OK, quick note, I'm not doing the take out race and I'm probably not going to do a majority of the anime only episodes.
Disclaimer: I own a fish…not Ranma ½.
Ryu's POV
It had started out a normal day, but then Ranma discovered Gosunkugi taking pictures of Scarlet during gym class. Ranma thwarted the wannabe voodoo master, but then he grabbed a bit of Ranma's hair to try and make a voodoo doll. Of course he failed miserably and we all went about with our day.
After school, Ranma asked about Gosunkugi and Scarlet and I told him that Gosunkugi was more or less harmless asides from his taking picture of Scarlet constantly. Then Kuno came charging up and tried to challenge Ranma, but he beat Kuno easily.
When we made it to the Tendo house, Kasumi told Ranma that there was a package for him. It was from Shampoo.
"Come to think of it, it has been awfully quiet around here," Mr. Tendo remarked
"Aside from people showing up trying to claim me because Pop used me to fill his fat stomach," Ranma grumbled and then the package suddenly began to move and out of the box popped a cat with pinkish-purple fur and it landed right on Ranma. "AHHHHHHH!"
Ranma's Dad then told us Ranma was afraid of cats and why.
"YOU TAUGHT YOUR OWN SON THE CAT FIST?!" I shouted in surprise and disgust.
"What do you know of the Cat Fist? Genma asked
"Ah…read about it in a book," I answered and then told the others the horrors of the Cat Fist training. Genma told us that he had done it when Ranma was 8 years old. Ranma had been deathly afraid of cats ever since. The old man then gave Mr. Tendo the training manual and it said the Cat Fist had been banned for causing extreme psychological damage.
Akane's POV
I can't believe anyone would do something so heartless to his or her own kid! But there was something else bothering me. Ryu seemed awfully familiar with this 'Cat Fist', even if he had read about it in a book. I took the training manual from my Dad and read it while Ranma was trying to attack his Dad and he was defending himself with that cat Shampoo sent. The more I read the more suspicious I became. Ryu was hiding something and I planned to find out what it was.
"Maybe if Ranma got used to cats, he wouldn't be afraid of them anymore." I looked up from my reading just in time to see Kasumi herd almost all the neighborhood strays into our house. Ranma then totally lost it and ran from the house in abject terror. It took almost an hour to get all the cats out of the house and Ranma back in. By that time, I had mostly forgotten about Ryu's connection to the Cat Fist.
The next day at school, Ranma suddenly shivered and told me he had felt a sudden chill. Then he found a note in his locker that said I was in trouble and being held hostage in the gym. When we got to the gym, we found Gosunkugi dressed up in a girl's uniform claiming to be me.
"I think it's safe to upgrade Gosunkugi from 'weird' to 'mentally disturbed'," Ryu remarked while he shuttered at the sight. We climbed up onto the stage and then a very small man popped out from hiding.
"Who the heck are you?" Ranma asked
"I am the servant of the great and noble house of Kuno Sasuke Sarugakure and you have fallen into our trap!" He exclaimed and then pulled a rope and I fell into a trap door.
"You idiot! You pulled the wrong one!" Gosunkugi shouted
"Well nobody's perfect," Sasuke protested
"Hey Akane, you OK?" Ranma asked
"I'm fine," I answered
"Do you two mind telling us what's going on here?" Ryu asked
"We have discovered your weakness Ranma! Now we shall destroy you!" Gosunkugi exclaimed
"You mean the Cat Fist?" Ryu asked
"Yes!" Sasuke answered
"I'm only going to tell you two idiots this one time, don't screw around with the Cat Fist unless you want to die. Understood?" Ryu told them
"We will not listen to your feeble attempts to dissuade us! We will destroy the wicked Saotome!" Gosunkugi shouted and then pulled a second rope, this time a heavy statue came crashing down, and hit Sasuke and Gosunkugi and Ranma came after them.
