Author's Notes: Well I've gotten a couple of review about all of this, which is pretty cool. Thanks to all of you that have reviewed this so far, and as for the rest of you I would love to hear your opinions about my work.
Disclaimer-No I do not own Ranma or any of the other mangas created by Rumiko Takahashi.
Chapter 2-An odd cure indeed
He noticed that everyone was staring at him, eyes wide in shock. "....What?" Only then did he notice that Amy had pulled the head covering off of his cloak while he was busy dodging Akane. "Sorry about this Kaigen but they were going to see how you looked eventually. We may as well get it out of the way right now." Everyone in the room seemed locked into shock for a minute. Then Kasumi broke the silence by summing up what everyone else had on their mind into two words.
"Oh my."
Kaigen grumbled and didn't argue with Amy. "Fine, you win." He tugged the cloak off and stretched, actually rather glad to be free of the restrictive cloth.
Now that the cloth was free Akane and the other got a better look at what they were dealing with. He stood about 5'3" and had a lean build which actually made him look a lot like Ranma. They even had similar taste in clothing, except for the fact that Kaigen wore a blue t-shirt instead of the pressed shirt that Ranma always wore. They both wore the same brand of pants though. That wasn't what had put everyone in shock though. It was his head that had done it. The first odd thing about him was that he had silver-white hair that seemed like it had been recently cut very short. The second and by far most noticeable one was that he didn't have any ears on the sides of his head. Instead he had a pair of pointy silver-furred dog ears at the very top of his skull.
Finally everyone around him exploded into action. Nabiki and Kasumi both were moved back, while Ranma, Genma, Soun, and Akane took up fighting stances in front of him.
"Foul Demon, leave this place!" Soun leaped forward and threw a punch which Kaigen easily caught in his palm.
"I'm not a demon. I'm not a monster. I'm a human being." He said it with such finality and exasperation in his voice that everyone had a hard time finding reasons to argue with him about it.
"Yeah, Kaigen's not a demon!" Amy was sitting next to him, resting her elbow on his shoulder and using him for a support. "In all truth he's my dog." Kaigen face-fell and nearly threw her forward with him. He recovered quickly from it though and growled at her.
"I'm not your pet Amy! That was only when we first met and since then wouldn't you say that time has changed the circumstances of our relationship?"
Ranma crouched down in front of Kaigen, studied him astutely, and then shrugged. "You've got some weird taste in guys Amy." Kaigen glared at him and snarled, revealing his elongated canine teeth. Ranma wisely slid back from him.
Akane slipped past him though and poked Kaigen's ears. "So are these things real?" Nabiki slide past her and poked the other one. Each ear twitched in response to the poking.
Kaigen sighed and mentally counted down the inevitable. ("5...4...3...2...1...And they're off.") Surely enough as soon as he finished counting the two girls started rubbing their respective ear. ("Alright Kaigen, time to show Amy that you gained some control over yourself.") He put every bit of willpower that he had into not blushing or appearing to enjoy the ear rubs. ("It's working! I...can....") He fell face-first past them and banged his head into the table, snoring contently.
Amy ignored everyone's questioning stares. "Don't mind him. Looks like the ear rub relaxed him enough for the long day to catch up with him. Would someone help me get him to a room?" Ranma nodded and helped her carry him up to the guest room Ranma and Genma had been using. They set up an extra futon and dropped him in it, before heading back downstairs.
----------------------------------------------
When they arrived Amy noted that everyone had appeared to have calmed down from their initial reactions to Kaigen's appearance. In fact they almost seemed like nothing special had ever happened today. "Wow, this family sure had some amazing recovery time when weird stuff happens."
"It comes from a lot of practice," Ranma said simply before taking a seat at the table. Everyone was listening in from their respective seats as Amy started talking. "First off, Kaigen is not a monster, a demon, etc. He is and will always be a human being."
"Then how do you explain the ears?" Nabiki's question was a bit smug.
Amy ignored the smugness she had heard in the girl's voice and took a deep breath. "Well it came about when he came to this accursed training ground in...."
"Jusenkyo right?" Ranma had cut her off mid-sentence. When she nodded everyone seemed to lose a little interest.
