Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma OneHalf: First steps ❯ Book Three, Chapter One ( Chapter 20 )

Ranma Onehalf: First steps. Book Three.

Chapter One.

Ranma sipped his tea and looked at the computer screen. He was collecting his thoughts prior to writing a note to Cologne about the Jusyenko water. Pulling up WordPerfect Ranma put his tea down and started to type.

Cologne,

Two days ago my son Christian was in your storeroom, against my wishes. My two daughters were there to retrieve him. He and one of my daughters were cursed by Jusyenko water in your basement. I would like to know why you are keeping it in your basement and for what uses.

Ranma.

He took another sip of tea and clicked 'print'. As the printer came to life and began to print a knock at the door made Ranma look up.

"Hey Ranma, Mousse is here." Akane said.

"I know. I invited him over. I have a delivery for him." Ranma said as the printer finished printing.

"Yeah, well Shampoo is with him." Akane told him.

Ranma blinked in surprise. "Did she attack you?" he asked.

Akane shook her head. "No. I asked her what she was doing here and all she said was that she wasn't here as an Amazon." she said.

"Huh." Ranma said as he grabbed an envelope. "That's interesting."

Folding the note Ranma put it into the envelope and got up. Picking up his tea he stepped past Akane and headed into the main room where Mousse and Shampoo were sitting.

But not the Shampoo he remembered. This Shampoo was dressed in a blouse and slacks with her hair tied back in a simple ponytail. And her hair was black now, with a hint of purple at the roots.

"Hi Mousse." Ranma said as he entered. "Shampoo." he added.

"Saotome." Mousse answered with a nod. "You said you had delivery for me."

"Yeah. A letter." Ranma answered, holding up the envelope.

Mousse quirked an eyebrow. "Why not just post it?" he asked.

"Because its for Cologne." Ranma told him. "I want to make sure she gets it."

"May I ask why?" Mousse asked as Ranma slid the envelope over to him.

Ranmas face hardened. "Cologne is keeping barrels of Jusyenko water and I would like to know why." he said.

Mousse and Shampoo blinked at Ranmas admission. "She's keeping Jusyenko water? How do you know that?" he asked as he put the envelope in his pocket.

"Because our sons curiosity got the better of him and he went exploring in the Cat Cafes basement." Akane said as she sat down.

"Our daughter Lia went in to retrieve him and they both got cursed." Ranma continued. "Our son ended up getting my curse and Lia got a mixed curse like Pantyhose Taro." he added.

"How bad is it, if I may ask." Mousse asked.

"Not too bad. She was standing on top of a barrel helping our son down from some shelves when the lid collapsed. They both ended up in the barrel, which was full of water from the Spring of Drowned Girl." Ranma explained. "That's how our son got his curse. After he got out Lia managed to get the cork on a barrel that was sitting on the shelf pulled out. That barrel had water from the Spring of Drowned Cat in it. She got splashed with that while still in the first barrel."

"So she turns into a cat girl, right down to ears and tail." Akane added. "I've been putting tail holes in all her clothes for the past day."

"But she's otherwise human -looking, right?" Mousse asked.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. Same height and everything." he said.

"She's lucky." Mousse said as he and Shampoo got up. "It could have been much worse."

"I told her that." Ranma said. "Thanks for stopping by."

"You're welcome." Mousse answered as he turned for the door.

"Wait." said Shampoo. "Shampoo have something to say."

"And that is?" Ranma asked as he looked at Shampoo.

"Shampoo say that she leave tribe and marry Mousse. Ranma no have to worry about Shampoo anymore." she said.

"I was wondering about the change in clothing." Ranma said cautiously.

"Shampoo change so she could work with husband." Shampoo said as she grabbed Mousses hand. "And Shampoo thank Ranma for making Grandmother break Kiss of Marriage. Be big mistake if Shampoo marry Ranma."

"For once I agree with you." Ranma said.

Shampoo gave a quick bow each to Ranma and Akane before turning to walk out the door followed by Mousse. After seeing them out Akane came back in and sat down at the table with Ranma.

"Now there's something I never expected to see." she said. "Shampoo behaving normally."

Ranma nodded. "I know. Her using a door?" he said. "I'd like to hear how Mousse and Shampoo got hitched though." he added.

Akane shrugged. "Well, lets ask them the next time we see them." she said.

"'Kay." Ranma said as he got up for some more tea.

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ______________

Two hours later there was a knock at the door.

"I got it." Akane called out as she walked to the door.

Opening the door Akane found Mousse standing at the door.

"Hello Mousse." Akane said.

"Hello Akane." Mousse answered with a bow. "I have a reply to Ranmas letter." he said, pulling a scroll out of his pocket.

"Oh. Thank you." Akane said as she held out her hand. "Where's Shampoo?" she asked.

