Chapter 7: The Cat
RanmaA fell onto his rear, glad to be in girl mode, so there was a little more padding. Blinking, and looking around, he realised he was on the side of a hill. Or, more accurately a river valley? There were rolling hills in every direction, and nothing larger than a shrub in sight.
"Qinghai, I'll bet," he muttered as he stood up with a stretch.
He looked around, wondering where the local him was. Normally they were nice and nearby. Yet this time he saw no sign of any humans at all. Confused, he decided to head up the hill a little, hoping that there might be some hint of what was going on. The path involved passing near a small shrub, which he'd barely noticed until it produced a noise that sent a shiver up his spine.
That was a... that was a cat sound. He scrambled back, giving the bush a large amount of space, not wanting to risk the beast inside emerging. Instead, he took a different route to the top of the hill.
There were more hills. That was it. No cabins. No smoke on the horizon. No roads.
Just him. Some grass. And that bush with the evil creature in it.
He wondered if the bracelet had malfunctioned. If he'd never been born in this world. If the local version of him had drowned at Jusenkyo. If... if... if anything made sense besides the terrifying thought rising in the back of his mind.
The creature in the bush poked its head out. It had a mixture of black and reddish-orange fur. There... there was no denying it. That creature had to be...
He closed his eyes and turned around. "No. No. No. No. No. Not doing this. I'm not—this isn't happening. I... I... hot water! Right! I can splash him with hot water, and then I'll know. It makes sense."
He nodded to himself. Once the other him changed back he just had to keep them human and he wouldn't have half as many nightmares by having to interact with the other him.
He gave the cat a large amount of space as he headed down to the nearby river valley. The ground was rocky, which meant he didn't have to worry about the small fire he lit spreading too much. The brush was dry in the area, so it made good kindling. Keeping it fed long enough to heat the kettle he'd brought was a little tricky, but he managed. He decided to pour the water into a thermos, since he wasn't sure how far the cat might have travelled.
It took him another few minutes to talk himself into actually doing this. Actually looking for a cat. Because he couldn't leave another version of himself trapped in a hell like that. Stuck such a... such a terrifying creature.
Actually hunting for his cat counterpart proved tricky once he started, though. While a human could never hide for long in that landscape it was nearly perfect for a cat. There were rocks and areas with long grass. Shrubs here and there. Small ravines a cat-sized animal could dip into.
The sky started sliding to a golden colour while he searched for the cat. Remembering how cold the Tibetan plateau could get, he decided he'd try his luck again tomorrow and started collecting material for a fire instead.
It was dark by the time he had enough that he thought would last the night, and he was shivering a little as he lit another, larger, fire. The warmth from the flames was sweet relief and he slid about as close as he could without fear of sparks. He realised he really should have gotten a sleeping bag and a tent for his dimension hopping supplies. Though, he'd landed in Tokyo every time before this one. So it made sense he'd not thought of it.
Before it got any colder, he changed out of his Ucchan's uniform that he'd accidentally 'stolen' and into his normal travelling clothes. Those would keep him a bit warmer.
Thankfully the fire kept him warm enough through the night, especially once he realised he could use the umbrella he had as a shield against any wind blowing down the river valley. He dozed a few times, but it was definitely too cold and the ground too rocky for any proper sleep.
As the sun began to poke at the edge of the horizon he decided to refill the thermos with new hot water, and make some breakfast. Digging through his backpack, he pulled out a packet of instant ramen. He didn't have a bowl, but... he could cook it in the kettle well enough. Anyone civilized would disapprove, but there was no one like that around to know. He decided to toss a bit of beef jerky in for protein, and set it to boil.
The smell of cooking instant ramen, with meaty overlay from the beef, soon filled the air. It was a nice change from the dusty nothing of the night.
"Mreow?"
He half jumped out of his skin. The cat was right there, not two metres from him.
He stared in fear for a moment, wondering why it had come for him now. Then he realised cats had noses. His cooking had no doubt loured it out.
"Mreow?" the cat repeated, tilting its head to one side.
He grabbed the thermos. He unscrewed the top and gave a silent prayer that he was right to the Buddhas (he wasn't usually picky between Kami or Buddhas, but he figured Buddhas were a better bet in China). Then he sloshed hot water out at the cat.
The cat gave a frightening screech in response to the water flying at it, but then changed an instant later. It was human again.
She was human again. RanmaA blinked. She blinked. She looked down at herself, then out at her hands, wiggling her fingers. She made some odd faces, clearly testing her lip muscles.
"You're... you're a girl," RanmaA said, not sure why he felt the need to state the obvious.
It seemed to take his local counterpart a moment to process what he said. She then stared at him a moment later, a different confusion on her face. That was followed by her scrunching her face up in concentration.
"Why? Uh... why would... no?" she asked.
"Pardon?"
She looked lost in thought again. "Why would... no girl? You girl?"
RanmaA blushed a little. "Right. I forgot to change... uh... I'm a guy? I just got a girl curse. Like you have a cat curse."
"Oh," the other redhead said slowly, processing what he'd told her.
