'Can't You See that I Love You?
Ranma sat on all pranced through the streets on all fours, ignoring the people who stared at him, incredulously. The cat had other obligations at the moment, like feeding himself. Ranma lifted his nose into the air, and began to follow the first delectable scent that came to his attention.
_____________________
Five minutes ago...
Akane looked up at the sound of concrete being utterly pulverized, and in the direction she found a geyser of something undiscernable erupting in the distance. For a brief moment, her curiousity warred with her duty, but ultimately decided that it would probably best be something to check out; it may have something to do with Nabiki and Ranma's disappearance, after all. She just hoped Kasumi wouldn't be too upset with her if it ends up just wasting her time
_____________________
"You say he's very dangerous?" the head police official on duty enquired sternly.
"Extremely, from what I understand," Nabiki stated in a solumn tone, "He's an exellent martial artist, but he's mentally unstable. Dr. Tristan will be able to explain more when he gets here, but..." Nabiki added a great deal of concern into the tone of her voice, "I fear things might get out of hand if... if..."
"Don't fret, Ma'am," the officer placated, giving a nod to another officer in the room to head to the arms rack, and start supplying men with the appropriate fire-arms, "We'll have him subdued before anything happens." He leaned over his desk, and gave a comforting smile, "Sounds like you have a great deal of concern for him..."
_____________________
Ranma stared and yowled forlornly at the fish on the market stand, much to the vender's chagrin. Ranma's antics were disturbing his customers, as they were giving wide birth to his booth.
"Hey, kid! Scram! You're scaring all my customers away!"
In reaction, Ranma rushed up, grabbed the largest fish he saw in his mouth, and then sprinted away on all fours.
"YOU LITTLE PUNK! GET BACK HERE!" The shop-keeper shouted impotently, unable to take off in pursuit.
"What's wrong?" The vender turned to find a girl with long raven hair addressing him.
"Some punk kid with a red shirt and pigtail just took off with one of my best catches!"
Akane blinked at the accusation, "Um... which way did he go?"
_____________________
"[That Ranma-kid's leaving the market, he's definitely acting weird]"
"Yes, that was to be expected," Nabiki commented in a droll voice, "Is he at least staying in the area?"
"[Yeah, he's heading west, and... is that a fish in his mouth?]"
"Please, keep your focus," Nabiki requested, "I've got quite a bit invested in this operation for it to fail. Keep track of him, and tell me if he gets too far away." With that, she hung up her cell-phone, and smiled to herself. The whole area will be seeing Ranma make a fool of himself, so there would be no way for him to dodge this situation.
_____________________
Akane rushed off in the direction she was pointed to, and found Ranma's trail rather easy to find; people were still standing in a parted trail with incredulous expressions that could only had been reserved for the sight of a young man prancing on all fours with a fish in his mouth.
"Ranma, what on earth is wrong with you?" Akane asked in exasperation, not seeing Kasumi come down an alleyway, still in search of Ranma.
It didn't take long for the youngest Tendou to find Ranma, sitting on the branch of a tree with a fish in his mouth, and staring down at his audience with casual intrest.
Akane pushed herself through the crowd, so that she could be better seen, "Ranma! What the Hell are you doing?!?" Her only response was a quick glance, before Ranma sprawled himself out on the branch.
"Akane, what's going on?"
The raven-haired girl turned to find her eldest sister standing behind her, watching Ranma nervously, "I don't know! He's been acting weird ever since I found out he was here!"
"Akane, go call home, and ask Mr. Saotome if he knows anything about this," Kasumi gently commanded. Giving her sister a nod, Akane quickly complied, and rushed off to find a payphone.
"Oh, Ranma..." Kasumi whispered, momentarily gaining his attention, just before his ears perked up at the sound of a loud snapping sound, and his head jerked back.
The fish he held in his mouth flew to the side, as some projectile collided with it, causing Ranma to turn to the source with a low growl. Kasumi and much of the gathered crowd followed Ranma's angered gaze, to find a police officer quickly reloading a tranquilizer rifle. Kasumi quickly scanned the crowd, and found several more, already with their guns raised, "RANMA!"
_____________________
"[Hmm,] the robust man on the other end mused, "[You say he's acting weird?]"
"I can't explain it! First he's stealing fish, and then he's climbing trees! What in the world's going on, Mr. Saotome?"