"You people know about Jusenkyo?" Amy was starting to see just how odd this family could be.
"You don't know the half of it," Ranma grumbled. "Let's just say that Jusenkyo and its curses are no mystery to the Saotome family." He glared over his father Genma, who ignored him.
"I guess that makes it easier to explain then. Well first off let me tell you that Kaigen is no longer a Jusenkyo cursed anymore." She screamed as Ranma practically tackled her.
"You mean he found a cure!?!?!?" When she nodded he shot past her and ran upstairs. There were sounds of a scuffle and then they could hear shouting.
"Where's the cure!?"
"What cure!?"
"Don't you dare play dumb with me Kaigen just give it here!"
"What are you talking about!?"
"The cure that fixed your Jusenkyo curse!"
"I'm sorry Ranma but I can't give it to you."
"Holding out on me eh? Alright, you asked for it!!!"
The sounds of the scuffle got louder and louder.
"That's my tail you jerk!"
"Serves you right for turning down the needy!"
"Who's needy!? You're certainly not!"
"Shaddup!"
The sounds of the scuffle stopped and then everyone could hear running noises from upstairs. Seconds later Kaigen practically leapt down the stairs, across the table and then turned to face-off against Ranma, who was less than a second behind him. "What in the hell is your problem Ranma!? I told you that I can't give you the curse, isn't that enough?"
"Nope!" Ranma caught Kaigen in a flying tackle and the two rolled outside into the yard. Kaigen kicked out with his foot and caught Ranma in the ribs, forcing him to back up a little.
"Fine then Ranma, if that's the way you want to play this little game!" He lifted his hands and for the first time Ranma noticed the claws he had on each finger. They were all glowing bright blue. "Try this little technique! Claws of the..." He lunged, only to get hit in the side of the head by Amy's baseball bat on the way down. His momentum changed and suddenly he was flying off into the distance.
Akane stared at Amy for a moment, and then she glared angrily at Ranma. "You....you...." Ranma turned to run, but unfortunately he hadn't expected Amy to be the one to attack him first with her baseball bat or that Akane would do the follow-up attack with her mallet.
"RANMA NO BAKA!" The cry went out in stereo.
THUDTHUD
And shortly thereafter anyone who was outside of their house watched Ranma Saotome make another one of his unexpected trips into the stratosphere.
An hour later both Ranma and Kaigen sat next to each other in the park. Neither of them looked very healthy at the moment.
"She hit you too huh?" Kaigen wasn't really surprised. Amy was oddly protective of him. ("That doesn't explain why she hit me though.")
"Actually they both did." Ranma carefully avoided touching the bruise he had on his cheek too hard. "What's with the two of them anyway?"
"No idea. I stopped trying to figure out what goes on in Amy's head a long time ago. By the way, why aren't you trying to kill me for the cure anymore?"
Ranma shrugged. "I've got a feeling about the nature of the cure. You fell in the spring of drowned dog right?" Kaigen winced at the memory but nodded.
"Something like that...." He really didn't feel like explaining how he had gotten his curse right now.
"Therefore that cure turned you into a mix of your cursed self and your normal self?"
Kaigen nodded again.
Ranma sighed angrily and put his head in his hands. "It won't work with me. My curse is from the spring of drowned girl."
Kaigen smirked slightly and tapped his nose. "That's why I said I couldn't give it to you. I could smell the female scent that was lingering on you. Considering how distant you and Akane seemed to be I assumed it wasn't hers." His face came in close to Ranma's and he smiled slyly. "Or am I wrong about that?"
Ranma blushed brightly and yelled back, "I could ask the same about you and Amy!!!"
Kaigen blushed just as bright and in unison the two looked away from each other.
Silence reigned around them for another ten minutes before Ranma broke it by saying, "Why don't we be friends?" He extended his hand to Kaigen's.
Kaigen smiled and shook Ranma's hand happily. "Good idea. I have a feeling like I am going to need you as a guide to some of the crazy stuff that happens around here."
And so for the next couple of hours the two boys shared their respective histories with each other, and everyone passing by them in the park could see that both of them were having quite a fun time recalling their memories, both good and bad.
To be continued...
Next Chapter: Surviving Furinkan