Her cheeks then went bright red. He was about to ask her why when she chucked a rock at his head.
"Pervert! I'm naked!" she shrieked, covering herself.
"Ya ain't got nothin' I ain't seen!" he shouted, rubbing the part of his forehead where the rock had hit.
"Seen one girl does not mean seen all girls!" she blurted, clearly still struggling with pronunciation and grammar a bit.
"Seen one... do ya not remember what ya look like!?" he countered.
She opened her mouth, but apparently found no reply. She tilted her head, looking at him in confusion.
He turned to his backpack and pulled out a mirror. She slipped forward, still trying to cover herself. Once she was close enough, she blinked a few times, reaching a hand out to touch her reflection.
"Me?"
"Mhm," RanmaA replied.
She then turned to him, looking as confused as ever, though a different type of confusion yet again. "But you...?"
"I'm you. Sorta. I'm from another world. Apparently this is one a' the ones where I was born a girl... not the first one, I'll say that much," he replied.
She gave a slow nod.
He looked back at her, waiting for more questions.
"I don't know what that means," she said.
He let out a sigh and flopped onto the ground. The kettle began to whistle, so he pulled that away from the fire. She licked her lips as the smell got closer to her, and he prepared to shove her off, because he was a Saotome and it was his breakfast. Until he really looked at her.
She was skinny. Her muscles were wirey, and there was barely a dozen grams of spare fat on her. He supposed trying to hunt for food in this harsh landscape was probably worse for your waistline than living with Genma.
He let out a sigh and passed the kettle to her.
"Let it cool down a bit, alright?"
She nodded, grabbing the kettle and holding it close to her torso. She seemed to gain something off just the warmth. His stomach grumbled, but he could handle a missed meal or two.
It was only after she'd slurped up the instant ramen that either of them talked again.
"So, uh... I've got some spare clothes?" he offered, turning to his backpack.
"Spare... why?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Why?" he said, freezing and turning back to her. "Whaddya mean 'why'? You threw a rock at my head because I saw you naked!"
She nodded, but said nothing.
"So... you'll want clothes ta not be naked anymore, right?"
She stared at him.
He stared back.
Then something apparently clicked in place in her head. "Oh! Oh right! Clothes! Not naked. I forgot. I just remembered I was naked, and that boys weren't supposed to see that. I forgot there was a way to not be naked."
He let out something between a laugh and a sigh, pulling out a shirt, some pants, and some boxers to toss at her. She made a few abortive attempts to put the clothing on, not sure which limb went wear, before he gave her verbal instructions. Even that still took a bit.
Still, she smiled happily once dressed.
"Do you have more food?" she asked, as if that were the most natural point to follow up getting dressed.
"I don't know how far we are from civilization, so we gotta ration what I've got," he replied. "I wasn't expectin' ta have to trek across the steppe."
"Ah... Baby needs food too, though," she said.
He blinked this time. "B-b-baby?"
She nodded happily. "Yes."
He didn't know how to process that, his eyes growing distant. Had she...
"I found him. An.. an... an eagle got his mom. I think? I couldn't ignore his sad little meows. So I protect him."
He let out a sigh of relief. "Oh. Adoption. Thank the Buddhas. And the Kami. And... and the Chinese gods."
"Oh. You thought I... no, no. None of the toms around... being human probably explains why I didn't think any of them were cute," she said, nodding to herself.
"I don't... I don't really wanna hafta deal with a real cat, though," he muttered.
"Why not?" she asked.
He turned to explain, only to realise she was licking her hand to wash her face as if she were still a cat. It sent a shiver down his spine.
"You... you ain't afraid a' cats like me, are ya?" he asked, trying not to be too distrubed by her self grooming.
"Scared of... oh. Oh. I... I was," she said, eyes growing distant. "That's why I forgot. Forgot everything. That's why I was running. I was with daddy. He... and I fell in the water. And then I was... and then the other part of me woke up... Oh. But now there's just one me."
He didn't know if he liked the sound of that. "W-which one of you is that?"
She turned to him with a smile. "Oh, I'm just all of me again. The other part got tired. It wasn't used to being awake so much. But it didn't know how to let go like the smarter part of me did when scared. Cats and humans are different levels of smart. So... I think both parts are just one now? Or... or maybe it's just that both parts are awake at the same time? Remembering to walk on two legs is still hard. I think the smarter part wouldn't find that hard, right?"
"Uh... I honestly don't know," RanmaA replied, staring at the skinnier redhead.
He knew he was still more than a little afraid of her, but he also felt bad for her. He'd begun to feel like each alternate version of himself was something of a sibling, and she was skinny and nervous and tire looking. She felt like a little sister he needed to protect.
Against all his fear, he stepped over and pulled her into a hug.
"I'm gonna try to keep you from forgetting you're a person."
Then she started purring, and he jumped backwards, his heart in his throat. She stared at him with betrayed eyes.
"S-sorry. But... yer still a little too cat sometimes. It's... it's gonna take getting used to," he explained.
She nodded. "Okay."