"[Oh! My dear son!]" Akane was momentarily taken back by the level of concern Genma had shown for his son, "[To give in to such a weak fear of cats! It shames the Saotome name!]"
"When this is all over, you *will* explain how *you* managed this," Akane accused in a roundabout manner. She then blinked in realization, "He's acting like a cat! What's this all about, anyway?"
Genma had already hung up the phone, and was on his way.
_____________________
Ranma backflipped from the tree, just as the surrounding barrage of bullets passed through the space he had been occupying, and landed in an all-fours crouch. Barely pausing, the cat quickly launched at the first officer readying his gun.
Kasumi gasped, as Ranma swiped at the man without being within attack range, and three slashes appeared in the air. Out of instinct, the police officer brought the gun up to block, and felt it fall into four pieces. Before he could recover from his shock, Ranma bounded off his head, and onto a nearby rooftop.
"After him, men!" the head officer commanded, "Don't let him escape!"
"Without even touching it! Cool!" One bystander commented, causing Kasumi's expression to grow even more concerned.
From the other side of the crowd, Nabiki watched her sister's expression; as Kasumi's changed in intensity, Nabiki's darkened.
_____________________
Ranma came to a stop on a shingled rooftop, and began preening himself, as if oblivious to all around him. The sound of compressed air being expulged didn't even seem to attract his attention, but it hadn't apparently escaped his notice, as he idly backhanded the projectile heading his way back where it came from.
The officer that had fired felt a short needle stab into the right side of his chest, and with a goofy grin, collapsed to the ground.
Ranma leapt to ground level, and padded over to the unconcious officer. He nuzzled him a few times, and then got bored, before starting to pad off. Just then, the cat was forced to lift his left paw off the ground to evade a dart that was heading for it. Ranma turned around, happy to find some one else to play with.
_____________________
"Mr. Saotome!" Kasumi shouted, seeing Genma descend from a rooftop.
"Hello, Kasumi, I heard we're having sukiyaki for dinner," the elder Saotome stated, smacking his lips in anticipation.
"HOW CAN YOU THINK ABOUT FOOD AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!?"
"Ah... we'll get the boy to calm down, don't worry!" Genma stated, raising his hands to placate an angry Kasumi.
"Mr. Saotome, something tells me you know what's wrong with Ranma... and have something to do with it," Akane stated, folding her arms in front of her.
"Um, well..." Genma began to hem and haw, attempting to get his thoughts together before the two girls.
"Yes, Mr. Saotome," a third voice stated from behind him. All three turned to find a man of German descent, with aviator's glasses and casual business attire standing with his hands clasped behind his back, "You took off rather... abruptly... before explaining young Ranma's predicerment."
"D-Dr. Tristan..." Genma studdered.
_____________________
Ranma marched around in circles upon the downed officer's chest, and then nuzzled him under the chin, when he recieved no responce, Ranma hopped off. He started to feel the urge to take a nap, just before several familiar scents caught his attention.
The cat turned to find Akane, Kasumi, Genma, and Dr. Tristan standing a distance away, none of them looking too pleased with the elder Saotome from the withering glances they were stealing every so often when they weren't looking at Ranma.
"Keep calm," the doctor urged everyone, "He may deem you as familiar, but he doesn't recognize you in his current psychosis."
"An old lady in the village we were once staying at was the only one capable of calming him down," Genma stated with an authoritive tone, and earning him angry glares from all around.
"But she isn't here, is she?" Akane snapped, "How do we get him to come to us?"
"Here, kitty kitty kitty," the doctor started, while kneeling.
Ranma stared curiously at him, before another scent caught his attention, one trying to hide itself. Ranma decided to turn to it, and leapt onto a rooftop. Running to the other side, the cat then leapt down onto a nearby brick wall, hunched over a certain middle sister. "Meow?" Ranma asked in a curious tone, causing Nabiki to look up, wide eyed.
She was bolting down the alley way the wall helped formed, gaining Ranma's curiosity, and intrest in a new game.
_____________________
"Where's Ranma heading?" Akane enquired, "Is that Nabiki?"
Kasumi immidiately feared the worst at Akane's inquiry.
"Hurry, I'll try to revive the officers, or at least retrieve one of their tranquilizer guns," Dr. Tristan announced, turning to one of the unconcious officers, while Genma and Akane took off in pursuit.
