The path to Strength

Summary: Ranma was unable to get the cure to the weakness moxibustion, now trapped without his strength, will he lose himself as well to his own doubts? Ranma/Shampoo, Ranma/Ukyo, Ukyo/Ranma/Shampoo.

Disclaimer: I don't even own my computer, what makes you think I could own Ranma½?

AN: I don´t think anyone actually read the last author note that I posted, so I will repeat myself, this is something that I´m not sure if I will work on or not, so I leave it open to anyone that would like to take it.

"Dialogues"

"Thoughts"

Location

Begin

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The next morning, it was the sunlight hitting his face that woke him up. Not really feeling the need, or desire, to move, he lay where he was, in the spare room in Ukyo´s house, laying on a particularly soft and warm fuuton. As he remained quiet and still, the events of the last day came to his mind. It was still hard to believe, and Ranma wasn´t sure the he had completely accepted as the truth, but his mind was telling him that it had happened, and that he couldn´t fool himself forever. He stubbornly refused to acknowledge the voice of reason in his head.

Letting out a sigh, Ranma decided to think about the other stuff that happened last night. After he was found by Shampoo, and then Ukyo, they took him back to Ucchan´s, where Ukyo prepared something for them to eat. It was a testament to how out of it Ranma was when he ate at a normal speed and refused to have seconds of Ukyo´s okonomiyaki. After having dinner, Ukyo offered him the spare room in her home, and as tired as he was, Ranma accepted without complain, and soon found herself, as she was still on her cursed form, laying down on a spare fuuton that Ukyo let him use, where he fell asleep almost as soon as he touched the pillow.

Ranma blinked form a moment as a strange thought came to his mind. His recount of last night was missing something, but he just couldn´t put his finger on what was bothering him. Frowning a little in concentration, he tried to remember what it was that he forgot. He blinked again when the thought came to him that he didn´t remember where Shampoo was last night after coming to Ucchan´s.

That was when a small movement got his attention. He could feel something squirming under the covers, as if something small, and furry if his sense of touch was right, was trying to look for a comfortable pose to sleep in. Ranma took a sharp intake of air, already fearing what he was going to find once he looked down.

Slowly, reluctantly, and if he was honest with himself, with some fear and anxiety, he pulled off the covers, finding exactly what he expected. There, nuzzling his chest, looking at him with what anyone else would call a cute face, was Neko Shampoo, her little cat eyes staring directly into his own. It took Ranma just a second to react. With speed that Neko Shampoo could barely follow, Ranma was on her feet, backing into the back wall of the room she was in, eyes full of irrational fear; his thoughts from the day before forgotten in his sudden bout of phobia induced terror.

Neko Shampoo could only blink at the suddenness of Ranma´s reaction, yesterday the boy turned girl had seen so at ease with her current body, actually refusing to let go of her, hugging her harder when she tried to get out of her grip, though Neko Shampoo could barely tell the difference, what with Ranma´s strength being sealed and all. Now though, it seemed that Ranma was back to her usual reaction to cats.

Taking one step towards the boy, Neko Shampoo had to stop herself and backed off a little as she began to notice the little signs of Ranma entering the Neko ken, but it was too late already, as with a hiss Ranma jumped out of the open window in the room, his body movements mimicking that of a cat´s.

Blinking in confusion, Neko Shampoo could only look as Ranma´s form began to fade in the distance, soon disappearing from her sight. With a sigh, or at least the cat equivalence of a sigh, Neko Shampoo decided to go look for Ukyo, and some hot water, so she could explain what happened, hopefully the two of them would be able to find him soon.

Tendou Dojo

Looking around the table, Akane couldn´t help but feel that something was missing. It had been a hard night for the girl. After Ranma ran away, followed by Ukyo and Shampoo, Akane decided to return to her house, unable, and unwilling, to face Ranma at the moment. Even then, the girl had felt a little hope that Ranma would be home when she got there, but that wasn´t the case.

