Thunder Rumbles Disclaimer: Characters and setting are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, I'm just borrowing them for a little non-profit fun.

Thanks to everyone who sent feedback, Wonderbee31, Wharpt, Tai Khan, Katie, obsidian-fox, powellt, glazedlookineyes101.

Upperclassman Kuno Tatewaki, age seventeen, the self-proclaimed Blue Thunder of Furinkin High patrolled the boundaries of his secondary domain awaiting the arrival of his goddesses; the beauteous Tendo Akane and the alluring Pigtailed girl or that of his sworn rival the vile sorcerer Saotome.

His patience was rewarded when, just minutes before the final bell was to ring, Saotome and Akane arrived at a dead run. "Saotome, I demand you release…"

Kuno frowned in irritation as he swung his sword to ward off Ranma's attack; it really was rude for Saotome to begin the fight before he'd finished delivering his challenge.

The foul sorcerer melted around his righteous blade in a way foreign to any natural being, a clear demonstration of his use of the dark arts. Then Saotome stopped and stood his ground. Kuno set himself to deliver a devastating blow. Saotome met it with a shout and a fist. A sound like a shot range out across the schoolyard as Kuno's bokken broke in two.

"I know you're dense, Kuno, but get this through your head! They don't like you! Saotome hissed. He punctuated his declaration with strikes at Kuno's nerve clusters, not a knock out blow but one intended to cause pain. "They hate you. They would never willingly be with you. The pig-tailed girl would rather be dead than ever let you touch her!"

Kuno found himself forced onto the defensive. He fell back with every step as he tried to use the broken hilt of his blade to block the precisely targeted blows raining down on him.

"Ranma, stop it!" Akane yelled. The raven-haired girl had watched the progression of the fight with a growing sense of dread. Every blow Ranma launched gained in power but he wasn't trying to end the fight. A sick feeling built in the pit of her stomach. Ranma, her Ranma, came alive during his duels. Kuno generally got swatted like an insect. Today Ranma's face was closed; a barely restrained rage glowed in his eyes as he methodically tore the older boy apart.

"They've had it with you. You're sick. You're disgusting. You're insane. I'm not playing anymore. Stay away. Stay away from them!" Ranma's threats were delivered in a tightly controlled voice.

A stunted sense of self-preservation struggled to the forefront of Kuno's mind. The upperclassman found himself trying to duplicate Ranma's typical evasive moves. A burst of adrenalin gave him the speed he needed to twist to the side and a kick that would have shattered his ribs slipped past him to knock a water fountain from its moorings.

A spray of cold water erupted into the air. Kuno's new found connection with reality died a sudden death as Saotome melted away and left him face to face with his Pig-tailed Girl.

Kuno stared at her for a moment. She had cut her hair; the extreme short hairstyle emphasized her large, injured blue eyes and left her looking fey and fragile. The palpable air of terror hanging around her held Kuno frozen for a second then he enfolded her in a comforting embrace.

The entire population of Furinkan High shivered at the wounded shriek that rent the air. The inhuman sound startled Kuno enough to step back and thus saved is life as four parallel gashes opened up across his chest.

He watched in a hazy cloud of shock as his Pig-tailed Girl crouched on all fours as she hissed and spit at him like an angry cat.

"Happo Fifty Yen Attack!" A childish voice piped.

Nabiki stood just within the shelter of the school doors and waited for the inevitable confrontation. She preferred the view from the upper story windows but after witnessing Ranma's off-kilter behavior since Sunday morning she felt the need to position herself to take an active roll if necessary. Ranma wasn't predictable anymore, that realization coming on top of the nightmare-inducing scene at the park left Nabiki feeling very edgy and wanting to exert her power to control things.

The middle Tendo daughter watched as Ranma, in his male form, treated Kuno like a potential threat rather than an annoyance. She watched an apparently baseless fury rise in Ranma as he tried to break through the kendoist's delusions and dissuade him from pursuing Akane and his female form. She watched as the water pipe burst and turned the enraged boy into a frightened girl.

Nabiki felt her heart skip a beat when Ranma screamed in response to Kuno's touch. He sounded more like a mountain lion than a human being. When Ranma's Nekoken claws drew blood rather than shredding clothing Nabiki's mind flashed back to the blood soaked ground in the park and dismember bodies.

"Ranma can't go cat like that!" Nabiki exclaimed. "Not that easily, not without a single feline in sight." She'd never been more relieved than when she saw Miss Hinako step through the gates and pull a fifty-yen piece out of her pocket. The Nekoken was a lot more than Nabiki was ready to mess with.

