Chapter 3: At the Jouda Dojo

Five people were sitting down at the table Shizuka had set out. On the way to the dojo, at Akane's prompting, Ranma had narrated to the four women the dream he had been having for the last three nights. Kasumi and Shizuka were now reviewing the dream and asking Ranma for further details as they took the covers off of the food.

"The lead ghost of the ones carrying the chain said his last name was Hibiki?" Kasumi asked.

Ranma nodded his head. "Yes, he did. It matches the comments about his descendants being forced to wander to earth, too. Ryoga once told me his family was all affected with the affliction."

"But that's not the simple truth either," Nabiki chimed in. "His mother was also afflicted, so it's contagious in some manner too."

"Was Ryoga any of the ghosts in your dream?" quizzed Akane.

Ranma paused for a minute. "Nooo…., I don't think so."

"You're hesitating. Why?" asked Shizuka.

Ranma looked troubled. Akane spoke up, "Well, it was a dream – they are usually vague."

"Yes, they are." Shizuka agreed. "But Ranma was not vague when he described the dream. It was more like a story or even as if he was describing an actual event."

"I'm probably making more of it than it really is," Ranma dismissed with a wave of his hand. "We came here to work on training anyway, not some crazy dreams."

Nabiki's internal secret detector went off. Ranma was trying to avoid something – something about the dream. She spoke up, "I don't think so, Ranma. The last time one of us thought something was a dream, it turned out to be very real." She gave a meaningful look at Kasumi. "Why did you hesitate about whether or not Ryoga was in the vision?" She chose the last word very deliberately.

"I don't think I was seeing the future, Nabiki," Ranma disagreed with a slight bit of scorn in his voice.

"We'll see. Was Ryoga in the dream or not?"

"No," Ranma stated firmly. "But, the dead boy at the beginning of the dream looked like him quite a bit, except he was about 20 kilos too light and he was missing Ryoga's fangs. No one in the dream had those fangs." Ranma's voice faded off with the last word and his face took on a distracted look. Nabiki studied him carefully – There was definitely something he was not saying.

"Ranma?" Kasumi said to get his attention again. Ranma snapped back to reality. At his glance, she continued, "In the dream, how did you cut the dead girl's head off?"

He didn't answer her, but his eyes widened and he began to shake slightly. Akane noticed immediately. "Ranma? Are you all right?"

He turned to look at her, and she recognized the fear in his eyes. Only one thing set him off like that. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ranma? Was there a cat in your dream?"

At the word 'cat', Ranma's shaking became extreme. Akane rose up on her knees and leaned over to hug him. "Shhh…" she comforted. "It's all right...there are no cats here."

Shizuka looked over at Kasumi. "Ranma has a fear of cats?" she asked with a slight bit of disbelief in her voice.

"It's a bit more than a fear. His idiot sire subjected him to Cat Fu when he was seven or eight," Kasumi answered.

Shizuka's eyes widened and she began to shake herself. "The Cat Fist?" she said in astonishment.

"You've heard of it I see." Nabiki commented.

"Yes, I have." Shizuka said with a stunned expression. "It's supposed to be a banned technique." Her eyes hardened. "His father subjected him to that?" At a nod from both Kasumi and Nabiki, Shizuka's expression became stone. "I do believe I have a murder to plan," she stated.

Nabiki snorted. "You'll have to get in line I'm afraid."

Akane continued to hold Ranma. The others watched as his shaking began to subside. Then, with a brief nod from Ranma, Akane released him. She then slid around him to sit slightly behind him, resting a hand on each of his shoulders.

"Let's take a break and eat something." Kasumi suggested. "We'll get back to this in a bit."

Ranma shook his head. "I'm just making something out of nothing. We should drop it."

"No." Kasumi disagreed. "You're picking up techniques in your dreams. One that you've never bothered with, and one that was never actually shown in the dream. You are also leaving something important out, but I want you to have a little time to psyche yourself up and spit it out."

Ranma sighed, but nodded his agreement. Nabiki watched as Akane came back around to sit next to him. She hid her smirk as she noticed how close they sat to one another and how they involuntarily leaned toward one another. "Damn," she thought. "I may have to let the next wedding happen." The last five weeks had been entertaining to watch. Ever since the trip to China, things had been shifting between the two lovebirds.

