Kitten's Hope
Cat Days

Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma 1/2.

Nabiki had fallen asleep almost an hour ago, but woke up when Ranma cat sunk his claws in her as he unconsciously stretched as part of his wake up process. It was not a good way to wake up, yet Nabiki was glad that he was apparently cured. He certainly wasn't happy when he found out that the waterproof soup would take a couple days to wear off, as demonstrated by him bashing his head against her computer keyboard that he had previously been crudely typing on. Nabiki grabbed the upset cat to protect her investment in computing technology. "Settle down you. Its only a couple of days."

Ranma turned toward her and began meowing plaintively. Nabiki began to wonder if she was getting a lecture from a cat. Nabiki smiled. It was the kind of smile that a cat might have after she had cornered lunch. "Ranma-kun since you're back, and stuck as a cat anyway..."

Ranma jumped down and backed up a bit. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about this. Just what had he gotten himself in to? He was supposed to be helping Akane. Of course, that might be somewhat difficult until he became human again.

"Hmm, Let's see. How can I make use of my own trained pet." Nabiki lay part way back on her bed as if pondering the possibilities.

Ranma was now sure he was not going to like what she came up with. Ranma was eyeing the open window when he heard her say, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, otherwise I'll have to tell Kasumi you were peeping on her." Just as Ranma started to move toward the window he fell flat. Her voice was so nice, so innocent, and so devious. In short Nabiki was in perfect form. Ranma looked up at her in resignation. His shoulders slumped and his paws went out as if to say, "I surrender."

Nabiki sighed. She didn't want this. It was disappointing how easily Ranma once again fell into an obvious trap. One day she may feel pity on him and teach him not to give away his guilt, especially when you were guilty. Still it was interesting that Ranma remembered being in the Nekoken and perhaps more importantly being a cat didn't seem to bother him. It was odd. Nabiki was sure that he had not been faking the previous times he said he couldn't remember, so just what had changed? She was sorely tempted to take advantage of Ranma's position since he could be a very useful spy as he was, but no, she had not gone through all this risk only to use him again, well at least not without a very good reason. She regretted many of the things she had done to Ranma, although there were also many things she didn't regret since, well, he was such an easy target at times that he was fun to have around. She did wish there was someone she could joke with who would understand her odd humor though. Having Ranma assume that everything she did was because she was a greedy mercenary was not very pleasant. No she was not just a simple greedy mercenary. Some thought she gave all of her money to household expenses and it was true she did give some, but then that was usually what she collected from the other morons who damaged the house in the first place. No, her real goals were bigger. She was saving for college. Originally she had justified some of her actions by saying that it was for Akane and Kasumi's college fund as well, but that was a dream. She would be lucky if she could afford to go herself, even if daddy did help out.

Nabiki sighed. I have too many excuses and too many justifications for my actions. In a somewhat wistful town she said, "Come here kitty."

Ranma twisted his kitten head to the side and approached cautiously only to be picked up by Nabiki before she again laid back and sat the cat on her t-shirt covered stomach only to begin absently petting him. "It's late Ranma. We might as well get some sleep."

Ranma meowed an inquisitive meow, but it didn't take long for her gentle petting to lull him back to sleep. His last thought before sleep was that this felt really nice.

Nabiki wondered just what was getting into her. She was acting like Akane with the pig. No, thats not true, since she knew who the cat really was and Ranma knew that she knew. Normally her mind would have gone over so many more things before sleep, but the calming action of petting the cat brought peace to her mind and she was fast asleep.

Ranma cat woke to the smell of food. This was not unusual, other than there seemed to be something pressing down on him and his body felt odd. As his brain began to approach the activity level of his stomach he became aware of the events of last night. Had he been human, a full body blush would have ensued as he realized just why where he was sleeping was so comfortable and warm. Fortunately being a cat has some advantages, but he couldn't quite figure out how to get out from Nabiki's hold without waking up the short haired girl. Worse, the food smelled so very good. It was a horrible dilemma for the martial artist cat.

"Nabiki, breakfast is ready."

Ranma let out a brief sigh or rather meow of relief. Nabiki would wake up soon and he could get breakfast.

Nabiki remained immobile while Ranma cat's hunger grew. Ranma was getting frantic. Whoever heard of someone not getting up for breakfast? Meals were important things, and you musn't miss any of them. Ranma examined her with his aura sight. It didn't work well due to himself being a cat and the fact they he was too close to see everything. Still she seemed to just be in a sound sleep. It was most puzzling and breakfast was smelling really really good. Ranma mused it must be because his sense of smell was so much better as a cat. Actually now that he thought about it, Nabiki had a very pleasant smell. It seemed she did wear a little perfume, but not enough that you ordinarily noticed it, unless like Ranma you were rather close. Ranma dared not let himself think too much on how nice the middle Tendo sister smelled. Fortunately, Shampoo had given him ample practice at ignoring beautiful women. He shuddered to think what would have happened had he ever slipped and pushed himself away from his so called wife in the most obvious way. No, he had way too much trouble as is, and well what if his pop was down there eating his food? Ranma noted that the tricks he used to distract himself were less than stellarly effective with where he was lying.

"Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!"

Ranma jumped, or rather tried to. Was there a fire or some disaster? Just what was the alarm for? All he succeeded in doing was moving Nabiki's hands up in the air a bit.

Nabiki stirred. Curse the fool who invented those infernal machines! She rolled over and tried to smack the snooze button only to notice a furry lump under her.

"Meooooooww!"

Nabiki smacked the button and then rolled back to see what was going on. "Oh, hello Ranma."

Ranma cat gave her a dirty look before jumping down and running to the kitchen.

"Good morning to you too Nabiki," said Nabiki sarcastically. Ah well, I suppose I did kind of roll over on the little guy.

Breakfast was good, and thanks to the stern looks Kasumi gave Genma, Ranma was able to eat as much as he wanted. Of course he still didn't really like being a cat, but he found if he didn't think about it too much it was okay. He supposed he should thank his grandmother for that, but he still didn't like the cost.

Nabiki and Akane went to school as normal leaving Ranma cat there with Genma, Soun, and Kasumi although that situation didn't last long as Soun and Genma went off to search for the groom, or that was what they said anyway. Kasumi rather expected they would be searching local taverns again.

Kasumi decided to take a break. She picked up the cat and sat down in the sun shining on the back porch facing the koi pond. She loved how the sun would caress her face. It made her feel more alive. Ranma cat looked up at the strange woman and wondered what happened to the Kasumi he knew. This one was somber and perhaps a bit sad, yet just earlier she had a smile on her face. He could remember doing this before from his Neko self's memories, but despite how hard he searched his memories he couldn't remember what anyone had said during that time period.

"So neko, do you think the chaos will ever end? I have waited so long to follow my own dreams, yet it seems mommy shall have to be around for awhile longer." She said mommy in a slightly sarcastic tone, yet otherwise her voice was soft. Ranma had never heard Kasumi speak in either tone before. The soft tone seemed so wistful. Kasumi continued, "I don't understand it sometimes. Akane seemed to be doing so much better for awhile after Ranma came and yet now it seems that nothing will ever change. And what are we going to do with you neko-chan? I hope Ranma will be able to come back someday, yet here I am petting his greatest fear. Genma no baka. Ranma is such a character. So very very proud. Do you know the baka once proposed to Shampoo just because he couldn't stand to think that there was a woman that wasn't in love with him?"

Ranma looked up at Kasumi questioningly. "Are you getting bored with my monologue again neko-chan? Well, it is an old story I suppose." Kasumi sighed. Ranma cat meowed. "You're just so cute neko-chan." Kasumi smiled. "Let's go take a bath. It will be fun."

Ranma meowed, and jumped out of her arms and ran outside.

"Neko-chan never wants to take a bath with me." Kasumi sighed and went to get cleaned up.

An hour later when Kasumi finished her bath and some chores she went to look for neko-chan only to find him up in the tree in the yard.

"Did you get yourself stuck?" Ranma cat meowed. "Hold on a bit and I'll get a ladder."

Ranma was now officially embarrassed. Some great martial artist I am, having to have help to get out of a tree. How was I supposed to know that cat claws really weren't as suited for going down? Ranma had considered jumping, but he knew this body didn't have the toughness of either of his normal forms and it was quite high up for a cat.

Soon enough Kasumi had placed the wooden ladder below the branch when a drunken Soun and Genma, in Panda form, could be heard trapsing through the gate.

The drunken panda bear held up a sign saying, "Is that mongrel still around here?" He flipped the sign around. "You should get rid him." His handwriting was even worse than usual, but then from the sake smell that was no great suprise.

"Well I suppose I could help Nabiki find a place for him to live, but then Akane would have to cook dinner."

"No, thatsss alright daughter. Cat is fines. Do you needs helps gettings him downnn?"

"No father."

Nabiki and Akane came home a short time later. Ranma watched them approach via the window sill. It seemed odd that Akane seemed fairly normal when he knew she was not, or at least he thought he knew it. I suppose the fake her is almost normal except for the odd way she thinks of men and me in particular. I just wish my grandmother and her mother didn't want me to kill this artificial Akane. No, what I really wish, was for some alternative that didn't have the real her continuing to suffer. It figures the only solutions I can see are bad solutions. It's the story of my life. Then there is the Amazon mess. I don't know what they will do, although it is very tempting to use a little of what I learned to fix that problem.

"N-chan. There you are. Where were you last night? Mommy was looking for you. I know I'll take you in and fix you some food." said Enaka. Akane, who was trapped inside, groaned mentally at her pseudo self before she got a very close look at the cat. Is that intelligence in the cat's eyes? Perhaps there is hope.

Ranma neko jumped into his nearest hope for salvation which just happened to be Nabiki's hands. That was close. I just hope when she is cured she can cook better or at least less often.

Nabiki smirked faintly, "Well it seems you only have a way with pigs, dear sister."

Enaka harrumphed and stalked off.

After dinner Nabiki and Ranma cat went up to her room.

