Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and it's characters are the product and property of rumiko takahashi and viz video.
A Bengal Tale
Part Two
By Michael Fetter
The Chinese guide hung his head in sorrow as he watched the young cursed individual he had just seen off, falling from the nearby cliff and heading straight for another cursed spring. Turning around to go back into his hut and heat up some more water, he silently cursed the springs and the powers that bonded him here. What a sad and dreary place this was. He himself had been cursed and understood all to well how much the curses could affect someone's life.
The tea kettle began to whistle as the water boiled. Oh well, he thought, time to go and do the Jusenkyo guide thing. He hated his job. It was always bad news he had to deliver. Once he would like to see someone visit the springs and not fall into the water. But no one ever listened to the guide or believed him and so they became cursed.
Sighing once more, the guide grabbed the kettle and made a beeline for the latest victim of the cursed training grounds. Upon arriving at the spring, he began, "Oh, so sorry Mr. Customer. You fall into 'Spring of Drowned Bengal Tiger'. Tragic story of Bengal tiger who drown in spring two thousand three hundred years ago! Now whoever fall in spring take body of tiger! Very tragic!"
The two uncursed me still seemed to be in shock and the two tigers were unconscious. Oh well, no one listens to the guide anyway. He leaned over the cursed individuals and poured out the contents of his kettle. What remained were two partially naked girls about sixteen years old. One of the girls had black hair, smallish breasts, and a very muscular frame with a bit of baby fat. The other one had red hair tied up in a ponytail, much –healthier-, and, if the guide was not mistaken, was the boy who had been cursed earlier.
"Oh dear!" The guide gasped and dropped the kettle onto the ground.
"Hey." Genma said a bit weakly. "Shouldn't Ranma turn into a boy when splashed with warm water?"
The guide started to look very nervous and could barely hold himself together as he bent over to pick up the kettle. "Uhm, I think sirs should follow back to hut and I explain there." He made his way through the springs more or less on autopilot, too depressed over Ranma's condition and a little afraid of the reactions of the martial artists when he explained what was wrong.
Shocked silence.
This was good as far as the guide was concerned. He wasn't going to be beaten to a pulp if the men were in shocked silence. He hoped.
"This one is very sorry." The guide apologized to the fathers. "Wish there more this one could do, but . . ." The two men nodded slowly at the guide's explanation and apology. This was all very . . . tragic.
It was about to get much worse.
"Um . . . my head." Ranma-chan woke up complaining and holding her head in her hands, willing the pain to leave her. "She didn't have to hit me that hard." She complained again. It was then that she noticed the condition in which she woke. She was lying in the guide's hut once again, under the covers and obviously naked. Her hand, much to her horror, was lying across something soft and warm and . . . not hers.
"Keep you voice down. I have a headache too . . ." Akane came to the slow realization that the voice belonged to Ranma and that his hand was lying across her . . . "YOU PERVERT!!!" Slap.
Having no where to go with the bed against the wall, Ranma smacked into said wall and slumped down once again into the bed, a red hand print marring her face. "Morning to you too."
Akane was still not placated. "Where are my clothes, you pervert?!"
Ranma blushed a moment as he experienced some ecchi thoughts for the first time in his lonely life, but then remembered his own condition. "Maybe I should be asking you, you macho tomboy!"
Akane drew back, ready to strike Ranma again when someone coughed lightly from the door. "Eep." She drew the covers higher over her body, hiding her head under the sheets.
"I'm afraid, you are actually wearing your clothes, or what's left of them." Soun's comment sounded apologetic and sorrowful. He continued, "I'm afraid that they ripped when the two of you fell into the spring."
Ranma paled completely as he heard the word spring.
Akane hadn't really been paying attention since she discovered how undressed Ranma really was and how thorough his curse was. Shaking her head of the strangely perverted and extremely ecchi thoughts she was getting, Akane came back out from underneath the covers since it was only her father at the door. "What happened to our clothes, daddy?"
Soun gulped and tugged at the collar of his shirt. "Uhm . . . it, uh, seems that . . . your cursed form is too . . . uh, big for your clothes."
