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The Long and Winding Road.
Book 1: The Truth Behind the Neko-Ken
Chapter 5: Singing to the Cats tune.
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Disclaimer: All the characters used so far in this story do not belong to me. They are the property of their respective owners and I am only borrowing them for a short while (okay, so the short while is a lie since I don't know how long it'll take me to finish my planned storyline). In the future more characters will be introduced some who will be my own creation while others will belong to their respective creators.
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Alright, before I start this fanfic I'd like to answer a couple questions from your reviews.
From: Rubberneck
Nice take on the neko-ken. What made him berserk though? If the neko-ken wants to talk, and Ranma isn't dangerous, then what made him want to kill everyone?
A: Ranma didn't go berserk. What happened there is more related to the second question. Ranma didn't want to kill anyone. He was just after Ren to inflict some pain. I'm going to take an excerpt from the chapter 4 to show this point.
Ren turned back to the battle after hearing this and watched as Yoh was knocked into the wall again rendering him unconscious. When he looked at Ranma he saw that Ranma had his eyes closed and his face looked happy, exactly like a young child having fun at a park.
When Ranma was fighting with Yoh and Yohmei he was just enjoying himself, making it into a game by playing with Yohmei's shikigami and then Yoh himself. Ren however he was out to inflict pain on. Why Ranma was so violent towards Yoh will be answered in this chapter.
As for Why Ranma went "Berserk," he was under the influence of the neko-ken but that doesn't mean that the cat spirit was controlling him. The neko-ken only awakens a sleeping part of the mind that caused it to react as a cat would to his feelings. As I've heard said in many places, "If Neko-Ranma likes you then he can be the sweetest thing in the world, but if he hates you then you better watch your back."
Now since that question is answered, on with the story.
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The people in the Asakura estate were beginning their discussion as to what had happened that evening.
"I guess we will continue this later when Ranma is awake." As this was being said by Yohmei a fine mist began pouring out of Ranmas mouth as he continued to sleep. Since everyone was talking amongst themselves and Yohmei was beginning to exit the room, they didn't notice that the mist quickly took to the form of a large grey tiger with black stripes.
It only took about a time span of three seconds for the whole forming of the feline to finish and when it was, it spoke.
"That won't be necessary." After saying this the tiger watched with amusement plain on its face as Yohmei and everyone was looking around trying to figure out who'd of spoken. After a few seconds it felt the first set of eyes settle on it. When it looked at the person, the cat saw that it was a teenage boy who was no older then his new apprentice. It was also the one that was beaten into unconsciousness by the apprentice. When the cat met eyes with the black haired boy it had to blink from the sheer potential it was able to see in the boy's soul. 'I can't believe it. I was too busy working on my apprentice's body to notice before but here is another soul that has the potential of being a destined one.'
Before the spirit could further analyze the soul in front of him he was interrupted by the sounds of sounds of the old man stumbling backwards. The cat looked over at the old man seeing the shock in his eyes as he stared at him. The old man straightened himself from the ground and began walking back towards the table as its thoughts were interrupted again.
"Who are you?" The black haired boy asked him.
The grey tiger looked around at the varied emotions sported by the few faces staring at him. When he stopped looking around he locked his gaze on Yoh.
"I am the Neko-ken. Before you start asking though, I just want to say that the mentality of my trainees is what you witnessed whenever I choose to do some work on a soul." He watched with amusement as some worried looks were exchanged. "I know that you recognize me as a spirit, but I also detect confusion as to what type of spirit I am." He watched as everyone stared wide-eyed at him except for the black haired boy, who just nodded and gestured for him to continue.
"I am what you shamans would refer to as a high spirit. I have existed for over a millennia and am a direct creation of the Great Spirit itself."
The cat observed as everyone at the table suddenly turned as serious as the black haired boy and turned rapt attention to him. He chuckled to himself.
(A/N: for those of you who haven't figured it out the black haired boy is Yoh.)
"I'd like to ask you all. Have you ever heard the prophecy of the four avatars and Apocalypse?" As the feline asked this he looked around at the gathered people.
"Apocalypse is the name of a very powerful demon. The only being that was ever able to stand up to it was the Great Spirit itself. They fought against each other for well over a whole year before the Great Spirit managed to put it into a deep sleep." The cat looked at everyone's faces to see various degrees of interest from absolute attentive looks from the black haired boy and the old man, to bored looks from the short haired one who knocked Ranma into the pond and the tall man in white clothes.
"Now that was four thousand two hundred and twenty seven years ago. The Great Spirit knew that Apocalypse would awaken eventually so I was created to watch over human kind and prepare the destined avatars that would be born only years before his awakening." The cat spirit closed its eyes for a few seconds while gathering what it wanted to say next.
