Ranma-Papa, Shampoo-Mama

Chapter Three

Carefully, stealthily he crept along the roof. What he was doing was dangerous, he knew that, but that had never stopped him before.

Cautiously, after making sure the bundle on his back was secure, he climbed over the side of the roof, cleaver fingers finding hand holds even in the smooth wooden walls of the small restaurant. The moment he could he peeked through the window of his goal and smiled when it was empty. "Yes."

Ranma slipped the window open silently and climbed in, quickly locating and opening the large carved wood box in question. Inside he found not one but two of the vials Shampoo asked for. "Well, they look the same and they ain't marked. I guess they're the same things." He muttered, lifting one of the corked vials out of the padded box.

He turned away and walked towards the window, quickly slipping out. His luck ran out, however, when the bag of clothes he had gotten from Kasumi bumped the window, causing it to fall closed behind him.

Ranma cursed, and hopped to the roof next door trying to out run Cologne. He was sure the old ghoul heard that.

Cologne, seconds later, rushed into her room and froze for an instant when she saw exactly what had been stolen. Moving to the window she watched Ranma disappear over a roof and hurried to give chase. "Son-in-law! What are you doing?" She yelled as she pogoed after him.

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Dr. Tofu hung up his phone with a frown. A friend in the Children's Welfare Department was going to stop by and try to help him figure out what to do with his rather strange situation, but she couldn't do it till the evening, leaving several hours at the least for them to fend for themselves.

Rising from his desk, he decided to check on his patients but the sound of his front door opening caught his attention. Walking out he greeted the two men who had entered. "Soun, Genma. It's a good thing you two decided to stop by."

"We were just dropping this book off. What sort of help do you need?" Soun asked, concern on his mustached face.

Actually, its Genma I need to talk to. Come with me please." He led them down the hall leading to the examination rooms of his clinic. "I need to know some details about the Neko-ken. You see..."

Ryoga, who had chosen that moment to open the door, interrupted him. "Genma! Prepare to die!" He yelled, partly from habit, and punched the pudgy martial artist in his shocked face. Genma slumped, out cold from the fanged boy's titanic blow.

"Ryoga! What did you do that for?" Tofu yelled, unconsciously mimicking Ranma.

"Ranma asked me to." Ryoga replied with a shrug.

"He what?"

As if summoned, Ranma bounced in through an open window, and paused at the sight he ran into. "What happened?"

"Ryoga knocked out your father and said you asked him to, son." Soun said, confused and vaguely disapproving.

"No. All I asked Ryoga to do was beat up anyone dumb enough to try and teach the Neko-ken..." Ranma paused. "Oh, I guess I did ask him to. Thanks man."

"Actually, I kinda enjoyed it." Ryoga chuckled. "Ya got that vial for Shampoo?"

"Oh yeah! And the ghouls hot on my heels, too." The pigtailed boy ducked into Shampoos room, causing her to look up. "Got it Shampoo, now what?"

The Amazon, shaking cobwebs from her mind, set the kitten on the floor while she remained on the bed. "Pour on kitten."

Ranma shrugged, and handed the vial to Ryoga. "Go ahead man. I ain't getting near that thing."

"No. Must be Ranma!"

Ryoga looked between the two then shook his head. "You do it, Ranma. It's just a kitten. You aren't AFRAID are you?"

"OF COURSE I AIN'T AFRAID!"

Reluctantly Ranma approached the cat, and held the vial out at arms length trying not to get to close to the frightening, helpless kitten. He was so focused on what he was doing, and not running away, that he didn't notice the look of longing Shampoo gave the vial. What happened next shocked everyone including Cologne who arrived just as the water hit.

"What the hell!" Ranma yelled as the pathetic cat turned into a waifish young girl.

"What do you fools think your doing!" Cologne yelled only an instant later.

Shampoo smiled, slumping back to the bed. "Now Tofu help Shi."

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"That's quite a story, but why would Shampoo risk her cure? She didn't know I had a second batch just in case." Cologne wondered aloud. The boys had explained everything they knew to Cologne while Soun and Tofu dealt with the cat turned human. They had all left Genma in the hall. He was just to big, and even Soun figured he'd wake up before to long.

"My guess is, due to the extreme trauma of being trapped in the pit, mixed in with protecting the kitten for over a day with no sleep, food, and multiple wounds that something like Stockholm syndrome set in. It's not really and exact comparison but it sounds close to me." Ranma replied.

Everyone stared at him like he had grown a second head.

"What?" He growled. "I ain't stupid, and I'm taking psych in school now!"

