Nodoka didn't know whether she should laugh or cry. Still clinging to her daughter, she looked at her furry face, while tears of happiness were running down her face.

"I... I thought we'd never see you again. Oh, Ranma, you... you have no idea how I missed you!"

"I... I missed you too, Mom!" Katt replied. She didn't bother to tell her mother that she had changed her name... there would still be time for that later.

When Nodoka let go of her, Katt looked at the other residents of the house. Nabiki walked up to her with a smile. "Hey there, Saotome! You gave us quite the scare. You may not believe it, but I've actually been worried about you."

Katt grinned. "Still the same Nabiki. Well, I wouldn't have thought it possible either, but I missed you, too."

"Well, I guess I deserved that," Nabiki smirked. "Still, what's with the look? We already knew you were stuck as a girl, but now you come in fur?"

"It's a long story, Nabiki!" Katt assured her.

"And we'd all love to hear it later on... but for now, welcome home, Ranma!"

Ranma turned around to face the speaker. She winced when she saw Kasumi sitting there, with her blankets. "K-kasumi... are you all right?"

"I'm still a bit weak, but the doctor said I'll be fine within a few days if I don't overexert myself."

"Um... it wasn't Dr. Tofu who examined you, right?" Katt asked.

Nabiki giggled. "No way! The poor doctor would get a breakdown after spending that much time with Kasumi in the same room."

Katt looked down at the floor. "Kasumi, I... I am sorry for what happened... I would never..."

"It's all right!" Kasumi tried calming her down. "Neither of us could foresee what would happen. What is important now is that I am fine and you are home."

"What a joyful day!" Soun sobbed. "To see you again, under this roof! We already gave up hope!"

"It's good to be back, Mr. Tendo," Katt smirked.

Then her gaze fell on her father. "Pop..."

Genma smiled. "Ranma! My boy! Good to have you back! I mean, what would I do without you? Who else will throw me into the pond every morning?"

"I'll do it right away if you want, old panda!" Katt grinned. She then looked serious. "But Pops... everyone, please, do me a favor!"

"Everything you want, Ranma!" Nodoka said. She was serious. Now that her child was back, she was ready for anything.

"Well, that's just it... I have chosen a new name. You may have already heard from Cologne that I can't turn back into a boy."

"That's what I told them," Cologne nodded.

"Okay, but that's not all there is to it," Katt explained. "See, I was stuck in this body for two years, all the time believing there would be no way back into my previous life. I also took on these cat-like characteristics you can see. I've been turned into a Woren... a cat-like species that inhabits the world I appeared in."

She gestured at Nina and Patty. "These are friends of mine from that world. They helped me getting used to all those strange new things, as well as to this new body. With them, I could forget my pain, I found a new role within that new world... but I could never stop thinking of you."

"Saotome, if you want to say something, say it already!" Nabiki impatiently said.

"Right... well, what I wanted to say was... I accepted my role as a girl... and I took on a new name. I am now known as Katt... and even though I can now travel back and forth between both worlds, please accept my new name as who I am now. I am still the same person within... more or less... only that now, I am female. Can you..." She gulped. "Can you accept me like that?"

Everyone was speechless for a while.

Nodoka gave her a smile. "Ran... No, I mean... K... Ka..." She took a deep breath. "Katt! No matter what you do, what you look like and what decisions you make, I am still your mother and I will always love you as a child. I may have been persistent over the years, always wanting to see you as a 'man amongst men', but... not any more! Now that I know you are well and home again, that's all I ask for. If you are happy like this, I will learn to see you as the daughter I never had."

Soun cleared his throat. "W-well, this is surprising indeed, but... it is your choice after all."

Nabiki shrugged. "You already were a girl half of the time, so the difference won't be that big, eh?" Ranma frowned, but she couldn't help but grin when she saw Nabiki's saucy smirk.

"Everyone is who he or she chooses to be, Ranma," Kasumi said. "All humans make such a decision, and although not everyone can change like you did, in the end, the way you live is your decision."

Katt smiled. That was the part she had feared the most, that they would reject her. "Thank you, everyone!" she said happily. "NOw I really am glad to be back..."

She then looked at her father. "Pops, is something the matter?"

