Ranma looked down to the small bundle he held in his lap and sighed. Today was the worst day he had had in a long time, and that was saying a lot. He looked up from the bundle and glanced around the train car he was currently sitting in, his eyes coming to rest on the young lady sleeping beside him. The safety of those important to him insured, he decided this would be a good time for a quick nap. Soon he was asleep and a dream of his day flashed before his mind's eye...
-12 hours ago, Tendo Dojo-
It was a bright Sunday morning, and the sun shone down on the Nerima district of Tokyo, Japan. The normal sounds of the residents waking up could all be heard across the district, except in one yard. Here, the normal morning sounds were a brief, but loud battle over a small pond in the backyard of a large house. But today these sounds were missing. In fact, almost the only sound that could be heard from this particular house was the quiet sounds of someone preparing a large meal for her family. Throughout the rest of the house, silence reigned except for in the guest room, where a young pig-tailed boy was quietly putting away his futon. Some shuffling, like that of someone getting dressed, could be heard from within the room before the door was opened to reveal the occupant, one Ranma Saotome.
Ranma closed the door to his room behind himself, he then headed downstairs to find nobody awake except Kasumi. Noticing that no one else was around, Ranma decided to ask the only other person there.
"Good morning, Kasumi. Can you tell me where everyone is?" Kasumi offered Ranma a smile as she continued to stir the pot in front of her.
"Good morning, Ranma. Akane is out for her morning run. She said she would try to add a few miles to her run today, so she may not make it back in time for breakfast. Nabiki said she had something to take care of, and left at the same time. The fathers have yet to make it home from whatever bar they went to last evening." This comment brought a small frown to her face for a moment, but she continued. "Auntie said she would be by this afternoon. Oh, and Ranma, would you mind setting the table for me? Breakfast will still be a while off yet, but I don't know if I will have time to set it myself..."
"Sure thing, Kasumi!" Never one to deny Kasumi anything, Ranma jumped into action, quickly setting the table while Kasumi went back into the kitchen. Just as he was finished, Ranma heard a few voices singing loudly and badly off-key. As he passed the kitchen on the way towards the voices, Ranma ducked his head into the kitchen and said…
"Oyaji and your father are back." He then continued towards the front door, arriving in time to see a pair of drunken fools passed out on the lawn, just inside the front gate. At first, Ranma considered just leaving the drunkards there, but decided that that they might trip anyone coming through the gate. Just as he was finishing waking the fathers and dragging them into the bathroom, Akane called out from the front door that she and Nabiki were back. Kasumi caught the two girls as they passed the kitchen.
"If you want to get ready for breakfast, it will be ready in about half an hour. Akane, you might have time for a quick dip in the furo. I think that Ranma dropped the fathers in there, so knock first, okay?"
Akane nodded before continuing to her room to get her bathing supplies. Nabiki sat on the couch and started watching the news. As Akane came back downstairs, a report came on about a local panty thief striking again. Akane glared at the television, but decided that the mention of a pervert was not enough reason to be angry and continued to the bathroom. She got there just in time to see the fathers coming out, looking clean, but wearing their habitual outfits. Then her eyes widened and her hand went to her pocket as Mr. Saotome walked by. Unnoticed by the panda-man, Akane's hand found the small locket in her pocket. She quickly stepped into the bathroom and shut the door before pulling the locket out.
It was a beautiful piece of jewelry, solid gold and shaped like a teardrop. In the middle of the cover was a small emerald, cut to resemble a cat's eye. The man she had bought it from not 20 minutes before had said that it could cure any kind of curse. He had also mentioned something about it being like a cat in how it worked, but she ignored that. In fact, she barely heard anything past the fact that it could cure a curse. She ignored most of the rest of what he said, only asking how much, and how it worked. After getting that information, she paid the man, not noticing that he had somehow quoted to her exactly how much yen she had on her, and took off towards home.
