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Standard Disclaimer:
I own virtually none of this.
The Ranma Cast & Co. belong first and foremost to Takahashi Rumiko-sama, then to whomever she’s sold the rights to… such as Viz, etc.
Only Xian Mao belongs to me.
Pre-Fic Author’s Note:
This series is a continuation on The True Cat Fist, which I hope everyone has liked (that’s the problem with prolific writing: you’re done before anyone can respond )
As I write this, chapters 5b through eight have only just his the RAAC, so I’m kind of jumping the gun. Oh, well.
The responses I’ve gotten so far have been generally positive (with one or two notable exceptions… being flamed is a unique experience… kinda gets your blood going) so fuckit, I’m just shoving on. A couple of you have even given me some good suggestions… consequently, some of my plans have changed… bwahahahahaha!
Just so you know, the idea behind this one is that if you have the Neko-ken, a technique based on drawing an Incarnation of the Yin Principle into yourself, there must, logically, be a corresponding school for the Yang Principle: the Dragon.
For those of you who are wondering about my Yin/Yang and Ki/Chi theory, I’m working on some sort of "dissertation" for your intellectual benefit.
One final thing: previously, I’ve forgotten to give a certain amount of credit where it’s due, and I wanted to publicly apologize to Madam Hydra for not asking or even notifying before using a certain aspect of the Neko-ken: it’s Ki disruption property. This comes straight from her fic "Tiger Claw", and I stole it. I’m sorry.
Now, on with the show!
"Xian Mao? Where is Great-grandmother?"
Xian Mao looked up from his meditations, brushed his hair back from his eyes, and put on his circular wire frame glasses.
"I don’t know, Xian Pu," he told her in Mandarin Chinese, "I honestly don’t know."
Quest For the Dragon Fist
by Jeff Groves
Prologue: Watching the Great Wheel
neko-sama@juno.com
Shampoo sighed. She and Mousse had been forced to shut down the Neko-hanten, unable to keep up without Cologne.
"Xian Mao," she pressed on, also in Chinese, now, "what happened?"
Xian Mao shrugged, trying to find a way to explain something he wasn’t quite sure of himself… he had just helped Ranma close out the Yin Incarnation of the Neko-ken… an endeavor that had been put gravely at risk by Happosai (something he still couldn’t quite believe… THE Happosai… he’d fought THE Happosai and had WON; not just survived, but -won-!) and his antics. If the old fart had put up a fight right then, he wouldn’t have been able to help Ranma with the first Doors… been there to give him the emotional support… he would have died. No, worse, he would have utterly ceased to be.
Exhausted by the fear that thought had inspired, and by forcing his way into Ranma’s mind—something he shouldn’t have had to do—then pulling out without damaging Ranma…
Then the shock of Cologne and Happosai’s entrance. The additional stress of overwhelming fear: the two greatest martial artists he’d ever heard tales of, and both extrordinary magi to boot.
He had panicked, and opened the Ninth Gate. He’d thought he’d been rational at the time, but he realized now that he’d panicked, and gone too far. The Fifth Door would have been sufficient: defending Ranma, his ally (hopefully someday his friend), or the Sixth Door at worst: conquest.
What could he tell the alluring Amazon? Xian Mao shook his head, trying to clear it of the image of those sad, frightened eyes and that perfect, powerful body. She was in heat, the animal side of him told his conscious mind. Xian shook his head again… he’d managed to block out these thoughts before—why not now, when he and Nabiki had… what did they have? A relationship? An agreement? What was between them? Long hours of quiet conversation waiting for Ranma and Akane to emerge from the bubble and two evenings watching the sun set from her rooftop. A few light kisses and a little hand holding. A budding friendship and a vague agreement to have a try at romance.
Again, Xian tried to bring himself back into focus: Shampoo, Cologne. The problem at hand.
What could he tell her, though? That he’d panicked, overreacted, and that her great-grandmother was likely dead or lost in the Void because of it?
He had almost found something to say when Ranma and Akane walked up.