"Ah... Tristan-sensei, might I ask you to lend me two-thousand yen?" The doctor looked up to Kasumi, curiously.
_____________________
Nabiki turned over trashcans in order to impede Ranma's pursuit, but the cat haplessly weaved away from every obstacle as if it were no concern at all.
"KEEP THE HELL AWAY, RANMA!" Nabiki shouted, dumping a trashcan over, only to have Ranma idly hop over it. She brandished her schoolbag menacingly, as Ranma got closer, and swung it at him. The pigtailed boy stared at her guilelessly, as he leaned to the side, and swiped at it.
The confetti fell to the ground, as Nabiki fearfully backed against a dead end. Ranma tilted his head curiously, "Meow?"
"Well, you're going to get this over with, or aren't you?" Nabiki challenged in her remaining defiance. Her bravado was unnecessary, as someone dropped between her and the cat.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty! Nice kitty!" Genma stated, dressed like an old (and ugly) woman, while waiving a cat cat tail around, while he had a bag of cat-nip slung over his shoulder. Nabiki used the distraction to race past Ranma, and out of the alleyway; ignoring the hisses and screams of masculine agony.
Ranma noticed Nabiki making a break from it, and much to Genma's relief, took off in pursuit. The middle Tendou sister's breath was almost ragged, never having to have run as fast as she was in a long time. Unfortunately Ranma was upon her, just before she made it out the entryway of the corridor. Nabiki turned, and instinctively put her arms up in front of her face, but refused to scream.
"RANMA!"
Nabiki didn't see Ranma turn sideways, and place his feet and hands against the wall Nabiki was closest to, and bound off in another direction. When she realized she wasn't suffering Ranma's wrath, she turned to find Kasumi kneeling seiza before a happily eating Ranma, with a shop bought sashimi platter in her hands.
Nabiki sighed, and resolved she would have to thank Kasumi for the save, before a passing thought of curiosity as to why Kasumi had the tray in the first place. Her face immidiately changed from relief to utter neutrality, and her sandlewood eyes darkened to almost pitch black, as she saw Ranma lean in, and kiss a shocked Kasumi on the lips...
Ranma sat on all pranced through the streets on all fours, ignoring the people who stared at him, incredulously. The cat had other obligations at the moment, like feeding himself. Ranma lifted his nose into the air, and began to follow the first delectable scent that came to his attention.
_____________________
Five minutes ago...
Akane looked up at the sound of concrete being utterly pulverized, and in the direction she found a geyser of something undiscernable erupting in the distance. For a brief moment, her curiousity warred with her duty, but ultimately decided that it would probably best be something to check out; it may have something to do with Nabiki and Ranma's disappearance, after all. She just hoped Kasumi wouldn't be too upset with her if it ends up just wasting her time
_____________________
"You say he's very dangerous?" the head police official on duty enquired sternly.
"Extremely, from what I understand," Nabiki stated in a solumn tone, "He's an exellent martial artist, but he's mentally unstable. Dr. Tristan will be able to explain more when he gets here, but..." Nabiki added a great deal of concern into the tone of her voice, "I fear things might get out of hand if... if..."
"Don't fret, Ma'am," the officer placated, giving a nod to another officer in the room to head to the arms rack, and start supplying men with the appropriate fire-arms, "We'll have him subdued before anything happens." He leaned over his desk, and gave a comforting smile, "Sounds like you have a great deal of concern for him..."
_____________________
Ranma stared and yowled forlornly at the fish on the market stand, much to the vender's chagrin. Ranma's antics were disturbing his customers, as they were giving wide birth to his booth.
"Hey, kid! Scram! You're scaring all my customers away!"
In reaction, Ranma rushed up, grabbed the largest fish he saw in his mouth, and then sprinted away on all fours.
"YOU LITTLE PUNK! GET BACK HERE!" The shop-keeper shouted impotently, unable to take off in pursuit.
"What's wrong?" The vender turned to find a girl with long raven hair addressing him.
"Some punk kid with a red shirt and pigtail just took off with one of my best catches!"
Akane blinked at the accusation, "Um... which way did he go?"
_____________________
"[That Ranma-kid's leaving the market, he's definitely acting weird]"
"Yes, that was to be expected," Nabiki commented in a droll voice, "Is he at least staying in the area?"