Genma just stared at her. "Boy, are you certain about this? I mean, nobody could have prevented what happened, and I won't press you into anything, but... This is your manhood we are talking about! Don't you want to get it back? We can still try and find the Spring of Drowned Man, you know..."

"No!" Katt said firmly. "Not anymore, Pops! I'm getting sick of having to adjust to everything. I am who I am, and if you have a problem with that, you... you can always go!"

She turned around and showed her father her backside.

Everyone stared blankly and Nodoka gasped. "Ran... K-katt, you can't be serious!"

Katt sighed and faced her mother. "I am serious, Mom! I would hate to see Pops disappointed. But after all I went through, you would understand why I made this decision." She glared at Genma. "All those years I had to convince myself I would never be able to get back, never be able to be a man again. While I would never get used to a life without you guys, I was able to cope with being a girl. I won't go through any of that again."

"I d-don't mean it like that," Genma said and waved his hands. "But boy..." He gulped as Katt glared at him. "Um, I mean, Ranma..."

"KATT!" his daughter shouted.

"Yes, well, um..." Genma stuttered. "What I mean is, wouldn't you even consider getting a male curse from Jusenkyo? I'm not asking you to change your mind, but... Couldn't you do it? Just so you could honor the agreement between our schools?"

Katt's mouth hang open as she stared at her father. He couldn't be serious! Not after all that time... could he?

"Genma..." Soun said sternly. "My dear, old friend... while I must admit, to my deepest shame, that I pressed Ranma and Akane into this relationship, I came to realize that it is their own decision. Of course we made an agreement... but now everything has changed. Isn't it enough that your child is back, safe and sound? Do we have to pester her again with our demands?"

Katt looked at him in surprise. "Mr. Tendo?"

Soun smiled at her. "Kasumi has been in coma for a very long time. During that time I came to realize what a fool I have been. I told myself that I would never press anyone into doing anything he or she wouldn't want to do... if only my sweet little daughter would get well again."

"Oh, father..." Kasumi was deeply moved.

"But... but what about the schools?" Genma blurted out. Nabiki shook her head, while Nodoka looked sternly at her husband. Would she have carried a katana right now, she would have clutched its handle tightly.

"If that is your only concern, you will be happy to know that I have been practicing every day," Katt said. "I may have used a stick in battle, but it was still 'Anything Goes'. And when I worked as a gladiator at the coliseum..." Nodoka gave her daughter a look of surprise. "I took a second job as a fighting instructor for young fighters. I passed on your teachings to a new generation of fighters."

She sighed when she saw the worried looks of the others. "I didn't use all of his teaching practices, don't worry!" She looked back at Genma. "Even if in a different world, you can be proud that the Saotome School of Anything Goes will live on."

Genma decided to give it a final try. "And what about Akane?"

Surprisingly, Katt looked down at the ground. "Akane... will get over it," she murmured.

"I suppose she didn't take it too well," Nabiki assumed. "Where is my little sister anyway?"

"You know, when she found out that..." Ukyo started, but was interrupted by Katt.

"Please, Ucchan!" the young Woren said. "Let me explain this to them, okay?" The chef nodded.

"I had no chance to tell Akane before I met with a... a friend of mine," Katt explained.

"Another visitor of our home world," Nina explained. "He is called Bow."

Katt nodded. "Yes, and he..." She took a deep breath. "He is my boyfriend!"

Everyone was stunned by those news. Nodoka let out a small gasp.

"What??" Genma asked in disbelief. "B-but boy, I mean... Katt, you can't..."

"I can't?" Katt glared at her father. "I can't? I am a girl now, FATHER! What's so wrong if a girl likes a boy? And before you take it all out on Bow, you shall know that he knew nothing about my previous life... not even that I had been a boy OR that I was engaged. And Akane... she came in just when Bow and I... when we kissed."

Genma's mouth stayed open for a while, then it closed. Then it opened up again. It would have been a hilarious sight, if not...

Nabiki frowned. "Saotome... you know my little sister was in love with you, right?"

Katt nodded sadly. "I know. And I never wanted to hurt her. But, see... I never figured I would ever see her again. And, besides... I have never been too sure myself if my feelings towards her were love or something else. But now, I would wish for nothing more than to be her friend."

