The Journey is the Destination Chapter 10 By poetheather Ranma 1/2 is owned by Takahashi Rumiko and they have no connection to this what so ever. These characters are used without their permission and include a plea not to be sued as I have no money.

“You know, this color really brings out the blue of your eyes?” said Yuka, as she held up a V necked shirt next to Ranma’s face. The particular shade of blue really did make the girl’s blue eyes pop.

Ranma looked in the mirror thoughtfully, trying to see the difference herself. “Really?”

Akane nodded. “It really does. You should wear more of that color.”

“Okay. If you think so.” The shopping had been going well and the new haircut they had insisted that she get made the redhead look even more feminine than before. Akane was feeling a bit jealous about how Ranma looked but she had been mostly used to the fact that Ranma’s girl form had a better shape than her and larger breasts. This was only a twinge compared to what it used to be. She had gotten better dealing with Ranma after all of this time and she was grateful for it.

Ranma looked at the massive amount of stuff they seemed to have bought, a good amount of it consisting of bras and panties since she really didn’t have very many pairs. Kasumi had managed to pick him up some stuff but three pairs of panties and one bra didn’t quite do it. Besides, Akane had insisted that the sports bras would help a lot with the jogging and the sparring practice. She had noticed the amount of bouncing that occurred and it was a bit irritating.

After some more looking around the store for stuff Ranma needed, Akane came up to Ranma and looked at the girl nervously. There was something going on and the redhead could tell that it wasn’t good. Akane’s voice was a bit apprehensive, “Do you trust me?”

“You know I trust you Akane.” stated Ranma. “Why?”

Akane’s hands came around with a shirt, the front still facing her. “I have something that will really screw with everyone, but I am worried about your reaction to it. The thing to remember is that once it is on you don’t have to look down at it.”

Ranma felt a chill roll through her whole body, as if a marching band had tromped over her grave. “Wha… what is it?”

“Please don’t scream or anything. There is a cute picture of a cat on this.”

Ranma recoiled as if Akane were now holding a deadly viper. Surely the girl wasn’t serious. “C… c… c… c… cat… t… t?”

“Yes. It is just a picture. Touch the shirt to see that there is nothing there besides the shirt.” asked Akane, calmly, knowing that this would be good for her fiancé and would really mess with the others. The girl’s extreme fear of cats was well known and this would certainly screw with anyone who knew that.

Ranma reached out her hand tentatively and touched the shirt. It was soft and she thought it might feel really nice on her skin. There was no lump in it that could be a c… c… c… animal.

“Okay. I am going to turn the picture around now so you can see it. Nothing is going to hurt you. Okay?” Akane was gentle with Ranma in a way she had never really been before. The pale faced, trembling Ranma was obviously still there simple because he trusted her and that made her feel special. She didn’t want to upset him.

The picture on the shirt was of a cute little kitten lying on his back next to a daisy. The shirt had a caption that said, ‘Love me’ in kanji. Ranma started at the image and sweat started beading on his forehead. He began to tremble, his fear slowly ramping up.

“Ranma, this isn’t a real cat. It’s just a picture. It can’t hurt you.” assured Akane.

Ranma nodded. It was just a shirt, that’s all it was. It wasn’t one of those evil animals that stalked his nightmares, clawed his flesh, took bites out of him, and licked his blood. It was just a picture with no life in it at all. It was not possessed, magical or anything. It was just a t-shirt. She exhaled in a controlled manner and ever so slowly, she reached out and took the shirt from the girl she loved.

She went to the dressing room, feeling like she was going to her death, awaiting the moment when the picture came to life and attacked him. She changed into the shirt with her eyes closed tight and with a deep breath she stepped out of the dressing room.

Akane was so proud of Ranma that she could barely see. Before anyone said anything, Akane rushed up and hugged Ranma. The short haired girl whispered in his ear, “I am so proud of you.”

Ranma blushed, some of her tension draining.

Yuka grinned at her. “That shirt looks really cute on you.”

Sayuri agreed. “It does. You should wear it for the rest of the day.”

Ranma shivered some at that. She could do this. She could face her fear. This was a small step, a tiny step, almost imperceptible in the overall scheme of things, but to take it was to start on a journey to get past this problem. She nodded her head. “Okay. I will.”