Akane stayed up most of the last night waiting for Ranma to return, but fell asleep in the little hours of the morning, when she couldn´t keep herself awake anymore. By the time she woke up, she ran to Ranma´s room, hopping to see him snoring away in his futon, but only found Genma, in his panda form, sleeping in a corner. So now she sat here, waiting for breakfast to be served by her big sister Kasumi, her mind a whirlwind of activity, thinking about only one thing, Ranma.

Yesterday she was unable to ran after him, the guilt she felt at the situation was enough that it had make her freeze, with only one question repeating itself in her mind. What good am I without my strength?

During the night Akane had the chance to truly think about that question, even going as far as putting herself in Ranma´s place. To her, strength wasn´t that important. Sure, she was a martial artist, but that was not what she wanted to do for the rest of her life, for her it was just a way to connect with her father, a way to make him proud, but she had dreams and aspirations that went far beyond simply being a martial artist. But that was her, she could clearly see that there was a huge difference between her and Ranma. She wasn´t a martial artist at heart, at least not like Ranma, who based his whole being, his whole life and all his dreams towards the practice and learning of martial arts.

When she realized that, she cried, long and hard, she actually fell asleep while crying. It was because of the deep sympathetic pain that she felt for someone that she cared about. She was still confused about her feelings towards Ranma, at some points she felt like she loved him, at others like she hated him, but she could at the very least admit to herself that she cared a lot for the boy, and it was that same care that led her to feel so much empathy for him, because the thought of him loosing something that he cared so much about, maybe the one thing he cared about above all else, hurt her, if only because she knew just how much Ranma was hurting.

"It´s all right, he must be with Ukyo or maybe with Shampoo, they won´t let him do anything rash..." Akane muttered to herself, so distracted by her thoughts that she missed the looks that Nabiki send her way.

It was at that moment that a knock at the door interrupted the Tendou´s, and their guest´s, breakfast. Akane ignored the knock, if it had been Ranma he would have just walk in without knocking or jumped over the wall, so she didn´t care who was at the door.

Kasumi was the one who decided to answer the door, exiting the kitchen while wiping her hands in her apron, a pleasant smile on her face just like always.

It was just a couple of moments later that she returned, Shampoo and Ukyo following behind her.

"Ukyo, Shampoo? What are you doing here? Where´s Ranma?" Akane asked fast the moment she turned to face her sister to see who was with her and discovered the two girls in her house, her eyes widening in worry at not seeing Ranma with them, her mind providing her with horrible possibilities one after another.

"Calm down, sugar" said Ukyo in a calm voice "Ranma stayed with me last night, he´s fine" in her mind she added "I hope".

Calming down a little at being reassured that the pigtailed boy was okay, the sighed in relief, before returning her attention to the girls now sitting in front of her at the table, where Kasumi had told them to sit.

"Where is he?"

"Well, that´s actually what we´re here for, sugar" said Ukyo, and she continued before Akane could get worried again "Don´t worry is not anything too bad" she said making placating motions with her hands, Shampoo, who sat beside her just looked down a little ashamed that she was the culprit of her airen´s disappearance "Ranchan just had a little incident with a cat... so we came to enlist your help, sugar" she finished with a bright smile on her face.

"Cat?" she asked, more to herself than anyone else "Shampoo?" she said calmly, though it came sounding like an accusation, which wasn´t her intention, at least not fully.

With a sigh and a nod from the amazon, Akane stood, followed by Ukyo and Shampoo. In just a few minutes, Akane informed her oldest sister about the situation, changed the clothes she was wearing for something more suited for tracking a big cat through the city, after all she couldn´t really go looking for Ranma while wearing her pajamas, and was out the door with the two other girls following her.

She didn´t really had the need to ask why Ukyo and Shampoo came to her for help, the moment they said that Ranma entered the Neko ken state she knew she had to help, after all she was one of the few, if not the only one, that was able to snap Ranma out of his cat like mind state.