He looked up, ready to figure out which way was east and which was west when she cleared her throat.
"So. Food. For Baby," she said.
"Oh. R-right. For the... for the kitten. Y-yeah. I... I guess you gotta feed it," he muttered. "Sure, I've got a bit more jerky."
The other... Ranma? Was she a Ranma? Ranko? He'd ask her her name later (since she seemed to be getting impatient), assuming she remembered it. Anyhow, she lit up, and hurried off up the hill. He followed her, not liking where they were going, but not wanting to lose sight of her.
The walk to her den proved short enough. She'd had to regain her bearings a few times, which he supposed made sense with the different perspective and longer legs, but they never exactly got 'lost'. The den itself was just a small hole in the side of a hill, but it was probably big enough for a cat.
She made an unsettlingly feline sounding chirp at the entrance, and then a smaller creature came out. It was definitely a cat, but a sort of dirty beige colour, and fluffy in ways house cats weren't. He didn't know what type of cat it was, specifically, but he was glad it was slightly less terrifying than normal cats. It sniffed her several times. He guessed she probably smelled like her cat form, but human. Which... didn't really make sense, but, with Jusenkyo, it kind of did?
She meowed at RanmaA, before blushing a little. "Sorry. People talk. Yes. Can you give the jerky?"
"Uh, yeah, sure," he replied, putting down his backpack to pull out the pack of beef jerky.
He tossed a piece over to her, while grabbing a piece for himself as well. He only had so much ability to deny his hunger.
The piece he'd tossed proved quite the meal for the kitten, and it seemed very content after eating. Or, at least, he figured it was content. It stopped making meowing noises, so was less frightening to be around.
"I guess we can take him with us to Jusenkyo," Ranma said, hating the idea, but hating the idea of breaking his local counterpart's heart more.
"We're going to Jusenkyo?" she asked.
"Mhm. I, well, I figure you don't want to risk forgettin' you're human again, right? So... probably best if ya get your curse cured?"
She nodded. "That makes sense. And you probably want your curse cured too, right?"
"Uh..." he began, realising he'd not even been thinking of his own curse.
Did he want it cured?
He really didn't know anymore. He wished he could control the change, that much was certain, but... was freedom from unwanted changes worth never being able to change again? After how he'd seen other versions of him living?
"I might," was the best he could manage.
She didn't seem to follow his internal confusion, instead just giving a quick salute. Before using her teeth to grab the scruff of the kitten's neck and pick it up.
"You have hands," he said, not sure that was comfortable for either of them.
She blushed, and switched her grip on the kitten. "R-right. Yes. I... I forgot."
"So... do you remember travellin' much, after gettin' cursed?" he asked, trying to ignore the creature in her arms.
She scrunched her face up in a way he was certain was more feminine than anything he could manage, even if he had the same face right now.
"A while? I stopped moving when I found Baby, though. He couldn't travel. He was very little," she explained. "Before him is pretty blurry, though."
RanmaA nodded. He supposed he couldn't have expected much better. She wasn't even able to remember she was a human reliably. How could he expect directions from her?
He really wished he knew which side of the 214 highway they were on. That was a major road that you couldn't miss. They could get wherever they needed once they found it.
"Wait. The stream. It might not be the quickest path to civilization, but it's gotta flow downstream. That's how rivers work. And eventually we'll hit a big enough river to have somebody livin' nearby," he said, a grin spreading across his face.
Was this what Ryoga had to deal with?
Nah, that doofus would never remember to follow a river. And Ryoga would lose the river even if he thought of it. He waved for her to follow him and set off, feeling confident. With a stable supply of fresh water from the stream, they could probably go a couple days on his food supplies. They were sure to find a road by then, and even a quiet road would have someone drive by every couple days, at worst.
It was a bit chilly, but nothing too bad. He thanked his lucky stars it wasn't winter. He'd have frozen in no time if it had been... he made a mental note to get a winter coat at the next available opportunity. Even if he was plunked down in Nerima, it would still be annoying to be dropped in January without a coat. Qinghai or Hokkaido or something... he'd freeze there.
She was quiet as they walked, making meowing noises to the kitten sometimes, but otherwise silent. The kitten would meow back, too, but it was quiet. So he could ignore it.
Finally, after a few hours of walking the stream hit a river. They decided to take a break, refilling on their water supplies. There were a few bushes scattered about too. Most looked half dead and were best used for kindling, but one had some berries. He wasn't desperate enough to start foraging unknown plants just yet, but they looked like edible berries back in Japan. He wasn't sure how different the species were here, though.
So, instead, he asked the question that was on his mind.
"Do you remember your name?"
She froze, part way through playing with the kitten (an activity that seemed like pure masochism to him).
"A name... Girl? ... Daughter? Oh... what did daddy call me..." she said, visibly lost in thought. "Flower... it was a flower."
"Orchid? Ran?" he asked.
She lit up. "Yes! I... there might have been more. I don't remember, but that was definitely a part of it."
"Ranko?"
She scrunched her face up again. "Dunno. Maybe? I don't know if I like that."