Akane blinked, looked at Ranma's very pale face and unblinking eyes, then thought about what she heard and compared it to her memories. "Oh, that's right! I jumped into that spring to . . . save Ranma . . . from . . . drowning." Akane soon became as pale as Ranma and found it more and more difficult to breathe.
The haggard and labored breathing caught Ranma-chan's attention and she began to slap Akane on the back to help her out. It worked and she helped the dark-haired girl put her head between her legs like they tell you to in those first aid classes.
Assuming control of his faculties once again, Ranma turned apprehensively to Soun, standing at the door still. "W-What curse would that be Tendou-san?" His voice was weak and full of dread over what the answer may be. Being a girl was bad, but there could be many much more terrible things to be cursed as.
"A . . . a t-t-tiger."
Ranma was now having trouble breathing. She had been right. It was a terrible, horrible, dreadful thing. A tiger. Just like a cat, claws that can tear at a person's flesh, teeth that bit painfully into muscle, and eyes that glimmered in the dark with hate and maliciousness.
Akane recovered a little after hearing that she was cursed to become a tiger. That wasn't too bad. She could've been cursed to switch genders like Ranma. Ranma? Why is she shaking like that? A tiger isn't that bad. Not as bad as turning into an insect or something disgusting like that. But she's shivering. What's wrong with her? "Ranma, it isn't that bad. There are worse things than tigers."
This did nothing to help Ranma. Akane watched as the strong and arrogant martial artist flinched at her touch and darted her eyes around the room, looking for something that was causing her so much trouble. "R-Ranma? What is it? Why are you so frightened?" Akane forced herself to grab Ranma's shoulders and hold the shivering girl still.
This isn't happening. This isn't happening! This ISN'T happening! "THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!!!" She screeched and wrapped her arms around Akane's waist and tried to bury her face in her arms, eyes clenched as tightly as her jaw.
Akane wasn't prepared for the strength of Ranma's grasp and had the wind knocked out of her. The redhead was still shaking like bad earthquake. What is it about tigers that Ranma finds so frightening? This could be really bad if only thinking about tigers get her this riled up. Doing her best to recover some of the lost air, Akane found Ranma's grip was like steel. "Ranma, let go! You're hurting me!"
A small part of Ranma's sanity was able to remind the redhead of her strength and what it must be doing to Akane's ribs. "S-Sorry, A-Ak . . ." Any more speech became impossible as Ranma folded herself up into a fetal position. The quivering started to settle down, but not by much.
"Daddy," Akane looked imploringly at Soun. "Could you get me and Ranma some of our clothes and ask your friend why Ranma is so frightened." Soun nodded at her daughter, a little shocked himself at Ranma's strange and terrified behavior.
Soun sat down outside the guide's hut with Genma and the Chinese guide once again. It seemed Ranma did not own any more clothes than the one gi so he pulled out a second set of clothes from Akane's pack. "Saotome-san? What is wrong with Ranma?"
Genma blinked a few times in puzzlement. "What do you mean, Tendou-san?"
"He-He seemed terrified of the idea of being cursed to be a tiger. I understand that a curse is not something I would want myself, but he seemed absolutely out of sorts over the idea."
Genma swallowed nervously as he realized for the first time what Ranma's new curse might mean. Damn! I knew I should've read the whole manual before training Ranma!
He actually wasn't that smart at all. Genma just didn't like being ripped to shreds by his young son's imaginary claws.
"Uh . . . yes, well . . . you see it's like this . . . Ranma is deathly afraid of cats." There now that wasn't so hard, was it?
"And why would that be, my friend?" Soun asked with a slight edge in his voice.
"Uhm . . . that could have something to do with the . . . uh, Neko-ken." Genma sweated under Soun's gaze.
"And what's that?"
"Oh, nothing." Genma quickly dismissed it with a nervous gesture. "Just a little training the boy did when he was young. The path of a true martial artist is filled with peril, you know."
"Indeed I do." Soun crossed his arms to make him look more authoritative. "But I would wonder what sort of training would make Ranma lose his sanity like that." Soun suddenly employed his demon head to become even more frightening. "WOULD YOU CARE TO ELABORATE, GENMA?!" The demon head boomed like thunder.
Genma cowered under the table, just peeking over the edge at the demon head. He was about to spill his guts when they heard a scream come from the hut. Again.