"Airen!" Shampoo called, happily. Even if she did not truly love Ranma, she did -like- him an awful lot, and enjoyed perusing him as much for the amusing faces he made as anything else.
Then she saw their hands: together. Entwined. Tightly.
"So," she whispered in Japanese, "all now has come to an end?"
Ranma and Akane could see the devastation in her eyes; Xian Mao could feel it poring off of her in waves.
Shampoo grabbed the glass of water out of Xian Mao’s hand and almost tossed it on Ranma. She stopped, smiled savagely, and dumped it upon herself. Girl became cat, and jumped at Ranma.
Ranma—still not quite sure that Xian Mao had really cured him—braced himself for the fear.
It never came.
Completely absent was the overwhelming, irrational terror that usually overcame him. In it’s place was only a vague fear that those claws were probably awful sharp…
Shampoo saw in his eyes that that something was different. Ranma was nervous, but not afraid. When she impacted his chest, he hardly reacted, save to flinch back.
She hit the ground with a dull thud.
Deprived of even this petty vengeance (for what? Her mind whispered) Shampoo-neko began to weep.
Xian Mao gestured for Akane and Ranma to go. "I’ll deal with this," he mouthed to them.
They nodded and left the Cat-fu master to deal with the cat.
Xian Mao picked up the purple feline and began gently stroking it’s fur.
_Hush, little one,_ he whispered in her mind. The ability was called the Kinship… another effect of the Neko-ken. Sometimes Xian wondered if the good outweighed the bad.
"Whatcha doin’?" Nabiki asked Xian, looking over his shoulder as he sketched Chinese characters down a page.
"Writing home."
"Really? Where exactly is your home, anyway?"
"The Wang-Mao-Yue temple. It’s in northeastern China, out in the middle of nowhere."
"If it’s in the middle of nowhere, how’re going to get mail there?"
Xian Mao scribbled his mark on the page and folded it closed. He grinned, and ran his fingers through Nabiki’s short brown hair. "Magick!"
Nabiki snorted.
"Even after all you’ve seen," he said, raising an eyebrow and tugging at the iridescent hoop that hung from his left ear, "you still don’t believe."
She shrugged. "It’s just the idea of using magick for something so…"
"Mundane?"
"Yeah."
"I can see your point, but there are many sorcerers who would argue that magick can serve no higher purpose than the everyday things that make up life, that it should be used to ease the path to enlightenment and joy, rather than pave the way to power."
"Interesting."
Xian Mao laughed, wishing he knew if it was okay to pull her close, wishing for some idea of what the rules were.
Back at her old job as Dr. Tofu’s nurse, Shampoo wondered what to do with herself.
Ranma had made his choice, at last, and it had not been her. She wasn’t even sure if she was regretful or grateful. Hurt was the only certainty. She was hurt.
Ranma had strung her along for very nearly six months [AN: this is just my guess as to the amount of time that has passes since Shampoo showed up… Takahashi really doesn’t allow time to pass], and now it was over… he’d made his choice, and it was the violent girl Akane. Why? Why had he chosen her, and why had he let her believe she had a choice? Did he? A part of her mind whispered to her, Did he ever take more than food, maybe help… help rescuing Akane? Did he ever actually say anything to encourage you? Didn’t he try to push you away?
Yes! Yes! No! she cried to herself.
"No… no… yes…" she whispered, facing reality at long last.
Why had she lied to herself? Had she even really loved him?
No… but it had been close… so close…
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well, there’s the prologue to the Quest For The Dragon Fist.
I’ll warn everyone right now, it’s going to be slower than The True Cat Fist.
Slower paced, and slower coming out.
I’m gonna think this one through better, and try to incorporate everything I want to in the best possible way.
Some of the goals I presented in the author notes of the previous series have changed.
If you have any good suggestions, they could change more (unlikely, but possible), so keep the C&C coming my way, and I’ll be happy little usenet post-it boy :)
REMEMBER!: mail to neko-sama@juno.com! not the earthlink account! That’s a shared account with my family, and I’m like as not to never know you responded!