With Ranma, Unknown location

Run. Run. Run.

That was what her instincts keep telling her. While on the Neko Ken Ranma´s human mind was lost to her, in favor of obeying a more instinct driven mind, a more primal mind per se. It didn´t really know what had happen to her body, but her instincts screamed at her that she was in danger, that everything around her was a danger to her, and that she needed to run; to run and hide.

In the state she was in, all sounds around her were a danger, all movement, no matter how small or big, was a predator waiting to kill her. With terror running through her mind she hid in the first place she found abandoned of all life, an empty park, where she hid under a bush, hopping that nothing would be able to find her.

It was like this that Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo found her. She was a pitiful sight, shivering, not in cold but in fright, jumping at the smallest of noises, flinching at the faintest of breezes rustling the leafs on trees. It was something that reminded all of them just how affected Ranma truly was, that even in the mindless state of the Neko Ken, she still felt fear.

Ukyo looked at Shampoo, placing a hand on the girls shoulder when it look like she was ready to jump on Ranma to hug her, that was not what Ranma needed at the moment. Sending a nod at Akane, silently telling her that she would calm Shampoo down while she did the same with Ranma, she dragged the amazon a little bit away from Akane and Ranma, to give them some space.

Steadying her nerves, Akane took a step towards Ranma. That proved to be a mistake. With speed only available to Ranma through the Neko ken, she snapped forwards, her hand suddenly holding long ki claws that shredded right through the tree behind Akane. It was only her reflexes reacting better than ever before that allowed the girl to jump to the side, evading most of the damage but still getting a somewhat deep cut on her arm.

With a cry of shock and pain she fell to the floor, and neko Ranma took the opportunity to run away. Ukyo and Shampoo ran to Akane, worried about the blood that they could see flowing from the wound on her arm.

Akane ignored the looks and questions of concern from the two girls, still in shock about what had just happen. Ranma attacked her. Not only that but had the attack hit it could have very well been fatal, considering the state of the tree that got shredded to pieces.

"I was worried that this could happen"

A voice behind them surprised them, causing them to turn around quickly, with Akane wincing as she disturbed her wound with the harsh move she did.

"Great grandmother! What you doing here?" exclaimed Shampoo, the first to get over her shock at someone sneaking behind them, knowing just how skilled the old woman was.

"I was looking for son in law, to see how he was handling the situation, when I stumbled into your little group" she said in a serious tone of voice, though Shampoo could hear a little concern in her voice "Also, I wanted to warn Shampoo about triggering the cat state as it could become a true problem"

"What do you mean, become a problem? Does it has something to do about Ranchan attacking Akane?" Asked Ukyo quickly, worried about both her best friend and the wounded girls besides her.

Nodding her head in a slow manner, Cologne took a couple of seconds to decide how exactly she was going to explain the bad news to this girls. She was especially worried about her great granddaughter, there was just no telling how she was going to react, with the over emotional way she had been acting since yesterday.

"Right now, Ranma´s neko ken is in a state of paranoia, everything is an enemy, and it will not let anything get close to him without him attacking"

"So Akane will not be able to calm him down?" Asked Ukyo, while using the long ribbon she used to tie her hair to dress Akane´s wound, her mind going a mile a minute, trying to find a way to help Ranma. "What about triggering his curse, that has worked before, right?"

"Yeah, usually triggering the curse snaps him out of the neko ken" responded Akane, feeling a little better, now that the shock of being attacked wore off, her wound still hurt, but for the moment she pushed that to the back of her mind.

Shampoo stayed quiet, looking intently at her great grandmother, her eyes showing the usual intensity she reserved for Ranma, there had to be more to it than that, otherwise her great grandmother wouldn´t have gotten involved.

"It won´t work, not in the state he is in" Cologne shook her head from side to side "Right now there is only one thing that would snap him out of the Neko Ken" she waited for a few moments, for dramatic effect more than anything "Someone will have to defeat him and knock him out"

The eyes of the three girls widened instantly in surprise and a little horror.

