Dance With the Devil

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own none of the series involved.

Nabiki chuckled as she and Akane walked to school in the morning.

"It's not funny!" Akane muttered, her face red.

"Sure it is! Your attempt at making waffles somehow summoned a tentacle demon from somewhere." She laughed as Akane buried her face in her hands. "Too bad you nearly killed it."

"Mooooou! How was I supposed to know that he was going to hug me for getting him out of the Abyss?! He was a tentacle demon!"

Nabiki started laughing as she remembered the creature flattened by Akane's mallet, the screaming and then when everything had calmed down, the creature had said he would have left to explore the world but had decided that it was safer in the Abyss. "I'm still not sure how you did it."

"I blame the cookbook! I followed the instructions!"

"And all because Kasumi had to leave early to restock the pantry." Nabiki shook her head in amusement. "Well, at least the kitchen is still in one piece. That's an improvement from your usual attempts."

Akane groaned in dismay.

"But, seriously, Akane," Nabiki stopped laughing and gave her sister a soft smile, "even Kasumi was impressed with the fact that everything, other than the cracked floor where you hit the Tentacle Demon, was in one piece. Good job."

"Thanks." She sighed and looked down.

"What's wrong?" Nabiki looked at her sister in concern.

"Just thinking about that lolicon pervert."

"You mean Ranma?"

"Who else?" She snorted, "can't believe father lets him live with us."

"Well, if he's a true lolicon at least we don't have to worry about him trying to sneak into our rooms to do perverted things with us."

Akane blinked and gave a small smile. "Yeah, I guess so." She couldn't argue against that. "Still, it would be better if he wasn't..." She trailed off as the two got to the school and a party was being held outside. "What's going on?"

"Oh, Akane!" One of her friends came up to her, smiling. "It's wonderful! Kuno-sempai is taking a leave of absence!"

"Wait, so that means..."

"No more bad poetry!"

"No more daily challenges!" Akane's eyes sparkled in happiness.

"No more easy money, drat." Nabiki muttered under her breath. "So, anyone know why or where he is?"

"Something about training to defeat a foul Demon or something."

Akane and Nabiki looked at each other in surprise. "But I thought he liked Lilith?"

"Maybe he had a change of heart?" Nabiki shrugged and walked inside. "Well, either way, maybe things will be quiet for awhile."

The loud sound of thunder had everyone looking around and wondering why there was thunder on a clear day.

(-)

"So Master, why are we skipping school?" Lilith asked as they moved in the opposite direction of the school. "Don't tell me that you found a new plaything and want to get rid of me."

Ranma rolled his eyes as the two jumped from the building they were on to the top of a light pole and across the street. "As if I'd get rid of you."

"You're right! I must get you a harem!"

"I told you, I'm not interested."

Lilith sighed as they ran across rooftops. 'Maybe you aren't, Master, but at your current growth rate, I won't be able to keep up with you for much longer.' She thought to herself. It was kind of humiliating, whoever heard of a succubus unable to keep up with their partner anyway? "Where are we going anyway?"

"Just follow me."

It was ten minutes later when they touched down in an alley and Ranma looked around. "Okay, there should be..." He trailed off and jumped away as an arrow hit where he had been a moment ago. "Thought so."

"Well, now I see why you didn't want to be the dojo or the school." Lilith muttered as she saw who had fired the arrow. "How did you know?"

"I didn't know it was her specifically, but someone was trying really hard to get through the anti-scrying field last night." Ranma narrowed his eyes. "So, Shampoo... I didn't know you were that good with magic."

Standing on top of a tree, a teenager with long purple hair was holding a bow with a quiver of arrows on her back. "Nihao!" She smiled and jumped off the tree and into the alley. "Shampoo happy to see Demons again, get new chance, yes?"

"You can speak Chinese, I can understand you." Lilith said to her. "So why are you trying to kill us? I thought this was settled in China?"

"Oh, it was." A new voice spoke up and Ranma and Lilith spun around to see a figure with long white hair, a staff that was taller than either of them, and green robes over its two-foot tall body. "Heh heh, long time no see, boy."

"And you are?"

"Ah, that's right, we didn't meet properly, did we? I am Cologne of the Jokenzuko." She cackled at him. "After being run out of the village, did you really think that we wouldn't come after you?"

"I was kind of hoping, those weapons you had hurt."

