He hadn't gone out looking to save someone's life. Actually he had gone out looking for trouble--of course he wouldn't call it that, it was a little action or some excitement around here, something like that. But what-ever you want to call it that he was looking for, what he found (at first glance anyway) was a little heap of fur resembling nothing so much as road kill. At second glance the road-kill began to take form, and now it looked like a small child in a fur coat. At third glance he decided to stop and have a real look. It appeared to be a child, lying in the middle of the road in an awkward position, her head thrown back between her shoulder blades and one leg tucked under her, and she was covered from head to toe in fur bloched with dark patches.
Well, stopping had been his first mistake. This wasn't a Martian mouse as it appeared to be from a distance, and it definetly wasn't action or even 'a little fun' what it was was a cat. All be it a little girl, lying probably hurt and unconscious in the street, but a cat none the less.
Well, even if she was a cat he couldn't just leave her there.... could he?
Vinnie was suddenly over taken with the strong feeling that this cat-child what-ever she was had come straight from Limburger's tower. He didn't know exactly why he knew it, prehaps because there aren't all together too many explanations for a calico-cat person to be lying in the streets of Chicago, but he knew it just the same, and he also knew that if Limburger wanted something then it was something him and the bro's did not want Limburger to have.
Anyway, Modo liked kids, he would just hand her over and that would be that. But Modo wasn't home. There was some kind of a note about 'gone with Charley-girl...' something, but it meant that he couldn't dump the kid off.
So here he was.
"Ki-it!" but who-ever it was that was desperatly screaming at the top of her lungs was being very elusive. Her voice was comming from some corner in a dark alley, but when he arrived in the alley to check it out there was no child, and no voice. Not until he had left and started home did the desperate calls continue, "Kit! Kiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!" each time with more and more urgency.
He found her hiding behind some trash cans in the same alley by beating her at her own game. He approached the dark corner from which the cry was coming from and the incessant calling stopped, but instead of leaving like he had before he hid on the roof top to keep a silent watch on the dark shadows of the little street, and sure enough the crying continued, "Kit!"
"Ah-ha! Who are you?" He demanded, and the child grew silent. Ranma still couldn't see her, but he knew she was there. He had initially sought out the crier to help the her, but when she proved to be so elusive (and so good at it) the good intention had become a challenge.
"I need help." came a thin voice after a long pause.
"Well where are ya? If you need help why do ya keep hiding??"
Again there was a period of silence, then she answered "I use to be a normal girl... don't look at me. You'll run away, or pitty me, or something."
Was she Jysenkyo cursed? Ranma imagined a six or seven year old version of Pantyhose.
"I need to find my sister." she went on.
By now he knew where the voice was comming from, he could see in the dark an outline of a small girl.
"Gotcha!" he reached into the shadows and grabbed the arm of the silhoette pulling the child into the light.
Vinnie took the pillow he was holding over his ears, marched into the room he had set the child up in, and threw it at her.
"Shut up!"
The calico cat-girl stared at him a moment, blinked a few times, and proceeded to cry for "Kat!"
"Yeah, I know your a cat, now quit screaming."
As if obeying orders she stopped, her ears twitched and she looked up at Vinnie. "What'd you do ta Kat?" she hissed.
Four things, it could talk.
The next thing he knew he was running for his life, his heart was pounding, and somewhere thousands of cats were attacking him, chewing at his arms and legs, digging their claws into him, and licking him all over.
And then he saw the Tendo Dojo and he was snapped back to reality.
"You'll run away or something" she had said. He didn't mean to. What kind of spring did she fall into, anyway? Spring of drown girl and her kitty? Maybe she had fallen into the spring of drowned cat and then jumped into the spring of drowned girl and the resulting mix was... He didn't like the thought of that. Maybe someone had mixed the water from the springs he and Shampoo had fallen into and the unfortunate child had been splashed by it. That was most likely. Who ever heard of spring of drown crying cat-person.
...and what the heck was 'Kit'?
Where was Modo anyway? How long did he say he'd be gone again?
The little girl continued to cry and scream, her most frequent word being "Kat!"
By context 'Kat' was a person, or a god. By the sound of it this 'Kat' person was the kid's savior. It was almost cute the spirit and loyalty this kid had. Vinnie turned his back to the door and sneezed, yeah, almost. On the other hand he had half a mind to put her back where he found her. She was wide awake now. Not dieing or at risk of being flattened by a less careful motorist. Why had she been unconscious there anyway?
"Hey, Kid." He banged twice on the door and from the other side the pounding ceased. "What were you doing takin' a nap on the freeway anyway?"
"I don't know wha'cher tak'n a'bout!" the tiny voice called back. "You put me here! I was at home with my sister and you put me here!"
"You were lying in the street unconscious and I brought you here! You know, if anything I saved your life!" He sneezed again, "Forget it!" He was going out for fresh air and a hot dog, not like the kid was going to 'escape' and run-away, and if she did, good.
The purple-haired girl just staired at her, her head cocked to one side as she examined the now-somewhat annoyed Kat.
"How come you no do change back?" The strange girl asked.
Kat looked at her funny. "Back to what? Back to a normal girl? It's not like it washes off." That would have been nice. If she could have hopped into the shower and washed the chemicals off. If she could go back to being a normal girl. But if it would cost her Kit's going back to being a normal cat then it wounln't be worth it anyway.
Somewhere a kettle went off and the oddly behaved girl stood suddenly ran off into the house.
Ever since that one boy freaked out about her being a cat, Kat had decided not to keep her identity a secret. Why should she? What she needed was somebody who didn't care that she was a strange half-cat-girl thing to help her find her sister.
A gush of burning hot water fall on her head and Kat gave a little cry. "Why are you doing this to me?? What did I ever do to you???"
"Hmmmm.... maybe...." and the girl ran off again and returned with a cup.
Kat closed her eyes and braced herself for another dosage of burning liquid. The water was cold. Ice cold. Kat couldn't help but scream a little and then repeated, "Stop it!"
"What you are?" The girl asked finally. "How come you no change?"
Kat folded her arms and turned her back to the some-what 'ditzy' seeming girl. Shouldn't she have asked before cooking and freezing and generally soaking her.
"I'm a little girl that turned into a cat!" she answered.
As if given an idea the purple-haired lady hit a fist into the palm of her hand. She disapeared into the house and again returned with a bowl of water.
Not again, Kat flenched to brace herself for the blow of (probly ice) water. She herd a splash and then a 'meow' and saw before her a pink and purple cat with the same hair style of that unusual girl. What was going on here?
