Permanent part 8
Undoing past wrongs...

Ranma gasped as Mousse dropped the bag on the
floor. He snarled at Ranma as he shoved what was left of
Shampoo at her face. Ranma went cold with fear. "Look what
you did to my beautiful Shampoo!" screamed Mousse. In his
hands was a scarred and weary looking cat. It mewled
pitifully and looked up at her. As its eyes met Ranma it
burst to life and struggled to be free of Mousses grip
hissing and yowling angrily at the girl.

"Saotome are you well?" asked Kuno never taking his
eyes off the deranged hidden weapons artist.

"Cat," whispered Ranma as she backed away.

"You killed her, by dropping her into the cursed
springs of Jusenkyo! By village law she was seen as killed,
to change her back would bring disgrace to her name and
family. Only as a living corpse trapped in that body can
she exist and still remain part of the tribe!! She is but
an honored memory now!!!" roared Mousse as he stalked
towards the cowering Ranma. Mousse gently placed the animal
on the ground and pulled two long swords from his
robes. "For this you die Saotome."

Kuno stepped between them and frowned. "I still
have need of him alive. When our business is finished I
will stand aside from this battle of honor and love, not
before," said Kuno angrily as he stepped between them.

"Fool," laughed Mousse as he swung at Kuno with his
sword. The kendoist lunged back and sliced at the boy's
weapons with his bokuten; he dodged two other strikes and
placed his own weapon at Mousse's throat. Mousse stepped
back and swiped at Kuno again this time striking his good
hand. Kuno cried out in pain and switched to his other
clawed hand.

"You are weak," snorted Mousse as he raised his
swords for the killing blow.

Ranma was having problems of her own. Shampoo was
yowling and stalking her angrily. Ranma could see the
hatred burning in her eyes and felt a chill run down her
spine. She felt her back hit against a wall and turned to
see she was backed into a corner. "No," she croaked.
Shampoo simply moved slowly towards her and growled.

++++++++++

Nabiki sat in the living room and frowned. She had
been trying to read for almost fifteen minutes now and the
noise from the dojo was getting on her nerves. "I've had
enough of this!" she muttered as she stood and stomped off.

"What was that about?" said Akane to Mr.P as they
were distracted from the soap opera on the television; the
animal only shook his head. Akane giggled and pet him
causing the pig to squeal happily.

Soun watched the whole incident with mild interest,
he turned to see the panda roll its eyes and return to
reading the paper. "I didn't see a thing," muttered Soun to
himself.

++++++++++++

Mousse began to thrust his swords into the back of
his opponent's head. Kuno reacted quickly, he slashed up at
Mousse with blinding speed and struck him in the chin with
his bokuten. Mousse was knocked up and back into a wall and
dropped his blades as he landed on the ground hard. "To
challenge Kuno with the sword is to surrender before you
begin!" said the kendoist smugly.

Mousse groaned and stood shakily. "Then perhaps I
should use something else." He waved his arms at Kuno and
shot dozens of weapons at him Kuno's arm became a blur of
motion. Mousse stared at him hard and growled as he
realized he had grossly under estimated the kendoist's
abilities.

Kuno looked at the mess of weapons on the ground
and frowned. His blade had been reduced to a stub from the
impact of the attacks and he was in trouble. Then he
realized, "My arm is a weapon!" Some of the blows had
struck his hand and it was unharmed. It was covered in
scales and if he could avoid any direct blows to it he
could still win. However, his opponent was obviously
skilled in the use of many weapons, he would still need a
sword. "My skills have increased ten fold," thought Kuno as
he stared at his arm for a moment while Mousse assessed
him. He also felt his back strain under the stress of his
newly strengthened arm. He was unsure of his new limits and
that could be dangerous for him.

Mousse started to move forward again.

Ranma felt Shampoo's stare and cringed under her
gaze as she stalked ever closer to her at her maddening
slow pace. She reached three feet away and jumped onto the
hapless girl. Ranma screamed as Shampoo dug her claws into
her neck and chest, finally, she felt a familiar comfort
surround her.

Nabiki threw the door to the dojo open and stared
in shock at what was going on. Weapons were strewn about
and embedded in the walls. Kuno was standing in the middle
of the room with a longhaired boy with one eye and glasses
stalking towards him. He also looked...different. Ranma was
apparently being attacked by a cat and was losing badly,
and all of them were staring at her. She blurted out the
first thing that came to her mind. "Kuno-chan, what is
that?" she said as she pointed at him.

Mousse jumped at Kuno with a knife drawn and
tackled him to the floor. Kuno yelled in pain as he landed
on the floor. He felt as if he had crushed his back. Mousse
reached back and held the knife in the air clumsily. His
eyes were blood shot and unclear. Then something slammed
into his face and he was knocked off the boy. "Meow!" said
a familiar voice.

Mousse stood and glared at what had hit him. He
fell to his knees as he picked up the unconscious Shampoo
from the ground. "NO!" he cried desperately. He turned to
face her attacker and was stunned to see Ranma stalking him
on her hands and knees. "What the-?" he started to say in
Chinese when Ranma jumped at him. Then the world became a
red blanket of pain. He could remember nothing else.

