Catch a Cat By It's Tail
(A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon fanfic)

by Shea McIntee

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and/or any other
series mentioned; they belong to Rumiko Takahashi and others whom
I humbly abase myself before. I'm not worthy!

Chapter 1

Ranma dragged the fish he'd caught over to a rock before
starting to carefully claw the scales away from the meat.

'Baka Oyaji!'

As if he hadn't done enough already, his father had gotten
him cursed. And not just any old curse... it had to be a cat. And
not only that, but he couldn't turn back into human form like that
stupid panda could...

**** flashback ****

"Wha... what happened?"

He could see a hazy blur that vaguely resembled a man in a
dark green suit.

"Oh, young honored customer! You awake! You fall into
different Maonichuan, spring of drowned talking cat. Very tragic
tale of - "

The guide was interrupted by a panicked housecat bounding up
fast enough to hit the ceiling. Hard. He sighed.

"This third time already he do this. Very tragic..."

****

After only a couple more times, he had finally adjusted to the
idea. The guide had explained the nature of the springs, and how they
worked. Then he had dropped the other bombshell.

"So, I just need to get some hot water and I'll change back,
right?"

"Oh, sir, it very tragic. When you fall in spring, you bleed
in spring, make spirits very angry. And so, you no cured."

"Bleed?"

"Honored Customer hit you hard into cliff, you fall in spring in
blood. Very tragic."

"WHERE ARE YOU POP, SO I CAN KILL YOU!!"

A panda, which had been hiding behind a door and watching the
whole thing, took to the hills.

**** end flashback ****

He had caught up to the panda near an amazon village, and chased
him through some sort of gathering, intent on turning his father into
panda steaks.

Eventually, he had calmed down long enough for his father to pop
him in a sack and take him across the sea, back to Japan. He had escaped
when they arrived, and had been on his own ever since.

He, after constant exposure to himself and other stray cats, was
getting better about that cower-and-flee-thing, which was about the only
good thing about his situation.

He was rather small (although medium-large for a housecat), and a
soft gray color, which did help him blend into the shadows when he was
trying to avoid the occasional hungry person or animal control officer.
His eyes were the same (except slitted), and he had a funny yellow-gold
mark on his forehead that looked like a C turned on it's side, or maybe a
crescent moon. The only plus was that he could talk, somehow.

He munched on the raw fish, and when he was done, dragged the
remains back to the small stream in the park and tossed them in.

****

Not too far away, a pair of cats, white and black, was
interrogating a third.

"Diana, is there a reason that you're here?"

The subject of their scrutiny, a slightly smaller black cat with
a gold mark on it's forhead, gave a small shrug.

"Keeping Chibi-Usa company?"

The white cat facing her shrugged and turned to his counterpart.

"Relax, Luna."

Luna frowned, looking over Diana's shoulder and seeing another cat,
this one gray, with a familiar-looking yellow mark on his forehead.

"Diana, who's that?"

Diana looked around, and, catching sight of a slightly-mussed and
dirty-looking Ranma, jumped to her feet and lunged at him.

"Ranma-sama!"

You could almost see the hearts and cherry petals swirling aroudn
her. One of the flowers hit Luna right smack on the nose.

Ranma was somewhat started. Who was this, and how did she know his
name?

Diana nestled against his side and started purring loudly. He just
froze, completely freaked out.

Luna just stared, jaws agape.

Artemis stepped foreward after a shocked moment.

"Now look here, whoever you are! What do you think you're... doing...
with... my... uh...?"

Ranma was shivering in the corner. The mere sight of a cat no longer
sent him into a panic, in fact, he didn't mind them at all anymore (courtesy of
his new form). An ANGRY cat, on the other hand...

Well, he still needed to work on it.

Artemis was, rather understandably, a bit surprised. He didn't think
he was THAT good. On the other hand -

(WHAM!)

"Meeph mee manma-ama amomm, oo ee eemee!"

Diana looked slightly disgusted, then spit out the handle attached to a
mallet that was just as large as she was. Luna sweatdropped.

"Leave my Ranma-sama alone, you big meanie!"

She scampered over to Ranma (still his with eyes closed and his paws over
his head) and immediately started to groom him enthusiastically.

Luna and Artemis stood (the latter laying sprawled out on the ground) in
shock, twitching occasionally.

Ranma, at this point, took (to him) the best possible action available,
and fainted. He was joined soon after by Diana's parents.

The small black cat gripped his neck in her teeth and happily started to
drag him away, humming a cheery tune.

Author's Note: You like (yes/no)? Thanks again to Darkreign for suggestion
this idea... It seems to be, well... different (grin). Let me know if characters
are acting OOC, especially Diana... I'm vague on her, personality-wise. I
revised the prologue of this one a tiny bit (fixed the bracket error... ff.net
seems to think it's an attempt at html...), and decided to write a bit more.
deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com for feedback, yes?