Chapter ?

Meeting his Inner Cat

Disclaimer: The usual stuff. I thank Rumiko Takashi for creating Ranma and all those other interesting characters and not suing us for borrowing them for our fan-fiction.

A/N the title of this chapter is a variant of a chapter title used by Aura Kage in the story Kismet of a Changechild set in the Valdemar universe.

I have not been able to post for a while now. I was cat and house-sitting for my sister while she was taking a very long delayed vacation. No internet and she took her laptop with her so no computer.

Ranma had trouble getting to sleep that night. He had a bad encounter with a bunch of scruffy alley cats earlier in the evening and had gone full blown Neko-kin as a result. The only regret he had about the whole thing was not remembering the fight he had with his Pops when he came home. According to Akane, Genma had run off like his fur was on fire after Ranma attacked him. Akane had calmed him down enough to splash hime with cold water triggering the change into Ranma-chan.

'Man, I really hate Pops sometimes. If he had the common sense to READ about stuff like Jusenkyo and the Cat Fist, I would have half as many problems. One good thing though... supper was real peaceful with him out of the house. sigh I wish that I could find some way to get rid of my fear of cats.' Ranma thought to himself as he finally fell asleep.

Ranma woke up to find himself in the dojo... yet he immediately realized that this was not the Tendo dojo. It looked like their dojo but this one was completely white.

"Whats goin on here?" Ranma asked Ranma hears the door open behind him and turns to look. He sees a very large white tiger wit black stripes coming into the dojo.

Ranma leaps to the ceiling and grabs onto a beam stuttering "C..c..c..Cat!"

The tiger begins to speak to him... and Ranma realizes that he is not actually afraid of the large cat... "Calm down Ranma. This is a dream and here you have no fear of cats." he said

Ranma drops back down to the floor and looks at the tiger, ready to run at any moment.

sigh "I am known by many names. In one place I am called the Shadowcat, in another I have been worshiped as an avatar of Bastet patron goddess of cats, and in this time and this place I am also you... or at least a part of you. This body you see is the personification of the Cat-Fist. If your father had done the real Cat-Fist training instead of the demonic version, my abilities would be an integral part of you like the Chestnut Fist is. I am here to train you in the real Cat-Fist and purge the other."

"Why would you wanna do that? I never did anything for you, so why should you help me?" Ranma asked

"Since I created the Cat-Fist, I am also partly responsible for what happened to you. Kami-sama has charged me to find those that use my Art and punish those who mis-use it. I also help those who were trained in the demonic version of it and help them into the proper path of it's usage. If you accept my offer, you must go to the hidden Temple of the Cat-Fist deep in the mountains of China. They will train you in the true Cat Fist. While on the Temple grounds, you will have no fear of cats. That is a very good thing because there of hundreds of cats jaguars, tigers, and other cats living there. None of them will hurt you and many will help in your training."

Ranma thinks on this for a moment. "Can I take Akane with me?"

"If she wishes to come, then she is welcome. She will also be able to participate in the training."

"Then I will go. How do I find this temple?" Ranma asks

The tiger walks up to him "Take my paw and I will give you the directions. Beware though, those who are responsible for the demonic Cat Fist will try to hinder you from getting there. Those in the Temple can not help you outside the Temple grounds."

Ranma takes the tigers paw in his hand. A bright white light grows from where they are touching and completely fills the room. When it disappears, Ranma feels at peace with the cat within him for the first time since the Cat Fist training.

A/N This is the beginning of what I am calling the Cat Fist Arc. I expect it will take at least a couple of months (or not) to finish if I can get back to writing on a steady basis. I am sorry about the long delay between chapters though. I hope to get all of my ongoing stories updated in the next week to 10 days. I have a story idea I might try to do. Look at my profile for details.