"Ranma? Maybe?"
She shrugged. "Is Ran enough of a name?"
"I guess," RanmaA muttered, leaning back and blowing some of his red bangs from his face. "How about the kitten? Anything beyond 'Baby'?"
"Oh. No... I forgot about names as a cat," she said, looking down at the kitten again. "He needs a name. A good name. He's my son after all."
"Adopted son," RanmaA said, half as reassurance to himself.
"A son is a son, adopted or not," she replied sharply, lifting her nose haughtily.
"True. Learned about that last world," RanmaA muttered, before fishing out some rice crackers. "You gonna turn him human, then?"
"Oh! I... I could! What a wonderful idea! Baby! You'll get to have thumbs! Look at them! They're all wiggly!"
He'd asked half as a joke, but the idea really seemed to excite her. He watched her playing with the kitten some more. She looked so happy. How could anyone be happy with a creature that hid so many claws in its paws?
Shaking his head, he filled the kettle up with some more water from the river. They were pretty high in the mountains, and the water was moving quickly, so it was probably safe to drink straight from the river, but... he was tired and waiting for the kettle to boil a bit was a good excuse to rest. His feet were sore, since the ground was rough, but... it was really the air that made it tiring. It was too thin up on the plateau. 4000+ metres up... higher than the top of Mount Fuji. People weren't supposed to live up here.
It also meant the kettles boiled quickly, which meant less time to rest their feet. He knew that had something to do with air pressure, and did feel some curiosity as to how, exactly, it worked. He was going to look that up as soon as he was somewhere with a library again. He supposed he knew what pressure meant, and boiling water had bubbles escaping it, so... so yeah. It must mean that the water could escape as steam easier when there was less air pushing down on it, right?
Trying to work it out on his own was a good distraction from the thing that she was carrying. He decided to try to think of other science-y type questions he had as they walked. He figured he could logic his way through some of them. And every minute he wasn't thinking about cats was a minute he was happier about the state of the world.
That lasted reasonably well for a few hours, until Ran wandered off to curl up on a rock.
"What are you doing?" he asked, coming to a stop to turn to her.
"We've been walking too long. I need to sleep," she muttered, only bothering to lift her head to talk.
"You don't need to sleep. We can still go another couple hours, easy."
"I've not gone this long without sleep since... since as long as I can remember," she replied, before flopping her head down.
"That's 'cause cats need ta sleep more than people! But you're a person now!" he shouted.
She didn't respond.
He sat down, glaring at her back. She was severely uncooperative.
He decided to study his Mandarin phrasebook while he waited, hoping he could potentially get at least a few basics down when they met someone.
Sure, plenty of locals were probably only able to speak Tibetan around these parts, but he was sure there'd be at least one mandarin speaker in any group.
He'd gotten through about half a chapter when she stretched and let out an annoyed noise.
"Can't sleep," she muttered, her hair a mess.
"You weren't sleeping that whole time?"
She shrugged. "I mean, I probably dozed a little, but not proper sleep."
"So can we get walking again?"
"Yeah, yeah," she said with a yawn. "Being human is weird."
The next part of their walk only lasted about two hours, before they hit another river. This time they would have to ford it if they wanted to keep following the flow of the combined rivers. Which either meant Ran would turn back into a cat, or he'd have to carry her and the kitten. He didn't know which he hated more.
"I think I can jump it!" she said, with a confidence he wasn't sure she deserved right now.
She had leapt before he could stop her, though, and, to her credit, she made it most of the way across the river. Still, she landed with a splash, and then he was left looking at two wet cats while her clothes started to drift down the river. He let out a tired sigh before running into the cold mountain water and chasing the clothes down. It wasn't hard to catch the clothes, but now he was cold and wet.
The two cats shook themselves dry on the rocks. She gave him a sort of pathetic meow that, honestly, didn't scare him. He wasn't comfortable with either of them, but... well, having seen her human he could still sense the bits about her that were human. More specifically, parts about her that made her feel like a little sister to him. Then 'Baby' was, well, not quite a house cat. So it neither was sending a shiver down his spine right now.
Looking around, he spotted an outcropping of rocks on their side of the river that looked like it might provide some half decent shelter from the elements. She'd started bathing the kitten to get some of the mud off of it, a habit of cats that he continued to find deeply unsettling.
"Alright. We're gonna camp here for the night," he said, hoping that Ran still remembered she was human enough to listen. "It'll take me a bit to gather fuel for a fire... you two can try huntin' for mice or voles or whatever, alright?"
She gave a happy chirp of a meow that he found a bit more unsettling. Then she picked up the kitten with her teeth, stashing him amongst the rocks. RanmaA set off in the opposite direction from her, and began hunting for bushes. The land around wasn't exactly what anyone would call 'lush', but there were certainly more bushes and shrubs about than there had been the previous night.
He was able to set up something of an actual fire pit with the rocks and the branches he found. Again, he had no sleeping bag, but the ground was sandier here, rather than the rocky pebbles upstream. There was a decent chance he'd actually get some sleep.