The small figure grinned at Ranma. "Well, that's what happens when you have weapons designed for fighting Devils and anyone with Youki."

"So what? You're going to try and kill us?" Lilith could escape in an instant through the shadows and escape back to the dojo. Sure it wouldn't stop the old woman, but at least it would give them enough time to flee the city before they were found.

"Of course not." Cologne laughed as the two face-faulted. "If we're being honest, we've been in Nerima for some time observing you."

"Shampoo was chasing across China." The girl grimaced and hated how she couldn't speak Japanese very well. 'If only grandmother hadn't told me to speak this language.'

"Yeah, I know." Ranma grumbled. "So what was with all the probes?"

"Merely testing you, nothing more, boy." She cackled at his disbelieving stare.

"Really? I would think you had a law stating "all demons, devils and monsters must be killed on sight."

"We do." Cologne nodded, causing the two to tense up. "Oh please, if we were going to kill you there would be three Elders, a hundred elite warriors and we would have magic users casting a spell blanketing the city to eliminate you in case the warriors and Elders failed."

"Great-Grandmother, Shampoo thinks they should..." Shampoo trailed off, not sure how to say what she wanted to say in Japanese.

"So, what is your purpose here then?" Lilith asked the old woman. 'If you could call that thing a woman.'

"Think of us as your social workers." Cologne answered her. "I'm also impressed that you lead us across the city, but like I said, we had been observing you for some time, so we know where you live. Impressive bounded fields I admit. I couldn't sneak in there even if I wanted to."

"When Devil Hunters and Magical Girls keep coming for your life, you need to learn some sort of defense."

"Indeed, girl, indeed." Cologne nodded at Lilith's answer and pointed at Shampoo. "Come, grand-daughter, we need to finish the store in time for its grand opening."

"Huh?"

Cologne gave Ranma a grin. "We're just your social workers, nothing more." Of course, if the two ever did become a threat, Cologne had several wards, talismans and other magical items that could seriously injure or even kill either of them if it came down to it.

The two jumped away and Lilith looked at Ranma, who was frowning at where Cologne was. "Master?"

"I... Am not sure what to think about this."

"You could always try sleeping with Shampoo and getting her pregnant, that would probably stop all threats against us from them." She giggled at his look.

"Are you kidding?! I'd probably have MORE people trying to kill me then! Besides," he sobered up and looked at where Cologne had been, "you felt it too, right?"

"Of course, it's faint, but it's there."

"Lilith..."

"Master?" She moaned as he grabbed her and kissed her in the alley. "Feeling frisky?"

"Right now I'm spoiling for a fight, but since the only one around is you..."

Lilith moaned as his hands went down her back and down to her ass. "Well, I wouldn't mind a spar, but I agree, this is better."

(-)

As they moved across the rooftops, Shampoo looked at Cologne curiously. "Great-grandmother," she spoke in Chinese, "why would you let them go with just a warning? The council..."

"Is not here, Shampoo." Cologne replied as they jumped across the street. "Surely you have felt it, haven't you?"

Shampoo frowned as they moved through the air. "I have felt plenty of things since coming here. If I did not know better, I would swear there are several powerful Demons in the city somewhere."

"Exactly. Using anything to harm a lowly Hanyou and a succubus may attract the attention of more powerful enemies, ones we're not equipped to deal with."

"Should we?"

"No." Cologne shook her head. "Calling for allies should not be done lightly, if we did, you know that the council would be here within three days with enough warriors that the local government and military would take notice." As much as the Jokenzuko prided themselves on being warriors, there was no need for agitating the world governments. "Unless it's a serious matter where those two become a threat to the world, I see no problem letting them live."

"But we'll keep an eye on them, right?"

"Of course." She grinned as she saw Shampoo blush. "Tis a good thing that the succubus explained about the Jusenkyo curse before you made a fool of yourself, huh?"

Shampoo nodded as she thought back to that day.

*Flash*

"Hey! What's going on?" Ranma, in female form and a white Gi asked as she was kissed on the cheek.

"Oh no! Honored customer! The village champion gave you the Kiss of Death. You must run if you do not wish to die."

"Oh, is that all?" Lilith, in a similar outfit to Ranma, said as she grinned. "So if anyone beats them they have to hunt them down and kill them, huh?"

"Only if female."

Lilith blinked and sighed. "Hey! You!" She yelled in Chinese to someone.

