Disclaimer: Ranma and Friends are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, and various 
publishing agencies. Gremlins are owned by Warner Brothers, and anyone lucky 
enough to buy one of those latex figures left over after the movie. 





Cologne glanced around the store carefully, making sure she'd not forgotten 
anything. Buying in preparation for a disaster was never easy, but when 
disasters happened around here… She decided a bit more sheet metal might not 
be a bad idea.

The Importance of Rules 4
By: Kagato

"I'm home!" Ranma called, the items he carried balanced precariously upon his 
arms and head. Making his way to the main room of the house, he began setting 
things down on the table, as Kasumi came out to help him.

"My, Ranma, you took a long time getting these today. Was the market busy?"

"Eh? No. I had to go kinda far to get some of these things... some old lady 
bought almost all the building supplies in town. Then on my way back, Mousse 
appeared outta nowhere and.. well.." he trailed off, then, knowing the rest 
was too obvious to say.

"Oh my. I'm sorry to make you walk so far out of your way. It's almost 
dinnertime, now." Ranma just shrugged, and, after helping Kasumi put away 
most of the things he'd gone to pick up, he disappeared into the dojo to work 
off the frustration of the day. 

After Mousse had shown up, Kuno had appeared as well, and the two attacked 
him together. It was an easy fight, but then Mousse had pulled a water 
balloon on Ranma, and the wet Ranma, still blinking the water out of his 
eyes, was assaulted by Kuno, a smothering hug holding Ranma still. Mouse had 
chosen this time to attack Ranma, and Kuno had begun defending his pigtailed 
goddess from the enraged savage, until Mousse had fallen on another water 
balloon, and flown away as a duck. Ranma stared, as Kuno scowled at the 
fleeing fowl, wondering if Kuno had understood what that implied.

"Alas, the foul sorcerer has interfered in this fight as well, enchanting my 
opponent so that he may fight another day. Curse you Saotome!" Kuno cried, 
shaking his bokken at the heavens. A moment later Kuno himself was sent 
towards the heavens, and an extremely irked, female Ranma turned to Mousse's 
Robes. After digging around, Ranma found the item she was searching for, and 
the hot thermos was now inverted above male-Ranma's head.

"Ranma, dinner's ready." Nabiki said, poking her head in the door, before 
disappearing just as quickly. Night had fallen as Ranma had worked off his 
excess energy, and he sighed softly, disappointed that he'd missed watching 
the sunset. Though he didn't get a chance to often, he occasionally found the 
time to watch the sun set after it's trek across the sky, and think about 
whatever his mind wandered to. A couple subtle improvements in his fighting 
style had come of this relaxed thought, and while none of his girl troubles 
had been solved, he'd use that time to calm down after their more active 
days.

Entering the house, he saw the Tendo family gathering around the table, is 
father already seated and staring at the door to the kitchen expectantly. 
Akane frowned at him for a moment, before petting M-chan on the head, softly. 
Quickly moving over to the table, he sat down beside his gather, and waited 
for Kasumi to arrive with their food. 

Dinner was quiet, the loudest sound being the clack of chopsticks as Ranma 
blocked his father's attempts to steal his food. Finally, Genma realized that 
he'd have better luck stealing from someone a little slower, and tried to 
take some rice from Nabiki. She didn't do any more than raise her eyes to 
look at him, but that's all it took. His hand shot back like he'd stuck it 
into a fire, and he turned to Akane, eyeing her plate hungrily. Then he saw 
that her Mallet had somehow appeared beside her on the table, and, decided 
that it wasn't worth it. 

Genma's hand struck then, stealing from Kasumi's plate, and, after nothing 
happened, he looked at her with a victorious smile on his face. His 
chopsticks snapped in his hand when he saw the look of pain and suffering on 
her face, and his mouth fell open in shock as a tear rolled down her cheek. 

"Kasumi.. I'm.. I'm so sorry… I… Excuse me." Genma stood and left, unable to 
handle being looked at like that. Soun, Nabiki, Ranma and Akane kept eating, 
and after he'd left the room, Kasumi wiped her eyes, staring down at her 
plate, sadly.

"I overcooked the rice." She said with a sigh, before continuing her meal. 
Finally, the last bite was eaten, and each member disbursed, and Ranma walked 
to his room with a handful of food for his mogwai. Entering the room, he 
walked over to where he'd placed his Mogwai to keep it away from the 
sunlight, and placed the food-filled napkin down before it. It stared 
hungrily before digging in rapidly. Then, midway through its meal, it 
stopped, and stared at the window. 

"What's the matter, not hungry?" Ranma asked, not sure what was wrong with 
the little thing. When it just looked at him and shrugged, he shrugged back, 
and walked over to his bed. He had school tomorrow, and getting a full nights 
rest would help him deal with whatever madness was sure to enter his life 
once he passed through Furinkin's gates.

Likewise, in the next room over, Akane was getting ready for bed, and M-chan 
just looked around, watching Akane warily. The morning's brutal meeting with 
the wall had taught him to be cautions around her, and he would refrain from 
waking her again the next morning. He'd eaten at the dinner table, and, 
unlike the other Mogwai, didn't particularly care to eat after midnight.  
Unfortunately for Neremians everywhere, similar events had led up to a 
problematic conclusion throughout the day.