Akane’s pride in Ranma grew. She wasn’t sure she would have been able to face a fear like that in her whole life and to see the person she loved do so overwhelmed her. She knew quite well what an important moment this was for her. “Remember to try to keep from looking down, okay.”

With a shaky smile, Ranma said, “Thank you Akane.”

Plans changed, as it was determined unanimously that Ranma had been so good over the shirt that she had earned herself some more ice cream. Ranma, of course, did not argue with the motion.

* * * * *

Kasumi was happily cooking in the kitchen, occasionally singing, which showed just how happy she was. Things were seemingly going well and it was something she really appreciated. Nabiki was up in her room fuming and her father was busy playing shogi with Genma. Auntie Nodoka was finishing the last little bit of cleaning and the house practically shone after all that attention. The house seemed as normal as it ever got.

“Tadaima!” called out two voices.

“Okaeri.” Nodoka called out as Kasumi was really singing happily and must have missed the entrance of the two girls. When the girls walked into the living room Genma reacted as if he had been slapped, propelling himself away from the redhead, for safety reasons of course. When the boy went into his cat place, he was aware that he wasn’t safe.

Nodoka smiled at the girls and then turned to stare at the wide-eyed Genma. The man was starting to wibble which was not very attractive. “Genma?”

“Pops? What’s wrong?” asked Ranma, as she moved closer towards her father dragging Akane with her as they were holding hands.

“C… c… c… cat!” One shaky hand was pointed towards Ranma.

Akane’s nearly crushing grip managed to keep her fiancé from reacting in the usual manner, as they had discussed this possibility. Ranma took a calming breath and asked, “What’s the problem? I think the shirt looks really cute.”

Nodoka smiled as well. It did look good on her daughter. “It does look cute, and the color really brings out your eyes.”

“Thanks mom. I really like it.” Ranma smiled at her mother, but it was a bit strained because of the whole cat thing. Trying to stay chipper was tiring.

“Bu… bu… but the Neko-Ken? Wh…?”

“It’s a cute shirt Pops. It’s okay. I don’t think a shirt is going to make me go into the Neko-Ken.” There really was no other choice in accepting that the Neko-Ken was there, but by making it seem like Ranma was dealing with it would certainly throw the stupid panda. Genma was not dealing well with the number and speed of the changes that were occurring in his world.

“I… uh… I…” It was clear the bald headed man was at a loss for words, however he did manage to find something. “I think it is good that you are getting over this silly little fear. Time to man up about this cat business.”

“Genma, what is this Neko-Ken our daughter is speaking of? What cat business” asked Nodoka, her eyes narrowing and steel creeping into her voice.

“I… uh… I… What in the world can that be!!” When the ladies turned to look behind them, Genma took off running, trying to escape from what he figured would be certain doom. He had no intention of committing seppuku over this.

Akane and Ranma both looked out the doors where the man had bolted and said, “Figures.”

“Oh?” asked Nodoka, a bit curious over the comment.

“Yeah, Pops is not a big believer in taking responsibility for things. I kind of figure that when you do finally corner him he is going to start groveling. It is a move called the Crouch of the Wild Tiger, and Pops is very good at it.” commented Ranma disdainfully.

Soun just watched this spreading madness from his seat at the shogi table. He casually reached out and rearranged some of the pieces. He didn’t have to move all that many because Genma had been distracted the last few days.

“Well, sit down girls. Dinner should be ready soon. I’ll get us some tea and check on how Kasumi is doing.” Nodoka stood and headed that way.

“We’re going to drop off our bags in our bedroom and be right down Auntie Saotome.” said Akane, as she began dragging Ranma in that direction.

“Okay.”

The two girls got into their shared bedroom and Ranma slumped into a chair. She did look exhausted, now that she wasn’t using her Chi to stay controlled and look calm. Maybe the t-shirt wasn’t the brightest of ideas? “That is harder than it looks.”

Akane looked over at her fiancé worriedly. “Are you okay?”

Ranma nodded. “Can I take this off yet?”

The smile that Akane had would have looked more at home on Nabiki, which certainly go the point across. “We should wait for Nabiki to see it. I am sure it will have a good result as well.”