" She's talking with Cologne. And I'm sorry, but I have to deliver this to Ranma personally." Mousse told her. "Cologne insisted."

"Okay." Akane said with a nod. "Come on in."

Stepping inside Mousse removed his shoes before following Akane into the house. Inside the main room he sat down as Akane brought in a tray with a pot of tea and some cups.

"Ranma will be a minute. He's with a class right now." she said as she put the tray down. "So why don't you have some tea? I'd stay but I got cookies in the oven."

Mousse blinked in surprise. "You can cook?" he asked.

Akane chuckled and shook her head. "Nope." she said. "I'm still a lethal cook."

"But why...?Mousse asked.

Akane tapped her foot on the floor. "Mice." she said. "My cooking works on them better than poison and traps."

"So you finally found a use for your cooking." Mousse said.

"Yep." Akane said as the timer in the kitchen dinged. "And if you'll excuse me..." she said as the stepped into the kitchen.

Mousse poured himself some tea and sat quietly contemplating his surroundings. After ten minutes or so Ranma came in from the dojo.

"Hi Mousse." he said. "Akane says that you have a reply from Cologne."

"I do." Mousse answered, holding up the scroll.

"Let me see it." Ranma said as he sat down.

"Here." Mousse said as he handed Ranma the scroll.

Taking the scroll Ranma unrolled it and began to read it.

Ranma

Thank you for the note about your childrens activities. Now I know how two casks were ruined. And as for the reason why I was keeping them was they are ingredients in some of my potions.

I would have disposed of them long ago but with running the restaurant I had forgotten they were there, and I apologize for causing your children to be cursed. You can rest assured I have thoroughly disposed of the water.

And I thank you for the opportunity to see my granddaughter again. With her marrying Mousse I rarely get to see her these days.

Cologne, Matriarch of the Amazons.

Ranma chuckled as he rolled up the scroll.

"Well, that's another thing I never thought I'd see." he said.

"What?" Mousse asked.

"Cologne thanking me." Ranma answered.

Mousse chuckled. "With you Saotome, I've found nothing is never normal." he said.

"Ain't that a understatement." Ranma said.

"Don't worry. You're not the only one to have led an abnormal life." Mousse said before finishing his tea. "You should take a look at mine."

Ranma shook his head. "No thanks. One weird life is enough for me." he said.

"True. With the life you've had-" Mousse began, but was cut off by a scream in Chinese from outside.

"What the hell?" Ranma asked as he and Mousse jumped to their feet.

"That was Shampoo." Mousse said as they hurried towards the door.

"What's she screaming about?" Ranma asked.

"Something about a female demon." Mousse said as they entered the mud room.

"A demon? Again? This is the second time this month." Ranma complained as he pulled his slippers on.

Mousse paused to give Ranma a odd look before following him outside to face the demon. Only instead of a unholy fiend they found Shampoo on the ground on her back with a very irritated Lia on top of her with Christian and Matoko watching from the sidelines.

Mousse looked around confused. "Ranma, where's the demon?" he asked.

Ranma glanced at Lia and Shampoo and then Matoko and Christian. He realized that Christian and Lia were in cursed form and it hit him what Shampoo was talking about.

"Ranma, you there?" Mousse asked.

"Yeah." he answered. "I think I know what she's talking about Mousse."

Mousse glanced out the corner of his eye at Ranma. "Enlighten me then." he said.

"She's referring to Christian, I think." Ranma said as he pointed to her.

"What?"

"Christian is the same age Lia was when she met Shampoo." Ranma said. "And in cursed form she looks just like Lia at that age."

"Oh." Mousse said. "So why is Shampoo afraid of her?" he asked.

Ranma chuckled. "She never told you, did she?" Ranma asked. Mousse shook his head. "Lia mauled Shampoo when she was eight."

"Okay...." Mousse answered. "So how do we keep her from doing a repeat performance?" he asked, pointing to Lia and Shampoo.

"Hmmm...." Ranma said as he considered the situation. "I have an idea."

"Well, make it quick. I don't think your daughters patience will hold out much longer." Mousse said.

Ranma grinned as he padded forward. Carefully he stepped up to Lia and when he was right behind her Ranma reached over and tapped her on the middle of the back. Lias response was immediate, to say the least.

With a startled yowl Lia jumped ten feet into the air and back flipped, coming to land on all fours. Growling and tail lashing she looked around for her attacker as Shampoo scrambled to safety behind Mousse.

"Settle down Kitten. It was only me." Ranma said as he approached Lia.

Lia blinked and shook her head. "Dad, what did you do that for? I had her right where I wanted her." she said as she shifted into a crouch.

"She wasn't here to hurt anyone Lia." Ranma told her.

