Later on at Furinkan High during a bit of an unseasonable heat wave, Ranma and Akane were in gym class getting some exercise.
Ranma was outside with the boys playing some baseball while Akane was inside with the girls practicing gymnastics techniques, unaware one of the boys was getting a good look at her in the meantime.
Ch. 14 Ranma's Phobia
Said boy was none other than Hikaru Gosunkugi, the shadowy-eyed student who blended into the background better than a rock to most. Only an expert martial artist could detect his barely noticeable ki, and anyone good enough to do so had little reason to in the first place so he was usually never noticed unless he wanted to be. And right now he didn't.
"My dear Akane." Gosunkugi whispered to himself as he crouched by a window into the gymnasium with a camera taking pictures. "I was content to just watch you and worship you from afar, I truly was, until..." He paused for dramatic effect despite the lack of audience. "... that fool Saotome, that fool Saotome." His voice got a bit louder and for some reason he chose to repeat his insult rather than finish his thought. "That Fool Saotome!"
"You talkin' about me?" Ranma asked as he hung from a tree above his classmate.
Gosunkugi gasped and scooted backwards a bit. "Ah, Saotome, you surprised me."
"I can tell." Ranma said plainly then narrowed his eyes. "You better not be spying on the girls."
One of the windows opened and an irritated Akane popped her head outside. "Ranma? Were you being a Peeping Tom?" She looked and sounded like she was surprised and offended just then.
"No, but he was." Ranma calmly answered while pointing at Gosunkugi.
Akane glared at the voodoo-user like she was willing him to spontaneously combust, making him nervous and try to vanish into the shadows. It didn't work, for Akane pulled out her trusty pervert-smasher and sent him flying.
"Going... going... gone." Ranma said with his hand up to keep the sun out of his eyes.
"And what were you doing here Ranma?" Akane asked with much less irritation.
"I heard a camera going off. What was I supposed to do?"
"RANMA!" Kuno shouted as he came into view with a bokken. "What's this I see you doing near the girl's area? Are you trying to sate your devious lusts with voyeurism?"
"Why don't you tell me what you're doing over here first Kuno?" Ranma calmly asked.
Kuno chose to ignore the question and pulled out his bokken. "DIE MISTREATER OF WOMEN!"
Ranma kicked his and sent him flying away like Akane did to Gosunkugi earlier. "Like you're any better." He said to himself, but Akane nodded in agreement.
In the not-too-far distance Kuno crashed, laid still for a moment, got up on his elbows, and brushed himself off. "Damn you Saotome. If only I knew your weakness then you would surely fall before me in no time."
"Want some help with that." Gosunkugi asked from behind while crouched down, startling the crazy kendoist.
"Who are you?"
"Hikaru Gosunkugi. You wouldn't know me, few people do. But I can find out Ranma's weakness for you if you'd be willing to fight him in a way I never could. I bet you could catch him off guard and finish him off quickly if you knew his weakness."
Kuno grimaced and got on his feet. "What do you take me for? There's no honor in striking an opponent's Achilles Heel in secrecy, even if the opponent himself is without honor."
Gosunkugi stood erect and sighed. "I see." He tried to walk away, but Kuno grabbed his collar from behind.
"I didn't say 'no' you fool."
The voodoo user was naturally confused. "But I thought-"
"If I were to face him in a legitimate match, then that's completely fair." Kuno replied. "Now, if you can intend find what will make Saotome fall, do so within a week's time. If your findings prove effective, you shall be well rewarded for your aide."
Gosunkugi nodded. 'How hard could it be? People barely notice me when I'm not trying to hide. I'm even more invisible when I want to be.'
A week went by and Gosunkugi was approached by Kuno during a long break between classes. "So what have you found on the vile cur?" He took no notice of the covered box at the shadowy-eyed boy's feet.
"Not much. I didn't see any physical flaws or inconsistencies in his movements. I was able to get some photos of him in secret that may give you a clue if you can see any."
Kuno took the photos, each with Ranma in various locations and doing various activities. The one common element besides Ranma's presence was that he was giving the V sign with his fingers. "You fool. He's posing in all these. He knew of your presence. You are useless."
