Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and its characters are the product and property of Rumiko Takahashi and Viz video.

Chapter Two

By Michael Fetter

With a cup of tea sitting on a saucer, Nodoka relaxed onto the couch in her home and pulled out the magazine she'd bought at the store. It was a wildlife magazine, not something Nodoka would usually buy, but the headlines had caught her attention.

The cover was an impressive picture of two Bengal tigers standing on a mountain out-cropping in China. The wind ruffled their wild hair as they stared off towards the sun, almost profiling themselves for the photographer, if such a thing was plausible. Three cubs stood and leaned against the parents, following their introspective gazes out to someplace the photographer hadn't followed. The calming blue sky, near dusk with orange rays still clinging to the darkening expanse, made the scene dramatic, like a romance of the jungle.

What had caught Nodoka's attention were the names given the animals by a group of Amazons in the area: Ranma and Akane. Two very Japanese names, unusual to be given to tigers discovered in China, and which created a rather odd coincidence in Nodoka's world.

Perhaps they were named after my son and his fiancée, in their honor, by the Amazons who Ranma had helped, she mused. The article was nothing special, going over the number of Bengal tigers left in the world and where they usually lived. Still, the picture and the names Nodoka found too interesting.

It made her smile. What a wonderful thing for the Amazons to do. She wondered if the Tendous had found the same magazine. Perhaps it was about time that she finally went over to meet the family of the girl her son fell in love with. Genma already spent a good deal of time with his friend Soun Tendou. Nodoka just hadn't felt like going after hearing the news about her son, but she would eventually have to leave the lonely old house and find herself a new life or she may find herself following her son sooner than expected.

Genma wouldn't be back home for some time. He and Soun had gone off on a training trip - torture as they called it - with their old master. It was hard to tell when they would be back, but there should be plenty of time to visit the poor girls who had lost their little sister, Akane.

The Saotome honor blade, a familiar companion, which had been at her side longer than her own husband, was held firmly in one hand and the magazine in the other. She never left the house without the honor blade, it being her duty to bear it proudly in salute to her ancestors since Genma himself refused to use a weapon as a part of his credo to the Anything Goes style.

It was not a short walk to the Tendou dojo and Nodoka took the time to think of what she might say. It was a hard thing to do considering the home was likely shattered after losing one of its members. Her own home was too lonely for too long to find the room to be affected by such news. Nodoka wasn't heartless, but there was only so much loss she could handle before things went numb.

She rapped her knuckles against the front door and waited with an austere smile.

The door opened and a comely young woman answered, apron around her waist, "Good afternoon. Can I help you?"

"Yes." Nodoka thought the girl to be quite a proper young lady just by looking at her. Soun had raised such a daughter by himself, she wondered. If the other girls were just as well raised then it was no wonder Ranma had fallen for one of them. "My name is Nodoka Saotome, Ranma's mother."

"Oh," the girl raised a hand to her cheek primly; "I am Kasumi Tendou. Won't you come in?"

"Thank you."

Kasumi led the Saotome matriarch through the front hallway to the dining room. "Can I get you some tea?"

Nodding, "Please." Nodoka listened to the girl fill a kettle with water from the sink and set it on a burner. "May I ask you how long you knew my son?"

The answer came back a bit muffled by the doorway. "Only for a short while. He was a very brave and caring spirit, but Ranma and Akane left a few short weeks later."

For a moment Nodoka twisted a piece of her kimono and stared hard at the fabric in her lap. Biting her lip she asked, "Could you . . tell me about him?"

Letting the water warm, Kasumi returned to visit with Nodoka, smiling kindly to the older woman in a show of understanding. "I'm afraid I don't know that much except that he was a great martial artist and my little sister loved him very much. I'm afraid his curse was a great strain on his mind."

"Curse?" Nodoka asked herself. It was a strange way to understand the situation her son and fiancée had been in. Perhaps the fight with a demon had been rather traumatic. "I know this visit is rather unexpected after so much time since my son has passed away."