"I'm sorry to say this, but not even the destined Shaman King would be able to stand up to Apocalypse. He's just too powerful. However, the Great Spirit gave up the vast majority of his original powers to make it so that the four avatars, whose power will be greater than his own, would be born to take up the fight against Apocalypse when he awoke."
"Excuse me Mr….." Yoh began to say.
"Higure Tora." The cat answered.
"Yes, Higure Tora." Yoh continued. "You've mentioned these four avatars a few times now. I was wondering if each avatar would represent different things, or if they all represent the Great Spirits strength in some way."
Higure smiled to himself the best a tiger could. "You're right kid. In a way they all represent the both the Great Spirit, and different things at the same time. However, they don't represent the power directly but instead; each one represents one of four states of spirit and character. The first avatar, who is currently sleeping right behind me, is chaos. If you think about what he's told you of his life wouldn't you of originally called it hectic? Or even Sad? If you ask me, he has more of a chaotic quality to his life. Never knowing what is going to happen next and brings out unexpected things from the people around him. He has sometimes even brought around chaos himself though never with evil intent." Higure looked back over his shoulder at the still sleeping Ranma. "I'd have to say that his stay here has been the least chaotic time of his life, at least since his father used the wrong manual for my art."
"The wrong manual?" Was the response from the gathered group.
"Yes, originally there wasn't a manual for the art but some fool who didn't know what they were doing wrote one as a joke. So I had one of my best trained pupils at the time write a true manual for the Neko-ken. I just think it's too bad that it got burned in a fire that killed all of my pupils at the time." Higure turned back to the table.
"Anyways, back to your question about the avatars. The four avatars are split into two groups. The first group is to have a balance of Life and Death, which each of the avatars represent, and the second group has chaos and….." Higure closes his eyes apparently trying really hard to remember something. After a few seconds he finally spoke again. "Damn it, I can't remember what the other avatar is." The sounds of multiple face faults can be heard.
"Anyways, I'd prefer it if Ranma wasn't to learn of the prophecy for now. The thing is that it is destined that his wife and mate will be his partner avatar. From being with him, I learned that Ranma doesn't like having things decided for him." Yoh and Yohmei nodded in agreement. "I don't think he'd take it all very well and would drive to push against his destiny if he knew now. Besides I already told him in a little meeting of minds that he was just the person chosen to become the next true student of my art." Higure turned and looked at the calm expression on Ranma's face. "I just hope he doesn't take the events to come too hard. They may even tear apart his very being."
After this was said the room fell silent and everyone silently watched as the cat walked over to the curled up Ranma and laid down next to him. Everyone watched as the great cat spirit fell asleep laying against Ranma's back.
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Sounds. He was able to hear sounds hitting him from what seemed to be a short distance away, and through a door. The voices were laughing merrily. They were obviously enjoying themselves. They laughed as the sounds of feet were running throughout the room they were in. He closed his ears against the top of his head to block out the noise for a few precious seconds.
He then realized the slight pressure on his back. It felt warm, comfortable, and well, right. It felt like it was something that was missing from his life. He reveled in the warmth for a few seconds before he realized that it was extremely hairy.
He then proceeded to sniff the air a bit, trying to discern what the object was. He sniffed again when he realized that it had a smell that he didn't recognize. He opened his eyes for what seemed like his first time. He looked up at the sky seeing the moon and a few stars. He quickly turned his eyes from the sight when he realized just how much brighter they seemed then usual.
When this was done he finally chose to get out of his fetal position and get up into a sitting position. He stared out across the yard for a bit admiring the fact that it really didn't seem all that dark to him. After looking around for a bit his eyes caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his eyes and turned to see that it was a tail. Instinctively Ranma's left hand reached out behind him and started rubbing what was now apparently an animal to him. He kept rubbing its stomach eliciting some noises from the animal that Ranma had never of heard before. He smiled a bit when he felt that the noise the animal was making was causing its body to vibrate a little bit.
About that time Ranma felt the vibration of friction and heard the noise caused from the shogi door opening in the quiet of the evening. Ranma closed his eyes and smelled the air again. It was as clean as it was a few moments before. There was the sound of a few foot steps, followed by the sound of the door sliding shut again. Ranma decided to continue enjoying the silence for the moment instead of letting the person know that he knew about them.
"May I sit?"
Ranma turned his head up seeing that it was Yoh who was standing behind him. Ranma also took notice of all of the bandages and the sling Yoh was wearing on his left arm.
"I don't mind. It's your place after all." Ranma replied with a smile on his face.
"You just looked so at peace there, so I thought I'd see if you wanted to be left alone before I sat down."
"Don't worry. You look pretty bad there anyways."
Yoh chuckled at that, and watched as Ranma's new ears rose up on his head.