She stood there for a moment, admiring the beauty of the locket, and decided she would keep it after she used it to cure Ranma. "I did pay for it, after all, and once he's cured, Ranma won't need it." She went on to take her quick shower followed by a quick dip in the furo, not noticing the small black cat watching her from the top of the cupboard. A few minutes later found Akane drying off after getting out of the furo. As she left the bathroom, she also didn't see the small cat follow her into the dining room and slip under the table.
A few minutes later, Kasumi called everyone to breakfast. As they were sitting there eating, Akane could hold back no longer. "Ranma, today when I was on my run, I found something that might interest you, but there is a cost. I want you to agree to train me, and I mean really train me. In return, I'll give you what I bought today and tell you how it works."
"Feh, What could be worth me training a stupid tomboy like you?" Ranma's foot fits nicely in his mouth here.
"Oh, I thought you might like to be cured of your curse, but I guess I was wrong. Oh, well, I guess I'll just..." Akane could get no further before Ranma was cut in. "You can cure my curse? How?"
"Well, before that, I want your promise. You will promise to train me, including hitting me when we spar, or I will just get rid of it."
"Alright, ya stupid tomboy, I'll train ya. But I'm not gonna go easy on ya because you're a girl."
Akane smiled. "That's fine, Ranma. That's the only way to get better, right? Anyway, I'll give it to you after we finish breakfast."
The rest of the meal was taken in silence, broken only by Ranma asking for refills on rice, or the occasional jingling of chopsticks in a bowl. Soon enough, everyone had eaten their fill, and Ranma could wait no longer. "So, can you cure me now?"
Akane only huffed. "If you are so anxious to be cured, lets do this, but we are gonna spend the rest of the day in training. No complaints, either. But lets go to the dojo, so we can have a little privacy from prying eyes." As she said this, Akane looked straight at Nabiki.
Nabiki could only smirk. "Go ahead, have your secrets. If I want them bad enough, I know where to get them." With that, Ranma and Akane started towards the dojo. Nobody noticed as a small black cat darted out from under the table and followed the couple into the dojo.
After they closed the door behind themselves, Akane reached into her pocket and pulled out the locket. "This is your cure, Ranma. There are some words I'm supposed to say. They sound kind of silly, but the guy I bought this from said it's the intent that matters, not necessarily the words."
With that, Akane held out the locket towards Akane and spoke the words given to her. "Klatoo Beratta Nickto. With these words, I uncurse thee." At first nothing happened, so Akane decided to try again. "Klatoo Beratta Nickto. With these words, I uncurse thee." For a moment nothing happened and Akane was about to try again, when the door to the dojo slammed open, revealing a tall female covered from head to toe in dark brown fur, and with vaguely feline features. The most noticeable of these features was the slit shaped iris in both of her eyes, and the fact that her ears were on the top of her head, and pointed.
Ranma noticed after a moment that Akane was standing there staring at the lady in the doorway. But the locket was gone from Akane's hand, and in fact was spinning in the air between Akane and Ranma. Then a voice echoed through both heir's minds.
"Hello, Rrrranma and Akane. Please, do not be afrrrraid." With that, Ranma's eyes swept the room and finally noticed the cat-like lady sitting inside the doorway looking right at him. His first gut instinct was to run, but when his feet didn't move, he noticed that his normal terror was gone. In fact, the only thing he could feel was a warmth that seemed to flow through him. He started to relax, and the voice returned. Ranma's first question was a simple one.
"Who are you?" The cat lady let out a laugh that sounded more like a purr than a laugh and answered. "My name is Bast. I am a goddess. My majorrrr arrrea, as you can prrrrobably tell, is cats, but I also have childrrrren and young families underrrr my minorrr contrrrrol. And yes, Rrrranma, I do know who you arrrre. I have known you since your fatherrrr thrrrrew you into that pit so long ago with so many of my subjects."
For a moment, Ranma wanted to ask what she meant when the goddess continued. "It was my will that you rrrrecieve the nekoken, but that fat fool made a small mistake in the trrrraining. In the trrrrue nekoken, the cats arrrre not supposed to be starrrrved, and the child is to know to allow the cats to feed carrrrefully as needed. As my subjects feed, they gift the trrrrue nekoken on those I find worrrrthy, and rrrreject those who I don't WITHOUT harrrrming them. But the hungerrrr of overrrr a week made me lose contrrrrol of them and they attacked in theirrrr hungerrrr."