"What is it, outsider?"

"Could you bring me hot water?"

"Why? Have you been to Jusenkyo or something?"

"Yes." Lilith nodded and pointed at the redhead. "She is under a curse. She's actually a guy." A moment later, hot water was splashed over both Ranma and her. "I didn't ask for any myself!"

Shampoo stared at Ranma's male form and blushed. 'Holy cow! He's hot! Why'd I try to kill him again? I should be tying him up and pinning him to the bed!'

Lilith grinned as she felt raw lust forming up from Shampoo before she turned her head sharply as she felt a strong surge of hostility coming her way. "What the, YIPE!" She yelled and jumped as an arrow struck where her feet were. "What the?"

"Shoot!" A young woman in her twenties frowned. "Missed the Demon."

Lilith grimaced at the looks she was getting. "Master!" She called out in Japanese. "Panda! We need to go, now! They know what I am!"

Shampoo blinked as Ranma, the panda and the girl all disappeared in a cloud of dust.

*End Flash*

"If only Lotion hadn't interfered! I could have bedded the stud!"

"Unlikely," Cologne sighed heavily, "now that I've had a chance to meet him personally I can tell that he's as much of a Demon as the succubus is."

"But he's only part Demon." Not that it made much of a difference to the people of the village. "Pretty damn hypocritical of the village to hate part Demons when we want strong bloodlines."

"Yes, but we can't go against Athena's rules."

"Bah! It's stupid!"

"I agree, anyway, enough, you must practice your Japanese more and we have to finish setting up the Neko Haten."

"Yes, Great-Grandmother." Shampoo sighed in Japanese.

(-)

Meanwhile...

Nabiki frowned softly as she didn't see Ranma or Lilith at school. "Now where are they?" She knew they could handle themselves, but after that injury that Ranma sustained the other day, she wanted to keep a closer tab on the two of them. She had ways to do it, but she was certain that the two would notice.

"Hey boss, got some juicy info for you." One of her subordinates grinned. "Looks like we got a new teacher starting school tomorrow."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "Anything special about this one?"

"Apparently she was raised in an orphanage and, get this, she tried to be a dancer to get famous, but apparently there was something that kept her from getting her big breakout."

"Huh, interesting." Nabiki knew the world had discrimination going on in it, it really got in the way of letting the best get to where they should go. "So, what's her name?"

"Ah! Her name's a miss..."

(-)

"Felicia!" A nun looked up from watering the flowers outside the church as a bunch of young children ran up to her. "Are you really going?"

The nun knelt down and reached out with large, fur-covered hands to rub the child's head. "Yes, unfortunately. The orphanage needs money and I do have the ability to teach, so I'll be gone for awhile."

"AWWW!" The children pouted.

"Now, now..." Another nun came forward, smiling, she was an older woman who was slightly large, "don't be like that, if you are it will be hard for Felicia to leave. So let's wish her well and keep our spirits up."

"Don't worry." Felicia smiled at the children. "I'll be back every weekend."

"Okay!" The children cheered and Felicia smiled at them.

(-)

Later that night...

"What happened to you?!" Nabiki and Akane yelled as they saw Ranma and Lilith walking home, dirt everywhere, scuff marks and several cuts all over their bodies.

"Rough outdoor sex followed by sparring followed by breaking helicopters that tried to shoot us." Ranma yawned and winced. "Explosive helicopters."

"At least they were unmanned." Lilith added and stretched. "I'm hungry, what's for dinner?"

Both Nabiki and Akane face-faulted.

(-)

The next day...

"You know, you'd think that they wouldn't be so irritated with us." Ranma groused as he and Lilith ran across the fences towards the school. "Didn't even get us for breakfast, sheesh!"

"I know, first time we sleep all night and no one comes to get us, honestly!" Lilith huffed as they stuck out their hands to grab a light post and use it to help them take a corner. "You think they were mad about something."

"Yeah, I... Huh, what's going on here?" He blinked as the two touched down outside the school yard. "What's..."

"Nihao!" Shampoo, wearing a Furinkan School outfit, waved at the two of them. "Shampoo here for school, yes."

"...Huh?" Ranma gawked at her. "Um, okay, but..."

Shampoo smiled and walked up to them. "Great-grandmother say Shampoo need learn Japanese." She mentally sighed, hating how speaking Japanese made her sound like a moron. "Shampoo need learn outside world if be next leader."

