Disclaimer: Disclaim, disclaim, disklame etc you get the idea
Chapter 4: A Schooling we will go
Morning brought with it light as it usually does. However this morning also brought with it sounds of utter chaos at the Tendo home. Nodoka was getting ready for work while cooking some of the food that Ranma had bought yesterday. She felt indebted to him for his generosity he bestowed upon her family and vowed to thank him to the best of her ability.
The rest of the inhabitants slowly filtered into the dining room and waited for Nodoka to bring out breakfast. This was a new thing here and most of them haven't gotten used to eating this early in the morning. Ranma was the last to enter the dining room, yawning loudly as he entered.
"Ranma." She turned to regard him getting onto her knees. "The girls and I would like to thank you for your generosity." She placed both of her hands on the floor and bowed so her head was touching the floor.
"Get up Mrs. Saotome, don't worry too much about it. I just couldn't stand the thought that anybody could live with so little, I did what I could to help." Not to mention that it was actually Happosai that paid for all of it.
"Then please sit and eat breakfast with us. From now on you won't have to buy your food what you pay for rent will be for room AND board." This was the least she could do considering that he single-handedly furnished and stocked the home.
"I'm honored for your kindness." Oh god now he had no way out of eating that stuff they called food.
Breakfast was a calm affair. Nobody spoke much and what little was said was compliments to Nodoka's cooking. Soon though people had to leave. Nodoka and Kasumi left for their respective jobs and Akane and Nabiki for school. Nabiki left first to set up the betting pools for the day. That left Akane and Ranma as the last people in the house.
"Hmm guess I'd better go to school then." Ranma sighed. He didn't want to go but knew that he'd need something of an education if he wanted to get anywhere.
When Akane was about halfway to school she realized that she was being followed. She spun around intending to knock whoever was following her on their ass. She was surprised to find her book bag sailing through empty space. Because she'd expected to connect with the skull of her stalker she couldn't compensate for the extra momentum she put into the swing. As a result she was the one who was put on her ass.
From her new position she could see Ranma crouching grinning like a mad man.
"Are you getting a good look pervert!" She was steamed more at missing than anything else.
Ranma looked down. "Oh yeah I knew those sky blue panties would look good on you. Just glad to know that I was right."
"Pervert!" She slapped her dress down violently while swinging her book bag again at his head.
He didn't dodge this time.
"I deserved that." Well he got a free look and she got to hit him for it. Both were harmless activities.
He stood up to his full height and then bent over to offer her a hand up. She reluctantly took it and he pulled her to her feet. He was tempted to dust off her backside but felt that a free look was all he was willing to dare for today.
"So why were you following me anyway?" She was hoping he wasn't a stalker. But he lived in their house so what use would he have for stalking her?
"Well I figured I'd better go to school. Problem is that I don't know where it is. By the time I decided I should go everybody but you had left. I just decided that I could follow you and find where I needed to go."
"Fine but when we get to school don't get in my way." If he decided to get into the morning fights she was proverbially fucked. She looked over at him walking beside her. Ok maybe literally fucked would be a better description. Although Nabiki was right he was a lot better looking and behaved than most of the Furinken horde.
They continued on their way towards Furinken. When they were approaching the gates Ranma noticed a large horde of boys waiting just inside the gates. He had no idea what this was about but unconsciously matched Akane's increase in speed. When they reached the gates Ranma jumped on top of the fence to watch the show. He didn't know what was going on but he sure as hell wasn't going to get involved when she told him not to. Unless of course she looked like she was in trouble, then he'd jump in.
Having a good breakfast two days provided her with tons more energy than what she was used to having. The end result was that boys went flying left and right as she literally tore through the horde in record time. Nabiki was watching from the second story window with a stop watch. When the last opponent had hit the dirt she clicked the stopwatch, blinked a few times then wrote down the time in a log book.
Back down on the field of slaughter Ranma decided that it was safe to come down and ask what the hell was going on. Unfortunately for him the main event was actually the warm up.
"So what the hell was that about?" Sure it was good practice against multiple opponents but he didn't know how they could have gotten all those boys to come out here and get beaten on without them giving up.
Before she got to answer a rose shot out of nowhere towards her. Out of reflex Ranma's hand shot out and caught it. Unsure of what to do with it he handed it over to Akane.
"I guess this was for you." He'd gotten involved. He didn't thing the guy behind the tree was going to get involved since he didn't sense any malice from him. The problem was that now that he'd caught the rose the as yet to be introduced stalker was directing a lot of hate... particularly in his direction.
"You there how dare you interrupt my message of love for the fierce tigress Akane Tendo."
"It was a ..." He never got to finish.
"Hold foul minion of the dark. Is it not common before battle for the noble to give his own name first." Without missing a beat he continued. "I am Tatewake Kuno Age 17 Star of the kendo team, Junior group E, Love of all of the ladies. I am the Supreme Thunder of Furinken High." Thunder could be heard in the background.
"But I didn't..." Again he didn't get to finish as Kuno lashed out with his bokken.
"Hold foul cur so that I may smite you."
"But I didn't do anything!"
"Tis the guilty man who doth protest his innocence to even the pauper in the streets."
"But... Aw to hell with it." Ranma shot forward and punched Kuno once. Well at least that's what it looked like to everybody else. To Kuno it felt like hundreds of blows rained down on all of his front, which is what actually happened.
The momentum imparted from all of these strikes was enough to propel him back fifteen feet. He didn't feel his landing though as he was already unconscious. Everybody gawked at this. The greatest fighter (after Akane of course) in the school had just been taken out with one punch. Akane was as good as claimed.
It was about that time that the late bell rung. Akane squawked, grabbed her bag and ran full speed towards the doors. Ranma was still outside as it started to rain. His first day of school and he was likely to get expelled for fighting.
Now his next problem was that he had no idea where the office was.
After about half an hour and asking for directions three times, he finally arrived at the main office. Upon entering he noticed that there was a definite theme to the office. Palm trees, sand, secretaries in grass skirts and coconut bra's, a whole pig roasting on a spit, some guy with a palm tree growing out of his head, surf boards. Wait a minute go back one.
Sure enough there was a guy in an extremely loud Hawaiian shirt with a fricking palm tree growing out of his head. He made sure to give the loony plenty of space as he made his way to what he thought was the front desk. In reality it was a surfboard held up with two rocks with a bell on it.
"Umm excuse me." It wasn't too late to just go to a different school.
"Yes can I help you?" She was a middle aged not too shabby looking secretary.
"Yeah I'd like to register as a student please." He was getting nervous.
"Any particular reason why you'd want to?" Nobody in their right mind came to this school unless they were brain-dead, broke, or troublemakers.
"Umm it's close to where I'm staying." Now he was really nervous.
"Alrighty then just fill out these forms and we'll get your class schedule ready for you."
Ranma accepted the forms and went over to another surfboard far away from the lunatic and began to fill out the forms. Most of the stuff was pretty easy.
Name: Ranma Shinkara Sex: Male Age: 16 (he guessed) Mother's name: Didn't have one Father's name: ditto Last school attended: Home schooled Marital status: single
It was after this that the questions started getting weird.