"Not necessarily. I did have one more trick up my sleeve."
Before Kuno could ask, he felt a sudden amount of weight plant itself on top his head, making him fall forward. "So what's the big deal?" Ranma casually asked from his uncouth perch.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kuno asked. His answer came in the form of a challenge letter, which read: 'Ranma, meet me atop Kuno's head in the gym after school.'
"I was kinda hoping you'd tell me that." Ranma replied, making no effort to actually move off the kendoist's skull.
Without warning, Gosunkugi grabbed the box, removed it's cover, and flinged it at Ranma without releasing it. Out came several snakes, lizards, frogs, and various bugs.
Ranma, unfazed, stepped off of Kuno's scalp, who meanwhile froze up a bit. "What's the big idea?" He asked Gosunkugi.
Gosunkugi was a horrible actor, so he couldn't think up a lie to cover his actions. Not that he just blurted out the honest truth either. "I was just... testing your reaction to a few things people find creepy."
Ranma just shrugged nonchalantly. "Not bothered. Sorry ta disappoint."
"How can you claim to not be bothered? When even I find these things repulsive?" Kuno asked, his arms full of the animals he happened to inadvertently catch.
"Then why are you holding them?" Ranma asked, but didn't stick around to hear the answer. "Later." He called out as he left the room.
Kuno drooped the vermin and glared at the voodoo enthusiast. "What were you thinking just then?"
"Well, since I didn't see anything physically wrong with him, I thought you could exploit his fears. Once you found out what he was afraid of."
"It appears that you have failed." Kuno stated.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Ranma's voice could be heard, screaming in total fear from a not-too-far distance, making Kuno, Gosunkugi, and many students within hearing range curious. "Perhaps I spoke too soon. Let's make haste."
He and Gosunkugi ran outside, and only then did Gosunkugi remember the placement for the pit he dug to test a possible fear of falling in Ranma.
Akane came up to where she heard Ranma shout out in terror. 'What was that? He sounded like someone was trying to kill him.' When she and several other students got there, they saw Ranma on his back, twitching like he had been lightly electrocuted and gazing towards the sky catatonically. But they saw nothing to explain why.
Akane knelt down beside him. "Ranma? Are you alright? Can you hear me? Ranma!"
"Is he hurt?" A classmate asked.
"I don't think so, but he's not responding." Akane replied.
"Dump some water on him. That might snap him out of the shock." Akane's friend Yuka suggested, ignorant of the curse at this point like all of Furinkan.
"Yeah, good idea." Another girl added.
"No! Bad idea!" Akane yelled. "I'll take him to the nurse's office instead." She then grabbed under the young Saotome's arms and dragged his unresisting body to the nurse's office, leaving everyone to wonder what happened and why.
"Ranma, why did you scream earlier?" Akane asked for the umpteenth time. School was over now and the two were back home, currently in the dojo. Akane couldn't stay with Ranma and wait for him to recover since class started up. Part of her wanted to wait for him to regain consciousness while the rest of her was glad to not add to Furinkan's rumor network of her waiting like a loved one would.
"It's nothin' Akane." Ranma answered again as he did his kata.
"No one screams over nothing Ranma. What happened?"
"I can't tell you." He told her.
The Tendo girl frowned. "Why? Don't you trust me?"
"It's not that." He said as he thrust his fist down, breaking the wooden floor and startling Akane. After the shock faded she saw Gosunkugi was hiding under the floor in the crawlspace with a camera and tape recorder with a microphone.
"Uh... hi?" He meekly said, hoping to avoid trouble.
"Y'see?" Ranma asked Akane as he pointed to the intruder.
Akane slowly nodded in understanding, then glared at the shadowy-eyed boy. "And what are you doing here?"
'Akane's talking to me.' Gosunkugi happily thought, ignoring the fact she wasn't the least bit happy herself. "I... um... just dropped by to say hi."
"Sure." Ranma said in complete disbelief. "You were spying on me, weren't you? Or was it Akane you were hoping to spy on?"