"Ah." Ranma nodded, that made some sense.

"Also," Shampoo leaned in, whispering in Chinese to the two of them, "she wants me to keep an eye on you two."

Lilith sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fair enough, I suppose, guess I can't blame you." To be fair, it would be stupid not to.

"Good, Shampoo is..." She trailed off and sighed. "Shampoo sound stupid, no?"

Ranma chuckled and walked in, wondering what else was going to happen today.

(-)

As second period ended, Ranma blinked as a new person walked in. "When did this happen?"

"Dude, there was an announcement yesterday, you missed it." A boy with brown hair said to him.

Near the window, Lilith frowned, unexpected things always seemed to turn out badly. "Why a nun though?"

"Hello, everyone!" The nun smiled as she held her hands in front of her, her baggy robes concealing her hands. "My name is Felicia." She looked at Lilith, her eyes narrowing slightly. "As of today, I'll be your English teacher, now then..." She turned around and grabbed a piece of chalk. "Will everyone..."

"Sensei!" A girl raised her hand. "Your hands!"

"Huh?" Felicia looked down and sighed. "Well, the cat's out of the bag, literally." Turning and smiling, she rolled her sleeves up, revealing hands that were much larger than a normal person's, furry and with sharp nails. Flipping her hat off, a large mane of blue hair came flowing down and two white cat ears on top of her head. "Well, as you can see, I'm a catwoman, if that's going to be a problem, you can always..."

"COOL!"

"A real catgirl!"

"I no longer need to look on the internet for images of it."

"GYAAAAH!" Everyone stopped and looked at Ranma as he stood up and bolted out of the room...

...Through the wall...

...And outside of the school.

Lilith was trembling in her chair uncontrollably, rocking back and forth as she tried to fight off the uncontrollable sensations that her Master was sending her.

"How rude!" Felicia pouted, "I haven't even done anything yet."

Akane and Shampoo looked at each other in confusion before looking at Lilith, who, after getting her trembling under control, stood up. "Sensei, I need to go."

"Miss, can you tell me what's going on?"

"No time, excuse me!" Lilith bowed and ran out the hole Ranma made. "This is great." She muttered sarcastically as she went to hunt her Master down before he did something stupid.

Seeing the trail of destruction left in his wake, she let out a deep sigh, this qualified as stupid.

(-)

"So..." Felicia said and mentally sighed, she knew that her kind wasn't always well-received in the world, but to find someone this racist against her? It kind of hurt. "Class, let's begin with our lessons."

Shampoo mentally frowned, why would the school hire a catwoman? And why would Ranma react so badly to her? And how the hell was she supposed to pronounce 'rubber baby buggy bumpers' anyway?

'Stupid English language.' She mentally groused, she could barely speak Japanese, how was she supposed to learn English too? Sure, her grandmother could speak English, Japanese, Spanish and French, but she had a couple of centuries to learn!

(-)

It took Lilith about twenty minutes to find Ranma.

In the middle of a crater...

...By the river...

...In cursed form.

"Master!" She yelled and jumped down to the redhead, who was panting hard. "Master, I'm so sorry! I knew she was a Darkstalker from her aura, but I had no idea that she was a catwoman, please forgive me."

"Lilith..." Ranma turned and took a few deep breaths. "It's not... Your fault. I already had this problem before we met, you know that."

"It's my job to protect you though." She sighed and looked down, "not that I've done a very..." She trailed off as Ranma hugged her into the redhead's breasts. "Master?"

"It's okay," she smiled and rubbed Lilith's back. "You didn't know that she was a cat. I'm going to need you to go back to her and explain the situation, okay?"

Lilith nodded and sighed as she nuzzled her face into Ranma's breasts. 'Wish that she'd be willing to experiment with this form.' But even if her Master would be willing to experiment in her female form, Lilith would only accept the best of the best to play with her Master.

"OWW!" She yelped as she felt her butt being pinched. "That hurt, Master!"

"You were starting to giggle like a pervert." Ranma gave her Servant a flat stare. "No I'm not doing what you want me to do with this form."

"Oh come on! You know how many guys would *KILL* to have the chance to play with their own female body?" She wilted under the redhead's intense stare. "I can still fantasize about it, right?"

"No, because you'll invade my dreams and I'll start dreaming about it and I don't want that, got it?"