For a moment, Ranma wanted nothing more than to go pound on a panda, and even took a step towards the door. But after a moment, he decided it didn't matter. Ranma had more important things to do with his time, like getting cured... GETTING CURED! That thought flashed through both Ranma's and Akane's head and they turned to the goddess.
"If you are really a goddess, can you cure me/Ranma?" They both looked at each other and grinned for a moment, then turned back to the goddess.
Bast laughed, then answered. "Yes, I can currrre Rrranma, and in fact I will, but I want you both to prrrromise me on yourrrr honorrrr as marrrrtial arrrrtists that you will do what I ask of you in rrrreturrrrn." With that She turned to Akane. "And no going back on yourrr prrromise, forrr any rrreason. It's verrry imporrrtant that you rrremember this, young Tendo."
Ranma thought about that for a second, then gave his answer. "I swear on my honor that I will do anything you ask, just please cure me!" Akane Answered, "I promise, as well."
Bast smiled, then looked into Ranma's eyes. "Just rrrrememberrrr yourrrr prrrromises." A moment later, the locket began to glow a warm yellow light, and twin beams of light shot from Ranma into the locket. Said locket began to glow brighter, so bright that Ranma had to shield his eyes. After what seemed like an hour of this bright light, it suddenly cut off. Ranma looked around to where the locket was, to see Bast standing there gently holding a small bundle.
"Rrrranma, I present to you Rrrranko." Ranma stepped over to Bast and looked at the small bundle in Bast's arms. Now that he looked, Ranma could see a small face that almost matched that of Bast. The only difference was that Ranko had red and black tiger-striped fur. After a moment of looking down at the precious bundle, Bast put one hand on Ranma's shoulder, the other gently holding Ranko against her. "Rrrranma, on yourrrr honorrrr I charrrrge you. Prrrrotect this small life with yourrrr own. Herrrr and herrrr childrrrren will be needed when the false messengerrrrs come."
Seeing the acceptance in his eyes, Bast looked down at the bundle in her arms, then gently handed Ranko to Ranma. At the gentle shift in grip from Bast to Ranma, Ranko awake and showed the world the first sight of her bright blue eyes as she looked into the face of her 'father'. For a moment they both stared at each other, then Ranko grinned and reached out with a small black-pawed hand and patted Ranma on the nose, causing Ranma to smile.
While Ranma and Ranko were both occupied getting acquainted, Bast turned to Akane. "Akane, yourrr prrromise to me is much harrrderrr, but has potentially grrreaterrr rrrewarrrds. I want you to prrromise to contrrrol yourrr temperrr. I have looked into Ranma's hearrrt and mind. Therrre I have seen those who would be his frrriends, and most arrre not carrreful enough arrround bystanderrrs forrr my tastes. So I need you to be extrrra eyes forrr him and help prrrotect Rrranko." After a moment of Akane battling her temper back down at the perceived slight, she agreed.
With Akane's acceptance, Bast turned back to Ranma. "Rrranma, I have a few pieces of advice forrr you. They are not orrrderrrs orrr anything like that. Howeverrrr, they would grrreatly imprrrove things and make them saferrr forrr Rrranko." For a minute, Bast's face turned sad and, with a glance at Akane, she continued." Firrrst, I want you to tell Akane about Rrryoga. You know of what I speak." After saying that, Bast smiled." The otherrr piece of advice will be easierrr. Leave Nerrrima. Today. Therrre is a small temple in Nekomi that you can stay at tonight. Herrre is the address. The people living therrre owe me a favorrr, so hopefully they will let you stay. Just mind yourrr mannerrrs."
Having said that, Bast handed Akane a small piece of paper. On the paper was an address and a small note that said, 'Remember your promise, Akane!' With a smile and a "Good luck to you both," Bast turned and walked out the door and closed it behind herself.