Are you a martial artist: yes
If yes can you cause massive destruction: yes
Are there crazy's out for your hide who are martial artists that can cause mass destruction: no
Are you a magical girl/boy/mascot: no
Are you allergic to pineapple juice/poi/roast pig: no
Have you ever had an erotic dream about a palm tree: NO
The questions continued and he tried to answer them the best he could. He had to lie on some of them as they were a little too personal for his tastes. When he was done he took the papers up to the secretary. She looked at the important information wrote down his name and phone number, and then threw the papers into the garbage.
"Ok I've decided that you're going to be in freshman class group F."
"Umm don't I have to take a placement test or anything I mean.."
"Nah don't worry about it, I'm sure you're smart enough." She pulled out a schedule and handed it to him. "Here are your classes. If you want to you could take the rest of the day off or you could try to make your next class."
"I think I'll try to go to class." He said while looking at his schedule. Practical hula, should be easy enough.
Heading out of the office he went to the practice yard where the rest of his class was waiting for the instructor. Since he didn't have any supplies yet he decided to just watch . He noted that the rest of the students were in grass skirts and the girls had coconut bras on. He saw Akane in the back row and waved to her. She obviously didn't see him what with her turning her head away like that.
The instructor was a burly man with a beer belly. Not good combinations when one is a hula instructor.
"Alrights we's got a noo stoodent today. Hee's name's Ranma Sheenkara. Nows I understand it's hees first day soo hee's not going to have hees stoof." He turned his burly frame towards where Ranma was standing.
"Ok you'se wearing boxers or briefs?" His massive gut jiggled with every word.
"Umm boxers sir." Why would he want to know what kind of underwear he was wearing?
"Ok goood. Takes off all your clothes except for your gitch and get in line." This was met with much cheering. Mostly from the girls, but there were a couple of males that gave a cheer.
Not knowing what else to do and not caring if he had to dance completely naked. (It would have caused most of the girls to faint but he'd do it) He stripped to his boxers and got into line.
The instructor started teaching and the students were trying to copy what he was doing without throwing up. The girls behind him were the only ones that were safe from this as they had a much more pleasant thing to look at. At the end of the class Ranma thought that he had gotten the basics down, and that with his martial arts training he should have it down in three classes' tops.
He got dressed and looked around for Akane but couldn't find her anywhere. He shrugged his shoulders and ran towards the main building, he had to find his next class and he had no idea where to go.
The next class was math, it was his worst subject. Of course being the new guy the teacher just had to pick him to answer some questions. He did his best but he ended up getting the decimal place wrong. He was sent back to his seat with everybody laughing at him. The only one that wasn't laughing was Akane and that was because she was trying to ignore him. He was completely lost in the work. Maybe he could ask Nabiki or Akane to give him a hand.
Chemistry was next up on the list for the day. Chemistry and magical theory are so interrelated that they were more or less one in the same. The problem was that magic was more or less a forgotten art in the world today. If only people knew that thousands of years ago people had more advanced powers than they do today he wondered what they would think of it.
The teacher was droning on at the front of the class about how the two chemicals combined to make a compound etc, etc, etc. It was boring he already knew this stuff inside and out. Pulling several vials from storage he went to work making a healing potion. It was one of the first things that his grandmother had drilled into his head was how to do this just incase he ever needed one in a pinch.
The teacher noticed what he was doing but decided to ignore him until he was finished. About ten minutes later the beaker had about 25 ml of a bluish fluid in it. It was just a simple potion of cure minor wounds, it would cure a scratch or minor cut or scab over more major wounds. Its usefulness came in that it stopped you from bleeding to death.
"Well now that you're done would you mind sharing with the class what you've been disturbing my class for Mr. Shinkara?" The teacher was not really mad but he couldn't have any troublemakers in his class.
"Just a minor potion sensei." The truth seemed stranger than fiction.
"Well since you're obviously not paying attention then you can answer this question. How does the chlorine combine with the tetramethylsulfide?"
"Well with the covalent bonding the chlorine only needs one electron to complete it's valence shell so it takes one of the triple bonds and breaks it to form a double bond and then it shares one of the electrons with the carbon providing a lower energy state molecule." He hoped he got it all correct.
The teacher was dumfounded. The answer he gave was correct of course but it was more an answer he would have expected from a university student not a home schooled student from the back woods.
"Umm yes that is correct just... just try to sit still then and don't touch anything until I tell you ok?" Just ignore him and everything will be fine.
Chemistry class and the Physics that was right after it were boring but he somehow stayed awake enough to not fall asleep.
Finally after much torture it was the last class of the day. Computer class. Now while Ranma knew of physics, chemistry, math (well he knew of it) and various other subjects, computers were not something you learned about it the backwoods. He knew that they existed, however what they did or how to work them were mysteries to him.
"Alright class here is your assignment for today...." He then proceeded to ramble off some compu speak that just left Ranma totally confused.
While the rest of the students were typing away at something Ranma was just staring at the log in screen. He tried looking around him but for the life of him he couldn't understand how the other students were working these computers.
The teacher who had been circulating around watching the students do their work came to Ranma's station.
"Mr. Shinkara aren't you going to get to work sometime?" Smart assed punk thinks he can just slack off in his class.
"Umm I've kinda never seen one of these before."
"These are fairly old models I'm sure you're used to working with better equipment..."
"No you don't understand I've never used a computer at all before!" Damn swallowing his pride was difficult.
At his outburst the rest of the class stopped typing and looked at him.
"What do you mean you've never used a computer before???? Every student learns to use a computer in Junior High."
"I never went to Junior high, my grandmother taught me at home but we were out in the woods and didn't have a computer out there so I never learned."
The teacher hung his head.
"Alright here's what you've got to do. The Junior High is just down the road. What you've got to do is go there during this class and learn how to use a computer." Heh he wouldn't be allowed off campus and therefore he would fail this course.
"Alright." He hung his head. He knew that he couldn't legally get off campus and he sure as hell couldn't pass himself off as a Junior high student.
The school day finally ended much to Ranma's delight. His first day of school ever... now he understood why the students hated it so much.
"Hey Ranma what's up!" yelled Nabiki across the courtyard.
"Not much." He yelled back but not as loud as she had started to cross the difference between them.
He waited till she caught up before he continued. "Apparently my math's not too good and they want me to go to junior high to catch up on my computer skills."
Nabiki had to hold in her laughter. "I guess you've never used a computer before. I could teach you how to use one but we don't own a computer."
Ranma grabbed her hand and started dragging her off towards the shopping district.
"Where are you going?"
"Well you said that you could teach me to use a computer if you guys had a computer. Well we're going to get a computer now." It was then that he remembered something important. "Umm where's the computer store?"
"This way dummy." She reversed his grip and started pulling him towards the store.
When they got there Nabiki immediately went to the back of the store and started quickly looking over the older models discarding the ones that didn't have the features she wanted. Ranma just watched as she started haggling with the salesman. He was impressed with her skill at talking circles around him. In the end she had negotiated 5,000 yen off the original price, a free printer and scanner, and free delivery.
As they were exiting the store Nabiki grabbed his hand and started dragging him off towards one of the restaurants. More specifically the Cat Cafe.
"What?" He suspected that she wanted to spend the money that she saved him on a little treat for herself.
"Well I was thinking about some ramen or something just until supper." Free food.
"Alright but nothing too expensive."
"Yes dear." She giggled as she dragged him into the restaurant.