If he could forget about the cats.
Speaking of cats, Ran's orange and black form popping out of the grass, dragging a rather fat marmot along with her. It looked bigger than she was, if he was being honest. She plopped it down beside the fire and gave another happy chirping meow before running off again.
Well, that was more food than he'd expected. Preparing it for cooking took most of the rest of the evening, as he warmed himself by the fire. He had a kettle ready for when she got back, this time with a pika in her jaws. That she plopped down by the little crevice where 'Baby' had been hiding. The kitten tore into the meal with enough vigor to make RanmaA suspect he'd not be sleeping tonight. He was quick to splash Ran with hot water to have 50% fewer cats to worry about.
Of course, she went and gave a happy meow as a human while she did some stretching. He threw some clothes at her head.
"I was wondering... are you going to be a boy now?" she asked as she sat close to him.
"Eh, we're right beside the river. I don't see much reason to changin' when there's such a present risk of fallin' in cold water and changing."
She gave a little nod, while scooting up next to him. "I'm curious what a me that's a boy would look like, though."
"Huh. I... I guess that's fair. Alright," he replied.
Filling the kettle back up and heating it again didn't take long. He was transformed a moment later.
"Oooh. You're tall," she said, looking up at him.
He shrugged. "Not really. You're just short."
"Ah. Am I?"
"Yes? Why would I lie about that?"
"I don't know. I just don't remember being short. I suppose I'm a little disappointed." she replied.
"You're a weird one," he muttered. "Anyway, I think some a' the 'yakimarmot' is ready."
The rest of the meal was quiet. The marmot was gamey, and unseasoned, but they were both hungry enough not to mind too much. She cleaned her face like a cat again.
It was easy to feel tired after they'd eaten. They'd both been walking all day, and the sheltered space under the boulder was warmed quite effectively by the fire.
The next morning had been more walking, after they'd grabbed some breakfast. By lunch, though, they found a dirt road. After a bit of debate, RanmaA decided they'd follow it for as long as it followed the river. Due to the mountainous terrain, the river valleys really were the best place for a road, so they surely had a few hours with no real dilemma on which route to take.
After a while, there was even a bridge over a smaller tributary. That was good news. That meant they were getting somewhere. It wasn't a big bridge, but in the truly deep wilds river crossings were usually done by driving through the river and hoping for the best.
They hit another road about an hour later. And then RanmaA saw it, one of the most beautiful sights of his life: a small shack on a hill. Civilization!
Ran was excited too, and the pair picked up their pace, Ran having scooped 'Baby' up into her arms to travel faster. They were almost at the shack when a loud noise caused them both to jump and spin around. There, behind them, was a truck.
RanmaA lit up with a smile and ran up to the side. He was thrown for a second when he found the driver's side empty, until he remembered that Chinese cars were set up the other way around. The driver stared at him from the far side of the truck. The man looked to be well over thirty, maybe closer to forty, with long dark hair, a scraggly beard, and the rosy cheeks and reddened skin of an inhabitant of the cold sunny climate of the Tibetan plateau.
"Hello!" he said, before smacking his forehead. Right. Chinese.
He pulled out his phrasebook, and flipped around a bit. He then gave his best attempt at asking if the driver was going to a town. The driver looked at him, then looked at Ran (who had run up while RanmaA had tried to explain things). Her half starved state was no doubt clear from looking at her.
The man asked something which he couldn't quite follow. He offered the phrasebook over.
"You feed her?" the man asked after about a minute.
RanmaA took the book back, and decided to offer a story he hoped wouldn't sound mad. Well, as best as he could offer the story, probably sounding more like 'she sister. Was missing. In hills. I found. Both need food' than anything resembling proper grammar. It seemed to work though, and the man let them both in.
RanmaA tried not to think about the kitten hiding in Ran's shirt as they drove along the road. The man explained he'd take them to a town. While he and RanmaA were both able to agree that it was unlikely anyone there would speak Japanese, the man felt confident someone would know English well enough for RanmaA to try to use that.
It took a couple hours to get to the town, but the exiled boy didn't mind. He found the seats of the bumpy old (probably Soviet built) truck down right luxurious after the last two days. Ran, for her part, seemed entranced by the music the man played, running on an old tape player.
The town itself seemed to entrance her even more, as they saw all sorts of people out and about on the streets of the crowded settlement. Their driver asked around a bit, eventually dropping the pair off at a small restaurant and telling them to wait. He explained their situation (as he understood it) to the restaurant owner, who took one look at Ran's emaciated form and nodded. The two Saotomes (and Baby, who was maybe sort of a Saotome) soon had a table full of food in front of them.
RanmaA tried to say thank you a few dozen times, hoping his pronunciation hadn't distorted it to another word.
"Don't lick your face," he said, grabbing Ran's wrist as she was about to wash herself in a feline way. "There's napkins and stuff."
"But—"
"Humans don't wash themselves like that."
She let out a tired sigh, but cooperated.