This time a Bengal tiger with many black stripes was thrown through the door and landed smartly against the side of a tree, collapsing quickly onto the ground.
Genma and Soun were very afraid this time. They couldn't be sure if it was Akane who was thrown out the door or Ranma, but whoever was the thrower was very dangerous right now. The two men backed away from the table with the guide and started looking for places to hide.
They were in for the shock of their life, or Soun and the guide were, when Ranma, in the buff, walked out of the hut on all fours. She would've seemed exotic and beautiful if she wasn't growling at the tiger she had tossed fifty feet across the mountain. Seeing the large cat was unmoving, Ranma-chan made careful steps to examine the tiger more closely. When she had woken, she saw a large cat and sensed it to be an enemy, but now that it lay limply on the ground, there was no need for so much concern.
She stood silently before the tiger and sniffed the air. Besides the two-legged creature behind the tree, there were no other real threats in the area. Ranma stretched out her 'paw' to bat at the tiger's head cautiously. If it was still wanted to fight her, she would dispatch it quickly.
Akane was feeling like she had been hit by a truck. She dimly remembered Ranma shaking like a leaf when she accidentally knocked a glass of water over, triggering Akane's curse, and sending Ranma into a screaming fit. The next thing she knew, Ranma was up on all fours, arched back, and snarling like a cat. The attack came so quickly, Akane couldn't even think about getting out of the way. End result: Akane was getting tired of Ranma beating her up.
This did not mean she wanted to fight Ranma, however. When she felt the slight rap of her muzzle, Akane forced herself not to flinch or move to quickly. If Ranma was insane and believed herself to be a cat then startling her would be a very bad thing. She opened one eye slowly and so Ranma watching her with a good amount of danger in her eyes. Akane hoped she would survive this encounter.
"My god!" Soun breathed between gasps of terror. He'd just seen Ranma-chan knock Akane, in her cursed form, across the clearing and into a tree then continue to Akane's position on all fours. Shivers went through his spine as he considered that this must be the Neko-ken Genma was talking about. "How horrible. Come Saotome! We must stop her before she hurts my little girl badly!"
Genma quickly grabbed Soun's clothes and dragged him back behind the tree. "Shh! Are you crazy, Tendou!?! You saw what the boy just did, and I'm telling you he is a lot more dangerous than the last time. No, going out there would be suicide!"
"But I must save my little girl!" Soun started to whine, tears splashing onto the ground.
The noise the two-legged creatures were making was quite annoying, but Neko-Ranma was discovering something very unusual. This enemy did not seem like an enemy anymore. It laid still and watched her, but did nothing except to whimper. She smelled the tiger once again and realized that the scent was very familiar. She tried to remember where she had discovered this scent before. There were no clear memories except for the face of another two-legged creature with long black hair. That one she considered to be a 'scratching post' and a 'cuddle toy'.
Cocking her head one way then the other, Neko-Ranma was trying to work out this new problem. The tiger didn't seem very threatening and her memories told her it was okay. That seemed to decide it for her. Relaxing her stance, Neko-Ranma began to purr and rub her body against the down tiger.
What the hell?! Akane had been sure that Ranma was about to offer her a painful death, but then she seemed to come to some sort of decision and started purring. Now Ranma was rubbing herself against her cursed form. Akane would've blushed at the contact, but she wasn't sure if tigers could blush. She decided that as long as Ranma wasn't going to kill her, then she would do what she had to to keep it that way.
Purring was a strange feeling for Akane, as was the petting Ranma was giving her. Strange though it was, she did enjoy the contact, and it seemed to come so naturally to her in this form. Taking a chance to endear herself to the insane, pigtailed, martial artist, Akane rubbed her head against the redhead and became overjoyed as the small girl nuzzled back. After a bit of head rubbing, Ranma seemed to settle down against Akane's furry body and begin to fall asleep.
It was at this time that Soun finally worked up enough guts to run back into the courtyard and confront Ranma. "Ranma, you get away from Akane this instant!"
While Akane was pleased that her father cared so much for her that he would put his head into the lion's mouth, as it were, she was also a bit worried that this was a bad thing for him to do.