"Daaad, the last time she was here she tried to hurt Thor! When Matoko and I got home she was looking around! What if she was going after Christian?" Lia responded.

" Shampoo see demon girl sister-" Shampoo began.

"I'm a boy !" Christian yelled.

"-And Shampoo not want to be attacked." she finished.

"Who you calling a demon?" Lia snarled as she got into a attack stance.

"Lia...." Ranma warned in his 'sensei voice'.

Lia immediately settled down but continued to send dirty looks at Shampoo.

"That's better. Now go inside and help your mother put out the mouse cookies*." Ranma told her.

Grumbling in English Lia stalked off into the house. Matoko and Christian bowed to Shampoo and Mousse.

"I apologize for my sister. She's normally much nicer, but with her curse the fashion, anime, and cosplay clubs have been hounding her all day and she's a little cranky." Matoko said.

"Yeah, plus it's that time of the mon-mmmmf! Hmmmmymph!" Christian began, but got cut off by Matoko putting her hand on his mouth.

Matoko smiled nervously. "Ah, pay her-"

"MMM AHH BUUUUHHH**"

"-er, him no mind. He's eight." Matoko said. "Now lets go help Lia and Akane." Matoko said as she hustled Christian inside.

Mousse watched them enter the house.

"Did that girl just call Lia her sister?" he asked

Ranma nodded. "Yeah. That's Matoko. We adopted her." he said.

"Ah." Mousse said. "I see."

Anything further was cut off by Shampoo tugging on Mousses arm.

"Shampoo want to leave now." she said.

Mousse glanced back at Shampoo before looking back at Ranma. "Ah, I'll talk to you later Ranma." he said.

"Okay. I'll talk to you later Mousse." Ranma said as Shampoo dragged away Mousse.

Shaking his head Ranma chuckled as he headed back inside. "Shampoo afraid of Lia and Christian. Oh boy." he said.

Inside Ranma found Christian coming out of the kitchen still in cursed form with a large bowl of leftovers and a large glass of juice, or in other words a light snack. Ranma realized that her clothes were dirty and torn and she had a couple of bruises.

"What happened to you?" Ranma asked Christian.

Christian shrugged. "Couple of bullies jumped me after school. They splashed me and tried to beat me up." she said.

"How did they do?" Ranma asked.

Christian grinned in a imitation of her fathers. "They lost." she said.

"Good. When you're done there go get cleaned up before Lia and Matoko get in the furo." Ranma said.

"Do I have to?" Christian asked with a grimace.

"You want to stay a girl?" Ranma asked her.

"Okay, Okay. I'll take a bath." Christian said with a shudder.

Ranma smiled as he went into the kitchen.

"I think I finally found a way to get Christian to take his bath. Just splash him with water." he thought.

_______________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ __________________

The next day dawned bright clear over Nerima. In the Saotome dojo the family went through their normal morning routines. Ranma got up and made breakfast while Lia and Christian did their morning Neko -ken Improved exercises.

Those consisted of Lia and Christian sitting in his favorite place, the koi pond. They were sitting in the lotus position back to back on Christians favorite rock synchronizing their breathing.

As their breathing began to match Lia slowly began to let out her aura. Gently she let it spread out into a three -meter area around them. Once she had established her aura Lia began to access the parts of her mind that held the Neko -ken and brought them to the forefront of her mind and let it begin to influence her chi.

Christian sitting behind Lia felt her begin to change and began to let out his aura. Carefully he began to intertwine his aura with Lias and began to focus his mind in preparation for the next step.

Once her chi was fully influenced by the Neko -ken Lia began to pump it into her aura and let it flow and combine with Christians. Simultaneously Christian let her chi flow through him and into his mind.

In the early morning stillness their auras intermixed and swirled around each other unseen by the naked eye, the only indication that there was anything going on was the pond gently rippling from where their auras extended over it.

They continued for the next thirty minutes as the sun slowly crept over the horizon. When the sun finally hit the buildings next door Lia began reabsorb her chi and her and Christian slowly disengaged their auras.

After they had pulled in their auras they both stood up and stepped off the rock. As her bare foot stepped onto the grass the morning dew triggered her curse. With a mew of surprise Lia felt her cursed forms ears and tail appear.

Pulling her arms inside her sleep shirt*** and pulled her tail out of her panties. Fumbling with the hooks on the tail hole Lia turned back to Christian who was beginning to wander off course.

"This way Christian." she said to her brother.

As Christian corrected his course Lia finished closing the hooks on the tail hole.

"That's it. I'm switching over to bikinis. High cuts don't work with a tail." she thought.

Sticking her arms back out of her sleeves Lia grabbed Christians hand and led him inside, his brain being a bit fuzzy from the Neko -ken exercises. After sitting him down at the table Lia stuck her head into the kitchen.