At Uchan's Okonomiyaki Restaurant, the customers had stared in awe (and a 
little jealousy) at the cute little creature imitating Ukyo with one of her 
smaller throwing spatulas.  Earlier customers had been amused as the smaller 
spatula had clattered against the countertop, while those in the afternoon 
had nodded in approval as the small creature mimicked her quite well, only goi
ng a bit slower. By nightfall, customers stared in awe as the creature 
mirrored her, a tiny okonomiyaki baking on the portion of the grill before 
it. 

"You know, if you were a little bigger, I'd pay to have you help out. You're 
a quick learner." Ukyo said to the creature. It shrugged spinning the spatula 
one handed over its head, before slinging it onto its back in a makeshift 
sling. Then it hopped down onto the floor, executing a graceful flip and 
headed towards the stairs that lead to Ukyo's upstairs apartment. 

Ukyo stared at it in amazement. Her fiancé didn't learn that quickly. She 
sighed, then. Thinking about Ranma was always done with mixed emotions. He 
was so cute, but so oblivious… She shook her head, and struck a determined 
pose. She may not have the advantage of sleeping under the same roof as Akane 
did, and Shampoo may be built a little better, but damnit, she had just as 
much claim to him as Akane, and that was the only serious engagement. As far 
as she cared, Shampoo's claim was about as backed as Kodachi's, and even 
Akane hadn't lost as much as she had. 

With another sigh, Ukyo quickly flipped the chairs onto the tables, and swept 
the floors, the day's acquired crumbs and dust piling up quickly, before she 
launched it out the door. Locking the door, and turning off the lights behind 
her, she grabbed the okonomiyaki she'd cooked for herself off the counter, 
wiping away the moisture left behind, and went upstairs to join her little 
prodigal pet.

It was waiting for her, staring at the Okonomiyaki in her hand hungrily. Ukyo 
grinned, and set a small piece before it, sitting on her mattress, and taking 
a bite herself. She looked down at the creature as it made a noise, and she 
grinned, assuming it enjoyed the taste of her cooking. Finishing, she saw her 
pet hadn't quite finished, or wasn't hungry, and decided to leave the small 
piece there, in case it got hungry in a little bit. Then she changed, and 
hopped into her bed, reaching up to set her alarm clock for school before she 
turned out the light that softly illuminated her room. 

Across town, The pantry had been raided at a rather large mansion, and a 
large group of mogwai sat watching a large television set and occasionally 
glancing at a nearby clock, while boxes, bottles and cans of food lay strewn 
about, waiting to be opened at the right time. As the clock approached 
midnight, the gathered mogwai's warbling grew louder, as tiny hands went to 
open numerous food containers in wait for the time they awaited.

Finally, the clock chimed, and the creatures began feeding ravenously, 
devouring all the collected food in minutes. Unfortunately, most of them soon 
died as various poisons went to work on bodies mere fractions of the size 
they'd been dosed for. Those that ate clean food, however, didn't notice, as 
subtle reactions in their chemistry grew rapidly, and their metamorphosis 
began. 

In the Nekohanten, Shampoo had watched with joy as her new pet had copied her 
movements, slowly growing more and more limber, faster, and graceful as the 
day progressed. By nightfall, the creature was carrying bowls of steaming 
ramen to tables faster than duck-Mousse ever could. And, with working eyes, 
it didn't mess up by taking food to the wrong tables as often. 

Shampoo cheered when it first leapt onto a table with a bowl of Ramen held 
over it's head, and by the day's end, it would hop off walls, the floor 
tables, and the occasional rowdy customers head to help deliver food. The 
only thing it wouldn't do was deliver food to the tables near the door or 
windows. Indirect sunlight was okay, and it enjoyed the low level lighting 
the Nekohanten had been designed with, but it wouldn't take that chance. And, 
as the sun set, it had disappeared for a while, as the sunlight had streamed 
in through the windows and effectively blocked off it's path across the 
restaurant.

Now, however, the sky was dark, the restaurant closing up, and the perfect 
time to get an after-midnight snack from the storage room. 

"And where do you think you're going, little one?" an elderly voice asked 
from behind it. The Mogwai sweatdropped as it let go of the door, turning to 
look at the withered figure perched upon a cane. 

"I know your tricks, little Mogwai. Don't think you can pull one over on me." 
Cologne said. She and Mousse, after buying supplies, had worked outside all 
day to fortify the restaurant against the coming storm. She knew that they 
would probably still get in and cause a problem, but at least now the damage 
would be a rather hefty mess, as opposed to structural damage or loss. 
Cologne chuckled as she hopped away, the deadbolt on the door locked tightly, 
the only key the one around her neck. 

Unfortunately, while Cologne had managed to collect all the food the 
restaurant had for customers, she'd neglected to gather up the bread Mousse 
ate in his cage as a duck. The mogwai, spotting this old, dry and stale piece 
of bread, and grimaced, before taking it and hiding it for consumption later 
that night.

Finally, when the hour arrived, and everyone appeared to be sleeping, the 
creature snuck out the door, and down to it's hiding spot, and ate the bread, 
before quickly crawling into a duct.




Authors Notes: Another chapter finished. I bet you all thought I forgot about 
this fic, or something, eh? Well.. I'll get another one out soon, I think… 
now that I've gotten the.. mundane stuff out of the way, I can start having 
fun. Visual Puns you'd like to see done by gremlins in upcoming chapters are 
welcome, and I've yet to find someone willing (or interested…) to do "Ryouga 
and The Gremins in Juuban." It's not a must, but it'd be fun for someone to 
do (I think) so if you're interested, E-Mail me, or IM me (EnigmaticMagus) 
and we can talk.

-Kagato


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