Nabiki looked at Katt's face for a while, then she nodded. "And what about Ukyo and Shampoo?"

Shampoo smiled as she put a hand on Katt's furry shoulder. "Ukyo and I glad to have Ranma back - even if she is Katt. No want to see her sad."

Ukyo nodded. "It wasn't easy to let go, but I decided this has been going on for too long. If I can still be her friend, that's all I need."

Katt sighed. "I just wish Akane wouldn't have taken it so... so serious."

"What happened?" Nodoka asked softly.

"When she saw us kiss, she freaked and ran. She ran outside and into the forest. I haven't seen her ever since."

"Don't worry!" Patty spoke up when she saw the alarmed faces of the Tendos. "A good friend of ours promised to look after her. She will be fine, and we also made sure she can follow us through the mirror."

'So, Bleu isn't as stingy as she used to be,' Cologne thought to herself. 'Well, that's good news... for once!'

"Ryoga went after her as well," Ukyo pointed out. "And he promised to take her back."

"Ryoga went after her?" Nabiki asked. "Okay... I'll bet 2.000 yen that we won't see him again this year."

Katt was still looking at her father. "Pops, can't you... can't you accept that your child is now a female permanently? I'm still me. And it isn't more freaky than permanently having fur and a tail."

Genma was silent. Then he sighed. "I... I don't know. I have to think about it, bo... child!"

"That's all I'm asking," Katt said. "Please try to understand the situation I was in. One thing I can promise to you is that I can always come for a visit."

"What, you... you don't want to live here anymore?" Nodoka asked in surprise and concern.

"I will stay for at least a week, at least for now," Katt said. "But, you know, I have a house back in Coursair. I have friends back there just like I have here... and I have a very gentle and understanding boyfriend. I don't want to throw either of you away, so I'm going to live there, but I promise to come for a visit at least once a week."

Nodoka nodded in relief and smiled. "Your boyfriend sounds like he's a good catch, huh?"

Katt blushed upon hearing that from her mother, but she still nodded. "Y-yeah, he's a nice guy..."

"And now that we know you already kissed, we know we can expect other things to come," Patty said teasingly.

"Yeah," Nabiki grinned. "It's not a big step from Base 2 to Base 3."

Everyone laughed, except for Katt, who was blushing so much that it even showed through her fur.

Genma didn't laugh either. He took one last look at his son-turned-daughter, shook his head and went into the dojo.

"I need to clear my head..." he murmured. "I'll spar a bit... and if that doesn't help, I know where Tendo keeps his stash of sake..."

"I just have to show around Nerima," Katt finally told her two friends from the Dragon World. "I haven't been here for two years... there's so much I wanna see again! Dr. Tofu's practice, Furinkan High, the Nekohanten..."

"Well, just remember that we won't be there to serve you, girl!" Cologne reminded the enthusiastic Woren with a smirk. "At least not until you give us some time to go back there."

Shampoo smiled. "Katt no worry, Shampoo will go right away and prepare best meal, so it will be ready when she, Nina and Patty come by."

Nina smiled back at her. "Sounds good, I'll be looking forward to it."

After Shampoo had rushed out of the house, Cologne shook her head. "Just look at her... Just a few hours ago, she was a speechless picture of misery, and I couldn't convince her to do anything, may it be cooking or practicing her arts. I haven't seen her this happy ever since you disappeared two years ago, son-in..." She cleared her throat. "Sorry, I mean Katt. Please excuse me, but old habits are hard to break."

"So... you aren't interested in making me a member of your tribe anymore?" Katt asked.

Cologne shook her head. "No, not anymore! I came to realize that there are more important things than keeping the Amazon bloodline strong. Even someone as old as me can learn a few things from youngsters like you and Shampoo... even if it takes the hard way."

She hopped to the door and turn around to look back at Katt and her friends. "I, too, would appreciate if you dropped by. Now that Shampoo once again uses all her heart in her activities, I don't want it to be for nothing."

"Don't worry!" Katt grinned. "After spending so many years without any Japanese OR Chinese food, it's gonna be the best Ramen I ever ate."

The Amazon Matriarch chuckled. "Good to hear that. And, Katt..."

"Yeah?"