"We're done with our Neko -ken training Dad." she said to her father. "And I'm gonna need some money so I can go shopping after school." Lia added.

"Shopping for what?" asked Ranma as he poured some tea for Lia.

Lias right ear twitched. "Underwear. High -cuts and tails don't mix." she answered.

"Ah." Ranma said with a nod. "It'll be in your bag."

"Thanks Dad." Lia said before going to take her bath.

Lia met Matoko at the foot of the stairs and they went off to the furo together.

An hour later they were out the door with Christian and on their way to school. After parting ways with Christian at Onos clinic they headed on to Furinkan and all the insanity that resided there.

As they approached the school their conversation about which store to visit after school was interrupted by the appearance of a crowd of boys.

"What are they doing?" Matoko asked as the boys charged.

Lia handed her bag to Matoko. " I don't know, but they are gonna wish they hadn't." she said with a grin.

"Lia, remember what Ranma told you..." Matoko said.

Lia nodded. "I know, I know. Don't use full force unless absolutely necessary." she said. "But Dad didn't say anything about teaching them a lesson." she added with a grin.

Matoko blinked and wondered what Lia was talking about as her sister invoked the Umi -Sen -Ken. After Lia disappeared the herd of boys slowed to a halt and began to wonder among themselves where Lia had gone.

They got their answer when they boys in the fronts clothing exploded into a cloud of ribbons. They all jumped in shock and before they knew what was happening the rest of the groups clothing did the same.

Casting her eyes upwards the cloud of shredded clothing floating above Matoko walked forward through the crowd of boys. As she did a lone sheet of paper caught her eye and she reached up and caught it.

Once she was clear of the herd of boys matoko looked down and read what was on the paper. Lifting an eyebrow in surprise Matoko looked around for her sister.

"Lia?" she called.

"Yeah?" Lia asked as she stepped out of the Umi -Sen -Ken in front of Matoko.

"I think I know what those boys were up to Lia." Matoko said as she handed the paper to Lia. "Read this."

Lia took the paper and read it. Slowly she developed a eye twitch and her ears folded flat against her skull while her tail fur began to stand on end.

"I'm gonna kill him." Lia said calmly.

Silently Lia turned on her heel and went into the school with Matoko following her. Behind them yells erupted from the boys as Principal Kuno descended on them and began to punish them for being out of uniform.

Sitting at his desk trying to get some shuteye before class Naota suddenly jerked upright as a chill ran down his spine.

"Something wrong Naota?" one of his classmates asked.

"I just felt a chill, like someone was plotting my death." Naota said.

"I think you're imagining things." his classmate answered.

Everyone in the classroom jumped when the door was slid violently open and a very angry Lia stomped through.

"SANO!!!!!" Lia yelled.

"Somehow I doubt it." Naota said as he got out of his desk. "And if you'll excuse me, I'm going to be running for my life now."

With that Naota leapt across three rows of desks and out an open window in the hall. Landing on his feet Naota tore off down the hall, heading for the stairs.

"OH NO YOU DON'T SANO! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!" Lia yelled as she gave chase.

Rounding the corner Naota got clear of anyone who would be able to see him and used his ninja training to get a lead on Lia. As he ran downstairs Naota considered his options. Hiding was out because Lia could simply sniff him out, and he knew he couldn't out run her.

Trying to shake her was out as well, again because of her Neko -ken abilities. Deciding that she would eventually catch him Naota decided to take her where he had the most advantage.

Unfortunately Naota had forgotten that Lia had the Umi -Sen -Ken and chi enhancement on her side as well, because she caught up with him in the stairwell. He felt an iron hand grab his collar and jerk him to a stop.

Naota was then roughly slammed against the wall of the stairwell as Lia dropped the Umi -Sen -Ken.

"What is your problem?!!" she asked.

"Huh?" Naota asked.

"This." Lia said as she thrust the paper into Naotas face. "This piece of paper that says in the tradition of my mother that if someone wants to date me they have to defeat me." she growled.

"Those idiots." Naota groaned.

"Huh?" Lia asked, momentarily surprised.

"My father and grandfather are the ones responsible for dreaming this up." Naota explained. "They did so I'd be jealous and try harder to marry you."

"So you're saying that this isn't you're fault." Lia asked.

" I swear my life on it." Naota told her.

Sniffing the air Lia analyzed his scent and decided that Naota was telling the truth. Letting go of his shirt Lia let him drop down to the floor.

"I'll let it go this time." Lia said as she started up the stairs. "But don't get any ideas." she said over her shoulder.

"Believe me, I wont." Naota said as he wiped his forehead.

"Good." Lia answered as she turned the corner.

________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ _________________

End.

*Their name for Akanes pesticide cookies.

** Translation: I'm a boy!

***One of Ranmas old tangs.