While Miss Hinako adjusted her clothes to accommodate her suddenly fully developed form and Ranma-chan scrambled into Akane's lap, Nabiki pulled Kuno to his feet and started leading the bleeding kendoist toward the nurse's office. "You ever heard 'discretion is the better part of valor', Kuno-baby?" Nabiki heard herself babble then she bit back an uncharacteristic urge to giggle hysterically. "No, I can't imagine that you have."

For his part Kuno was silent. He raised a hand to tentatively touch the deep gashes across his chest, apparently incapable of rationalizing away the fact that his beloved 'Pig-tail Girl' had attacked him with deadly intent.

Nabiki left the stunned samurai-wannbe in the school nurse's care. Then she sought out one of her many debtors. "Tanaka, I know you're just dying to do me a favor." Nabiki began. "And, lucky for you, you have some information I want, or more precisely, your dad does."

Akane blushed a fiery red as ninety-five pounds of crazed fiancé crashed into her. As much as she wanted proof that Ranma cared for her, she didn't want it like this. She didn't want him making public displays of affection; not in front of the whole school, certainly not when he thought he was a cat, absolutely not when her fiancé was a disgustingly cute and well-endowed girl.

As normal, what Akane wanted didn't matter. Ranma was in her lap, shamelessly pressing up against her… Akane was half a second away from punching the feline-minded boy turned girl into a low earth orbital when she realized the sound coming from her fiancé wasn't purring, it was a distressed mewling.

Ranma pushed his, currently her, head under Akane's chin. In his female-form Ranma was notably smaller than Akane. Lost in the madness of the Nekoken the slight body was capable of more contortions than a yoga-practitioner. He, she, fitted her entire body into Akane's lap, pleading for attention, for comfort.

Akane's building anger deflated like a punctured balloon. Ever since finding Ranma's severed braid in the trash Akane had been filled with a deep sense of uneasiness and guilt. Something was horribly wrong with her fiancé, something much more serious than the fading bruises around his wrists and throat. Watching Ranma over the last twenty-four hours was like being given pieces of a puzzle. They were doled out one by one and nothing connected yet, but the hints were forming a picture in Akane's mind that disturbed her in a way she wasn't ready to examine.

The disconcerting hows and whys and whens, oh the whens were the worst part of it, but they weren't hard to set aside in the face of Neko-Ranma's immediate and obvious distress. Akane's anger was diffused and she pushed aside her embarrassment; Ranma was in some sort of pain, dealing with that came first.

Akane wrapped her arms tightly around the girl in her lap. Slowly she began to rock back and forth as she hummed a lullaby she remembered her mother singing.

It was the ugliest thing Ryoga had ever seen. It was flat black, heavy and cold in his hands. It had been designed for only one purpose and it was brutally efficient. There was nothing of the art in this thing, even thinking about using it felt like a betrayal of both himself and every opponent he'd ever faced.

Still there was one picture Ryoga couldn't get out of his mind…

Ryoga wandered down the deserted street as he wondered which city, which country, he was currently in. The last time he'd asked for directions to Nerima they'd been given in what he thought might have been Russian. That had been so disheartening he hadn't even tried to learn where he'd wandered for the next two weeks.

Wherever he was, it was getting late and he needed to set up camp. That in mind, Ryoga turned into the first park he came across. He found an out of the way spot then started a fire, set a kettle of water to boil and erected his tent.

He'd just about finished when a shout of anger, disbelief and outrage broke the peace of the night.

A Hibiki never went anywhere without the basic necessities. In this season of bitter cold and frequent, icy rains having a tent to take shelter in could mean the difference between living and dying. The night air was already cold enough that being doused with water could easily turn into a serious problem. Ryoga wished he'd undergone the same sort of speed training Ranma had as he broke down his gear and stuffed it back in his pack.

Shock and extreme pain under-laid the anger in the second shriek. The sound cut off abruptly and the awful silence that followed was worse than the scream. Since being cursed Ryoga couldn't count the number of nights he'd spent in his cursed form, curled up in his pack with a chemical hot pack, one more night like that wouldn't hurt. Ryoga slung his his half-empty pack over his shoulder and started running in the direction he thought the scream had come from.

The third scream was inhuman, the sound made the hair on the back of Ryoga's neck stand on end. He corrected his orientation and redoubled his pace.