A baffled expression appeared on Kasumi's face now. "Passed away?"

Nodoka continued, "But I came across an article today about two Bengal tigers in China."

"Oh yes," Kasumi's face lit up again and she found the same magazine resting on the table where her sister had left it. "We received a copy of that picture from the Amazons not long after it was taken."

This brought a greater smile to Nodoka's lips. "Then it is true? The Amazons my son rescued did honor him and your sister by giving the same names to these tigers."

The odd expression returned to Kasumi's face. "No. That is Ranma and Akane."

"What is?"

A new girl entered the dining room. She wore very small shorts that Nodoka had trouble approving of and a small shirt revealing a bit too much of her stomach. Despite the clothes there was an air of intelligence and professionalism about the girl. Perhaps it was a laundry day, Nodoka thought.

"Oh, Nabiki. This is Auntie Saotome, Ranma's mother." Kasumi held up the magazine with a picture of two tigers on a mountainside in the jungle. "We were discussing this picture of Ranma and Akane in their cursed forms."

Nodoka shook her head, "Again with this curse. What are you talking about, dear?"

Nabiki caught on rather quickly to the looks Kasumi was affording Nodoka and her own quizzical expression. After a few minutes of knowing the fat martial artist that was Ranma's father, Nabiki knew the man was less than trustworthy. "Uh, what has Uncle Saotome told you about your son, Auntie?"

"That he and his fiancée died rescuing a number of women from becoming slaves to a demon for the rest of their lives." Nodoka watched the two girls share a glance. "Am I missing something?"

"Kasumi?" Nabiki sat down opposite Nodoka.

Nodding, Kasumi headed into the kitchen. "I'll be right back with a pot of tea."

"This may take a while, Auntie," Nabiki explained.

Nodoka took the story rather well.

The Saotome Matriarch stood, glaring at the girls, with tight lips holding back obscenities women of her position should not speak. "That is absurd. My son cursed to become a woman and then cursed again to become a tiger. I must say I'm not very amused."

"But demons and possessions are okay?" Nabiki asked with an arched eyebrow.

Nodoka nodded curtly. "Of course. I have met Happousai before."

"All right," Nabiki had to give her that one. "Here. These are the letters Matriarch Cologne sends us concerning Akane and Ranma."

"They are all about a couple of tigers," Nodoka said with a glance.

Kasumi stood and handed the older woman a napkin to wipe her tears. Nodoka hadn't even realized that she'd been crying. She was just too . . . too angry for words that they forced themselves out in other ways. This was not possible. Curses indeed!

"Oh, Auntie," Kasumi looked at her softly. "I'm certain Ranma misses you just as much."

Nodoka tried to glare at the girl, but ended up sobbing the napkin and burying her face in the material. Was this true? Demons, Amazons, like Nabiki said, why not curses? But why would Genma do this to her?

Cursed to be a girl. "It's not very manly."

~

On the floor of a damp cave, lying upon rags and animal skins, Nodoka watched her son-turned-daughter lie beside his wife. They had both remained in their human forms with her arrival. A few times hot water had to be made as the curses made them water magnets, as Akane described it.

The day had been hard to follow. Nodoka's nerves had stopped responding to the world, or responded too slowly to understand. She'd stood there, watching the red-haired girl watching her. It was the same girl she'd met years ago in the market. Nodoka remembered her for the bright coloring of her hair; the same as her own had been at that age. This was not the girl any longer, however. Ranma was a . . . was a young lady, a wife?

Cologne and her servant girl, Lotion, stood silently to one side as they watched the meeting.

Nodoka was feeling slightly faint from the long climb up the hill to meet a pair of tigers she'd been certain were simply tigers. Curses, a preposterous idea. Instead she found the redhead, a large, thickly striped Bengal, and three cubs.