"What!? But is impossible to defeat Ranma while he is using the Neko Ken!?" exclaimed Ukyo and Akane.

"Great grandmother know Neko Ken is worst technique to face in combat!" was Shampoo´s scream.

"It is true that the neko ken is a fearsome technique. While in this state the speed, agility and reflexes of the user are pushed to the limits of the human body, the sensory system is enhanced to the point it becomes virtually impossible to sneak up on a user of this skill and it grants an instinctual and almost perfect ability to manipulate and shape the ki of the user into deadly weapons"

The girls paled more and more with each word spoken, they had known that the neko ken granted Ranma a lot of power, but it had never occurred to either of them just why it was called an invincible technique, now they knew. Seeing the pale faces of the girls, Cologne decided to continue before the girls decided that it was impossible.

"But it is not without a weakness" this caught the girl's attention "It is the most glaring weakness to be exploited, the lack of actual intelligence in the technique, making the user easy to manipulate"

Seeing that the girls looked interested, Cologne decided that it was time to get to the point.

"So what do you say, girls, would anyone of you care to learn how to defeat the unbeatable neko ken?"

The smile on the old woman´s face was as horrible as it was foreboding.

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The End

A/N: Well, here it is. I wasn't actually sure that I would ever write another chapter to this, but it seems like it wants to be written so I will work on in when I have the time.

As an interesting note, I found out recently just what it feels to be completely powerless. Some couple of months back I was kidnapped along with my grandfather, we were held for more than half a month, and I can honestly say that it was the worst experience of my life, to be completely unable to fight back.

Well, hope you like this chapter, as I see it, this story isn´t going to be too long, maybe around ten 6 to 10 chapters.

R&R

As I have already stated in the last chapter, I want to see if someone would take this story and make it their own, because to tell the truth I really don´t want to watch the anime again, I just don´t have the time for that, so I am working with half remembered bits and pieces and semi competent internet research.

Because of this reason I decided to write the core premises that give life to this story for anyone to use.

Also, someone send me a review about me using the names Xian Pu instead of Shampoo and Ku Long in place of Cologne, I don´t really remember where I saw their names like this, I just remember that I liked them, so I apologize for this but I will sometimes exchange this names.

Basic Changes that Give Life to this Story:

1. Akane was more hesitant to go and help Ranma, she was overcome with shock and wasn´t able to snap out of it fast enough to go to try and cheer up Ranma. Beside this she was overcome with guilt at being unable to answer Ranma´s question earlier.

2. Ukyo putting far more value in her friendship with Ranma. Although she was still involved in the fights over Ranma, and sometimes acted far too aggressive, she was still more concerned over being Ranma´s friend, wishing if nothing else for his happiness, but fully believing that she could make him happy, be it as a friend or a lover, to her the most important thing was Ranma´s happiness.

3. Shampoo, truthfully falling in love with Ranma, wishes nothing but to be at his side, even if she let herself be dragged to a lot of the fights over Ranma, she still wants to show Ranma that she really loves him, though her background and her customs, together with her blunt approach to him, makes Ranma uncomfortable around her. When this happens, it forces Shampoo to try to understand her feelings for Ranma, to know if she actually loved the person or the martial artist, and decided that it didn´t matter to her if Ranma was weak or strong, she would still love him and be by his side.

4. Ranma, forced to confront a reality in which his dreams were unattainable to him, where he would never be able to become the greatest martial artist, finds out that he needs to start growing as a person instead of just as a martial artist, and with this new open mind for growth he begins to notice the people around him and starts to understand what he feel for those important to him.

A/N2: As a side note, I was actually accused of changing the story so as to force an outcome that would fit my preferences. Correct me if I am wrong but isn´t that exactly what fan fiction is about? Making changes so as to tell a completely different and original story that fits my vision of the series?