Akane was proven right when Neko-Ranma suddenly jumped to her feet and hissed at the two-legged creature. It was not one of the creatures that Neko-Ranma had a grudge against, but she didn't like the way he was yelling. Then something else caught her attention.
Akane was startled and scared as she watched Ranma suddenly dash across the courtyard at her father. Oh no! She's going to rip daddy apart! With a bit of pain from her side, Akane forced herself to stand, but it would be too late. Ranma would've reached Soun and beaten him to the ground before . . .
Ranma continued past Soun and tackled someone who had poked his head out from behind the tree. She growled with such ferocity, Akane and Soun could feel a chill run through their bodies.
Genma couldn't believe how foolish his friend was being. Facing off against someone taught the ultimate fighting technique! You had to be insane to confront Ranma now! Of course, those emotional outbursts of Soun's did make Genma question his friend's sanity.
Those thoughts were suddenly cut short as he was tackled by a healthy redhead who used to be his son. Neko-Ranma pounced on the 'scratching post' and 'fat mouse', tackling him onto the ground and begin tearing away his gi with long slashes. She growled in delight as she beat her prey mercilessly against the ground.
"Oh, no! Akane you must help me get Ranma away from Genma!"
Akane looked at Soun as if he'd gone insane. Stop Ranma? Are you nuts?! Is that even possible!?! She soon found herself helping anyway since Soun had already started to walk over to where Ranma was thrashing her father. Might as well get her attention, Akane thought. "Growl."
Neko-Ranma stopped and looked over her shoulder at the tiger she had been cuddling with. The tiger seemed to want her attention, but Neko-Ranma wanted to play with her prey some more. She considered; play with 'fat mouse', or 'cuddle toy'. Finding a middle ground, Neko-Ranma gleefully picked up Genma with her teeth and hopped over to Akane, like a cat bringing home the night's meal.
Akane blinked as she watched Ranma carry her father in her teeth and then drop the fat man to the ground before her. Does she expect me to eat him or something? Akane shivered at the thought, but Ranma looked at her questioningly. There has to be something else, but what? Maybe I can make her cuddle some more and forget about Saotome-san.
Hardly believing she was going to do this, Akane stepped over Genma and purred loudly and tried nuzzling Ranma again. She saw Ranma become confused and look between her and Genma. Probably wondering why I'm not eating him? Using more of her body to rub against Ranma, Akane was able to make the redhead completely forget about Genma. Unknown to zoologists, tigers could now blink, and Akane did so to Soun as she led a smiling Ranma back into the hut.
"You are lucky my little girl was here, Saotome-san. It looked like Ranma was about to be the end of you." Soun stated as he draped the larger man over his shoulder.
Genma's only response was a pained moan.
A few hours later, Ranma-chan woke up on the cold hard floor of the guide's hut.
"What the hell? Where am I?" She asked herself. She blushed a bit as she realized she was also naked and a bit dirty.
"Why don't you put on some clothes, Ranma. We need to talk." Akane stated from her seat at the fixed table in the hut. When Ranma turned his back to her, she blanched at the foul tasting tea she had made again. How could she ruin tea? She even added some ground dirt for flavor!
Ranma blushed a little more, but found the extra gi Akane had left out for her. The pants were pretty lose, especially around the hips, but the top revealed a lot of cleavage as it was to small to completely cover her chest. At least she was finally wearing something. "So, uhm, what are we talking about?" Ranma asked innocently.
Might as well be blunt and to the point. "Why did you act like a cat a couple of hours ago?"
Ranma was a little scared, but she was also very angry. "It's all oyagi's fault! He trained me in the Neko-ken that damned idiot!"
"What did he do?" Neko-ken? It's a martial arts technique? I wonder if I could learn it and not go insane?
Akane's thoughts were stopped dead in their tracks as she listened to Ranma's fearful explanation of the training. "After wrapping me up in fish sausage, he tossed me into a pit of starving cats. I'm supposed to become so deathly afraid that my brain reverts to that of a cat."
"How horrible!" Akane was genuinely shocked by the terrible ordeal Genma forced his son to endure. "I can't believe he threw you into a pit of starving cats. No wonder you're so afraid of them."