The inside of the restaurant was immaculately clean. There was a young girl about sixteen or seventeen going around wiping down the tables and making sure that everything was perfectly clean. She had a long luxurious mane of purple hair with beads woven into it. Staring a little longer that he had intended he managed through sheer willpower to wrench his eyes away from her very curvy form before Nabiki caught him staring.
The next thing that caught his eye was the boy moping the floor. He was not really remarkable about him, except that he was wearing glasses two or three centimeters thick. Oh yeah and the fact that he was carrying enough weaponry to make him think twice about attacking him.
Whipping his head to the side he saw the oldest woman he'd ever seen before. That wasn't what drew him to her in the first place, it was her mountainous ki signature. Sure she wasn't quite as strong as grandmother but she was still a lot stronger than he was.
"Well hello there dearie how are you today." She said addressing Nabiki.
"I'm fine Elder I see you're still among the living."
"Ha death is too afraid of me to take me just yet. And who may I ask is that fine gentleman standing beside you." She was studying him carefully trying to figure where she'd seen those features before.
"Hello elder my name is Ranma Shinkara of the clan Shinkara." He bowed low. His grandmother taught him to always respect one's elders until they stopped deserving respect.
"I knew it! It's good to see that the clan lives on, I had thought they all died out fifty years ago."
"They almost were. To my knowledge elder I am the last of my clan." Ranma was confused now, how exactly did she know about his clan.
"May I see your clan medallion? I just want to see it again."
Ranma reached into his personal space and pulled out his grandmother's medallion. The polished mythril glinted in the sunlight like a multitude of diamonds.
"Ahh it's as beautiful as I remember it. Yes you are who you say you are. Welcome to my establishment clan Shinkara friends of the Amazons." She bowed as if he was a peer. Both Shampoo and Mousse were shocked at this as they thought that the elders bowed to no one.
"Great-grandmother what so special about him?"
"Granddaughter long before you were born his clan helped save the Amazons from a combined musk/phoenix attack. Without their help the Amazon nation would not exist." She looked down towards the ground. "However at the end of the battle it was thought that all of the clan were extinct. I'm happy to see that that is not the case." Maybe she could even get her granddaughter hitched to him. Hell she knew at least five girls in the village who wouldn't mind sharing him. Maybe now she can get Shampoo off that inbred directionally challenged idiot that beat her at the annual festival.
"We're here for a little snack elder, Ranma here is just renting out one of our rooms." She didn't know why but the look Cologne was giving Ranma creeped her out.
"Of course, where are my manners today. Sit sit. Shampoo could you get them some water and menus. Mousse you lazy... get back to work!"
Shampoo jumped into action having water and menus. She was silently fuming that she had to serve Nabiki and was wondering why her grandmother was being so nice to this stranger. Sure he was an ally but that couldn't be the whole story.
"So what's good here?" Ranma asked Nabiki.
"The bon bon chicken is extremely good but it takes forever..." She was cut off as Cologne came out with a bowl of deluxe ramen and a chunk of raw tuna sliced up.
"I thought that this might be better than what you could find on the menu."
"But we haven't ordered yet." complained Nabiki. She was looking forward to a nice simple sweet and sour chicken.
"On the house." That perked up Nabiki's mood.
"Why Elder you aren't just trying to get in his good graces so you can foist your granddaughter on him are you?" Why was she doing this? It wasn't like she was attracted to Ranma was it? Hell no she just met him, there's no way that she's fallen for him.
"No no, nothing like that it's just that I'm happy to see a survivor. This was before all of you were born but we owe them so much that a simple meal is nothing. I'm happy to provide it for him." She paused to let them calm down a bit before she continued. "Of course if he wants to personally help bring back his clan I can have ten maidens here in a week ." She winked at him "You won't be able to leave the bedroom for another three weeks after that though." She then started cackling at her own joke. Then to add gasoline to the fire she said. "Oh if only I was 200 years younger. If I remember right you Shinkara's are animals between the sheets."
Ranma wolfed down his food and half of Nabiki's in the blink of an eye.
"Well that was great Elder but I'm afraid that Nabiki and I have a lot of things to do today. A-heh I'll try to stop by more often, I'd like to hear some more about my clan if you don't mind."
"Of course not, these youngsters these days never want to listen to any of my stories." Such a nice boy, his parents must be proud of him.
Once they were out of the cafe they made haste towards the dojo. Once they arrived there they noticed that the delivery truck was just unloading the computer. Akane was helping by bringing the parts inside. Nodoka was probably in the kitchen working on supper and Kasumi probably hadn't returned from her second job yet.
"Hey Nabiki do you know anything about this computer? They just started delivering it and I didn't know anything about it."
"Ranma bought it." That should explain it.
"But Ranma can't use a computer to save his life!"
Nabiki just rolled her eyes. "That's why he bought a computer. I'll teach him how to use one. That and if we get the internet it might help him find his parents."
"Oh ok so where are you going to put it?"
"My room of course." Well she was the only one in the house who knew how to use it and could make good use out of it. Plus it would give Ranma a good reason to be in her room.
Once the computer was set up, which took quite a while since she had to explain absolutely everything to him, Nodoka called everyone down for supper.
Supper was not very good at least according to Ranma. But he held his tongue about it. After it was done Nabiki dragged him back up to her room and began teaching him computer basics 101. Around 7 at night it was starting to get dark and the moon was going to rise soon, they were still working hard. Nabiki was astonished at how quickly he was picking it up.
Ranma was amazed. He had no idea that they had machines that could do so much. He was so engrossed in the workings of the device that he completely forgot that tonight was the first night of the full moon. Well he forgot until he felt the first tingling of the change.
Ears were shifted to the top of his head. Nose and mouth extended into a muzzle, hands and feet shifted to paws. His skeletal structure shifted and finally he sprouted yellow and black fur.
Nabiki was too shocked to scream. But then again being shocked would wear off soon and oh boy was she working up a good scream.
Ranma of course was quicker than that on the uptake. He jumped out of the chair and tackled her to the ground. Since he was trying to get her under control quickly he never noticed the multitude of scratches that he inflicted on her. He finally managed to wrestle her to the ground and shove one of his paws over her mouth. Of course this is when she finally let loose with her blood curdling scream.
It wasn't as effective as a hand over her mouth but the scream was more or less muffled from the 'wake up everybody in the neighborhood' to 'alert anybody in the adjacent rooms'. Luckily the rest of the house was downstairs watching TV really loudly on the new entertainment system.
When she had finally screamed herself out, she noticed that he was acting very human like. She still didn't know what he was but deciding that as long as she didn't make any sudden moves she wouldn't be ripped apart by this predator that suddenly replaced her student/friend.
Ranma deciding that he should probably try to calm her down jumped off and scooted over to the far side of the room. Coincidentally this just happened to be right in front of the door.
"Nice kitty, good kitty, you're a good Ranma, you wouldn't rip me to pieces would you." She was just scared now and was rambling to try and calm herself down.
The sight of an adolescent cheetah banging his head against the ground was enough to finally break her out of her terrified state. Now she was just scared. Let it be know though that the Tendo women are made of sterner stuff.
"Ranma?" She came a little bit closer. "Is that you in there? Tap once for no twice for yes."
He tapped his paw twice on the ground.