Sensing the dangerous aura of anger emitting off of the youngest Tendo, Gosunkugi only wanted to scram. But before he did, he reached up and pulled one of Ranma's hairs right out of his scalp then bolted... right to a tree in the yard where he tied Ranma's hair to a straw voodoo doll and hit it with a spike and hammer repeatedly. "Curse you Saotome. Curse you Saotome."
"You wanna get rid of this guy or should I?" Ranma asked Akane.
"Allow me." She said as she flexed her fist. Next thing Gosunkugi knew, he was flying thru LEO.
"Ranma." Genma called to his son as he came into view from the hallway. "It looks like you need more training."
"What's all this about?" He asked.
"I heard about it. How you screamed at school and were found unconscious." The fat, bald martial artist stated before he did a flying kick at Ranma, who dodged with a high jump. "I didn't raise you to be so fragile."
"It's your fault I'm like that and you know it!" The pigtailed gender-bender replied angrily.
"Like what?" Akane asked.
"Don't talk back to your father like that!" Genma yelled at the same time she asked, making it difficult for anyone to answer her.
'Did Mr. Saotome do something to Ranma?' Akane asked herself. Seeing them spar, she knew it would be some time before she could actually ask them anything, she left the dojo.
"Hanachiyo! Hanachiyo!" Kasumi called out at the front of the house.
Nabiki, who was helping out her older sister, saw her younger on the way over. "Oh Akane, help us find Hanachiyo."
"Hanachiyo?" Akane asked.
"I'm looking after her for a friend." Kasumi answered. This had happened before so Akane quickly remembered the name. "I took my eyes off her for a moment and she disappeared."
"Ok, I'll check upstairs." Akane said before turning around.
In the backyard, Ranma had a towel around his bare shoulders and a kettle at his feet. During his spar with his father he got knocked into the koi pond and transformed, then used some electricity to knock Genma out for a bit to end the match. Now he returned to normal but didn't feel much better. 'That stupid Gosunkugi, trying to find out my weakness. I gotta be careful. If anyone knew what got to me...' He then pictured all of the Tendo family laughing at him mockingly. '...they'd laugh until they choke.'
The sound of rustling in the bushes caught his attention before he could think any further. 'Did Gosunkugi come back? That was quick.' Annoyed, Ranma reached in to grab the perceived eavesdropper. "Hey! Give it a rest alread-!" He stopped, got rigid for a second, then reacted the only way he could. "GYAAAAAAAH!"
"Ranma?" Akane asked as she darted downstairs to where she heard the shout. Kasumi and Nabiki quickly followed. When they got to the backyard, they saw Ranma lying catatonic on the ground again, but this time there was a white cat with orange and black spots resting calmly on his bare torso.
"Hanachiyo?" Kasumi said, confused, as she picked the cat up.
"Ranma?" Akane asked as she knelt down beside his lightly twitching self. "What happened?"
Nabiki just stood aside to watch and figure this out. 'Hmm... I wonder...'
Genma recovered from his shock and grabbed a bucket. He came up to his son and poured the contents right in his face. Ranma turned back into his green-haired bikini-clad oni form, only this time she was topless since Ranma was shirtless at the time of transformation. Fortunately only girls were around him, not counting Genma and the now approaching Soun, and the towel around his shoulders covered the bare breasts enough to obscure them a bit. "Coward. And you call yourself a man?" Genma said to put down his child.
"Shut up! This is all your fault-tcha!" Ranma said as she readied some more voltage.
Genma grabbed the cat out of Kasumi's arms and held it out towards Ranma, who instantly defused and flew to the top of the house with a quick shriek.
"Ranma... has a cat phobia?" Akane asked.
"Sadly yes." Genma answered. "It happened when he was 10 years old. I decided to train him in the Cat Fist."
"Cat Fist?" Akane and Nabiki asked together.
Genma sat down to make himself comfortable, knowing this might take a while. "It's said to be one of the most powerful martial art tricks ever created. The user is unbeatable when the power of the Cat Fist is envoked. Weapons are useless against them and even the most savage of animals become terrified of the one with it's power. Naturally, I felt it was perfect for Ranma to learn. Getting set up to learn it is the easy part. However, the actual process of learning was the tricky part."