"Oh, he didn't do it just once. He tossed me in a couple of times with fish sausage and when that didn't get the results he wanted, the fool used other things like fish paste, cat nip, and others until I finally went insane." Ranma had clenched her hand, the knuckles turning white from strain. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to calm down and then stand up, heading for the tea pot hanging over a fire. "Here, hold the top for me, will ya? I've got to become a man again. These tits are driving me crazy."
Akane would've said something, but she was too lost in her own thoughts. She was having dark visions of torture by many small claws, raking the body of a little boy. What a monster that Genma is?!
"There . . ." Ranma exhaled a deep sigh as the warm water ran over her body. Her? She looked down to see the two tits she was complaining about earlier still present. "What the hell?!" She poured more water over her body, nothing. "This worked BEFORE!" Akane had to cover her ears as Ranma screeched in fear.
"Akane!" Ranma looked pleadingly at the girl sitting down at the table. "What's wrong with me? Why won't I change?! I don't want to be a girl!!"
"Have a seat Ranma." She said with a deep sigh. Why did she have to tell Ranma? Shouldn't Genma be the one? If Ranma got mad, Akane would much rather have the fat old man receive the punishment. Ranma sat down with some trepidation. "You have two curses."
Ranma blinked but said nothing.
"You already know about your first curse, and because of it you have a problem." Akane looked down at the table not wanting to meet the redhead's eyes. "T-The guide told me that if you were in your uncursed form when you fell into the second pool, then you would've changed randomly between the two when splashed with cold water."
Holding back her tears, Ranma's voice quivered as she asked her question. "What happens when someone falls into a spring in their cursed form?"
Akane swallowed hard. "Y-Your second curse acts as your new cursed form. S-So warm water will only . . . get rid of your second curse. Your first curse acts as your uncursed form." She closed her eyes tight and braced herself for some sort of attack. Ranma hated being a girl, went insane when he learned he would be a tiger, and now she learned that her male body was gone. Akane could only expect havoc after this. On the plus side . . . it might be quick.
Ranma blinked a few times then began to giggle. How ironic! First I turn into a girl, the weaker gender, and now I turn into a c-c-c-those things, my greatest fear! How amusing! Ranma's laugh went from giggling to outright laughter.
Oh boy. Akane had been stunned to hear laughter from Ranma, but when it became louder and a bit maniacle, her face turned green. Ranma's going insane and I'm the only one in the hut. Ranma's going insane and I'm the only one in the hut! RANMA'S going INSANE and I'm the ONLY one in the HUT!!!!!
These facts set straight, Akane preyed that the redhead didn't notice her edging past the table and towards the door. She stopped short of the door, her hand resting on the knob when she heard . . . crying. Poor girl, Akane thought. I can't leave her no matter how much pain I might be in for. Of course, if she hadn't insulted me on the cliff, none of this would've happened. That little pervert! This is all his-
Again, Akane's anger was squashed as she listened to Ranma's painful sobbing. I can't get mad at her. I have to help her. Setting her jaw, Akane returned to where Ranma was sitting and placed her hand around the girl's shoulder. "It'll be all right, Ranma. You'll see."
"How?!" Ranma sobbed weakly.
Akane tightened her hold on Ranma's shoulders and smiled so sweetly that teeth would rot. "I'll be here, promise."
Ranma grabbed Akane about the waist and sobbed against her new friend for the second time that day.
Outside the hut, Genma and Soun were pondering their latest dilemma.
"You think we can still unite the schools?" Genma asked.
Soun sighed at his friend's irresponsible attitude. "I don't think so, Saotome-san."
Genma slumped a little lower. All that work of ten years to make Ranma the greatest heir and martial artist of the Anything Goes style gone to waste. Now who will provide for him in his late years and beyond that, what will he do about the seppuku contract?!
End Chapter Two
* * *
That was fun. I don't mind saying that Akane is not one of my favorite Ranma ½ characters and so I found it quite pleasing to have her being knocked around and afraid of Ranma. She may have her pride, but you have to concede that given the circumstances, Akane would be a little more afraid of this Ranma who was either too upset or insane to know not to hit girls.
It's a fair assumption that you will see more of the Neko-ken in the following chapters along with a trip to the Amazons, finally.
Until next time, you can find my works at www.geocities.com/jehtek/ or email me at jehtek@hotmail.com
Ja ne.