"You can understand me! Do you know what happened? Why are you a cheetah now? Just what is going on?!!!" Her natural curiosity combined with her fear started her babbling again.
"grawr" Bang, bang bang bang. Knowing he couldn't speak while in cheetah form he resorted to beating his head against the floor.
"Oh right you can't speak." She really wanted those answers. "The computer! You can type instead of talking!" Boy she was smart today.
"gwar roar meow." Great plan except that he didn't have fingers anymore.
Deciding that maybe he could use his claws to type with he jumped up into the chair and tried to open the word processor. Paws were made for walking on not for the manual dexterity required to move a mouse.
"Here let me help you with that." Nabiki said as she rushed over and opened the appropriate program.
Since he was a newbie computer user he still hadn't mastered home row and was forced to hunt and peck when he wanted a key. Now because he didn't have fingers hunt and peck took on a whole new meaning.
/I am were cheetah, no not bad, not hurt you, no be afraid of me./
"You're a lycanthrope? But why aren't you a savage beast trying to snack on my insides? I mean all of the werewolf movies and all."
/Yes is true but can learn to control, most new no have old one teach them. Me have grandmother teach me./
"So is it true you know the silver thing?"
/Silver only for wolves. evry were have difrnt weaknss. I no tell you weakns sorry personal./
"Yeah I guess if there was something that could hurt me I wouldn't want anybody to know it. So umm how long are you going to be a cat?"
/3 day will go away... no good if here for that time, need go out away from ppl./
"Are you really that dangerous?"
/no no dangers but act like cat, want do cat things./
"Like lick yourself, chase butterflies, play with yarn."
/yes is very embarass when around ppl also want hunt but no can do in city. hate city for that./
"Can I tell Auntie and my sisters about you? I mean they really deserve to know."
/no no tell pls I no want many ppl to know, s dangrs others may no like may want kill me. i no want die. Elder knows I maybe stay with her. I no know./
"Well I really want to talk to you about this some more but I guess you'd better get going before somebody catches you."
/Yes I go now. open window./
"Ok but wait for me by the front gate I'll walk with you to the Cat cafe."
/k/
With that he jumped out of the chair and padded over to the window. She opened it and watched as he jumped out and ran for the front gate. She ran downstairs donning her shoes and ran after him. When she got to the gate she looked around and couldn't see him anywhere. That's when she nearly had a heart attack as he seemed to just appear beside her.
"Don't do that!" She hissed.
He seemed to be snickering as they started off towards Cologne's restaurant. After about a block Ranma seemed to get tired of this and quickly darted behind Nabiki and then nuzzled his head between her legs. The end result was Nabiki straddling his back and him purring up a storm.
"Damn it you walking vibrator don't ever do that again." Not that she was complaining too much, it felt good with the slow rumble, but any more and she was going to have problems with soaked panties. she was not into bestiality.
After what seemed like forever they finally arrived. It was of course closed at this time of night but that was a lot better than them being open. They walked up to the front door and knocked. It took a few minutes but eventually Shampoo came to the door.
"We is closed you no read sign?"
"I'm not here for food, he wants to speak to Cologne."
"Who? You is only one here, well you and big cat, and cat no talk."
"Just get the old gh... I mean elder."
Smack
"Who's the old ghoul?" Youngsters these days they have no respect.
"Yeah well I just found out something about our houseguest." She pointed at Ranma. "He kind of needs a place to stay for the next three days."
"Forgot it was the first night of the full moon did you now? Well I guess you could stay here." She turned to Nabiki. "You can go home now don't worry he'll be just fine here, in fact you can visit him tomorrow if you'd like." She turned her attention back to Ranma. "Alright get your fuzzy ass in there and no shedding on the furniture." She nodded towards Nabiki. "Good evening." And with that she close the door.
"Great-grandmother why you let big kitty in restaurant?" Shampoo had learned not to question her elders but usually bringing a large predator into your house was not a good idea at the best of times.
"I guess I had better explain." She sat down in one of the chairs. "Long ago the lycanthropic races existed side by side with humans. Most were good and got along with us. Some like the were cheetahs and were tigers even signed treaties with us."
"Aiyah! I not know this."
"Yes now young Shinkara over there just happens to be the last were cheetah. Now you will not attack him while he is staying here, most likely it will just piss him off."
Ranma was nodding at this.
She turned her full attention to Ranma. "And you no biting my granddaughter or Mr. part time. Got it?"
Ranma nodded. His grandmother had warned him that lycanthropy was contagious. He knew that if he wasn't going to kill it that he couldn't use his claws or his bite. It made fighting a hell of a lot more difficult but it was a necessity.
"Alright now that that's finished you will sleep with Shampoo in her room."
"Great-grandmother why??"
"Because you have a big room. Don't worry he can sleep on the rug. All that fur will keep him plenty warm enough."
"But..." Shampoo really didn't feel comfortable having a stranger in her room. Ryoga was different but then again he only turned into a harmless piglet, not an engine of destruction.
"Don't worry dear, he'll be on his best behavior or else you can have a nice new rug." She looked at him. "Behave yourself only when you're human."
He gulped as he wasn't quite sure if she was kidding or just trying to reassure her granddaughter.
"Besides he's got to get up to help with the restaurant tomorrow."
"rowr?"
"Oh you thought I was just going to let you stay here for free? You can help with deliveries, if my memory is right you were cheetah's are pretty fast on your feet."
"mew."
"Oh get off it I'll have something ready for you by tomorrow."
"Shampoo think go to bed now. This too too wierd." She grabbed her bonbori and headed upstairs.
Cologne turned to Ranma.
"What are you waiting for we've got a busy day tomorrow. Get upstairs now and go to sleep."
He turned and began padding up the stairs towards where Shampoo went.
"Oh yes and no funny business, save that for when your human again." She started cackling like the demented witch that she is.
Ranma shuddered as he padded up the stairs after Shampoo. When he got to her room the door was open and the lights were off. He used his hind leg to close the door. Sitting on her futon he saw Shampoo decked out in Amazon battle armor with what he assumed was a silvered tai chi sword.
He snickered at this and decided to play with her for a bit. he crouched down at the foot of her bed in a classic pounce position. He then proceeded to stare at her with his best 'I'm a predator and you're lunch as soon as you fall asleep' look.
Needless to say that Shampoo was just a little scared the way she clutched her sword just that extra bit tighter.
Suddenly the door swung open revealing Cologne.
"And no scaring my granddaughter! Go to sleep!" She slammed the door closed.
Ranma sighed as best a cat could sigh slowly got up and padded over to where Shampoo was still holding her sword. He settled down beside her. When she still didn't respond he rubbed his head against her hand while purring up a storm. He was trying his best to make himself look as harmless as possible.
Eventually she calmed down enough to pat his head and scratch behind his ears, but she didn't let go of her sword.
Oh well a little bit of trust is better no trust at all.
Eventually they both fell asleep.
Authors notes:
Before you lynch me Ranma is a TSR were beast. It is an optional rule that lycanthropes do not all have to be vulnerable to silver. Ranma as with all were cheetah's will be vulnerable to jade/magic.
The thing that most people wanted when they wrote to me was formatting. I hope that this will make it easier to read. What I will be doing is going back through previous chapters to add this miraculous 'formatting' to them as well.
Did Nabiki fail her fort save? Well you'll just have to wait and find out.