"So what am I to do with you?" asked the middle Tendo sister.

Ranma jumped up on her desk, but her computer was off. He tapped a few keys as if to indicate what he wanted. Ranma really had no idea where the on button was hidden, and could barely type on the thing, even when he was human.

Nabiki flipped the system on and opened up a simple text editor.

Ranma cat tapped out on the keyboard, "Why am I a cat?"

"5000 yen."

Ranma just stared at the mercenary Tendo.

"Oh, okay. Well you were kind of out of it with whatever Shampoo and that nut Kodachi gave you. You seemed to be trapped in the Nekoken. Nothing would get you out, and Mouse thought that Cologne might be perfectly happy to haul off a Nekofied you for breeding purposes. Hiding you as a cat, since you were acting like one, seemed like a good idea at the time."

Ranma meowed, then in frustration typed out, "Um. Thanks, I think."

Ranma continued to stare at the middle Tendo sister. He tried to reconcile how she usually acted to the fact that she had looked out for him, even if in a way he didn't much like. Then there was last night. I slept there. Well there was a t-shirt, but if it was Akane and she knew I'd have been pounded. No, thats not right. That is not Akane either, although P-chan may be in trouble one day soon. At least Akane had an excuse for being clueless, but p-chan has no such thing.

"Well?"

Ranma looked up as the question from Nabiki broke into his thoughts. Well?

"Are you going to tell me why you are walking around as a cat and aren't affected anymore? For that matter, why did you remember this time?"

Ranma almost wished for a cat toy, but the, "I'm just a panda." never worked for his dad either. Ranma pondered for a few moments more and then typed, "If it probably meant keeping your family safer, would you keep it a secret?" Ranma knew, or thought he knew anyway, that she would, but he wanted her to say it. She always seemed to try to keep her word. It was just rare for her to ever give it.

Nabiki wondered what Ranma must think of her, then again he could just be being careful for a change. "I may not like a lot of Akane's crap lately, or father's for that matter, but I wouldn't see any member of my family harmed if it could be avoided. Of course, I don't really consider the panda or Happosai as part of my family."

Ranma cat nodded and then went over most of what had happened to him, leaving out only the potential of what he had learned. Nabiki knew that he could heal her sister and that was enough. The whole thing took till well past Nabiki's normal bedtime, since Ranma's typing skills as a cat were pretty bad, and Nabiki had so many questions. At first she didn't believe that Ranma had really met her mother, but after a very detailed description and some of the things he knew she believed, and that was perhaps the scariest thing of all to the middle Tendo daughter, for if the afterlife was real and she really would have to answer for her life...

Nabiki yawned and put the disturbing thoughts out of her mind for now. "Come on Ranma, you can sleep next to me for one more night."

Ranma typed out, "Why? I thought you knew about p-chan."

Nabiki took on a patient tone as if explaining the obvious to the clueless, "I only just learned about p-chan not long ago, and that problem has been taken care of." Ranma shivered a bit at the coldness in her voice at that moment and decided not to ask for now. "You, have never tried to take advantage of your curse. If you're wondering, no I'm not desperately in love with you or anything, it just was nice is all. Okay?"

Ranma meowed as if in apology and jumped over to the bed as Nabiki turned the computer off.

A couple minutes passed before Nabiki picked the cat up and placed him on her t-shirt covered stomach and began absently petting him. It didn't feel as good as it did last night though. Ranma could sense that Nabiki was still upset over what he had asked. He decided for once that one of his idiot father's techniques was appropriate. He hopped out of her grip for a second and then made sure she was watching him in the moonlit room. He then proceeded to do the crouch of the wild tiger as only a cat could. Before long Nabiki broke out in giggles and not long after that the pair was sound asleep. The last thought that Ranma had before sleep was to remember that when Nabiki was excluding who she didn't consider part of the family, she didn't exclude him.

Author's Notes: Well not a huge amount happened this chapter but the story goes, to an extent, where it wants to go. I originally hadn't overly thought about what would happen if Ranma was stuck as a cat for a couple days. It just seemed likely that Ranma couldn't be lucky enough to have the soap wear off exactly when he wanted it to. I think this chapter, while transitory in nature, still colored in details that were useful for the overall tapestry. To think, I actually thought I'd be done with this by now. There is probably at least two more chapters. I rather suspect my characters are a bit OOC, but I hope that there is enough kernels of the originals that people can appreciate the characters.

A special thanks goes to J. St.C. Patrick for giving this chapter a look over. In future, if anyone wishes to preread specific stories before they are posted here, they should send me an email through the address that can be found via fanfiction DOT net with which stories they are interested in. People are also welcome to suggest ideas for something for me to work on next in my reviews.

I know I have been somewhat negative lately in story reviews that use Akane the Ogre, Yakuza Nabiki, and other such over the top fannon character trends, which is partly why I'm working on a chapter of Falling for a Princess, centered, at least in part, around Ryoga and Akane. I won't promise to be entirely nice to them, but hopefully most will consider it fair.

At any rate, let me know what you think.

2005-06-21