The driver from before arrived not long after both Saotomes (and the kitten) had finished eating. He'd brought a young man with him, the new man dressed quite nicely. He was also tall, like their driver had been. And like pretty well everyone in these parts. Sometimes the exiled boy wondered about how short Shampoo was when everyone else on the plateau seemed at least 175cm tall.
"Hello. I am Tsering," the man said in fairly accented English.
"I am Ranma. My sister's name is Ran," RanmaA replied, hoping his English was good enough. He'd passed his English class relatively well, and Nabiki liked watching Hollywood movies enough that he figured he had decent chances of getting the basics across.
Ran's face scrunched up in concentration, but she said nothing.
RanmaA decided he'd worry about what she was up to later, and continued the introduction. "We are trying to get back to Jusenkyo."
"Ju-sen-ki-o?" Tsering replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Um... how is it said in Chinese... Juukan-shyan?" he tried.
"Zhòuquánxiāng?" Tsering offered. "The... cursed waters? Why would you want to go there?"
RanmaA lit up with a smile. He hadn't remembered the word 'curse' in English on his own, but he recognised it now that he heard it. "Yeah! Our father should be there. And... and Ran needs the... the girl water."
Tsering gave a nod of understanding. "She has a curse?"
"Yes. It is how she got lost. One of the ones that... that..." he wasn't sure the words, so he made a sort of spinning gesture near his head, trying to pantomime getting one's brain scrambled. "Head... change?"
Sure, the cat spring didn't normally do that, but that was a level of explanation he couldn't manage in English.
Tsering's expression went serious. "She doesn't get violent, does she?"
"No. No. She just... is a cat? In her head too? Small cat. Normal cat."
"Okay... I can give you a drive in the morning," Tsering replied. "It is too far and late right now."
"Thank you," RanmaA replied, letting out a sigh after wracking his English knowledge to its limits.
Tsering smiled, before turning to talk with their driver and the woman working the restaurant. They talked about something in... well, he was pretty sure it was Tibetan, not Mandarin. Not completely certain, though.
"I forgot English," Ran muttered, staring down at the table and blushing.
He smiled, scooting his chair over to wrap an arm around her shoulder. He then explained the basics of what was going on.
"Do you really think father will still be there?" Ran asked, as he wrapped up what had been said.
"I... I dunno. The guide might know where he's gone if he ain't," RanmaA replied. "And the guide knows decent Japanese, at least,"
She gave a quick nod.
Tsering then explained that the restaurant owner was willing to let them stay in her spare room that night. Feeling guilty about the charity, the exiled boy offered to help with dishes and cleaning, which Ran was quick to join in on. Helping out kept them busy the rest of the evening, and the pair took an early night. Their sleeping arrangements were basic cots, but that was luxurious compared to what he'd had for a couple nights, or what she'd had in about a year. The kitten hopped up to cuddle with her, and the exiled boy did his best to ignore the creature.
Still, it hadn't attacked him yet, so maybe not all cats were evil.
While the drive to Jusenkyo should likely have taken only two or three hours due to the distances involved, the conditions of the roads on their way away from the 214 highway was such that it was almost hard to tell it from the surrounding steppe at times. The going was slow and bumpy. Ran ended up getting lulled back to sleep by it, despite the amount of sleep the pair had gotten the previous night.
Still, they made it before mid afternoon, Tsering pulling up to the entrance area of the small shielded valley. It had always struck Ranma as bizarre how lush the land around Jusenkyo was compared to the rest of the plateau. There were honest to goodness trees down here. He'd missed those.
Tsering waited for the guide to show up, the Saotomes and their kitten sitting patiently as well, thanking Tsering again. The guide arrived after just a couple minutes, exchanging some pleasantries with the tall Tibetan man. Then the guide turned to the Saotomes, taking a moment to recognise Ran.
"Young customer! You are safe! This one was so confused when you ran off like a real cat. The Maonīchuan does not usually cause mental effects," the guide said.
"I had a special reason for that," Ran admitted with a blush.
The guide nodded, before discussing one or two other points with Tsering. The guide offered money, which the other man seemed to refuse at first. Eventually, though, a small amount was passed. It looked like maybe enough to cover travel expenses, from what the exiled boy remembered off Chinese currency on his last visit.
They waved Tsering off, and then the guide led them up to his house.
The guide explained the basics of what had happened after Ran had run off, once the trio reached his living room. Genma had stayed for a while, trying to hunt down his daughter. In fact, he'd stayed long enough his curse had stabilised and he'd been able to cure it with the Nannichuan. Still, after two months of no luck, Genma had been prepared to leave, saying something about facing his wife's wrath for losing their daughter. The day Genma had planned to leave a Japanese boy with a fang had shown up.
"Oh! I think I know him!" Ran said, lighting up. "Um... um... I don't remember him well, though."
"Sounds like Ryoga," RanmaA said.
"Ryo—yes! Ryo-chan! He was a good friend," she replied.