Cologne looked at the girl's face with a serious look. "Thank you for what you did to Shampoo!" And then she pogoed away.

Katt blinked in confusion. "But... whatever did I do?"

Nabiki grinned as she patted Katt's shoulder. "It may not be intended, and you may not have noticed it, but her behavior changed immensely ever since she learned that you would come back."

"In this case, I may just wait for another time until you come by at Ucchan's to have a taste of my Okonomiyaki," Ukyo said.

"Oh, I... Listen, it's not that I forgot how great your cooking is, it's just that..."

"I understand, Katt-chan!" Ukyo grinned. "Hey, it's okay! As long as you promise to drop by during the week, I'll be fine. I understand that it is very important for Shampoo that you have a taste of her cooking first." She shrugged and turned to leave. "Well, I better be going for now... Konatsu will be worried about me. Just promise to come over for a nice meal this week, okay?"

"Will do, Ucchan!" Katt nodded. "See ya later!"

Ukyo looked at his two winged friends. "Nina, Patty, it was nice meeting you two." And she left as well.

"Child, you're not going out in these clothes, are you?" Nodoka suddenly spoke up.

Katt looked down at her armor. "Um... you're right, that would be a bit awkward... I just wore this outfit for such a long time... I never imagined I would wear normal clothes again."

"Maybe you two should change into something else," Kasumi told Patty and Nina. "I can lend you some clothes, and if they don't fit, we can always see if Nabiki or Akane have something more suitable."

Patty looked down at her red, leathery thieves' outfit. "Hey, what's wrong with what I wear?" she asked.

"Nothing... at least not where we come from," Nina said. "But you may have noticed that the residents of this new world tend to dress in a slightly different manner than we are used to. We wouldn't want to stand out, right?"

"I think our wings would stand out even more than our clothes..." Patty muttered.

"Eh, not necessarily," Katt said, suddenly remembering Kiima and the other Phoenix tribe members. "The people of Nerima are used to weird stuff happening around here..."

"Still, wearing the same clothes as the locals will usually be seen as an act of politeness," Nina insisted. "And it will help us to get to learn more about the culture of this world."

"All right already..." Patty sighed. "But be sure to find me something that gives my wings free mobility."

"I guess you can always have one of my tube tops," Nabiki shrugged. "Come, I'll show you to my room..."

Katt raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to charge for it, are you?"

"Contrary to popular belief, not everything I do has a price, Saotome!" Nabiki grimaced. "Now if she would want to use my camera..."

Patty blinked, leaned over to Katt's ear and whispered: "What's a camera?"

Katt whispered back, and Patty nodded in understanding. "Well, having a few pictures of Nerima to look at back home WOULD be nice... how much?" she asked the perplexed Nabiki.

"Um..." the middle Tendo sister was taken aback, never expecting the dragon-winged girl to accept the offer. Fortunately, she did put in a new film just yesterday. "Well, if it's just for one day... how about 5.000 yen?"

Patty blinked, then reached for her pouch. "I don't have any of these 'Yen', but how about I give you five pieces of gold for it?"

Nabiki's eyes started to gleam greedily as she saw the shining gold coins in the young thief's hands, each of them as big as a potato chip.

Patty looked confused at her. "Well, is it enough?"

"Yeees..." Nabiki muttered, feeling a bit dazed. "Yeees, that will be fine..."

Katt frowned. "Aren't five pieces of gold are a bit steep just for loaning the camera? I'd say three pieces are more than enough, Nabiki!"

"Um, if you say so..." Patty shrugged, taking back two of the coins.

"Nooo..." Nabiki whined. "My pretties... give me back my pretties..."

Kasumi stood up. "Please come this way, Nina-chan! I might have a nice dress that would just look beautiful on you."

"That would be great," Nina smiled. "But... what about my wings?"

"I'm sure we can find a solution," Kasumi said.

"Kasumi, you shouldn't get up," her father said in a worried voice. "The doctor said you need to rest."

"Oh, I think I'll be fine, father!" Kasumi replied. "Besides, I have Nina to help me if I should feel too weak. Isn't that right, Nina-chan?"

The princess of Windia nodded. "Of course!"