Lilith pouted, she had only done that one time when her Master was fourteen and she never heard the end of it.

"Anyway, why don't you head back and I'll catch up after I get changed back?"

"Sure." Lilith stood up. "But, Master, should I tell the class or..?"

"If the class pesters you, just say that we got attacked by a bunch of werecreatures or something and I had a bad flashback, but tell the teacher the truth." There was no way Ranma could even face that teacher.

"If only I knew how to help you overcome your trauma."

Ranma threw his hands up. "You tried giving me a dream where I was surrounded by catwomen and that didn't turn out well."

Lilith grimaced, that had been a big mistake on her part. One of the few times that they had been in a motel and she had tried to help her Master out.

The motel did not survive the subsequent Neko-Ken outburst.

That hadn't even been the first time that she had tried to help her Master out either. She had tried using sex and hypnosis in his dreams to help out.

She vowed to *NEVER* do that again. The concussion and destruction of the forest they were in was not worth it, even though the orgasms were the most intense she had ever had up to that point.

And the less said about the American manga about some werecat girl, the better.

That ... there were no words to describe how that turned out.

Though last she heard, the convention in the town it had occurred in now took the catgirl theme to extremes, and was probably more popular than Pokemon.

(-)

It was later in the day when Felicia heard a knock on the teacher's room. "Come in!" With the exception of that rude Ranma boy, the rest of the day had gone pretty well, the rest of the student body was rather happy to have a catwoman as a teacher. It was too bad that outside of a fight she would have to leave her nun outfit on, but she doubted anyone would appreciate her fighting in the nude with fur covering strategic spots.

Well, she was certain the teenage boys would, but no one else would.

"Hello." Lilith stuck her head in and smiled softly. "Can I come in?"

"Certainly." Felicia smiled and turned to face Lilith. "What can I do for you?"

"It's about this morning in English class." Not that Lilith needed the class, she and her Master were fluent in nearly every language, barring some of the more unusual ones that existed. "But Ma, ah, Ranma," she rarely called her Master by his real name anymore, "has an extreme case of ailurophobia."

"...What?"

"Extreme fear of cats."

"I know what ailurophobia is, I'm just... shocked to find someone with a reason to dislike me outside of being racist towards me for being a catwoman."

Lilith scoffed at that. "He's not like that. And believe me, he's so scared of cats that one time he saw a newborn cat that couldn't even open its eyes yet and he ran off screaming."

"...What happened?"

"Not something that he likes to talk about..." Lilith sighed and began to explain the horrors of the Neko-ken to Felicia.

(-)

Students were enjoying their lunch when they all ducked for cover upon hearing a loud scream shatter more than a few windows.

"THAT FUCKING ASSHOLE!"

Nabiki blinked and looked around in mild shock. "That was in English even."

A few of the students wrote it down. Teachers rarely-if ever-taught them how to cuss in a foreign language.

You seriously needed to know that when you traveled.

(-)

Lilith uncovered her ears and blinked a few times. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I don't think they heard you in Juuban."

Felicia let off several dark curses as she started pacing around the room. "So, why would anyone... GAH!"

Lilith sighed and shook her head. "Ma, ah, Ranma's father trained him in martial arts and was looking for an invincible technique."

"SO HE PUT HIS OWN SON THROUGH TORTURE?!" Felicia's fur was standing on end and her eyes were slitted. "SERIOUSLY! Morrigan, I don't know what your deal with that Ranma kid is, but even for you, not dealing with..." Felicia trailed off as Lilith started to glow and tremble. "Morrigan?"

"Don't." Lilith's form shifted slightly, revealing her succubus outfit. "Call." Her eyes glowed as her hands crackled with Magic and Youki. "Me." She started to hover off the ground as the air around her started to warp. "By." Her wings grabbed Felicia and lifted her up. "That." The next thing Felicia knew she was thrown to the ground. "Name AGAIN!"

"ACK! I'm SORRY!" Lilith glared, her eyes blazing as Felicia coughed. "You just felt so much like Morrigan that I thought you were here playing a game or something."

"HMPH!" Lilith returned to her human disguise, her wings disappearing in a flash. "Sorry, but whenever I hear that name I just get really pissed off."

Felicia nodded and stood up. "My apologies then... Lilith, was it?"

"Yes."