The guide nodded, and then explained how Genma had told Ryoga about Ran going missing. Though the guide seemed to think Genma's recounting of the story had been lacking in important points covering how at fault Genma had been, he'd bit his tongue. Ryoga had been quick to agree to Genma's scheme of dunking the fanged boy in the Nyannichuan to pretend to be Ran.
RanmaA and Ran both felt like that was a severely questionable plan. The guide agreed, but explained that Ryoga and Genma had been convinced beyond any reasoning.
"So, dad is back in Japan?" Ran asked.
The guide nodded. "As far as this one knows. We can still get you home, do not worry. Though, if you are her brother who came to look for her, this one is surprised you did not know that?"
The exiled boy blushed. "I... well, I ain't from here. And I don't mean Qinghai. I..."
He lifted the arm with the bracelet on it. "I'm bein' sent from world to world because of this dumb hunk a' metal. I'm probably only here for a week or two."
The guide nodded. "Huh. An interesting artifact... it is lucky for young miss here that you arrived. I do not know much about magic artifacts myself, though..."
"So... I can get cured easily?" Ran asked, after the guide had looked the bracelet over.
"Mhm. Young miss just needs to hop in the Nyannichuan. Easy cure, now that enough time has gone by," the guide replied.
"And... if I want to make Baby human, he should go in which spring?" she asked, holding up the kitten.
The kitten meowed.
"Why does young miss want to make kitten human?"
"I adopted him. He is my son. At least when I am a cat. If I won't be a cat again, then I would like him to be human. Being the same... species, yeah, that's the word. Being the same species seems important for a parental relationship. So we can talk," she replied, nodding away.
"Cats have a language?" RanmaA asked.
Ran shrugged. "Sort of? Not as much as humans, though."
"Mhm. It would be the man spring, to make him a boy human. The child spring does not change species. It just makes victims turn small. The man spring will turn him human," the guide explained.
"How old'll it turn him?" RanmaA asked.
"I am no veterinarian. I am not sure. Probably a child? Maybe a toddler? How old is it actually?" the guide said, turning to Ran.
"Um... um... he was eating food when I found him. It was snowy... um... at least four months?" she offered.
"Probably a child, then," the guide said.
The group talked a bit more, the guide's wife emerging with some food after a bit, Plum joining them as well. The young girl was quite interested in the kitten Ran had brought. RanmaA admitted that, as cats went, it wasn't too bad.
It had been dark by the time they had finished eating dinner, so the guide had decided to wait the next day to cure Ran's curse. They went down early in the morning, finding the Nyannichuan easily enough with its location near the front.
"Ready?" RanmaA asked, as they stood beside the cursed spring.
Ran gave a little nod, before handing 'Baby' over to Plum.
"I will miss the better senses, but... I won't miss forgetting I'm human," she said before jumping in.
The spring bubbled a little, and then she emerged, quite fully human.
They then walked to the Nannichuan.
"It is okay to put Baby in, right?" Ran asked.
The guide shrugged. "It doesn't look like an endangered species, so this one probably would not get in trouble."
"Ya could act a bit more invested," RanmaA said.
"Animals fall in springs all the time when they come down to drink. Government dumped three hundred cows in panda spring the other month. As long as it is not for creepy reasons like the Musk used to do, or an endangered animal turned not endangered, superiors do not really care."
Ran smiled, and dipped the kitten into the water. Turning an animal into a person still felt weird to RanmaA, now that they were actually doing it, but... he couldn't deny how much she seemed to care about the small creature.
A moment later 'Baby' emerged, a small child of maybe six years old? He spluttered a bit, and Ran pulled him out of the water. The kitten turned boy looked at his hands, wiggling the fingers in confusion. Ran held up her own hand, palm to palm with his, and smiled. The child looked confused a moment, before lighting up with a smile. It then chirped a meow-like noise that made the exiled lad nervous. Ran meowed back.
"Child will be behind on language, but should learn fast. Jusenkyo made people have brains like sponges. Can soak up knowledge in no time," the guide explained, before turning to RanmaA. "Did you wish to cure your girl curse, young sir?"
"I... honestly, with how I'm bouncin' around, it's useful to have it? This ain't the first world where the local me has been a girl, and it's easier to prove who I am if I can look just like her," he replied. "But... I think I'll put a little in a bottle. I... I might use it later."
He hoped his hesitancy wasn't too clear. He knew his real source of uncertainty was probably bizarre, and might make the guide think he was some sort of a pervert or... something. Maybe?
He didn't really know much about the guide, but if he was only just accepting that he could actually properly like being a girl sometimes without shame, he was sure others would find it even harder to accept. Well, apart from Konatsu and Ukyo, but those two were kindred spirits on some level.
And he still wasn't sure he didn't want it. Instant powder existed. He could use that to turn into a girl on special occasions if he cured himself. So he did fill a water bottle with it, and made sure to wrap the bottle in spring, so he wouldn't confuse it with regular water.
"I'm small," Ran said, glancing at the spring.
"Yeah?" RanmaA replied.
"And cute."
"Mhm?"
"And very rusty on my martial arts..."
"Probably?" RanmaA replied, glancing to the guide and Plum to see if they were following this any better.