Comments/complaints
nealharris@otakumail.com
Chapter 4: A Schooling we will go
Morning brought with it light as it usually does. However this morning also brought with it sounds of utter chaos at the Tendo home. Nodoka was getting ready for work while cooking some of the food that Ranma had bought yesterday. She felt indebted to him for his generosity he bestowed upon her family and vowed to thank him to the best of her ability.
The rest of the inhabitants slowly filtered into the dining room and waited for Nodoka to bring out breakfast. This was a new thing here and most of them haven't gotten used to eating this early in the morning. Ranma was the last to enter the dining room, yawning loudly as he entered.
"Ranma." She turned to regard him getting onto her knees. "The girls and I would like to thank you for your generosity." She placed both of her hands on the floor and bowed so her head was touching the floor.
"Get up Mrs. Saotome, don't worry too much about it. I just couldn't stand the thought that anybody could live with so little, I did what I could to help." Not to mention that it was actually Happosai that paid for all of it.
"Then please sit and eat breakfast with us. From now on you won't have to buy your food what you pay for rent will be for room AND board." This was the least she could do considering that he single-handedly furnished and stocked the home.
"I'm honored for your kindness." Oh god now he had no way out of eating that stuff they called food.
Breakfast was a calm affair. Nobody spoke much and what little was said was compliments to Nodoka's cooking. Soon though people had to leave. Nodoka and Kasumi left for their respective jobs and Akane and Nabiki for school. Nabiki left first to set up the betting pools for the day. That left Akane and Ranma as the last people in the house.
"Hmm guess I'd better go to school then." Ranma sighed. He didn't want to go but knew that he'd need something of an education if he wanted to get anywhere.
When Akane was about halfway to school she realized that she was being followed. She spun around intending to knock whoever was following her on their ass. She was surprised to find her book bag sailing through empty space. Because she'd expected to connect with the skull of her stalker she couldn't compensate for the extra momentum she put into the swing. As a result she was the one who was put on her ass.
From her new position she could see Ranma crouching grinning like a mad man.
"Are you getting a good look pervert!" She was steamed more at missing than anything else.
Ranma looked down. "Oh yeah I knew those sky blue panties would look good on you. Just glad to know that I was right."
"Pervert!" She slapped her dress down violently while swinging her book bag again at his head.
He didn't dodge this time.
"I deserved that." Well he got a free look and she got to hit him for it. Both were harmless activities.
He stood up to his full height and then bent over to offer her a hand up. She reluctantly took it and he pulled her to her feet. He was tempted to dust off her backside but felt that a free look was all he was willing to dare for today.
"So why were you following me anyway?" She was hoping he wasn't a stalker. But he lived in their house so what use would he have for stalking her?
"Well I figured I'd better go to school. Problem is that I don't know where it is. By the time I decided I should go everybody but you had left. I just decided that I could follow you and find where I needed to go."
"Fine but when we get to school don't get in my way." If he decided to get into the morning fights she was proverbially fucked. She looked over at him walking beside her. Ok maybe literally fucked would be a better description. Although Nabiki was right he was a lot better looking and behaved than most of the Furinken horde.
They continued on their way towards Furinken. When they were approaching the gates Ranma noticed a large horde of boys waiting just inside the gates. He had no idea what this was about but unconsciously matched Akane's increase in speed. When they reached the gates Ranma jumped on top of the fence to watch the show. He didn't know what was going on but he sure as hell wasn't going to get involved when she told him not to. Unless of course she looked like she was in trouble, then he'd jump in.
Having a good breakfast two days provided her with tons more energy than what she was used to having. The end result was that boys went flying left and right as she literally tore through the horde in record time. Nabiki was watching from the second story window with a stop watch. When the last opponent had hit the dirt she clicked the stopwatch, blinked a few times then wrote down the time in a log book.
Back down on the field of slaughter Ranma decided that it was safe to come down and ask what the hell was going on. Unfortunately for him the main event was actually the warm up.
"So what the hell was that about?" Sure it was good practice against multiple opponents but he didn't know how they could have gotten all those boys to come out here and get beaten on without them giving up.
Before she got to answer a rose shot out of nowhere towards her. Out of reflex Ranma's hand shot out and caught it. Unsure of what to do with it he handed it over to Akane.
"I guess this was for you." He'd gotten involved. He didn't thing the guy behind the tree was going to get involved since he didn't sense any malice from him. The problem was that now that he'd caught the rose the as yet to be introduced stalker was directing a lot of hate... particularly in his direction.
"You there how dare you interrupt my message of love for the fierce tigress Akane Tendo."
"It was a ..." He never got to finish.
"Hold foul minion of the dark. Is it not common before battle for the noble to give his own name first." Without missing a beat he continued. "I am Tatewake Kuno Age 17 Star of the kendo team, Junior group E, Love of all of the ladies. I am the Supreme Thunder of Furinken High." Thunder could be heard in the background.
"But I didn't..." Again he didn't get to finish as Kuno lashed out with his bokken.
"Hold foul cur so that I may smite you."
"But I didn't do anything!"
"Tis the guilty man who doth protest his innocence to even the pauper in the streets."
"But... Aw to hell with it." Ranma shot forward and punched Kuno once. Well at least that's what it looked like to everybody else. To Kuno it felt like hundreds of blows rained down on all of his front, which is what actually happened.
The momentum imparted from all of these strikes was enough to propel him back fifteen feet. He didn't feel his landing though as he was already unconscious. Everybody gawked at this. The greatest fighter (after Akane of course) in the school had just been taken out with one punch. Akane was as good as claimed.
It was about that time that the late bell rung. Akane squawked, grabbed her bag and ran full speed towards the doors. Ranma was still outside as it started to rain. His first day of school and he was likely to get expelled for fighting.
Now his next problem was that he had no idea where the office was.
After about half an hour and asking for directions three times, he finally arrived at the main office. Upon entering he noticed that there was a definite theme to the office. Palm trees, sand, secretaries in grass skirts and coconut bra's, a whole pig roasting on a spit, some guy with a palm tree growing out of his head, surf boards. Wait a minute go back one.
Sure enough there was a guy in an extremely loud Hawaiian shirt with a fricking palm tree growing out of his head. He made sure to give the loony plenty of space as he made his way to what he thought was the front desk. In reality it was a surfboard held up with two rocks with a bell on it.
"Umm excuse me." It wasn't too late to just go to a different school.
"Yes can I help you?" She was a middle aged not too shabby looking secretary.
"Yeah I'd like to register as a student please." He was getting nervous.
"Any particular reason why you'd want to?" Nobody in their right mind came to this school unless they were brain-dead, broke, or troublemakers.
"Umm it's close to where I'm staying." Now he was really nervous.
"Alrighty then just fill out these forms and we'll get your class schedule ready for you."
Ranma accepted the forms and went over to another surfboard far away from the lunatic and began to fill out the forms. Most of the stuff was pretty easy.
Name: Ranma Shinkara Sex: Male Age: 16 (he guessed) Mother's name: Didn't have one Father's name: ditto Last school attended: Home schooled Marital status: single
It was after this that the questions started getting weird.