Standing up, Felicia dusted herself off and sat back down. "Well, this has been awkward, huh?" Lilith nodded and Felicia was honestly surprised to see an embarrassed look on the succubus's face. "Alright, so, why do you feel like Morrigan and what is your deal with that Ranma boy?"

Lilith looked at her in surprise. "You expect me to tell you when we just met?"

"Well, either that or we can fight and if I win you tell me everything, but I figure such a fight will destroy most of the school and I need this job."

Lilith sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I've been in the human world too long. Fine, I'll give you a brief run-down. Do you know who Jedah is?"

"One of the rulers of Makai, creepy bastard?" Felicia asked, getting a nod from Lilith. "Okay, I know about him."

"Let's just say that he's responsible for me being on Earth, okay?" Felicia nodded at that. "As for my "deal" with my Master? I entered into a Master-Servant pact with him." Felicia stared at that. "What?"

"Okay, so, that's impressive, he must have left an impression on you if you did that."

Lilith shrugged and stood up. "Yes, well, Master is pretty unique. Anyway, is that all?"

"So, what should we do about your Master then?"

Lilith shrugged as she walked to the door. "Let him leave before you show up for class so he doesn't cause a distraction? Stay in your nun outfit? I dunno."

"I'd talk to the principal, but apparently he's not around." She stood up as Lilith grabbed the door handle. "Maybe there's something I can do, you know, offset the horrible memories with good ones."

"No." Lilith shook her head. "I've already tried that. Believe me, you don't want to be around him if he freaks out too much." She paused before opening the door. "Unless you know a cat goddess or something."

Felicia sighed and flopped back into her chair. "Well... Fuck." How was she supposed to be a teacher when there was a student who was so afraid of her that he would barrel out of the room at the mere sight of her?

(-)

Later in the day, Ranma was walking home with Lilith, Akane and Shampoo following him.

"Shampoo want to know."

"Ever hear of the Neko-ken?" Ranma asked, getting a shake from Shampoo. "Forbidden training technique that made me scared of cats."

"Scared he says." Akane scoffed. "That wasn't scared, that was pure fear."

"Yeah, for all of you!" Ranma snapped and walked off, getting a sigh from Lilith, who turned to face them.

"I'm sorry, if you want to know, ask Genma, and don't fall for his dramatics." She turned and ran after Ranma. "Master! Wait for me!"

"Shampoo not sure what to think."

"I agree." Akane bit her lip. "So... Want to find out?"

"Yes." Shampoo nodded and followed Akane to the Tendo Dojo. After all, this could be very important information that her grandmother would need to know.

The two walked in relative silence back to the dojo. Entering, Shampoo had to admit that it was a nice place, the layers of protection on it that Cologne said were on it made sense. Walking into the living room, she and Akane saw Genma and Soun playing some game on a table over-looking the back yard. "Hey dad!"

"Ah, Akane, how was school?"

"Just fine, Shampoo here joined our class today." Soun nodded as he saw the purple-haired girl wave at them. "And we had a new English teacher today."

"Must have been interesting." Soun idly commented as he focused on the game board.

"Yeah, but something weird happened. Mr. Saotome, would you know why Ranma would freak out when a catwoman appeared in class?" Seeing Genma stiffen and slowly look at her, she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I have no idea what you mean."

"Shampoo think that Neko-ken might ring cows loose." Shampoo frowned at the older man. "Shampoo also think that we is having panda for dinner, yes?"

"Saotome, what is this Neko-ken that they're talking about?" Soun narrowed his eyes. "Surely you didn't do something reckless, did you?"

Genma sighed and hung his head. "Old friend, I shall not lie to you about this. When Ranma was six, shortly after we left for our long training journey, I found a martial arts manual that described a powerful technique, one that could not be defeated."

"An unbeatable technique? Surely it must have been complex?" Such techniques were hard to pull off and were closely guarded by everyone who knew them.

"You would think that, but the manual was only a couple of pages long, and it's a very simple method, but only works so long as the trainee is under the age of ten. And thankfully Ranma was the right age." Everyone nodded, following along so far. "The training was deceptively simple. All one had to do was dig a hole that the trainee could not jump out of, then fill it full of cats and starve them for three days." Genma sighed as he remembered the next part. "Then you tie up the trainee and attach fish sausage to them and throw them into the pit and close the top. The training manual states that it takes a few days, but the trainee will gain strength, speed, agility and the presence of a cat."