"What happened to you anyways?" Ranma asked while staring sidelong at Yoh's sling.
"You gave me a very good demonstration of the Neko-ken."
Ranma's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.
"Oh my god Yoh, I'm sorry about that. I can't control myself while I'm in the Neko-ken. Hell, I never even know what I do in it unless someone tells me." Ranma's face took on a serious look. "I will find a way someday though to control it, that I swear on my hon…" Ranma didn't get to finish his sentence since Yoh was now rolling on his back laughing like he heard the world's best joke. Ranma's ears flattened against the top of his head as he heard the fetal Yoh pound on the ground in his laughter. Ranma just stared in a way that said he was a tad more then slightly annoyed.
Ranma finally turned his head away from the laughing Yoh when he heard the shogi door slide open again. It was Anna now who stepped through the shogi door and shut it again. She walked to the other side of Ranma from where Yoh was still laughing and sat down.
"What's up with him?" She asked Ranma. She was wearing a disapproving look as she watched Yoh begin to calm down, though loud giggles were still escaping him.
"I found out how he got those injuries. When I apologized and swore that I'd find a way to control the Neko-ken one day he began laughing."
Anna looked from Yoh to Ranma and after a few seconds let out a small giggle, which she quickly silenced. "I believe I see what he found funny." She gave Ranma a small smile after saying this.
"Well?" Ranma returned only a little of his annoyance remaining.
"You're already on your road to recovery Ranma."
At this time Yoh was finished laughing and was lying on his back catching his breath. He raised his good arm into the air pointing his index fingers upwards.
"That (pant) you are. (pant)" Yoh spoke between deep breaths.
Ranma's look of annoyance returned. "If I may ask, how is beating the tar out of one of my only friends being on the road to recovery?"
Ranma turned back to Anna from Yoh and noticed that she was looking right behind Ranma. Ranma realized at that time that he was still petting the animal that was behind him. It took a few more seconds and a prompting from Anna to look for Ranma to realize what it was that was behind him.
Ranma developed a slight fear that he'd go into Neko-ken again if he turned to look. So Ranma did the one thing he could think to do. He locked up his body and stared straight ahead in the opposite direction of the beast. Anna giggled again lightly understanding his plight.
"It's okay Ranma. I can guarantee that you won't go into the Neko-ken and hurt us if you look. In fact…" Anna quickly took Ranma's hand and put it on the cat again. This made Ranma go even tenser, made his ears go up stiff and caused him to screw his eyes shut. After a good minute, which during that time Anna had to inquire Yoh's help to keep Ranma's hand on the cat, Ranma finally began to loosen up a bit and started to rub the cat again much to Anna and Yoh's relief.
"Ok, so obviously touching a cat doesn't send me into the Neko-ken anymore. I wonder why though."
Ranma turned his light rubs on the still sleeping cat into a belly scratch. This awoke said sleeping cat and it opened one eye to look at the hand that was giving the pleasant belly scratch. Higure followed the limb that the hand was attached to and finally took notice of who it belonged to. He heard Ranma make his comment about not being sent into the Neko-ken and decided to turn it into an opportunity to surprise the young man.
"You know Ranma, that feels great and all, but could you please scratch a little more to the left?" Higure watched in satisfaction as Ranma's relaxed cat ears suddenly stood tall and Ranma whipped around to stare directly at him.
As Ranma heard the new voice, only one thought was running through his head. 'That voice! There's no way." Ranma jerked his head to stare at the familiar looking feline, which was trying to hold in a roar of laughter. "How'd you get out of my head?" Ranma took notice of the Hirure's size. "After you answer that could you tell me why you aren't as huge as you were when I saw you in here?" Ranma said that while tapping the side of his head.
"I think I'll answer that question for you Ranma." Anna spoke up. This drew Ranma's attention from Higure to her. "As you know from your discussion with Himure in your noggin, which if I may add took place while you were decimating Yoh here."
"Hey!" Yoh shouted causing Ranma's ears to fold down on his head again, and eliciting a short chuckle from Anna.
"You have gone through a spirit merge with him. As you might have noticed," She quickly gave one of Ranma's ears a light flick, "your body has undergone a few little changes, namely the relocation and reshaping of your ears, a few stripes, and a tail." She counted these changes off on her fingers.
"I'd have to say that it's an interesting look you've got there" commented Yoh resulting in a Charlie horse on his injured shoulder, which earned itself two flinches of sympathy from Ranma and Higure.