Kuno stood and watched in disbelief as Ranma easily
defeated his opponent in one blow. She had not even struck
Mousse, she simply swat at him and scars appeared on his
body and his clothing was shred. Kuno gasped in awe. Neko-
Ranma just sat on Mousse's defeated body and yowled as she
bat his head around maliciously but playfully.

"Gods," said Kuno. "Saotome are you all right?"

Ranma arched her back and hissed at Kuno
threateningly. Kuno simply backed away and laughed
nervously.

"Kuno you had better leave; she might decide you
look like dinner," said Nabiki with a curious gaze at him
and Ranma.

"What?" said Kuno in mild surprise.

"Look for yourself," said Nabiki as she led him to
a conveniently nearby mirror.

Kuno paled as he saw his reflection, he looked no
different for the most part, his arm was the only real
difference in his appearance. His arm, and the ten food
wide wings that had appeared on his back. They were jet
black and immense. "Amazing." said Kuno with wide eyes as
he flexed his new muscles and moved the wings around
clumsily.

"Watch it Kuno-chan" said Nabiki as she ducked out
of the way of one of them.

"Apologies, but we have more pressing matters to
attend" said Kuno with a hard gaze crossing his face.

A high pitched but obviously male scream came from the
dojo. "Ranma NO!" cried another voice.

Nabiki was the first to react. "Akane!" she gasped
as she turned and ran for the dojo, Kuno followed passing
by her easily.

+++++++++

Akane entered the dojo and was staring at it in
disbelief, she had never seen it like it was now. It was
almost completely destroyed. Near one wall Ranma was
playing with her attacker cheerfully. Mousse woke with a
start and Ranma bit his throat. He started screaming as he
realized what was happening. Ranma was playing with her
food before she killed it. He started screaming
hysterically as he tried to break her light but firm grip
on his throat. Ranma increased the pressure and purred in
delight at her plaything's revival.

"Ranma NO!" she cried as she stepped towards the
pair. Ranma dropped Mousse and looked at her blankly. Akane
froze and backed away in fear. "My god," she thought. Ranma
jumped towards her and she screamed.

Moments after the scream Kuno ran into the dojo and
stopped cold Nabiki was already staring in disbelief. Ranma
was sitting on her lap and purring loudly as she pet
her. "Go hurry!" she whispered to Mousse as he stood
shakily and carefully cradled Shampoo in his arms.

Ranma eyed him as he stood and backed away. She was
barely kept at bay by Akane's petting and soothing. She
wanted to play with her meal and kill it, but she also
wanted to stay and get pet. The decision was almost too
much to bear. Mousse backed away slowly and crept towards
the door.

"Make any sudden movements and I won't be able to
stop her," warned Akane as she tried to grasp what was
happening in her own mind. After Mousse was out of sight
Ranma settled down and went to sleep.

++++++++++

A few hours later...

Ranma sat down at the table and looked at her meal
cautiously. The others had said nothing of what had
happened during the fight but she knew well enough. She
also could not deny that Akane had stopped her. That meant
trouble for her own assessment of their relationship. "What
was that?" asked Akane finally.

"Cat fist, a very powerful technique; also very
unpleasant to learn," said Ranma quietly.

"Why didn't you attack Akane?" asked Nabiki. Soun
looked at Ranma cautiously, she was dangerous to his family
at the moment and he could not have that in his home.

"I don't attack people I like, I think I see them
as other cats," said Ranma quietly.

"Other cats?" asked Kasumi in mild surprise.

"Like?" thought Nabiki to herself, she quickly
pushed it aside.

"Yes, basically the technique involves setting a
fear of cats that is so great that in order to escape it I
become one mentally. I have no memory of what happens when
I'm like that," said Ranma as she sank deeper into her
cushion.

"Then you don't know what happened?" asked Akane
relieved. Ranma simply shook her head.

Soun relaxed, It was good that she got on so well
with his daughters, he may have had to ask her to leave. He
did not want to do that, she had been through so much.

"So, how much is it worth to keep this little
phobia a secret?" asked Nabiki coolly.

"Nabiki!" cried Akane in shock.

Nabiki smiled and took another bite of her meal.
She felt it move around in her mouth and she spit it back
onto her plate.

"Oh my! Is something wrong Nabiki?" asked Kasumi in
surprise. She couldn't have someone dislike her meals. It
wasn't proper.

Nabiki looked at her plate in disgust as it crawled
with grubs and worms, Maggots filled her rice bowl.

"How would you like to eat like that for the rest
of your life?" asked Ranma calmly with a dark look.

Akane looked at Nabiki in surprise. She could not
see anything wrong with her food, but she was turning green.

"You win," choked Nabiki.

"I thought so," smirked Ranma as Nabiki ran for the
bathroom.

"Ranma what did you do?!" yelled Akane angrily.

"I changed her mind," said Ranma coolly as she
finished her own meal.

TbC...