"It's not very safe for a young woman as small and beautiful as I am to travel alone, especially with a child," Ran said.
"Not generally, no?" the guide replied.
Ran nodded. And then jumped into the Nannichuan. RanmaA scrambled back, not wanting to get splashed.
"Aiyah! Young customer! What are you doing! This is too soon!" the guide shouted.
Ran stuck her (now male and black haired) head out of the water. "Too soon for what?"
The answer was very clear to RanmaA, who was left staring at a pair of oversized cat ears sticking out of the head of his doppelganger.
"Cat curse was weakened, and dissipating, but was not fully gone! The remaining magic was revived by the Nannichuan!" the guide shouted, waving his arms around.
Ran reached up, touching the ears on the top of her head. "I... I have cat ears... and..."
She climbed out of the pond and adjusted her pants, revealing a black cat tail sticking out. "I have a tail too..."
The tail flicked about a little, as she seemed to be trying it out. RanmaA bit into his knuckle, trying not to hyperventilate. The cat turned child rushed over and began to chase Ran's tail about.
"Aiyah... young miss is going to have to invest in hats and long coats now," the guide sighed. "Why do guests always think they understand Jusenkyo?"
"They're silly?" Plum offered. "The ears are cute, though."
RanmaA sat in the guide's living room. There wasn't much to do now. He'd popped over to the Joketsuzoku village, but apparently Shampoo and Cologne had left. He managed to piece together enough rumours to realise Ryoga and Genma had passed through the town and managed to do... something to get Shampoo chasing after them. Whether she'd been wanting to marry or murder Ryoga when she left, the local newspaper confirmed that she wanted to marry him now. (Well, it technically said that she had married him, but the exiled boy knew firsthand that Shampoo liked to lie to the press to make herself look good.)
He'd also noticed that the Newspaper said it was 1988. That earned a raised eyebrow, but he didn't have much else to say to time displacement.
Without Cologne around, the other Joketsuzoku elders were apparently rather less familiar with the Bracelet of Exile. They did give him some camping supplies as thanks for letting them know where the Bracelet probably was in their world, though. That was something.
Other than that, it had just been a waiting game as the guide tried to get Ran and 'Baby' paperwork and a trip home. Ran was hard at work trying to name 'Baby', though her first idea ended up getting shot down (Mao was a feminine name, or a surname for Chinese use, so both RanmaA and Plum had voted against it). Even with her proposed writing of 馬男.
"Wait!" Ran said, looking up from the paper she'd been scribbling ideas on (or just practicing her writing in general, due to lack of practice). "Sanma! He's a shanmao, or mountain cat, right? So... San is mountain and also three, and he'll be the third '-ma' Saotome. It makes sense."
The small and feral looking child didn't seem to exactly follow what was being said, but was excited by the tone that Ran was using.
"Oh, I... wait, but you're not a '-ma'. So he'd only be the second '-ma'?" the exiled boy pointed out.
"Um... well... Ran is a girly name, right? So I should use Ranma when pretending to be a boy, no?" the redhead asked.
"I... I guess that works," RanmaA replied.
"Sanma it is, then! How does that sound, little Sanma?" she said, grinning away to the child.
The child clapped away happily. She scooped him up and ran off around the house, swinging him about and calling his name.
Plum looked up from her own comic book. "I did not have the heart to tell her, but mountain cats are called huāngmò māo, or desert cat in Chinese. Shānmāo are lynx."
"Hopefully no one will notice," the exiled boy replied with a smile.
Ran was in what they were calling 'catboy' mode. He was sitting across from her, trying to maintain eye contact. She licked her hand, her open mouth revealing sharp teeth that could make Ryoga envious. He tried to ignore the desire to shiver. Her ear twitched a little. Her pupils were slit like in the bright light. You couldn't notice that from most distances, but up close...
Sanma's face popped up over Ran's shoulder. "Nihao!"
"Hello, Sanma," he said, ignoring that the boy's eyes were also slits.
The boy looked more like a human than Ran's cursed form, but his eyes and teeth told of his cattish nature.
"What doing?"
"Uncle Ranma is working on his cat fear," Ran explained.
"Oh," the boy said, before running off again.
"I feel old being called 'uncle'," RanmaA said.
"I feel old being a mom. Well, not that I'm human again," she said, the sentence feeling extra bizarre from her currently masculine form. "As a cat I was plenty old enough."
"Big sister still feels better to me," RanmaA muttered, before leaning back a bit.
Then his bracelet flashed.
"Well, dang. Looks like I'm leaving again," he sighed.
"Oh!" Ran said, before pouncing him with a hug. "I'm going to miss you."
"I-I-I-uh... I'll miss you too. Just... just not ready for cat hugs yet!" he stammered, trying to wiggle out of her grip.
"Ah! Sorry!" she said, releasing him.
The next few minutes were a blur, as he ran about gathering his backpack, shoes, and getting some food off the guide's wife. He said his goodbyes, and thanked them all for looking after Ran. And then, once again, there was a green flash.