"It's all over for us, but we want you to have this," Sasuke spluttered and handed Ranma some fish sausages. Then we began to hear purring. We turned around and saw dozens of glowing eyes peering at us from the darkness. We were surrounded by cats! Ranma managed to keep his cool for a while, but when he started giggling like a maniac, I knew he wouldn't last much longer. So I tried to drag him out, only to run into a huge tiger…WHERE DID THEY GET A TIGER?!
"Did I just hear a freaking tiger?!" Ryu shouted down
"Yes!" I replied
"IDIOTS! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU TWO, I'M GONNA RIP YOU TO SHREDS!" Ryu yelled at Gosunkugi and Sasuke. Then Ranma started yowling. He got down on all fours and started yowling like a cat, just as the manual said!
"Ryu, I think the Cat Fist has started!" I told him
"Then run! Things are about to get messy!" Ryu shouted, but then Ranma attacked. Everything went wild and the next thing I knew, I was back in the gym while it was raining cats. Then Ranma appeared and went to attack Kuno, but Sasuke distracted him with some fish sausages. Unfortunately, Ranma then left the gym.
"We've gotta go after him!" I exclaimed and both Ryu and I chased after Ranma. Thankfully, he didn't go very far and we found him up a tree while grooming himself. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know about you, but as soon as this is over, I'm introducing Gosunkugi to a few new moves I've been working on," Ryu muttered darkly and then Mr. Saotome and my Dad showed up. We then noticed Ranma started to use the tree like a scratching post.
"Only one person could bring Ranma back from over the edge, unfortunately, she's dead," Mr. Saotome told us
"How is that supposed to help us?" Ryu asked and then we saw Mr. Saotome dressed up like an old woman. Ranma saw through the disguise and completely destroyed his Dad. Even after that, Ranma seemed furious. I guess his cat side knows how much Mr. Saotome abuses Ranma. Then we noticed that Mr. Saotome had brought along some catnip. We tried throwing some at him, but he then jumped at us. I flinched, but then noticed that Ranma wasn't attacking me; he was sitting in my lap and purring!
"I guess he feels safe with you," Ryu remarked and then Ranma began nuzzling Ryu's hand, just like a real cat. Ryu took the hint and began to pet Ranma. We remained like that for a minute or two and then Ranma…'kissed' me. I knew it was the cat and not really Ranma, but I was so shocked and embarrassed that I threw him into the pool.
"Was that absolutely necessary?" My Dad asked as Ryu went to fish Ranma out of the pool, but I didn't answer. On the bright side, Ranma didn't remember a thing and the dip in the pool brought him back to normal…or as normal as Ranma ever is.
Later that day, I remembered my suspicions.
"So Ryu, when did you get the Cat Fist training?" I asked
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Ryu asked
"Don't play dumb with me, I saw how Ranma acted completely like a cat and that reminded me of ever time I've ever seen you asleep. Confess!" I told him
"That's silly…I didn't go crazy when I saw those cats!" Ryu protested
"So? Everything else matches up, or do you have another explanation for why you were purring in English two weeks ago?" I asked
"I dream about being a cat a lot?" We both knew that was an extremely flimsy excuse.
"Ryu…"I growled
"Ok! I'll talk! My parents found a modified Cat Fist training guide when I was two and used it on me. Instead of dropping me repeatedly into a pit of starving cats while wrapped in fish sausages, I was kept in a pit full of cats for a full year. As you can imagine, that left something of an impression on my developing psyche. So now, whenever I let my guard down, like when I'm sleeping, I act like a cat." Ryu explained
"But why? Why did they do that to you?" I asked
"Because they felt they could restore their honor by teaching me such a powerful technique," Ryu said softly and I almost didn't hear him.
"Restore their honor? But why would-"
"I can't tell you. Maybe someday I'll work up the never to tell you, but right now, I can't." With that, Ryu ran off, leaving me with a bunch of questions with no answers.
Thus, we get our first glimpse of Ryu's early childhood. Why did Ryu's parents feel the need to restore their honor? You'll find out eventually…