"And I have to agree with his opinion." Dr. Tofu said, having entered during his theory. "Between the fact that she was all that was keeping the kitten alive, and the frustration of not being able to help the girl she basically imprinted on the kitten in a, I suppose maternal way."

"How are all of them, by the way?"

"That's actually why I came back out. Shampoo and the kitten are resting peacefully, and I've injected the vaccinations into them, but the other girl has woken up and she is still acting like a cat."

"What? How?" Ranma yelled, rising and knocking his glass of water over into his lap. "I always snap out after falling asleep!" She paused, and looked down at herself. "Aw geeze!"

"Meow!" The sound, from a human throat, proceeded the girl who once again pounced on Ranma, purring and nuzzling Ranma's shoulder with he cheek, gleefully unaware of the twitches such actions caused in the girl.

"Um, what is she doing?"

"Showing affection." Cologne replied, reasonably amused. She opened her Ki senses wide and examined the girl, and what she found disturbed her. "She's thirteen."

"That's what I was guessing." Tofu replied, though it wasn't a question.

"That is well over the age to train a child for the Neko-ken. I'm amazed she even survived it."

"Okay, fine, but what can we do to snap her out of cat mode? She's freakin me out!" Ranma demanded.

"We may not be able to, son-in-law."

"We have to!"
Ryoga nodded, for once agreeing with Ranma. "Come on granny, there has to be something we can do."

"There is one possibility, but there is something..."

"What Cologne?" Tofu asked.

"The Yang Point."

"Your right, it is dangerous." Tofu agreed.

"What, pray tell, is the Yang Point?" Soun asked.

"A mistake. The Amazons developed many advanced Shiatsu and pressure point techniques, as you all know, but none as dangerous as the Yang Touch for the user."

"And it does what, exactly?" Ryoga demanded.

"It boosts the users Ki by about three hundred percent or more."

"You're kidding! Nice trick!"

"That's what my ancestors thought. However, it doesn't boost your Kin equally, but just part of your Ki. The most dominant part."

"Like confidence or depression for P-chan and me?"

"Shut up, Ranma." Ryoga said absently.

Cologne shook her head. "More basic then that. In most cases it will boost the Male or Female aspect of it's victim."

"How would that help?"

Cologne sat back, expecting a long explanation. "For most forms of mental illnesses absolutely none. The Neko-ken and a few other situations are special cases. Exceptions to the rules."

"Okay, why?" Ranma growled. He was getting frustrated with dragging information out of the Matriarch.

"Because, son-in-law, during the Neko-ken training the trainee, or victim if you prefer, absorbs the Ki of the cats they kill, and becomes spiritually part cat themselves."

"You mean Ranma and the girl ate the cat's souls?" Ryoga asked horrified, then yelped in pain when she smacked him with the staff.

"No, though I see that's what you all thought. It's more like taking a recording of the essence of being a cat. Their souls go on to wherever cat souls go, but their life essence stays with you." Cologne paused, letting them consider that for a few moments. "However, people's Ki becomes more efficient at capturing ki as time goes on. A young child's Ki is by nature chaotic and elastic, so it is very inefficient at absorbing more, though it adapts to the Ki around it more easily then an adult. This girl's ki is far more organized then is safe for the Neko-ken."

"So you want to boost her...Human ki?"

"Her human female ki. If I'm right, she is still mostly human, but only barely. The boost, which will increase her ability to store her feminine ki will possibly bring her out of it, and bring her to the level of Son-in-law's problem.

Um, pardon me for asking, but where is the bad here?" Ryoga asked.

"Because all beings NEED male and female Ki. Once or twice and she'd be fine if a bit more feminine. After that she'd be to female."

"This from an Amazon." Ranma muttered.

"Son-in-law, it was only a century before my own birth when 'and kill them once pregnant.' was removed from the outsider mirage laws. There weren't more then a handful of males in the tribe until my generation because of the insanity being 'too female' brought on. Males are even worse and it has been used on them in the past. "

"Oh, okay...That is bad." Ranma agreed. "But once won't hurt her?"

"No. Unless I'm misreading her aura and the cats overwhelmed the girl. If so we can't get her back."

"We have to risk it then. It sounds like her only chance." Tofu said.

"Yes, but there is one other risk."

"What now?" Ranma moaned.

"While the Yang touch is in effect, for about the next hour or so, she will have enough Ki to accidentally fire Ki blasts if she gets over emotional."

"Great."

AN: Doesn't that just sound like the sort of technique someone would develop in the Ranma 1/2 universe.

And as for whoever or whatever the main bad guy in this little tail may end up being...I must restate something. He will likely be more dangerous then Saffron...but power isn't the only requirement for danger now is it?