Chapter 1 -- Change

Disclaimer: See previous disclaimer.

A young redhead awoke to a bucket of water.

"Get up boy. Its time for training."

Neko was annoyed and wet. She swatted the bucket back at the annoying one and then tried to shake the water from her fur but it didn't seem to work right.

She dodged the annoying one's attempt at a punch and proceeded to sniff the air.

Genma's highly trained self preservation instinct recognized the nekoken and decided training could wait. Ranma may have exceeded him in almost every way as a martial artist, but Genma's self preservation instinct was unmatched.

Neko smelled something good. She proceeded to walk on all fours into the living room and then jumped up on the table and began to eat the food Kasumi had just set down just like a cat.

Nabiki walked in. "Uh oh.. He's still a cat."

"Oh my."

Soun looked in, toothbrush still in hand. "Now the houses will never be joined." Some toothpaste fell on his nightshirt.

Enaka walked in, still sweaty from her morning job. "What did the baka do now?"

Genma who had just finished drying off and incidently avoiding his nekofied son tried to steal, err get some breakfast. Neko hissed at him and swatted him out to the koi pond, incidently slicing three strips out of his gi. This just goes to show that his gluttony may exceed his self preservation instincts.

Nabiki asked, "Ok, where did he manage to run into another cat?"

Genma, in panda form, stumbled back in dripping water all over the floor. After a moment he raised a sign saying, "Um he didn't. He just woke up like that." Genma was really getting worried. If Nodoka found her son like this, he could be killed. The he that Genma was thinking about was of course himself.

Soun said, "Perhaps we should call Doctor Tofu."

"I'll do it." said the cheery voice of Kasumi.

The middle Tendo spoke up. "Let me sis. I'm closer to the phone. Perhaps you should go to the market and get some fresh fish."

"Oh ok."

Dr. Tofu arrived about ten minutes after Nabiki called. He examined Neko Ranma as best he could without waking her up from her nap in the sun.

"Well her aura shows signs of some kind of chemical or perhaps magical compulsion, but that is fading now and shouldn't really be affecting him anymore, at least not to this extent. No what is strange is the areas that control conscious thought and intellect. Very little is showing there. It is as if he is stuck in his Neko state. I really have no idea how to treat this. The best I can suggest for now is to treat him like the cat he thinks he is and hope it wears off."

"Thanks doc." commented Nabiki.

"Stupid baka. What have you gotten yourself involved in now?"

"Now the houses will never be joined."

"Growf"

A dim shadow moved in the corner of the Tendo home and swept out into the street slowly fading back into a tall chinese boy wrapped in dark robes. Mouse really hated using this technique. It was dangerous. If Cologne ever learned that he knew a technique this useful and moreover had promised never to teach it to an amazon woman he would be in for some real pain. What was worse, is while it used much of the same training as hidden weapons did, it was impossible to hide any weapons while using it, well other than the ordinary ways. Only a single pair of swords just did not seem enough. Still for all his dislike of the technique, it was truly amazing. Hidden weapons worked by using ones chi to fold the space around weapons or other items, effectively reducing what he had to carry to a handle, or the opening of a bag. This technique folded the space around himself. It was much harder to accomplish in practice since the space folding had to change continuously as you walked, and the skill itself made it impossible to see where you were going unless you left your head exposed. Of course in his own case his vision was so poor that suddenly not being able to see, was no great loss. His ki sight was enough and far better than anyone except his master knew.

He pondered what to do about Saotome's new condition. It was important that Shampoo and Cologne not find out. After all they only really wanted Ranma for breeding stock, and its quite possible Cologne might come up with a way to control the cat, at least well enough to serve her purpose. Besides despite outside appearances, he liked Ranma and really didn't want to see him broken to Amazon standards. It was ironic that only by acting the fool had Mouse gained as much freedom as he had. He just wished Shampoo would grow up. Acting the fool really got old, but the only way to stay close to her was to be the fool, well either that or to beat her in a formal challenge. The second would be simple enough, but going back to take his place as a proper Amazon male, just wasn't in his plans.

He dimly noted Akane passing where he was hiding in his pocket of folded space up in a tree. He briefly wondered where she was going, but then realized it didn't matter. It was enough that she was gone. Oh well it was time to get caught.