Are you a martial artist: yes
If yes can you cause massive destruction: yes
Are there crazy's out for your hide who are martial artists that can cause mass destruction: no
Are you a magical girl/boy/mascot: no
Are you allergic to pineapple juice/poi/roast pig: no
Have you ever had an erotic dream about a palm tree: NO
The questions continued and he tried to answer them the best he could. He had to lie on some of them as they were a little too personal for his tastes. When he was done he took the papers up to the secretary. She looked at the important information wrote down his name and phone number, and then threw the papers into the garbage.
"Ok I've decided that you're going to be in freshman class group F."
"Umm don't I have to take a placement test or anything I mean.."
"Nah don't worry about it, I'm sure you're smart enough." She pulled out a schedule and handed it to him. "Here are your classes. If you want to you could take the rest of the day off or you could try to make your next class."
"I think I'll try to go to class." He said while looking at his schedule. Practical hula, should be easy enough.
Heading out of the office he went to the practice yard where the rest of his class was waiting for the instructor. Since he didn't have any supplies yet he decided to just watch . He noted that the rest of the students were in grass skirts and the girls had coconut bras on. He saw Akane in the back row and waved to her. She obviously didn't see him what with her turning her head away like that.
The instructor was a burly man with a beer belly. Not good combinations when one is a hula instructor.
"Alrights we's got a noo stoodent today. Hee's name's Ranma Sheenkara. Nows I understand it's hees first day soo hee's not going to have hees stoof." He turned his burly frame towards where Ranma was standing.
"Ok you'se wearing boxers or briefs?" His massive gut jiggled with every word.
"Umm boxers sir." Why would he want to know what kind of underwear he was wearing?
"Ok goood. Takes off all your clothes except for your gitch and get in line." This was met with much cheering. Mostly from the girls, but there were a couple of males that gave a cheer.
Not knowing what else to do and not caring if he had to dance completely naked. (It would have caused most of the girls to faint but he'd do it) He stripped to his boxers and got into line.
The instructor started teaching and the students were trying to copy what he was doing without throwing up. The girls behind him were the only ones that were safe from this as they had a much more pleasant thing to look at. At the end of the class Ranma thought that he had gotten the basics down, and that with his martial arts training he should have it down in three classes' tops.
He got dressed and looked around for Akane but couldn't find her anywhere. He shrugged his shoulders and ran towards the main building, he had to find his next class and he had no idea where to go.
The next class was math, it was his worst subject. Of course being the new guy the teacher just had to pick him to answer some questions. He did his best but he ended up getting the decimal place wrong. He was sent back to his seat with everybody laughing at him. The only one that wasn't laughing was Akane and that was because she was trying to ignore him. He was completely lost in the work. Maybe he could ask Nabiki or Akane to give him a hand.
Chemistry was next up on the list for the day. Chemistry and magical theory are so interrelated that they were more or less one in the same. The problem was that magic was more or less a forgotten art in the world today. If only people knew that thousands of years ago people had more advanced powers than they do today he wondered what they would think of it.
The teacher was droning on at the front of the class about how the two chemicals combined to make a compound etc, etc, etc. It was boring he already knew this stuff inside and out. Pulling several vials from storage he went to work making a healing potion. It was one of the first things that his grandmother had drilled into his head was how to do this just incase he ever needed one in a pinch.
The teacher noticed what he was doing but decided to ignore him until he was finished. About ten minutes later the beaker had about 25 ml of a bluish fluid in it. It was just a simple potion of cure minor wounds, it would cure a scratch or minor cut or scab over more major wounds. Its usefulness came in that it stopped you from bleeding to death.
"Well now that you're done would you mind sharing with the class what you've been disturbing my class for Mr. Shinkara?" The teacher was not really mad but he couldn't have any troublemakers in his class.
"Just a minor potion sensei." The truth seemed stranger than fiction.
"Well since you're obviously not paying attention then you can answer this question. How does the chlorine combine with the tetramethylsulfide?"
"Well with the covalent bonding the chlorine only needs one electron to complete it's valence shell so it takes one of the triple bonds and breaks it to form a double bond and then it shares one of the electrons with the carbon providing a lower energy state molecule." He hoped he got it all correct.
The teacher was dumfounded. The answer he gave was correct of course but it was more an answer he would have expected from a university student not a home schooled student from the back woods.
"Umm yes that is correct just... just try to sit still then and don't touch anything until I tell you ok?" Just ignore him and everything will be fine.
Chemistry class and the Physics that was right after it were boring but he somehow stayed awake enough to not fall asleep.
Finally after much torture it was the last class of the day. Computer class. Now while Ranma knew of physics, chemistry, math (well he knew of it) and various other subjects, computers were not something you learned about it the backwoods. He knew that they existed, however what they did or how to work them were mysteries to him.
"Alright class here is your assignment for today...." He then proceeded to ramble off some compu speak that just left Ranma totally confused.
While the rest of the students were typing away at something Ranma was just staring at the log in screen. He tried looking around him but for the life of him he couldn't understand how the other students were working these computers.
The teacher who had been circulating around watching the students do their work came to Ranma's station.
"Mr. Shinkara aren't you going to get to work sometime?" Smart assed punk thinks he can just slack off in his class.
"Umm I've kinda never seen one of these before."
"These are fairly old models I'm sure you're used to working with better equipment..."
"No you don't understand I've never used a computer at all before!" Damn swallowing his pride was difficult.
At his outburst the rest of the class stopped typing and looked at him.
"What do you mean you've never used a computer before???? Every student learns to use a computer in Junior High."
"I never went to Junior high, my grandmother taught me at home but we were out in the woods and didn't have a computer out there so I never learned."
The teacher hung his head.
"Alright here's what you've got to do. The Junior High is just down the road. What you've got to do is go there during this class and learn how to use a computer." Heh he wouldn't be allowed off campus and therefore he would fail this course.
"Alright." He hung his head. He knew that he couldn't legally get off campus and he sure as hell couldn't pass himself off as a Junior high student.
The school day finally ended much to Ranma's delight. His first day of school ever... now he understood why the students hated it so much.
"Hey Ranma what's up!" yelled Nabiki across the courtyard.
"Not much." He yelled back but not as loud as she had started to cross the difference between them.
He waited till she caught up before he continued. "Apparently my math's not too good and they want me to go to junior high to catch up on my computer skills."
Nabiki had to hold in her laughter. "I guess you've never used a computer before. I could teach you how to use one but we don't own a computer."
Ranma grabbed her hand and started dragging her off towards the shopping district.
"Where are you going?"
"Well you said that you could teach me to use a computer if you guys had a computer. Well we're going to get a computer now." It was then that he remembered something important. "Umm where's the computer store?"
"This way dummy." She reversed his grip and started pulling him towards the store.
When they got there Nabiki immediately went to the back of the store and started quickly looking over the older models discarding the ones that didn't have the features she wanted. Ranma just watched as she started haggling with the salesman. He was impressed with her skill at talking circles around him. In the end she had negotiated 5,000 yen off the original price, a free printer and scanner, and free delivery.
As they were exiting the store Nabiki grabbed his hand and started dragging him off towards one of the restaurants. More specifically the Cat Cafe.
"What?" He suspected that she wanted to spend the money that she saved him on a little treat for herself.
"Well I was thinking about some ramen or something just until supper." Free food.
"Alright but nothing too expensive."
"Yes dear." She giggled as she dragged him into the restaurant.