A brush of fur along her leg spooked Nodoka suddenly and she dropped the catch of the cloth wrapped about her katana. The metal glinted in the sun as the silk unwove. All eyes turned to the weapon. Neko-Akane crouched slightly, ready to spring. Nodoka had seen the redhead also tense.

Wonderingly, Nodoka looked at the sword as well and considered the mirror shine dumbly for several seconds. The small cub was staring up at her curiously; eyes turning crossly at the point of her sword aimed at its head.

With slow movements, Nodoka crouched down and drew the tiger cub into her free arm and raised it to her face. She felt her sword drag along the ground momentarily as she stood. The cub was about the size of a small dog, but more solid. It uttered a pathetic growl and brushed its head against her collar.

"Momma?" The redhead had stepped closer, placing a hand over Nodoka's holding the katana. With gentleness, the young lady removed the weapon from her grasp.

Staring back at blue eyes, "Ranma?" The expressive orbs turned cheerful and the cursed boy purred deeply, bringing Nodoka into a hug and rubbing her bright red hair against the older woman's cheek.

What was she to do? Nodoka was lost for long moments as Ranma led her about, introducing Neko-Akane, the three cubs: Ranko, Akira, and Hikari. That made her a grandmother of sorts. It was all such a shock.

While Ranma bound about the cave, struggling at moments to communicate with her mother, Cologne approached Akane and the two cubs by her paws. "There is another matter I should warn you of, Akane."

Neko-Akane looked away from her Pussycat, nothing could rain on her day as she watched her love smile brighter than ever.

Lotion glanced about the area as Cologne's face turned hard, "The kidnappings are starting up again."

Returning to the present, Nodoka pulled the fur blanket further over her shoulders and worried. Was this a fantastical dream, or a nightmare?

~

The fur shifted over her shoulders and woke Akane briefly. Her head was still a bit fogged with sleep, but she could see Pussycat crawling out of the makeshift bed and slipping into the one where her mother lay. She smiled softly as the red-haired girl purred softly when her mother rolled halfway to hold onto her son-turned-daughter.

Closing her eyes, Akane went back to sleep, missing the body heat of her mate, but feeling warm nonetheless.

~

He was curled about mother.

Neko-Ranma was happy to see the not-cat-mother. She was small and nice smelling like not-cat-mate. Wanting to show his affection to his mother, Neko-Ranma purred deeply and rubbed his head into not-cat-mother's shoulder.

Nodoka mumbled in her sleep. "Fur coat? . . . For me?"

Neko-Ranma blinked and tried again to see if not-cat-mother would wake and play with him.

"Turns into a panda? . . . Silly . . ."

On the side, Neko-Ranma could hear not-cat-mate giggle. He looked at her a moment as she sat up and watched. Deciding to try something else, Neko-Ranma gave his not-cat-mother a lick on the cheek. That seemed to work.

Smiling through a half-giggle, Nodoka slowly opened her eyes and was suddenly struck by the strangeness of her surroundings. It ended up being a bad time for Neko-Ranma to cross her line of vision.

~

"EEEEEKKKKK!!!!!!!"

~

"Are you okay, mom?" Akane held the trembling woman up by supporting her back and letting Nodoka's head rest against her shoulder. Neko-Ranma had bounced back with the shriek and jumped around the cave, worried that something was attacking that he couldn't sense.

Taking in a shuddering breath, Nodoka slowly nodded and placed a hand over her heart, willing it to stop beating so heavily. "I was startled," she glanced at the Bengal tiger warily approaching her, "This will take some getting used to."

By now the other occupants of the cave were awake. Lotion had jumped out of bed and thumped her head against the low ceiling, muttering curses as she looked about the area. Cologne had remained still for a moment to feel out the auras of the people in the area and found nothing amiss. The cubs that slept beside their parents most often, also jumped out of bed, but with the excitement had set to chasing Neko-Ranma about the cave certain it was a game.