"So what happened?" Kasumi asked.
Soun listened on thoughtfully. 'Hmm... maybe I should learn how to teach this technique for future students.'
"First, you take some food that cats find utterly irresistible. I used fish sausages for the first time. I gather enough of them to wrap them around Ranma yet leave his movements unhindered. Then, as the book instructed, I threw him in a pit filled with dozens of hungry cats."
"WHAT?" All three Tendo girls shouted in horror and to various degrees anger as they imagined a young Ranma being clawed at by a horde of hungry cats.
Soun just looked apaulled. 'On second thought, forget that idea completely. No good can come from it.'
"What the hell were you thinking? That's possibly the most monstrous thing I've ever heard!" Akane shouted, so ready to mallet this man into higher earth orbit rather than lower.
Genma pulled out a small book labeled Advanced Combat. "This is the manual that led me to do it."
"And you just happened to have it on you right now?" Nabiki asked, finding it rather unlikely.
"With the likelihood of running across a stray alleycat here I knew there would come a day when you'd have to be told this story. We didn't tell you right away as it's not something I'm proud of and Ranma would prefer to forget the whole ordeal." Genma replied as he handed Soun the book after opening it to the section on the Cat Fist. "Anyway, the book has the explanation on what the Cat Fist is and how to get it imprinted in the student's mind and body. But... it comes with a price."
Soun looked at the pages, with Nabiki reading over his shoulders. They saw written down the explanation of the Cat Fist and how to learn it, which all fit what Genma had told them. "What price is it?" Soun asked.
"Isn't it obvious Dad? A fear of cats. Ailurophobia, I believe is the name." Nabiki commented.
"Not just that. Turn the page." Genma told them.
Soun did so and read aloud the first part he saw. "While powerful if acquired, the Cat Fist has shown it can only result in unstable minds on the user. Ultimately, it has been declared as a technique that would only attempted by a complete idiot. Anyone trying to teach their student this should have their head examined." He stopped right then, but that wasn't the end of the content.
"I fell for it completely." Genma said with a sigh.
"Wait a minute. You tried teaching Ranma this without even bothering to read the whole section on it?" Akane angrily asked.
"No, the pages were stuck together. By the time I found out there was more to it, it was too late."
"What an idiot." Ranma said as he walked into the room, a man again and with a shirt on.
Genma responded by grabbing the cat again and throwing it at Ranma who froze up at the sight of it. Hanachiyo clinged to him to avoid falling off, and Ranma just stood there looking like he was having a light seizure on his feet.
Nabiki curiously approached him. "Wow, I can't believe it. Big bad electric Ranma is afraid of a little kitty? Too afraid to even bat it away?"
"Watch this." Genma added as he pulled out a few more cats and placed them on Ranma's person, making him tense up even more.
'Where did he get those cats from?' Akane asked herself.
"Ooh, this is fun. How many can he hold?" Nabiki said, making a game of it.
"Just don't get carried away." The older Saotome warned, remembering how bad things can get when Ranma's too scared.
Later on, after all the extra cats were gone, Ranma, who hadn't freaked out as badly as Genma had worried, was lying down in his futon shaking nervously. Akane was using a moist washcloth to wipe away the sweat. "Don't let it bother you. It's cute to have a small fear."
"Get 'em off me." Ranma said in a dazed panic.
"It's okay, they're gone. Relax."
Back downstairs, Kasumi was placing her friend's pet in a pet carrier. "Stay in here now Hanachiyo. Don't scare Ranma anymore." She was unaware that not too long ago Gosunkugi had returned to the Tendo estate and was hiding underneath the porch.
'Finally. Now I'll know what scares Saotome.' He told himself happily as he got out when Kasumi walked away and looked at the animal cage, laughing quietly.
Hanachiyo found him creepy and attacked him vicously right away, making Gosunkugi walk away with a severely scratched face. Nevertheless, he was satisfied with his findings as he headed home. "Heh, Saotome, soon I'll make you see Cat Hell."