"[Yeah, he's heading west, and... is that a fish in his mouth?]"
"Please, keep your focus," Nabiki requested, "I've got quite a bit invested in this operation for it to fail. Keep track of him, and tell me if he gets too far away." With that, she hung up her cell-phone, and smiled to herself. The whole area will be seeing Ranma make a fool of himself, so there would be no way for him to dodge this situation.
_____________________
Akane rushed off in the direction she was pointed to, and found Ranma's trail rather easy to find; people were still standing in a parted trail with incredulous expressions that could only had been reserved for the sight of a young man prancing on all fours with a fish in his mouth.
"Ranma, what on earth is wrong with you?" Akane asked in exasperation, not seeing Kasumi come down an alleyway, still in search of Ranma.
It didn't take long for the youngest Tendou to find Ranma, sitting on the branch of a tree with a fish in his mouth, and staring down at his audience with casual intrest.
Akane pushed herself through the crowd, so that she could be better seen, "Ranma! What the Hell are you doing?!?" Her only response was a quick glance, before Ranma sprawled himself out on the branch.
"Akane, what's going on?"
The raven-haired girl turned to find her eldest sister standing behind her, watching Ranma nervously, "I don't know! He's been acting weird ever since I found out he was here!"
"Akane, go call home, and ask Mr. Saotome if he knows anything about this," Kasumi gently commanded. Giving her sister a nod, Akane quickly complied, and rushed off to find a payphone.
"Oh, Ranma..." Kasumi whispered, momentarily gaining his attention, just before his ears perked up at the sound of a loud snapping sound, and his head jerked back.
The fish he held in his mouth flew to the side, as some projectile collided with it, causing Ranma to turn to the source with a low growl. Kasumi and much of the gathered crowd followed Ranma's angered gaze, to find a police officer quickly reloading a tranquilizer rifle. Kasumi quickly scanned the crowd, and found several more, already with their guns raised, "RANMA!"
_____________________
"[Hmm,] the robust man on the other end mused, "[You say he's acting weird?]"
"I can't explain it! First he's stealing fish, and then he's climbing trees! What in the world's going on, Mr. Saotome?"
"[Oh! My dear son!]" Akane was momentarily taken back by the level of concern Genma had shown for his son, "[To give in to such a weak fear of cats! It shames the Saotome name!]"
"When this is all over, you *will* explain how *you* managed this," Akane accused in a roundabout manner. She then blinked in realization, "He's acting like a cat! What's this all about, anyway?"
Genma had already hung up the phone, and was on his way.
_____________________
Ranma backflipped from the tree, just as the surrounding barrage of bullets passed through the space he had been occupying, and landed in an all-fours crouch. Barely pausing, the cat quickly launched at the first officer readying his gun.
Kasumi gasped, as Ranma swiped at the man without being within attack range, and three slashes appeared in the air. Out of instinct, the police officer brought the gun up to block, and felt it fall into four pieces. Before he could recover from his shock, Ranma bounded off his head, and onto a nearby rooftop.
"After him, men!" the head officer commanded, "Don't let him escape!"
"Without even touching it! Cool!" One bystander commented, causing Kasumi's expression to grow even more concerned.
From the other side of the crowd, Nabiki watched her sister's expression; as Kasumi's changed in intensity, Nabiki's darkened.
_____________________
Ranma came to a stop on a shingled rooftop, and began preening himself, as if oblivious to all around him. The sound of compressed air being expulged didn't even seem to attract his attention, but it hadn't apparently escaped his notice, as he idly backhanded the projectile heading his way back where it came from.
The officer that had fired felt a short needle stab into the right side of his chest, and with a goofy grin, collapsed to the ground.
Ranma leapt to ground level, and padded over to the unconcious officer. He nuzzled him a few times, and then got bored, before starting to pad off. Just then, the cat was forced to lift his left paw off the ground to evade a dart that was heading for it. Ranma turned around, happy to find some one else to play with.
_____________________
"Mr. Saotome!" Kasumi shouted, seeing Genma descend from a rooftop.
"Hello, Kasumi, I heard we're having sukiyaki for dinner," the elder Saotome stated, smacking his lips in anticipation.
"HOW CAN YOU THINK ABOUT FOOD AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!?"