Once things began to settle, Neko-Ranma crept closer to his mother, staring her straight in the eyes. The cubs followed, Ranko jumping to his back and lying down sideways. Akira grabbed his father's tail in his mouth and was pulled along in the dirt. Hikari jumped ahead and into Nodoka's lap to rest again.

Smiling carefully, Nodoka extended her hand and touched Neko-Ranma's furry face. "I'm sorry for startling you, Ranma."

Neko-Ranma pressed his head to his mother's hand.

Seeing the questioning look, Akane smiled and gave her mother-in-law's shoulder a squeeze. "Puss- . . . Ranma is still mostly cat, mom. Cologne is helping him regain his humanity though."

Akira gave Neko-Ranma's tail another pull and when nothing came of it, hopped after Akane as she walked over to another corner of the cave.

Silent still, Nodoka watched her cursed son continue to rub his head in her hand. So many thoughts ran through her head that she had trouble thinking of anything. She looked from Ranma to the young tiger in her lap to Akane and back again.

Near the head of the cave was Stripeless, the large red Bengal. He waited while Pussycat and Akane came out, followed by the three cubs and human visitors. Akane suggested that they head for the hot spring this morning to help calm Nodoka's nerves. The older woman accepted gratefully. Stripeless fell into step just behind Akane and Pussycat as they walked around the mountain a short ways. When they arrived, Stripeless hung around the tree line, watching over the group and scanning the forests for danger.

Further down the mountain two others had decided to head for the hot spring. Thyme glared up at the taller panther-girl, following her up the mountain despite her protests. Just because she was older and a better fighter, Pepper thought she could order him around, and Thyme didn't like it. "You aren't that much older!"

"It not matter," Pepper shouted into Thyme's face. "I full woman now. No can be seen taking baths with little boys."

Thyme thought she'd been hanging around Tigress Akane too much. He and Pepper had taken baths together plenty before, but back in the Musk village she'd been meeker, more uncertain of her actions with the way people treated her. Things were better now with Patriarch Ranma, but Pepper hadn't had these weird notions before. Maybe Pepper was turning into a tomboy like what the Patriarch sometimes called the Tigress.

"It's not like I haven't seen them before!" Thyme argued, staring towards Pepper's chest.

Though she was clothed, Pepper covered her body with her black fur arms and growled, baring her sharp teeth. "Well, you not anymore, pervert!"

Yep, definitely hanging out with Tigress Akane too much.

Thyme tried to complain, but Pepper snatched away his bathing things and tossed them down the mountain a ways. "There," she turned her head and strutted up the path to the springs. "Now you go back anyway. So wait turn, Thyme."

The little boy's tail flipped back and forth angrily, his ears flattening towards his head. With a rumbling in his chest, Thyme turned down the mountain to find his things.

Pepper glanced out of the corner of her eye as Thyme left and then let out a breath. She smirked a little bit, as much as her muzzle allowed, and entered the clearing of the springs, ready for her bath. She stopped suddenly at the gasping sound from the hot spring. A group of people had made it there before her. Cologne and Lotion she knew. Next to them sat a strange woman with wide eyes and a hand over her mouth. Then there was Tigress Akane attending her cubs, sitting beside Patriarch Ranma, well, maybe it was Matriarch right now.

Pepper dropped to her knees and placed her head to the ground once she was near the redhead. "Good morning, Ranma-dono, Akane-dono."

Nodoka was still staring at the panther-girl with a little horror as her cursed son placed a hand over the girl's head.

"Mother," Akane caught Nodoka's attention. "This is Pepper. She's a beast-child who came with us from the Musk a long time ago. I've been teaching her and Thyme some Japanese while practicing my Chinese with her."

Pepper looked at the older woman Akane had addressed and bowed her head for a mother of her Tigress Akane. "Akane-dono smart. Learn very fast and good teacher."

Nodoka smiled, still a bit unsettled. "That's . . . nice to hear."