"See, father? Nothing to worry about!" And she led Nina up the stairs, followed by Patty and a Nabiki who still muttered: "Ooooh, such precious, precious coins of gold... oh, my preciousssss..."

Nodoka put a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Come, Katt! Let's see if a few of your old clothes will still fit you..."

When Katt opened her old drawer, she hesitated a bit. Then she took out a very familiar-looking pair of clothes.

Staring down at the red shirt and black pants, she wondered just how much of Ranma was still in her. Was she really willing to wear her old Chinese clothes?

Her mother looked at her in concern. "What's wrong, dear?"

Katt closed her hands to stop them from shaking. "Mom, I... I don't think I can wear my old stuff again... They remind me too much of who I was... and that I might never be able to get back to being him again." She sighed. "As I told you, I am still 'me', but different. While I'm pretty much a tomboy, I'm still a girl, and wearing these clothes would make me feel as if... as if nothing ever happened since I was gone. But that's not true... I have changed, and maybe I should accept the fact that I have become a girl by wearing things that... that a girl would wear."

"I think I see..." Nodoka said quietly, put back the Chinese clothes and closed the drawer.

"You know, back in the Dragon World, I was able to tell me that I'm a different person, as my appearance had changed enough, and I also had other people around me. That helped me with convincing myself to start wearing clothes and armor that was designed for girls... and after those two years, they too helped me to accept what I have become. But now... coming back here was difficult enough, and although I'm happy to see everyone again, I don't want to lose what I left behind in the other world... and that's why I want to be different, enough so that other people will realize that I'm not the manly Ranma they all know anymore..."

'Oh, my poor child,' Nodoka thought to herself. 'Those two years must have been much harder for you than I thought... I will try to make you as comfortable as I can!'

"Don't worry, dear, I'm sure we can find a few things from Nabiki or Akane that might fit you... Akane is very much a tomboy, and I've never seen Nabiki wearing dresses either."

Katt winced. "It might not be a good idea for me to take any of Akane's things... the last time we talked, we weren't exactly on good terms with each other."

"I see," Nodoka nodded. "Well, you can always ask Nabiki... but I don't think you can borrow clothes from her every time you and your friends come for a visit..." Her face brightened. "We might just have to go SHOPPING!"

Katt sighed. That was what she had feared. But seeing her mother this happy convinced her not to disappoint her.

Later that day, the three girls could be seen walking out of the Tendo home's front door, accompanied by the Saotome matriarch.

Katt and Patty were both wearing clothes from Nabiki. Patty was wearing a white tube top that allowed her wings to move freely, and a pair of tight, red pants. Katt was wearing a sleeveless, blue shirt, along with a pair of black shorts.

Kasumi had given Nina a nice, sky-blue sundress with a floral pattern on its backside. She had also put a violet ribbon in her hair that 'emphasized her wings'.

Katt grinned as she walked along the familiar streets, ignoring the looks the locals were giving the cat-girl and her two winged friends.

"Ready or not, Nerima, here we come!"

"Ranma?" a familiar voice suddenly shouted behind them. "Is that you?"

Katt nervously turned around... and sighed in relief when she saw the faces of Akane's two oldest friends, Sayuri and Yuka. With her luck, it could have also been Hiroshi and Daisuke (who were Ranma's old pals, but also the biggest perverts in Furinkan High), or even (shiver) Happosai or Kuno...

Katt grinned nervously. "H-hi there, Sayuri, Yuka..."

"Wow, we almost didn't recognize you under that costume," Yuka said in awe. "I didn't know you were into cosplay."

"How long has it been?" Sayuri asked. "Two years? Man, Akane must be relieved that you finally are back. Where have you been all that time?"

"Old friends of yours, Katt?" Nina asked with a smile.

"Um, you could say so," the Woren girl nodded. "Nina, Patty, these are Yuka and Sayuri. Girls, these are my new friends, Nina and Patty."

"Are you all members of a cosplay club?" Yuka asked, fascination in her voice.

Patty and Nina looked at each other in confusion. "What's she talking about?"

Katt sighed. "Yuka, those aren't costumes..."

"Huh?" the brown-haired girl blinked. "And what do you call these...?" She reached out to grab the Woren's ears.

"OW!" Katt yowled. "Hey, that hurts!"

