The morning was cold and grey, some may call it pathetic fallacy, but it was November after all. Ranma Saotome trudged through the streets of little Nerima with little purpose and a heavy soul. This morning had been absolutely awful and it was only 7 am. Now, for a guy who is normally awoken by being thrown into an ice cold koi pond each morning and forced to fight for his breakfast with a fat panda of a father, things had to be pretty bad to put a frown of that sadness on his chiselled features.
This morning had started at roughly 5pm which Ranma felt was a truly cruel hour to be awakened. He had been snoring peacefully into his futon when he had suddenly felt something warm on his chest. At first he thought he was imagining it, that it was part of an odd dream perhaps, and so brushed his hand across the warm spot. That was when his fingers came into contact with something warm…and furry. His eyes snapped open as he began to asses the situation. The thing upon his chest sounded like it was snoring…or purr…That's when it hit him. He looked down into the purple eyes of a little cat, also known as Shampoo, which meowed joyfully at his gaze. The fear began to creep up his spine as he froze for lack of a better reaction. The trickling fear began to build and build until he finally unleashed a low masculine yell and jumped up causing Shampoo to fall to the floor. Shampoo then nudged at the canister that stood on the floor which released a sparkling liquid in the light of the moon. Shampoo stood to display herself to Ranma and purred invitingly. Once again our brave Ranma froze. Yet his mind worked in over time for once, kicking him into movement so he would not be caught in such a compromising state with Shampoo. He leapt out of the window quickly, and began to flee in whichever direction came to him, whilst Shampoo began the pursuit.
Ranma thought back on the incident of the morning and shivered. It had not occurred to him in his state of panic that it was November and therefore exceedingly cold. He wished that he could have his warm jacket, or a steaming cup of Kasumi's tea. Although what he really wished for was that he would not get into such situations, but he had resigned himself to this a long time ago. His morning had not picked up from there either.
Shampoo had chased Ranma for nearly an hour and even though he was exceptionally fit, it was still not pleasant first thing in the morning. He had finally lost her by hiding in a huge garden of a large house. He decided to catch his breath a moment, leaning his back against the ostentatious stone walls which from what he could see surrounded the property. His thoughts turned to the warmth of his futon as he began to walk towards the gates when he found that his foot had been snagged. He looked down and grimaced at the black ribbon encircling his ankle. The cackle that caused his insides to churn flew from the mouth of Kodachi Kuno.
'Ranma darling! How wonderful of you to sneak into my gardens at dawn to whisk me away romantically into the glow of the sunrise!' Kodachi crooned.
Her eyes glazed over, imagining Ranma upon a white horse in regal clothes, whispering words of love. Ranma rolled his eyes as he attempted to slip away undetected. Unfortunately, Kodachi's little pet crocodile noticed and watched Ranma's movement intently, snapping and growling with murderous intent. Thankfully this barely deterred our skilled martial artist, no it was not the crocodile that interrupted his escape but the 'blue thunder' stomping his way across the lawn in silken pyjamas and a matching night cap. A frightening vision for anyone to behold. Holding his bokken aloft, promising the reprimand that Ranma 'justly deserved'. Ranma shook himself, ready to leap from the Kuno grounds, as Kodachi released a mist of yellow powder. Automatically Ranma closed his eyes and jumped away whilst trying to hold his breath to avoid the toxic fumes. He'd been trapped in some awful situations due to those home made potions of hers before and after this morning he had had enough. However with his eyes closed his landing was thrown off, he missed the next roof and instead fell to the street. Fortunately his fall was not too far, so he was unhurt. Unfortunately he had almost fallen upon a young woman and in order to save her from pain he had to spin her round so she fell on top of him. Of course…to the innocent young girl who had been grabbed and pulled to the floor by a man…
The screaming began in earnest, 'pervert', 'rapist' were the words thrown into the air whilst Ranma stuttered out apologies and excuses. This seemed futile, and so he turned to run, but instead found the scarlet face of Ukyo.
'You better have a damn good reason for this Ranma honey' she hissed at him.
He began his explanation from the very start. So as he flew into the air from the face of Ukyo's spatula, he reflected that maybe mentioning Shampoo in his room and Kodachi had been a rather large mistake.
Ranma, still walking along the street, sighed at the memories of his dreadful morning. He shoved his hands deep into his pockets and turned his head down unable to dispel the images of his rude awakening. That was until a rumble of thunder began over head. Of course, he thought sarcastically, just to finish off this glorious morning I get to change into a girl…yippee. He stood still a moment, closed his eyes and braced himself for the change he was so accustomed to. However the change never came. Slowly he opened his scrunched eyes to look down at himself. He was still male, yet he could hear the pitter patter of rain. He looked up expecting to see the grey clouds crawling across the sky, and yet he was greeted with a vibrant shade of red. It was an umbrella. A large red umbrella. Was it some kind of miracle? His puzzled face caused a light giggle to float from beside him. He looked over into the brown eyes of Akane and watched in amazement at her smile.
'Are you okay Ranma?' Akane asked peering closely at Ranma, who hadn't moved for quite some time.
'Yea, Thanks 'Kane' he answered softly, whilst a smile took form upon his face for the first time that morning. The two walked slowly towards home, both holding the umbrella handle causing their fingers to brush as they moved. Perhaps this morning isn't all bad thought Ranma.