"Ah... we'll get the boy to calm down, don't worry!" Genma stated, raising his hands to placate an angry Kasumi.
"Mr. Saotome, something tells me you know what's wrong with Ranma... and have something to do with it," Akane stated, folding her arms in front of her.
"Um, well..." Genma began to hem and haw, attempting to get his thoughts together before the two girls.
"Yes, Mr. Saotome," a third voice stated from behind him. All three turned to find a man of German descent, with aviator's glasses and casual business attire standing with his hands clasped behind his back, "You took off rather... abruptly... before explaining young Ranma's predicerment."
"D-Dr. Tristan..." Genma studdered.
_____________________
Ranma marched around in circles upon the downed officer's chest, and then nuzzled him under the chin, when he recieved no responce, Ranma hopped off. He started to feel the urge to take a nap, just before several familiar scents caught his attention.
The cat turned to find Akane, Kasumi, Genma, and Dr. Tristan standing a distance away, none of them looking too pleased with the elder Saotome from the withering glances they were stealing every so often when they weren't looking at Ranma.
"Keep calm," the doctor urged everyone, "He may deem you as familiar, but he doesn't recognize you in his current psychosis."
"An old lady in the village we were once staying at was the only one capable of calming him down," Genma stated with an authoritive tone, and earning him angry glares from all around.
"But she isn't here, is she?" Akane snapped, "How do we get him to come to us?"
"Here, kitty kitty kitty," the doctor started, while kneeling.
Ranma stared curiously at him, before another scent caught his attention, one trying to hide itself. Ranma decided to turn to it, and leapt onto a rooftop. Running to the other side, the cat then leapt down onto a nearby brick wall, hunched over a certain middle sister. "Meow?" Ranma asked in a curious tone, causing Nabiki to look up, wide eyed.
She was bolting down the alley way the wall helped formed, gaining Ranma's curiosity, and intrest in a new game.
_____________________
"Where's Ranma heading?" Akane enquired, "Is that Nabiki?"
Kasumi immidiately feared the worst at Akane's inquiry.
"Hurry, I'll try to revive the officers, or at least retrieve one of their tranquilizer guns," Dr. Tristan announced, turning to one of the unconcious officers, while Genma and Akane took off in pursuit.
"Ah... Tristan-sensei, might I ask you to lend me two-thousand yen?" The doctor looked up to Kasumi, curiously.
_____________________
Nabiki turned over trashcans in order to impede Ranma's pursuit, but the cat haplessly weaved away from every obstacle as if it were no concern at all.
"KEEP THE HELL AWAY, RANMA!" Nabiki shouted, dumping a trashcan over, only to have Ranma idly hop over it. She brandished her schoolbag menacingly, as Ranma got closer, and swung it at him. The pigtailed boy stared at her guilelessly, as he leaned to the side, and swiped at it.
The confetti fell to the ground, as Nabiki fearfully backed against a dead end. Ranma tilted his head curiously, "Meow?"
"Well, you're going to get this over with, or aren't you?" Nabiki challenged in her remaining defiance. Her bravado was unnecessary, as someone dropped between her and the cat.
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty! Nice kitty!" Genma stated, dressed like an old (and ugly) woman, while waiving a cat cat tail around, while he had a bag of cat-nip slung over his shoulder. Nabiki used the distraction to race past Ranma, and out of the alleyway; ignoring the hisses and screams of masculine agony.
Ranma noticed Nabiki making a break from it, and much to Genma's relief, took off in pursuit. The middle Tendou sister's breath was almost ragged, never having to have run as fast as she was in a long time. Unfortunately Ranma was upon her, just before she made it out the entryway of the corridor. Nabiki turned, and instinctively put her arms up in front of her face, but refused to scream.
"RANMA!"
Nabiki didn't see Ranma turn sideways, and place his feet and hands against the wall Nabiki was closest to, and bound off in another direction. When she realized she wasn't suffering Ranma's wrath, she turned to find Kasumi kneeling seiza before a happily eating Ranma, with a shop bought sashimi platter in her hands.
Nabiki sighed, and resolved she would have to thank Kasumi for the save, before a passing thought of curiosity as to why Kasumi had the tray in the first place. Her face immidiately changed from relief to utter neutrality, and her sandlewood eyes darkened to almost pitch black, as she saw Ranma lean in, and kiss a shocked Kasumi on the lips...