Yuka gasped and took a step back. "You mean to tell me... they are for real?"

"Yes, they are..." Ranma grimaced and carefully massaged her hurt cat ear. "As is my tail and fur... and their wings, by the way."

"Lemme guess..." Sayuri groaned. "Accident with Jusenkyo water?"

"No, not really," Katt admitted. "You see... Patty and Nina are visitors from another world... and that's where I've been the past two years."

Normal girls wouldn't have believed what the cat-girl had told Yuka and Sayuri at the moment. But this was Nerima, and weird things were bound to happen, even if Ranma was not around.

"Wow!" Yuka gasped. "So you two are aliens or something?"

"I don't really know what an alien is..." Patty said and scratched her head. "I'm a member of the dragon tribe... and Nina is the princess of Windia."

"A real princess?" Yuka nervously looked at Katt. "Does that mean we have to bow down now?"

Nina laughed. "Please, treat me as you would any friend of yours. Any friend of Katt is my friend as well."

"Who's Katt?" the two Nerima girls stereoed.

"Well, that's me," the red-haired cat-girl grimaced. "It's, um... my new name. And before you ask, I'm permanently a girl now. And a Woren... I mean, a cat-girl."

Sayuri smiled. "Oh, that's great!"

Katt blinked. "It is?"

Sayuri nodded. "Sure! Now we can do all the stuff we used to do with Akane. You know, girl stuff!"

Katt grimaced. "I hope you aren't talking about putting make-up on me or bows on my tail..."

Sayuri giggled. "Only if you want to."

"Apropos, Akane..." Yuka suddenly murmured. "Did you already tell her?"

Katt sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I did..."

Yuka winced. "I guess she didn't take it too well, right?"

Katt shook her head.

"Ah, don't worry about her!" Yuka smiled. "Akane will get over it. I used to be in love with three boys at school, and all of them had another girl in the end."

"You weren't in love, you just had a few crushes on them," Sayuri said with a frown.

Her friend just shrugged. "It's the same to me..."

"Katt was just showing us around town," Patty said with a grin and put her hand on the small Woren's head. "And I must say, it's really exciting, so many new things to see..."

Katt grinned as well. "Patty, I barely showed you anything... we just walked around the block once, that's all."

"Oh, but there's so much you can see," Sayuri said. "There are a few places in Nerima a girl just has to go to every once in a while."

"That's right," Yuka nodded. "The mall, the ice cream parlor, the perfumery..."

"Oh, that sounds exciting," Nina gushed. "Maybe you can come along and show us everything?"

Sayuri and Yuka grinned. "It would be our pleasure!"

"Nooo..." Katt protested. "Not the perfumery..."

"Your mother really was nice to give us some money so we could go shopping," Nina smiled as she looked into her shopping bag. "I can't wait to show some of these cute dresses to mother and Mina..."

"Who knows, maybe it will start a new trend in Windia," Katt chuckled. She looked over to where Patty was sitting. "What are you doing?"

"Can't... talk... giant monkey... throwing... barrels... GAH! He hit me AGAIN!"

Katt sweatdropped as she realized the small device Patty was holding. "Yuka... you bought her a Gameboy?"

"Hey, as soon as she saw it, she wanted to try it out," Yuka protested. "Is it my fault she turns into a video game addict?"

"But how is she supposed to play those games if there is no electricity back in her world?"

"Oh, I almost forgot..." Katt murmured.

Patty grinned. "No worries! The salesman also sold me these nice things called 'batteries'. He said that with them, this game will work for quite some time, and if they run out, I can put new ones in. He even showed me how it's done. So, the only thing I have to do is to buy some batteries every time I visit Nerima."

"Say, how many trends are you planning to start back home?" Katt sweatdropped. She knew, as soon as that device would be brought to the Dragon World, everyone who saw it would want to have one. No one could escape the addiction caused by Nintendo...

"I have a great idea!" Sayuri suddenly said. "Yuka and I were planning to have a sleepover tonight... why don't you girls come as well?"

"Yes, we can celebrate Ranma's... I mean, Katt's new girlhood."

"Aren't you guys a bit too enthusiastic about the fact that I've turned into a girl forever?" Katt murmured.

They shook their heads. "Nope! Not one bit!"