The inside of the restaurant was immaculately clean. There was a young girl about sixteen or seventeen going around wiping down the tables and making sure that everything was perfectly clean. She had a long luxurious mane of purple hair with beads woven into it. Staring a little longer that he had intended he managed through sheer willpower to wrench his eyes away from her very curvy form before Nabiki caught him staring.
The next thing that caught his eye was the boy moping the floor. He was not really remarkable about him, except that he was wearing glasses two or three centimeters thick. Oh yeah and the fact that he was carrying enough weaponry to make him think twice about attacking him.
Whipping his head to the side he saw the oldest woman he'd ever seen before. That wasn't what drew him to her in the first place, it was her mountainous ki signature. Sure she wasn't quite as strong as grandmother but she was still a lot stronger than he was.
"Well hello there dearie how are you today." She said addressing Nabiki.
"I'm fine Elder I see you're still among the living."
"Ha death is too afraid of me to take me just yet. And who may I ask is that fine gentleman standing beside you." She was studying him carefully trying to figure where she'd seen those features before.
"Hello elder my name is Ranma Shinkara of the clan Shinkara." He bowed low. His grandmother taught him to always respect one's elders until they stopped deserving respect.
"I knew it! It's good to see that the clan lives on, I had thought they all died out fifty years ago."
"They almost were. To my knowledge elder I am the last of my clan." Ranma was confused now, how exactly did she know about his clan.
"May I see your clan medallion? I just want to see it again."
Ranma reached into his personal space and pulled out his grandmother's medallion. The polished mythril glinted in the sunlight like a multitude of diamonds.
"Ahh it's as beautiful as I remember it. Yes you are who you say you are. Welcome to my establishment clan Shinkara friends of the Amazons." She bowed as if he was a peer. Both Shampoo and Mousse were shocked at this as they thought that the elders bowed to no one.
"Great-grandmother what so special about him?"
"Granddaughter long before you were born his clan helped save the Amazons from a combined musk/phoenix attack. Without their help the Amazon nation would not exist." She looked down towards the ground. "However at the end of the battle it was thought that all of the clan were extinct. I'm happy to see that that is not the case." Maybe she could even get her granddaughter hitched to him. Hell she knew at least five girls in the village who wouldn't mind sharing him. Maybe now she can get Shampoo off that inbred directionally challenged idiot that beat her at the annual festival.
"We're here for a little snack elder, Ranma here is just renting out one of our rooms." She didn't know why but the look Cologne was giving Ranma creeped her out.
"Of course, where are my manners today. Sit sit. Shampoo could you get them some water and menus. Mousse you lazy... get back to work!"
Shampoo jumped into action having water and menus. She was silently fuming that she had to serve Nabiki and was wondering why her grandmother was being so nice to this stranger. Sure he was an ally but that couldn't be the whole story.
"So what's good here?" Ranma asked Nabiki.
"The bon bon chicken is extremely good but it takes forever..." She was cut off as Cologne came out with a bowl of deluxe ramen and a chunk of raw tuna sliced up.
"I thought that this might be better than what you could find on the menu."
"But we haven't ordered yet." complained Nabiki. She was looking forward to a nice simple sweet and sour chicken.
"On the house." That perked up Nabiki's mood.
"Why Elder you aren't just trying to get in his good graces so you can foist your granddaughter on him are you?" Why was she doing this? It wasn't like she was attracted to Ranma was it? Hell no she just met him, there's no way that she's fallen for him.
"No no, nothing like that it's just that I'm happy to see a survivor. This was before all of you were born but we owe them so much that a simple meal is nothing. I'm happy to provide it for him." She paused to let them calm down a bit before she continued. "Of course if he wants to personally help bring back his clan I can have ten maidens here in a week ." She winked at him "You won't be able to leave the bedroom for another three weeks after that though." She then started cackling at her own joke. Then to add gasoline to the fire she said. "Oh if only I was 200 years younger. If I remember right you Shinkara's are animals between the sheets."
Ranma wolfed down his food and half of Nabiki's in the blink of an eye.
"Well that was great Elder but I'm afraid that Nabiki and I have a lot of things to do today. A-heh I'll try to stop by more often, I'd like to hear some more about my clan if you don't mind."
"Of course not, these youngsters these days never want to listen to any of my stories." Such a nice boy, his parents must be proud of him.
Once they were out of the cafe they made haste towards the dojo. Once they arrived there they noticed that the delivery truck was just unloading the computer. Akane was helping by bringing the parts inside. Nodoka was probably in the kitchen working on supper and Kasumi probably hadn't returned from her second job yet.
"Hey Nabiki do you know anything about this computer? They just started delivering it and I didn't know anything about it."
"Ranma bought it." That should explain it.
"But Ranma can't use a computer to save his life!"
Nabiki just rolled her eyes. "That's why he bought a computer. I'll teach him how to use one. That and if we get the internet it might help him find his parents."
"Oh ok so where are you going to put it?"
"My room of course." Well she was the only one in the house who knew how to use it and could make good use out of it. Plus it would give Ranma a good reason to be in her room.
Once the computer was set up, which took quite a while since she had to explain absolutely everything to him, Nodoka called everyone down for supper.
Supper was not very good at least according to Ranma. But he held his tongue about it. After it was done Nabiki dragged him back up to her room and began teaching him computer basics 101. Around 7 at night it was starting to get dark and the moon was going to rise soon, they were still working hard. Nabiki was astonished at how quickly he was picking it up.
Ranma was amazed. He had no idea that they had machines that could do so much. He was so engrossed in the workings of the device that he completely forgot that tonight was the first night of the full moon. Well he forgot until he felt the first tingling of the change.
Ears were shifted to the top of his head. Nose and mouth extended into a muzzle, hands and feet shifted to paws. His skeletal structure shifted and finally he sprouted yellow and black fur.
Nabiki was too shocked to scream. But then again being shocked would wear off soon and oh boy was she working up a good scream.
Ranma of course was quicker than that on the uptake. He jumped out of the chair and tackled her to the ground. Since he was trying to get her under control quickly he never noticed the multitude of scratches that he inflicted on her. He finally managed to wrestle her to the ground and shove one of his paws over her mouth. Of course this is when she finally let loose with her blood curdling scream.
It wasn't as effective as a hand over her mouth but the scream was more or less muffled from the 'wake up everybody in the neighborhood' to 'alert anybody in the adjacent rooms'. Luckily the rest of the house was downstairs watching TV really loudly on the new entertainment system.
When she had finally screamed herself out, she noticed that he was acting very human like. She still didn't know what he was but deciding that as long as she didn't make any sudden moves she wouldn't be ripped apart by this predator that suddenly replaced her student/friend.
Ranma deciding that he should probably try to calm her down jumped off and scooted over to the far side of the room. Coincidentally this just happened to be right in front of the door.
"Nice kitty, good kitty, you're a good Ranma, you wouldn't rip me to pieces would you." She was just scared now and was rambling to try and calm herself down.
The sight of an adolescent cheetah banging his head against the ground was enough to finally break her out of her terrified state. Now she was just scared. Let it be know though that the Tendo women are made of sterner stuff.
"Ranma?" She came a little bit closer. "Is that you in there? Tap once for no twice for yes."
He tapped his paw twice on the ground.
"You can understand me! Do you know what happened? Why are you a cheetah now? Just what is going on?!!!" Her natural curiosity combined with her fear started her babbling again.