"...What?" Akane and Shampoo asked at the same time, staring at Genma like he was a moron.

"Alas, the training was a farce! A folly! It was only after Ranma had completed the training that I discovered the true horror of the technique! While it did make Ranma an unstoppable force when using it, it came with a terrible, horrible downside."

"So it succeeded then? I'm not seeing the problem." Soun said, getting a shocked look from Akane and Shampoo over it.

"Bah! The technique is useless! Ranma became a berserker, unstoppable and lashing out at everyone! I ended up severely injured and only then discovered the truth! Hidden on the third page of the manual was a warning stating that the Neko-ken is something only an idiot would attempt and that it had been banned since the 1930s!"

"Shampoo agrees, you is an idiot."

"Akane agrees too." Akane nodded, wondering why she spoke in third person. "So the training left him with a severe fear of cats?"

"Oh woe is me! To have a weak son that can't stand looking at a newborn kitten without crying in fear! On the plus side, I've taken the time to read all training manuals fully to see if there were downsides."

"The path of the martial artist is fraught with peril indeed."

The next thing that Soun and Genma knew, they had a mallet and bounbori slammed into their heads, knocking them through the game board.

"Honestly! Any moron should have known that was a bad idea!"

"Moron maybe, but not idiot." Shampoo nodded.

(-)

Ducking under a kick, Ranma grabbed Lilith's leg and spun, throwing her across the room. "Either you're going slower than usual, Lilith or I've gotten better, I'm willing to bet that you're going slower."

Flipping and landing on her feet, though sliding across the floor, Lilith looked up, her eyes gleaming. "Oh, so we're getting serious, huh?" Her hands glowed and she snapped her arms forward. "Shining... BEAM!" A lance of energy snaked out and passed through where Ranma was a moment ago.

Reappearing in mid-air, Ranma smirked as energy formed in his hands and he launched two energy blasts towards Lilith, the strength of which sent him back into the air.

Grimacing, Lilith realized she was still off balance from launching that last attack. "Ah crap..." She grimaced as the energy balls slammed into her, sending her flying across the room. "Oww, that hurt." Since it was a spar, even if one throwing energy beams around that seriously hurt, she was staying in her human guise. Still, she may have lacked wings and some of her abilities that she could only do in her true form, but that didn't mean she was helpless.

"Dark pulse!" Lilith snapped her hand up and black rings shot out.

Ranma snorted from his spot on the ceiling of the Dojo and swung his arm in an arc, sending a curved lance of energy into the rings, causing them to detonate. "Come on, Lilith, that's too..." He trailed off as an emerald ball of energy came through the smoke and slammed him in the stomach, causing him to bounce off the ceiling and fall to the floor.

"Obvious, Master?" Lilith said as she seemingly materialized below him with a nasty smirk on her face. Before Ranma could react, her legs shot up, slamming him in the gut and launching him back into the air. "Of course, but so is this." As she was propelled back down, she snapped her wrists up and energy tendrils wrapped around Ranma's wrists before going tight. "Got you." She grinned and flipped in mid air in an attempt to slam him onto the ground.

Ranma was heard chuckling as he felt the energy tendrils pulling him down. "Nope, got you." The next thing Lilith knew, Ranma used the force of her pull to slam his foot into the middle of her back, causing her to gasp as she crashed into the ground, a pillar of energy exploding upwards upon contact with the ground. As the energy tendrils disappeared, Ranma rubbed his wrists and smirked at Lilith's twitching form. "You would have had me if you had made sure that I was fully bound when you did that."

"N...Noted..." Lilith moaned, her feet, fingers and butt all spasming from that last attack.

(-)

Up in her room, Nabiki panted and looked at herself in the mirror, naked, sighing and wondering if maybe she would have to take the engagement after all. "He might be willing to help, at my current rate I probably don't have more than a year without him."

The thought of what would happen if she didn't get it taken care of actually terrified her.

Turning away, Nabiki looked out her window, placing her hands upon the opening, as she looked out onto the small balcony, the clouds in the nighttime sky, with the moon slowly starting to peak out into an opening.

"Well, times are a-changing," she murmured. "Maybe it is time for me to change with them ... again."

"Nabiki?"

(-)

"Nabiki?" asked Akane, as she opened the door, but saw... "Huh? I thought I heard her in here," she muttered, before shutting the door. "Just like her to be all mysterious when we need to talk."