Several minutes later Ryoga broke into a small clearing, what he saw shocked him to the core: Ranma-chan crouched in the moonlit glade. The powder blue Chinese shirt she wore was barely long enough to be considered descent. Her pale skin glowed in the moonlight; it turned her red hair and lips black. The moonlight made the blood look black as well. With a delicate precision that was both utterly inhuman and completely matter of a fact the girl licked the blood from her hands and arms.

Ranma paused; she raised her head and their eyes met across the glade. In those flat, blue eyes Ryoga saw every predator that had ever tried to make a meal of him. The lost boy broke and ran.

Ryoga's mouth thinned into a determined line. Ranma had gone insane. Ranma had killed someone. Minutes after the fact, still covered in his victim's blood, Ranma's eyes had been completely empty of both guilt and remorse. Those eyes had no trace of humanity in them and they'd touched off a primal terror in the depths of Ryoga's being. Ryoga had been defeated by Ranma dozens of times in the past. He'd threatened to kill Ranma on a regular basis. He'd never been afraid of Ranma before that night.

The gun felt awkward in his hands. It felt wrong, but the creature he'd seen that night was dangerous and it lived with Akane. That thing had all of Ranma's power but it didn't have his restraints.

Ryoga sighed. "I'll take it." The pawnshop owner babbled something in a foreign language. Ryoga dug a small pouch out of his pack and shook out an uncut diamond he'd picked up somewhere. The storekeeper smiled, nodded and handed the gun to Ryoga then showed him how to load it.

Tendo Soun watched his future son-in-law from behind his newspaper and tried not to sigh.

Two days ago his little girl came home from school at noon with Ranma. Apparently the boy had slipped into the Nekoken state during a fight at school. Ranma had injured his opponent badly enough to necessitate stitches and it had taken Akane hours to bring Ranma out of the cat-state. Worst of all both Nabiki and Akane agreed that the only feline involved in the incident was Ranma himself.

For that reason they'd all decided it would be best if Ranma didn't go back to school until this newest wrinkle in Ranma's life was fully understood. Ranma himself had been opposed it but he'd relaxed once it was decided that Akane should also stay home in case he went cat again. Oddly enough Ranma had asked Ukyo to walk to and from school with Nabiki. Since it was a favor for her Ranchan, Ukyo had agreed in a heartbeat.

Soun superstitiously stole another worried glance at the dark haired boy. Ranma was his old friend Genma's son, a brilliant martial artist, an honorable and warm-hearted young man, but Soun was seriously thinking about reconsidering the engagement. The chaos surrounding Ranma and the other girls would undoubtedly disappeared once the marriage was preformed. Akane and Ranma's fighting didn't hide the honest affection between them. The curse… The curse had bothered Soun when Genma had first told him about it, but that had changed when a giant panda had leapt out of the Tendo's Koi pond and assumed a stance Soun knew almost as well as his own preferred beginning stance. The brief clash between father and son had let Soun see his best friend's spirit inside the panda's body. After that the curse hadn't been that much of an issue.

What worried Soun was the Nekoken.

"A true Martial Artist should be willing to sacrifice their life for their art." He'd said it himself more than once; it was just that Genma seemed much more willing to put that motto to the test with regards to their children. Ranma had sacrificed friendships for a life on the road. He'd lost his mother to the seppuku pledge, a part of his identity to Jusenkyo and a part of his sanity to the Nekoken training.

It hadn't seemed so bad before. They knew what triggered the Nekoken, Ranma snapped right out of it and most importantly Akane could control him when he thought he was a cat. Soun had his doubts even then. Risks and sacrifices for the art aside, Soun wasn't so sure about having his little girl marry a boy who was somewhat insane. His doubts hadn't been strong enough to overcome his reluctance to criticize his best friend's parenting methods. Genma's mistake had been an honest one after all. However, Ranma's last descent into the Nekoken madness had invalidated the first two premises that Soun drew reassurance from. What if the third fell as well? What if Akane suddenly lost her ability to control Ranma's cat-persona?

A loud crash broke Soun out of his thoughts. Ranma dashed upstairs. There were several more crashes and a number of black rose petals drifted down the stairs.

Soun picked up one of the petals then relaxed; it was only Kodachi. The Kuno siblings were the only people who could pursue a romantic relationship with Ranma without sending Akane into a fit of jealous rage. Even she didn't seriously believe Ranma had any interest in the insane gymnast.

A trail of rose petals marked her path. Her gardens were immaculate. Her pet alligator was well fed. There wasn't a gymnastic match any time soon. Her father was out of town. Her brother's fixation on Tendo Akane and that wretched Pig-tailed Girl was boring… It was definitely time to go visit her darling Ranma. Kuno Kodachi, the Black Rose, threw back her head and laughed in delight. Everyone in earshot cringed.