Whatever happened in China had thrown both of them for a loop. When they first got back, Akane and Ranma had been spending a lot of time together; as if afraid the other would vanish if they took their eyes off one another. This had prompted the idiot fathers to decide that their wayward children were finally ready to wed. Nabiki had got wind of the plans and decided to stop it. Her reasons for this were many. Some part of her (all right, a big part of her) wasn't ready to give up her little sister just yet. Another part just felt that her sister was too young. Nabiki knew they loved each other, but were not mature enough to admit it yet the way a couple in love should. Yet another part of her interfered in the name of profit – the chance to collect wedding presents was just too good. Besides, if the two should wed, some of her revenue streams would dry up. It was one thing to sell pictures of Ranma and Akane as students, but even Nabiki wouldn't be able to bring herself to do it if they were a married couple.

But things had changed again with the failed wedding and the attack of the guests. Had the two been left alone, Ranma and Akane might have drifted back to their old habits. However, with the attempt on Akane's life, some switch was thrown in Ranma, and stuck fast. The very next day, he dragged Akane to the dojo and began to teach her in earnest. He still wasn't throwing punches at her, and she had been a little frustrated that the he was only using hand taps against her, but Akane was delighted that he stopped skipping around her and actually started to use blocks against her. He would often stop and correct her as well, something that the old Akane would have gone up in flames over, but now, she just listened attentively and tried to learn.

The two still bickered constantly, but Nabiki could easily tell that it was all in play now. Rarely did things escalate to a shouting match. Even when it did, the two were much faster to forgive one another. The customary insults had changed too. Nabiki noticed that Ranma had stopped using the word "uncute" (although "Tomboy" was still fair game). He also stopped making references to Akane's bust size, or the thickness of her thighs, or comparing her to a brick (whatever that had meant). Akane had dropped the word "pervert" from her list of insults, and picked up the slack with "idiot". The hammer had all but vanished.

Things changed again when Kasumi had been kidnapped. Now, Ranma began throwing real punches in his sparring sessions with Akane – and with Kasumi. Akane wore the bruises proudly. Kasumi managed to hide them discreetly, although Nabiki could tell Kasumi was not ashamed of them either. All three had been urging Nabiki to take up the Art as well, but it wasn't quite Nabiki's style. So Kasumi had cooked up some of Happosai's favorite foods, and the four of them had a discussion with the old pervert. He had actually been fairly helpful for once, and suggested that Nabiki learn the art of throwing flash-bombs and smoke screens. This would have the advantage of providing a distraction for an enemy and drawing the attention of possible allies without a long learning curve. Since this idea appealed to the rogue inside of her, Nabiki agreed and learned very quickly. She now kept several of the small devices with her at all times. Ranma was also showing her how to use balanced clubs. The small clubs could also be used at a short range or thrown. Again, the weapons appealed to her and she was learning quickly. She was getting use to the idea of walking around armed, as Cologne had learned today.

Nabiki reviewed the confrontation from earlier. She mentally sighed and admitted to herself that she had over-reacted a little. It was obvious that Cologne had no interest in hurting anyone, but Nabiki could not forget that someone had attacked Kasumi, and that someone was an Amazon, even if it wasn't their Amazons. No one was allowed to touch her sisters without punishment. While she was use to people going after Akane, Nabiki could count on Akane to dole out the punishment swiftly. If Akane didn't, then Ranma would, although Nabiki had always made sure to throw in a little extra if she thought either of them had shown too much mercy. But the cowardly attack on Kasumi was unanswered, which set Nabiki's teeth on edge. So, she had taken it out on Cologne…

She sighed again internally – maybe her Mom had been right. She wasn't thinking straight. She had been under stress for a long time now, well before Ranma had showed up. Maybe she did need a break from Nerima to get her bearings again. Well, the school year was ending in a few weeks and then it would be time to leave for college. She had chosen a university in Tokyo that was far enough away to give her that break, but close enough that she could get back here most weekends. That would have to do. But she would not (and could not) abandon her sisters, or that silly shape-shifter who had attached himself to her family…

Nabiki shook off her reverie and helped herself to some food before Ranma ate everything in sight. Actually, if Genma wasn't at the table, Ranma wasn't too bad. A comment from Kasumi or a light elbow dig to the ribs from Akane was enough to get him to slow down. Although the boy could still eat enough for four people – he just gave everyone else a chance before he cleaned up.

As Shizuka brought out some fresh fruit and custard to finish the meal, Kasumi addressed Ranma. "All right, Ranma, she said firmly. "You've had long enough. Where was the cat?"

Ranma nodded, and drew himself up to answer, but he couldn't hide the return of the shaking. Akane took his hand. He seemed to wrestle with himself, and try to force out the words, but nothing came out. After a couple more tries, he dropped his head, and shook it.