* * * * *

The eye twitching was a new development and Nabiki couldn’t stop it. Ever since she had seen Ranma in the t-shirt with the kitten on it, the twitching of her eye had just started up. It was as if she was seeing a completely different person hanging out with her sister and she was at a loss for what to do. Ranma wasn’t acting like Ranma and that was skewing her whole world. She hadn’t figured out yet how to make any money off of this girl, besides photos, which Kuno had already shown an interest in. What was she going to do and when was the damn eye twitching going to stop?!

Ranma and Akane were chatting happily about their day as were Kasumi and Mrs. Saotome. Her father was crying over some imagined slight or other, which she ignored as usual. This plan that Ranma and the others had going was working a little too well and she couldn’t get her eye to stop. Maybe she should just call it quits? Just admit defeat and do something else. But that would mean that another main source of income from Ranma, information, would be dried up, potentially for good. That would severely hamper her income and she wasn’t a big fan of that. No, she had to get at least something out of this. “So, Ranma, where did you get the shirt?”

“You like it? Akane got it for me. She said it might help me with my cat phobia.” remarked Ranma, as she leaned back to give Nabiki a better view of the t-shirt.

Nabiki’s ears perked up at that. Helping with the cat phobia? Ranma was trying to get past the cat thing? Well, that was certainly interesting. She could certainly get 5000 plus Yen for that bit of news alone from Shampoo and if she spun it just right from Ukyo as well. Her eye slowly stopped twitching and she rolled the information around in her head, trying to figure out the best way she could present it.

If the cat phobia was being admitted to than the Neko-Ken was still there. That meant Ranma was of course still the martial artist he was as opposed to this frail flower of femininity he was playing at. Maybe she could get some extra money out of Kuno baby by implying that this change in the redhead’s look was all part of some plot by the evil sorcerer Saotme? Yes, she knew that Ranma was behind this so she wouldn’t be lying. That was easily another 5000. 15,000 yen all thanks to an off-handed comment. Yes, she still had it and even though she didn’t quite know what was going on she had information she could work with. Maybe she should thank her sister for getting the shirt for Ranma? After all, that shirt had given her enough of a toe hold to not just give up in despair.

Both Kasumi and Akane noticed the change in demeanor of the middle Tendo sister. This was not a good sign as it meant that things hadn’t worked out the way they had hoped. Nabiki had figured out something, something that would make their lives a bit crazier and that was not what Ranma needed. The calm was addictive and they both craved it as well. They had to figure out some sort of way to stop Nabiki before there was a repeat of the wedding and the destruction that had occurred then. This whole instigation thing that she did was causing too many problems.

Once dinner was finished, Akane dragged Ranma off to the bath with her. The redhead hadn’t argued and followed along. She really liked it when Akane shampooed her hair and washed her back. While they were sitting in the furo, encased in the hot water, Ranma again held between Akane’s legs, the youngest Tendo broached the subject. Quietly she said, “Nabiki might have figured something out.”

“What?” Ranma started some and Akane had to pull the redhead back against her.

“I can’t think what it was she figured out but the twitching of her eye stopped and she looked thoughtful, not worried. We may need to be prepared for something crazy.” Akane was not happy about being the bearer of bad tidings.

“Do… do you think we could get her onto our side?” quietly asked Ranma.

Akane was silent for a while, thinking about the answer to that question. It used to be that Akane would know that answer instantly and have full faith in her sister. However, things had changed after her mother’s death. “I don’t know Ranma. I think she makes more money off you than she ever did off of pictures of me. I’m not sure she would be willing to go along with it.”

Ranma sighed the sigh of long-suffering, “I just thought that if we could trust her we could have her sell the information we wanted her to sell and not have her trying to figure this out.”

Akane rolled that over in her mind. Maybe she should bring that up to Kasumi? Her oldest sister would have a better chance of getting the mercenary girl to go along with things, especially since it meant that Nabiki would still be making money, but not stirring up trouble. It might just work, she hoped, but it would be a long shot. “I’ll talk to Kasumi about it and see what she thinks.”

“Good. I just want to be happy and here with you Akane, not dealing with the normal Nerima madhouse.”