Kodachi slipped through an open window on the second story of the Tendo home and found herself in the family bathroom. Naturally the furo was in use. Akane stood up with a dark scowl on her face. The gymnast's ribbon lashed out at Akane. The shorthaired girl ducked then threw a shampoo bottle at Kodachi.

A moment later Ranma burst threw the door. His battle aura was already glowing brightly.

"Ranma!" Akane shrieked in outrage.

"Ranma-darling!" Kodachi exclaimed as she threw herself at the boy.

Ranma grabbed Kodachi's wrist then twisted her arm behind her back and marched her out of the bathroom.

Akane blinked in disbelief. She pulled on her robe and followed them.

Kodachi did her best to snuggle up to Ranma. "Mmmm, Ranma are we going to your room?"

"I'm taking you home."

"What!!!"

"Oh yes, my room. A much better choice."

"I'm walking her home, either that or I'm calling Kuno and he can walk her home." Ranma stated.

Nabiki stuck her head out of her room. "This could be fun. I'll ring Kuno-baby."

"There's no need for these games Ranma-darling. If you wish to spend time with me all you have to do is ask." Kodachi leaned backward to flutter her eyelashes at Ranma.

"Just toss her out like always." Akane snarled.

"No." Ranma stated.

"You have no say peasant."

Akane saw red. The next thing anyone knew Kodachi was sprawled on the floor and Ranma was holding Akane's fist. His eyes were wide and ringed with white. "I'm not letting ya send me flying, Akane, not anymore." Ranma stated. "And I'm not letting her walk home on her own."

Nabiki grabbed Akane's arm and pulled her close. "You want to figure out what's going on with Ranma, play along." Nabiki hissed in her sister's ear. Then, more loudly, she said, "I'll call Kuno, it's not worth fussing over."

"Fine." Akane snatched up Kodachi's ribbon and used it to bind the Black Rose's wrists behind her back.

"Unhand me you wretched girl!" Akane watched the gymnast squirm with satisfaction.

Twenty uncomfortable minutes later Kuno announced his arrival. "Saotome, what have you done with my sister? And why do I have to take her back? Ah, Tendo Akane, your beauty illuminates this hovel."

Ranma shoved Kodachi at her brother. "Take her home Kuno and keep her from running around at night."

"I have no control over my twisted sister."

"Ranma-darling, I can take care of myself."

Ranma spun Kodachi into a wall and held her there, her feet dangling a few inches off the floor. "Do ya think you're better than me?" Ranma blanched as he realized what he'd said. He released Kodachi and turned to Kuno. "Who's the better fighter? Kodachi or Ranko, the Pig-tailed Girl, I mean."

"The vivacious Pig-tailed Girl is an exceptional martial artist." Kuno admitted.

"Then figure out how to keep Kodachi home."

It felt surreal. Akane watched the interplay between Ranma and the Kunos with a feeling of disconnection. It was as if Ranma were speaking in some sort of code and she didn't have the key to decrypt it.

What did Ranma's martial arts capabilities have to do with Kodachi walking home alone at night? She could almost understand referring to his female-form as the Pig-tailed Girl to illustrate a point for the Kunos but what point had been made? And why had he called his girl-form Ranko? Kuno and his sister had never heard that name for Ranma-chan before; that was the name they'd given to his mother, not the Kunos.

The one thing that Akane could see was that this all meant something to Nabiki. Ranma may have left her out of the loop, but not her sister. Akane's temper started rising, it wouldn't be the first time they'd ganged up on her either. However Nabiki was the one person on the planet whom Akane automatically assumed to be more culpable than Ranma in any given situation involving the two of them.

After the Kunos left Akane followed Nabiki up to her room. "What is going on around here?" She demanded.

Nabiki's habitual superior smirk looked forced. "Little Sis, you know that while I might sell partial information, I don't do it until I know the whole story. I have a theory and some supporting evidence; unlike some, I know the difference between theory and fact."

"I'm your sister, he's my fiancé. Tell me what's going on!"

"No, both you and Daddy fly off the handle too easily."

"What's that pervert done now? Tell me Nabiki."

"You just made my point for me." Nabiki replied.

Akane turned and stomped out of Nabiki's room. Her hand was on the doorknob when Nabiki's quiet voice brought her to a stop. "Little Sis…" Nabiki paused then sighed. "I… I think it'd be smart to treat Ranma like a grenade with a missing pin for while."