Pepper disrobed and slipped into the warm water with Pussycat's permission. She sat close to the redhead and twisted sideways a bit to play with Ranko. The red Bengal had been very friendly towards Pepper since being held by her on the day of her birth. Pepper in turn loved Ranko and her siblings very much.

"Akane, about these kidnappings," Cologne started.

Akane looked away from Pepper bathing Ranko to think on what she'd been told yesterday. These kidnappings seemed to happen around the valley for a few weeks during each year. It had not been isolated to just the Amazons or the Musk. Phoenix people had come down from their mountain to demand the return of their own children. This problem ended up being the first cause for an alliance.

So far no one had come near what the other tribes were calling Cat Mountain. Still, Akane and Pussycat helped patrol the area, but so far had come up with nothing. Whoever they were, they were very good at hiding their scents as well as their tracks. Pussycat had come closest by finding some tracks that disappeared into nothingness. They had appeared animal-like, large paw prints. The size, however, eliminated anyone from any of the four tribes of Jusenkyou.

"We'll send out patrols again." Akane answered, concern etching her brow as she turned to her cubs. "I'm sure Pussycat will try to find something where the last kidnapping happened."

Cologne nodded in approval. Neko-Pussycat was the best tracker of the four tribes with her enhanced senses thanks to the Neko-ken and massive ki reserves. "I hope Ranma would find something this time."

"Pussycat?"

Akane blinked and looked over at Nodoka. Ranma had also looked up at the mention of her name. Smiling a bit, Akane just waved the question off. "It's just a nickname, mother. A pet name between Ranma and me really. I mean . . . not a pet name. Ranma's not a pet after all." Akane laughed embarrassed.

Pussycat cocked her head to one side and stared at her mate's face turning red. She smiled and stuck her face into the blue hair beside Akane's neck, purring. "Akane so funny."

Lotion and Cologne chuckled lightly, further embarrassing Akane. "N-Not now, Pussy-uh, Ranma."

Shrugging, Pussycat went back to her cubs. Hikari was standing on her hind legs while supporting herself against Pussycat's head. She was snatched up in the redhead's arms and held in the air before being dunked into the hot water and rising again. Hikari yowled playfully and tried to bat Pussycat's nose.

After a few more dunks, Pussycat held the young cub to her bosom, cradled between her breasts. Hikari licked the water from her muzzle, but didn't object to being held.

Resting her cheek against the striped fur, Pussycat saw past Pepper's shoulder and into the forest. Stripeless was staring at something in the bushes, but didn't seem to find it dangerous. Stretching out her senses, Pussycat found Thyme peeping through the foliage. She smiled and waved Hikari's paw in that direction.

"Who are you waving to, Ranma?" Akane looked in the same direction, not finding anyone.

Pepper whirled about, glaring in the general direction. "Thyme! That better not be you out there!"

"Eep!" The bushes rustled and a small cheetah-boy tore down the side of the mountain, a blush warming his cheeks.

"You run, Thyme!" Pepper shouted, jumping out of the spring and grabbing up her clothes. "Pepper make you hurt if catch!"

The group watched the two beast-children run off. Akane shook her head, "This is your fault, Pussycat. You have no feminine modesty and it's turning Thyme into a pervert."

"Thyme good kitten," Pussycat responded. She was holding Hikari by the paws and making her walk on her hind legs over her thighs. "Be good fighter, yes?"

"I agree," Cologne said with a smirk. "The boy has been getting better with your lessons, Ranma. As has Pepper."

Nodoka looked away from the direction Pepper and Thyme had gone running off in. Stripeless was strolling around the area again. She had to shake her head at all the strangeness being thrust upon her at one time. Talking beast-children, a clan of dangerous cats being led by her cursed son and daughter-in-law, cubs for grandchildren, it was all so much to take. She'd been staring at many things since arriving on this mountain, questioning if she had wanted to learn the truth since arriving. Her son had been a hero before all of this, but now he was a . . . a woman.

