wants me to try to get as many of the
strays around as I can."
     "Uh huh?"
     "Well, he said something 'bout get'n some cat treats,
like fish-sausages and catnip. I guess he's wanting ta get'
em a good home or somethin'."
     "Cool!" Hiromi replied cutely. "Count me in!" She
released the button and went to grab her coat.
     "You're going out with that homeless boy?" Yuota said
as she opened the door.
     "I am going out to save the kittens!" She replied
theatrically then shut the door behind her as she left.

     =====

     Akane awoke to her alarm going off. But she didn't move
to shut it off. Something was in bed next to her, and it
wasn't p-chan. Slowly she looked over and saw Ranma's face
nuzzled up against hers.
     Ranma slowly opened his eyes, acutely aware that there
was not an alarm clock in his room.
     "YOU PERVERT!" Akane screamed as she grabbed the
closest thing and silenced her clock against Ranma's head
forever.
     Ranma quickly jumped out of the bed after that.
     "GET OUT! YOU PERVERT!" Akane continued as she looked
for something larger to grab.
     "It's not what it looks like!" Ranma attempted.
     "Then what is it! Huh?!" Akane dared.
     Ranma's mind quickly searched for something that might
work, since he didn't have a clue why he was in her bed. 'Ah
ha!' he thought. "It's not like I'd want to sleep with you
or nothin'!"
     Two seconds later, Ranma found himself hurtling out the
window only to make a very familiar landing. "Water. Why's
it always got to be water."
     "Was that Ranma's voice I heard from your room Akane?"
Nabiki asked from the doorway.
     "I don't want to talk about it! Doesn't anybody knock
around her!" Akane said as they both looked down at the
remains of her door. The bottom had been completely shredded
into confetti, leaving the top held on by one hinge to swing
open freely. They both looked up at each other.
     Akane walked out past Nabiki and up to the guestroom
where Ranma and his father where staying. Akane walked up
and put her hand out to open the door, then she hesitated.
     Nabiki, following her train of thoughts, and privacy
not being her biggest concern reached out to grab the door.
     As the door crumbled to the floor, they both gasped at
what they saw. The room was a total wreck. Hugh scratches
marked the walls. Torn clothes where everywhere. Nabiki was
the first one to recognize Genma's unconscious form tossed
upside down in one corner. He looked severely beaten, but
still breathing.
     "Well, I guess there will be plenty for breakfast."
Nabiki said. She quickly spun away and started down the
stairs. "If you want to lay him down properly, I'll give Dr.
Tofu a call." Nabiki called back to Akane, not bothering to
turn around. She knew she would lose it if she did.

     =====     =====

     AN: This is version 2.5 of this story. Some scenes have
been fleshed out further than they were before, and a new
ending has been added.
     As I believe I stated when I first posted this story,
it came to me in the night. Not as a dream (shiver at the
thought of that nightmare) but as hard and swift as a
mallet. Slammed me across my bed room, then dragged me over
to my computer and sat there until the first draft was
completed. After posting its second draft, I left it alone
to work on other ideas I had been kicking around (as opposed
to them kicking me around.)
     For those interested, "Daughter of Amazons" is
currently on hold. I originally only posted it, because I
was more than happy with the progress I was making, and had
the next several chapters plotted out. Unfortunately when my
ideas actually met the characters on virtual paper, they
began to fall apart. I do intend to return and write more on
it; however, right now, I seem to have written myself into a
corner.  :(
     In the meanwhile, I have been working on other stories
which, if I can flesh them out enough, may even see the
light of the FFML.  :)
     BTW, does anyone have the address of whoever it was
that originally came up with 'The Bet" series. I have a
question I would like to ask him.


kit
======================================
We the unwilling, led by the unknowing,
  are doing the impossible, for the ungrateful.
We have done so much, for so long, with so little
  we are now qualified to do anything with nothing

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