Akane was seriously beginning to wonder about her plan. Sure Ranma could sort of sense the real her like this, but he had the mind of a cat right now. Still she was desperate. Now she was desperate, weak, and feeling very guilty. What if he never came out of it? Then he would be stuck in the same state as she was.
Mouse moved near the entrance to the Tendo home and waited patiently from hiding. Sure enough in a few minutes Nabiki came out and started heading for the gates. After making sure no one would see him appear, he appeared and glomped onto Nabiki from behind.

"Shampoo! My Love."

"You stupid fool. What the heck are you doing here? Did you decide to finish off Ranma while you had the chance?"

Their were times Mouse enjoyed his role a bit too much. What was really creepy is Happosai knew and only grinned at him a time or two. "Your not Shampoo. Shampoo where are you? I have to find her and keep her away from Ranma. Once Cologne finds out.."

"Finds out what Mousse?"

"Nothing.."

"If you don't want Shampoo to find out that you just felt me up, you'd better start talking."

"Ah, um... well you see the magic Shampoo used on Ranma seems to have not worked correctly. I think Kodachi may have got to him too somehow, so maybe that explains it. At any rate since their is no cure and he's stuck in the nekoken with the mind of a cat.."

"Continue.."

"Cologne let Ranma think that the Nekoken was a trump card, but in reality it is an insane weakness since its incredibly easy to control the mind of a cat unlike a human that will actively resist such controls. Its not as if he needs to think to serve her goals.."

"Your not as stupid as you let on, are you?"

Mouse sweated. He had gotten so focused on leading her down a path he had forgot to act the idiot. "I don't know what your talking about."

"Don't worry Mousse. You just go get what I want and I'll forget to mention to Cologne that you have been deceiving her. Just go get me..."

Mousse smirked inwardly. While it was true that having Cologne find out would be bad, Nabiki was buying it all. He mentally reviewed the things she wanted. They would be easy enough to obtain. "Sure I'll have it here in a couple hours."

"You do that. I'll be waiting."

Nabiki went to her room and called Dr. Tofu on her cell phone. "Dr. Tofu?"

"Yes, has anything happened to Ranma?"

"No, Ranma is still the same except that when Kasumi cleaned her face up a bit with a warm wet towel he changed back but continued purring softly. He never even woke up."

"Then why are you calling?"

"Doc, will Ranma come out of it? He's allready been it for far longer than before and Mousse said that the stuff they used had no cure."

"I don't know Nabiki. I can't explain it, although I thought the drugs and magic had mostly faded. I just don't know. Somehow I doubt it will be anytime soon."

"Thanks Doc. Let me know if you come up with anything. If anyone asks make sure you don't know where Ranma is. Mousse seems to think that Cologne could easily have Neko as a part of the Amazon breeding program."

"Given that he has the mind of a cat now, I should think it would be easy."

"See ya doc. I need to go do what I can."

"Ok, well let me know if anything changes."

Nabiki pondered her plan. She was fairly sure Ranma would never forgive her. Fighting the Amazon's directly was out of the question though. Ryoga was too stupid and Genma was too big a coward. He would most likely give them Ranma if it meant his own skin. I will protect my family and like it or not Ranma was a part of it now. She just wished she was certain her plan was a good idea. Sure it kept Ranma out of the Amazon's hands, but at the same time it was hardly likely to help his sanity. She noted that everyone but Ranma had left. He was curled up in the sun with a smile on his face. She briefly regretted pushing him off on her little sister. Mouse was due back.. Ah there he was.

At dinner that evening Nabiki came down with a large male black cat stretched across her shoulders. She walked into..

"is that boy now? How could I be cursed with such a disloyal son?"

"Waaaaah My daughters fiance has gone off to marry a cat."

"When I get my hands on that baka."

"Ara, Nabiki what a cute kitty. Oh my if Ranma-kun sees.."

"I know Kasumi. Its just that a friend of mine had to get rid of her cat and I couldn't let her take him to the pound. I'll look for him a new home tomorrow."

"He's cute Nabiki. If it wasn't for that pervert, we could keep him." Akane began petting the cat who had jumped down to eat some food from the table.

Nabiki asked, "So where is Ranma?"