With an uncomfortable feeling, Nodoka looked away from the redheaded woman to the bouncing cub in her hands. It was about two feet tall on its hind legs. The striped fur looked more like Akane's cursed form. Something about it though seemed odd when she started comparing the cub to Neko-Akane. "Excuse me."

"Hmm?" Akane and Cologne gave Nodoka their attention.

"This one," she pointed at Hikari, "is she like Thyme and Pepper?"

Akane blinked a few times then shook her head. "No. Hikari, Akira, and Ranko are just tigers."

"That's not entirely accurate, Akane," Cologne interceded Nodoka's next comment. "Your cubs are fourteen months old now. A normal tiger would have grown up much faster than yours." Lotion beside the Amazon Matriarch nodded.

"Besides the fur," Nodoka said, "she doesn't look much like the cursed forms of yours and Ranma's."

Akane stared at her cubs. "How do you mean?"

Cologne leaned in closer. "Yes, I see. I had not noticed before."

Pussycat was holding Hikari closely again. "What? Bad thing with kitty?"

"I don't believe so, Ranma," Cologne glided over the water to stroke Akira's fur and then feel along the shoulders. She nodded over to Nodoka. "You have a keen eye, Saotome-san. The joints and general frame of Akane's cubs is a bit unusual."

Ranko jumped back and forth when she saw her sibling being played with. Plunging through a gap between Akane and Nodoka, the bright red Bengal landed on Nodoka's lap, pressing her head against the woman's chest. She purred once Nodoka began to tentatively pat her fur.

Grabbing the cub by the front paws, Nodoka raised the wet Bengal a bit out of the water. "I think your children can walk erect as naturally as they can on all fours, Akane."

"Why haven't we noticed this before, Cologne?" Akane asked.

The Amazon Matriarch settled back against the side of the spring. "I'm not sure. Perhaps they have always been like this."

"Curse, yes?" Pussycat questioned the old Amazon.

"That may have had something to do with it, Ranma," Cologne answered after a moment. "But they do not carry a magical taint as you and Akane. This may be a natural mutation as what has happened amongst the Musk."

~

The cold winter lasted year long on top of a distant peak where a Buddhist temple had stood for hundreds of years. Here the trees were bare limbs like the teeth of a comb. Very few people venture out so far and the temple has been all but forgotten.

Made of cold, white marble, the temple had carvings wrapped around its walls, columns, and eves. Most of it was done in a language too old for anyone to remember. The depictions were very obviously violent cats, though. Cloudy skies let only enough light to shine through to give the whole area a gloomy, forbidding tone.

Localized winds suddenly opened a small circle in the snow-covered ground in front of the temple. Like the rippling wind suddenly grew solid, two figures stepped out of the circle with a third, unconscious child, held in a tall man's arms.

Oni-Ryouga snorted and dumped the little boy onto the ground. "Is this enough, yet? I feel my time is being wasted here."

The other, a figure clothed in gray robes, hiding all features but the feet, waved forward a pair of guards. The two who approached were slightly hunched over with a wild gleam in their eyes. "Take the boy and prepare him for instruction." The figure's voice was nearly a growl, so deep the earth shivered.

Oni-Ryouga flapped his black, leathery wings and then wrapped them about his shoulders. "Why bother with such weak things," he muttered. "My powers since being sent to Hell have grown ten-fold. There is nothing to challenge me now."

"Don't complain," the robed figure growled. "I did not have to summon a lowly creature like yourself."

Oni-Ryouga sneered, but said nothing.

"Once I have my army of Neko-ken fighters I will rule this land and then I will have no more use for you. Filthy things like yourself are nothing to me. I could dispatch you with a swipe of my arm."

Oni-Ryouga's eyes burned with hatred as he glared at the monk. "But you do need a filthy creature like me."

The monk started walking off for the temple, his large, white clawed feet barely making a sound in the snow. "For now."

End Chapter Two

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