"The second thing it resulted in is the answer to your second question." Anna continued ignoring the pained Yoh. "I'm sure that during your stay you've seen Yoh and Ren spar in the backyard." Ranma nodded. "Then you're familiar with oversouls?" Ranma nodded again. "Good. Now you've probably seen how the shoulder guard that materializes around Yoh's right shoulder is actually able to block Ren's pike right?" Yet another nod came from Ranma. "Higure's body is the result of something very similar. He's taping a very small amount of your shared mana reserves to produce a body for himself from it. It is as solid as a living tiger of his size would be. This however doesn't put a drain on your mana because his body isn't constantly being disrupted and changed. It only drains your mana whenever you've got to restore his body. The thing that escapes me though is how he's managed to produce himself without using a focus medium like Amidamaru's sword the Harusame." She turned her attention to Higure. "Care to answer that hairball?"
Gulp "Hehe, no thank you." Higure started trying to hide from her gaze behind Ranma's back, and failing miserably. This only annoyed Anna more.
Ranma let out a short laugh which caught the other three off guard. Yohmei watched his friend laugh before it finally kicked in and he let loose a laugh of his own.
Anna was a bit confused for a few more seconds before she remembered the mission she'd of set out for herself.
"Well if you two hyenas need Higure or myself," Anna said this as she grabbed Higure around the neck and started dragging the struggling feline across the yard. "We will be over here having a little chat." That line turned up the levels on Ranma and Yoh's laugh meters from gentle to rip-roaring and burst your side laughing.
Higure was struggling against Anna's hold the best he could, but he couldn't get a good grip since he wasn't able to touch the ground with his front claws. After another few minutes of struggling he finally gave up to the inevitable drag.
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Just inside the Shogi door Yohmei decided that things were going well enough outside. With a final look over his shoulder at the door he stood up and began walking for his bedroom to turn in for the night. As Yohmei was walking away his face turned serious.
"I think I will start the preparations tomorrow." He said only to himself.
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The next morning all was as was now taken as usual at the Asakura estate. Ranma and Yoh were sitting next to each other (Ranma being finished his breakfast of course) and talking about the latest martial arts tournament they saw on television. They were also comparing the styles used, and Ranma was talking about how he could take anything he watched and incorporate it into his style. Anna and Yoh's mother were sitting next to each other eating quietly. The sewing set next to her was the only unusual thing standing out there. And last but not least, Yohmei sat at the head of the table wrapping up his meal. Once he was finished he stood and walked towards the door. When he got there he stopped and turned to look towards the table while putting on his outdoor footwear.
"I'm going out for a while everyone. I have some business downtown to take care of. Don't worry about making lunch for me. I will probably be gone for most of the day." After saying this Yohmei turned again and left through the front door.
Shortly after Yohmei left Anna and Yoh's mother got up and began walking towards the door as Yohmei had done. As they were walking out the door, Anna turned and addressed the remaining two at the table.
"If you two can I'd like you to take care of the dishes from breakfast while we're out. When we get back I'll be fixing your ripped shirt Ranma."
"Arigato."
"Well anyways, I'd also like to get my hand on those five other shirts…"
"Six." Ranma interrupted.
"Ok, six other identical shirts you have so I can make some modifications to them."
"If I may ask, why do my clothes need to be modified?" Ranma asked.
Anna breathed a deep sigh. "I think that hoods on your shirt will be a necessity now Ranma." When she saw Ranma's slightly confused face she continued. "Think about it. How would the public react to seeing a teenage boy walk around the shopping district when he has cat ears and a tail flopping around?" She waited a few seconds for realization to dawn on Ranma. "In that case I'll need to see all of your pants too eventually so I can add some tail holes like you have in the ones you're wearing now."
Ranma took a quick look over his shoulder at his tail that was lying on the ground behind him. "Maybe that would be a good idea."
"Anyways we'll be going now to get some groceries and the required fabrics so we'll see you by noon." With that they disappeared through the front door and were gone.
Yoh quickly finished up his meal then walked his dishes into the kitchen since Ranma was already there with the rest of them.
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End Chapter 5
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AN: Sorry this took too long. Father can be a pain more often then I'd like him to be. To think of the nerve of him though. Here's a direct phrase he used when telling me that he didn't want me to go on my computer for a while.
"It is time for you to quit acting like a 12 year old child. You should start acting like the 20 year old man you are."
Steam blows out of ears
He doesn't think that playing video games, reading/writing fanfiction, or spending time doing random things on your computer is behavior typical of an adult.
More steam blows out
Anyways, sorry bout the ranting. On top of this, I'm still battling it out with my case of writers block. The next chapter should be up within the next week but please don't hold it against me if it's a little late. I have to catch up to my quota of being a chapter ahead of what I post, so after this chapter is posted I will be starting then on chapter six and that one won't be posted till I'm finished the chapter after.
Before I sign off, I'd just like to thank my reviewers. If I didn't see those reviews I don't know just how enthusiastic I'd be about writing this story.
Until next time.