Akane squeezed his hand and gently asked, "Why can't you tell us, Ranma?"

Ranma steadied himself with deep breaths, but didn't look up. Slowly he spoke, looking at the ground. "Because there was no escape from this c-c-a-a-t-t."

Everyone looked at Ranma with puzzlement in their eyes. Nabiki studied Ranma, looking for clues. Then her eyes widened as she uttered one word: "Nietzsche."

Shizuka nodded in sudden comprehension. She asked, "When did you actually see the cat, Ranma?"

"When I looked at the pool of water that the Oni had collapsed into…" he replied quietly.

"I see. You were the cat," she stated firmly.

Ranma kept his head bowed for a few minutes taking steadying breaths. Eventually, he raised his head his head and spoke quietly: "Sort of. It was more like being an observer trapped in a movie, but I thought of everything as happening to me. We've never been that close before."

"You sound like you've dreamed of this cat before," stated Shizuka.

Ranma just nodded his head.

"When?" pressed Shizuka.

"Wow. Is she this relentless in training?" Nabiki asked Kasumi.

"Actually, this is fairly mellow for her," answered Kasumi.

"Flatterer," Shizuka said as an aside. Turning back to Ranma, she pushed him onwards: "Come on, Ranma. You've already taken most of the wall. Let's finish it. When have you dreamed of this particular cat before?"

Ranma sighed and sat up a little straighter. "He's shown up in my dreams before. Sometimes he's chasing me. Something he's just watching me. Sometimes, I can't see him, but I can feel him there nearby."

Akane pursed her lips thoughtfully, and then asked him, "This will sound a little off, but is he Neko-Ranma? The part of you that takes over when you enter the Nekoken?"

"I really, really have a murder to plan," Shizuka said half to herself. Everyone else ignored her.

Ranma shook his head. "No, I've had dreams where I'm in the Nekoken and he's still outside of me. And…"

"And?" Akane prompted.

Ranma sighed again. "The Nekoken is still me. Maybe I cannot remember it, but I'm not frightened of it. I've actually gone out of my way once or twice to invoke it."

Akane nodded. "True enough," she said.

Nabiki asked, "So what happened after the cat spoke to Iko Hibiki."

Ranma thought for a second and answered slowly, "That's when things got weird."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean really weird," continued Ranma. "Somehow, someway, the c-c-at was going to fix things by going back in time."

"O.K…."

"Hey, you asked the question. I told you it's just a dream," Ranma said defensively.

"Maybe. Maybe not," Kasumi commented. "Let me ask one last question and I think we'll put this away for a while. What woke you up?"

"The cat went to look at itself in the Oni's pool. When I saw the reflection in the pool, I woke up."

"All three nights?" Akane quizzed.

"That's it. It played out the same way each night," he confirmed.

"Three nights in a row not a coincidence. Especially if there was no trigger," Kasumi mused.

"No," agreed Shizuka. "It's a message, but I have no idea about what. Any ideas?"

Everyone shook their heads "No."

After a few minutes or so, Shizuka slapped her legs. "All right then," her tone turned very business-like. "Let's move on with the day and come back to it later." Shizuka turned to Nabiki. "Did you bring the video camera?"

"Yep, and I brought a couple hours of tape. Should be enough to last the session," Nabiki answered.

"Good. Let's go to the training room. Ranma will run through each of the katas, and then teach them to us. We will use the tape as a teaching tool for us and to critique Ranma's teaching style later."

Akane grinned. "Oh good. I get to criticize Ranma for once," she mocked as they all got up.

"What are you talking about, Tomboy? You criticize me constantly," he shot back.

"Behave you two," Kasumi scolded. "Do this on your own time." With that, she led the way to the changing rooms.

Two hours later, four sweating martial artists wearing gis returned to the sitting room, followed by Nabiki who was checking the tape on the video camera. "Pretty good," she commented. "The lighting in the dojo was perfect."

"Do you think the copies will come out all right?" Shizuka asked. Once Nabiki had given her an affirmative nod, she walked towards the kitchen. "I'm going to put on some tea. Have a seat. The shower is down the hall, too." With that, she left the room.

Akane reached into the bag Kasumi had brought and took out a towel and some toiletries. "I call the shower first!" she said grabbing her clothes and hurrying off.

Kasumi walked over to Nabiki and began looking at the tape with her. Ranma wandered over to the couch and stretched out. He had only planned to lie down for a few minutes, and then look at the tape himself, but sleep quickly overtook him.