"grawr" Bang, bang bang bang. Knowing he couldn't speak while in cheetah form he resorted to beating his head against the floor.
"Oh right you can't speak." She really wanted those answers. "The computer! You can type instead of talking!" Boy she was smart today.
"gwar roar meow." Great plan except that he didn't have fingers anymore.
Deciding that maybe he could use his claws to type with he jumped up into the chair and tried to open the word processor. Paws were made for walking on not for the manual dexterity required to move a mouse.
"Here let me help you with that." Nabiki said as she rushed over and opened the appropriate program.
Since he was a newbie computer user he still hadn't mastered home row and was forced to hunt and peck when he wanted a key. Now because he didn't have fingers hunt and peck took on a whole new meaning.
/I am were cheetah, no not bad, not hurt you, no be afraid of me./
"You're a lycanthrope? But why aren't you a savage beast trying to snack on my insides? I mean all of the werewolf movies and all."
/Yes is true but can learn to control, most new no have old one teach them. Me have grandmother teach me./
"So is it true you know the silver thing?"
/Silver only for wolves. evry were have difrnt weaknss. I no tell you weakns sorry personal./
"Yeah I guess if there was something that could hurt me I wouldn't want anybody to know it. So umm how long are you going to be a cat?"
/3 day will go away... no good if here for that time, need go out away from ppl./
"Are you really that dangerous?"
/no no dangers but act like cat, want do cat things./
"Like lick yourself, chase butterflies, play with yarn."
/yes is very embarass when around ppl also want hunt but no can do in city. hate city for that./
"Can I tell Auntie and my sisters about you? I mean they really deserve to know."
/no no tell pls I no want many ppl to know, s dangrs others may no like may want kill me. i no want die. Elder knows I maybe stay with her. I no know./
"Well I really want to talk to you about this some more but I guess you'd better get going before somebody catches you."
/Yes I go now. open window./
"Ok but wait for me by the front gate I'll walk with you to the Cat cafe."
/k/
With that he jumped out of the chair and padded over to the window. She opened it and watched as he jumped out and ran for the front gate. She ran downstairs donning her shoes and ran after him. When she got to the gate she looked around and couldn't see him anywhere. That's when she nearly had a heart attack as he seemed to just appear beside her.
"Don't do that!" She hissed.
He seemed to be snickering as they started off towards Cologne's restaurant. After about a block Ranma seemed to get tired of this and quickly darted behind Nabiki and then nuzzled his head between her legs. The end result was Nabiki straddling his back and him purring up a storm.
"Damn it you walking vibrator don't ever do that again." Not that she was complaining too much, it felt good with the slow rumble, but any more and she was going to have problems with soaked panties. she was not into bestiality.
After what seemed like forever they finally arrived. It was of course closed at this time of night but that was a lot better than them being open. They walked up to the front door and knocked. It took a few minutes but eventually Shampoo came to the door.
"We is closed you no read sign?"
"I'm not here for food, he wants to speak to Cologne."
"Who? You is only one here, well you and big cat, and cat no talk."
"Just get the old gh... I mean elder."
Smack
"Who's the old ghoul?" Youngsters these days they have no respect.
"Yeah well I just found out something about our houseguest." She pointed at Ranma. "He kind of needs a place to stay for the next three days."
"Forgot it was the first night of the full moon did you now? Well I guess you could stay here." She turned to Nabiki. "You can go home now don't worry he'll be just fine here, in fact you can visit him tomorrow if you'd like." She turned her attention back to Ranma. "Alright get your fuzzy ass in there and no shedding on the furniture." She nodded towards Nabiki. "Good evening." And with that she close the door.
"Great-grandmother why you let big kitty in restaurant?" Shampoo had learned not to question her elders but usually bringing a large predator into your house was not a good idea at the best of times.
"I guess I had better explain." She sat down in one of the chairs. "Long ago the lycanthropic races existed side by side with humans. Most were good and got along with us. Some like the were cheetahs and were tigers even signed treaties with us."
"Aiyah! I not know this."
"Yes now young Shinkara over there just happens to be the last were cheetah. Now you will not attack him while he is staying here, most likely it will just piss him off."
Ranma was nodding at this.
She turned her full attention to Ranma. "And you no biting my granddaughter or Mr. part time. Got it?"
Ranma nodded. His grandmother had warned him that lycanthropy was contagious. He knew that if he wasn't going to kill it that he couldn't use his claws or his bite. It made fighting a hell of a lot more difficult but it was a necessity.
"Alright now that that's finished you will sleep with Shampoo in her room."
"Great-grandmother why??"
"Because you have a big room. Don't worry he can sleep on the rug. All that fur will keep him plenty warm enough."
"But..." Shampoo really didn't feel comfortable having a stranger in her room. Ryoga was different but then again he only turned into a harmless piglet, not an engine of destruction.
"Don't worry dear, he'll be on his best behavior or else you can have a nice new rug." She looked at him. "Behave yourself only when you're human."
He gulped as he wasn't quite sure if she was kidding or just trying to reassure her granddaughter.
"Besides he's got to get up to help with the restaurant tomorrow."
"rowr?"
"Oh you thought I was just going to let you stay here for free? You can help with deliveries, if my memory is right you were cheetah's are pretty fast on your feet."
"mew."
"Oh get off it I'll have something ready for you by tomorrow."
"Shampoo think go to bed now. This too too wierd." She grabbed her bonbori and headed upstairs.
Cologne turned to Ranma.
"What are you waiting for we've got a busy day tomorrow. Get upstairs now and go to sleep."
He turned and began padding up the stairs towards where Shampoo went.
"Oh yes and no funny business, save that for when your human again." She started cackling like the demented witch that she is.
Ranma shuddered as he padded up the stairs after Shampoo. When he got to her room the door was open and the lights were off. He used his hind leg to close the door. Sitting on her futon he saw Shampoo decked out in Amazon battle armor with what he assumed was a silvered tai chi sword.
He snickered at this and decided to play with her for a bit. he crouched down at the foot of her bed in a classic pounce position. He then proceeded to stare at her with his best 'I'm a predator and you're lunch as soon as you fall asleep' look.
Needless to say that Shampoo was just a little scared the way she clutched her sword just that extra bit tighter.
Suddenly the door swung open revealing Cologne.
"And no scaring my granddaughter! Go to sleep!" She slammed the door closed.
Ranma sighed as best a cat could sigh slowly got up and padded over to where Shampoo was still holding her sword. He settled down beside her. When she still didn't respond he rubbed his head against her hand while purring up a storm. He was trying his best to make himself look as harmless as possible.
Eventually she calmed down enough to pat his head and scratch behind his ears, but she didn't let go of her sword.
Oh well a little bit of trust is better no trust at all.
Eventually they both fell asleep.
Authors notes:
Before you lynch me Ranma is a TSR were beast. It is an optional rule that lycanthropes do not all have to be vulnerable to silver. Ranma as with all were cheetah's will be vulnerable to jade/magic.
The thing that most people wanted when they wrote to me was formatting. I hope that this will make it easier to read. What I will be doing is going back through previous chapters to add this miraculous 'formatting' to them as well.
Did Nabiki fail her fort save? Well you'll just have to wait and find out.
Comments/complaints
nealharris@otakumail.com