Chapter Text
Ranma was wet, and that was unpleasant. They were a blur flying out of the water and off into the trees beyond the springs. The onlookers couldn't have begun to identify what had just happened before only two people were left behind in the spring. They bolted past the human-smelling panda and the other strange human without even being properly noticed. Once they had a good bit of distance from the angry bald man and any other silly humans, they shook themself dry and climbed into a particularly tall tree overlooking the springs. It wasn't a great spot for a nap, but it would do for a brief hiding place.
An hour or so later, there was a hiker trekking their way along the cliff that came too close to Ranma's hiding spot for comfort. With a yowl they pounced on the interloper and bared their fangs. Before they could react, the boy threw them off back into the trees. Ranma isn't in the mood for a real fight, so they give off a brief hiss and then scarper. The boy does strangely call out their name, but that's not curious enough to stop Ranma's mad dash into the distance.
All of Ranma's legs are getting sore. Have they ever kept running this long? They can't remember ever having been loose this long. Their front paws feel particularly rough, which gives them more than enough reason to leap up onto the building they'd just stumbled across. There's a whole bunch of buildings here actually. Ranma will be alright here though, silly humans almost never look on top of buildings. Well, except for the bald man, but Ranma hadn't seen, heard or smelled him, not since they got wet. So, they set to inspecting their paws. Lots of little nicks and a couple bruises to lick clean. Front paws are so delicate, it's frustrating. Before long, their paws are taken care of, so they bring out their claws for their own inspection. As usual, they are bright and shining. Compelled for a moment to lick them clean anyway, their tongue gets a sharp jolt and tingles, so they retract them instead. Ranma curls up on the roof, feeling spent.
When Ranma uncurls from their sleep, the sun is just beginning to come up again. Their whole body rumbles with a sharp hunger, so they get up on all fours and stretch, giving their surroundings a few deep sniffs. The whole area is swarming with human smells, but after a moment, they catch a whiff of something wonderful. Fish. They clamber quietly along the buildings towards the scent until they hear the sound of sizzling. Hot Fish. They creep to the edge and spy a delicious feast below. With their nose just peaking over the edge, they pull themself in carefully to hide like the bald man used to do. Whisper-quiet they creep over so they are perched right above the sizzling food. There's a human watching the fish closely, but Ranma is patient. They watch the human, until suddenly, when the human turns slightly away, Ranma pounces. With three hot fish in their mouth, they scarper once more to a new roof before the silly human can react. After the tasty feast, Ranma sprawls out in a sunbeam they found on top of the highest of the buildings. They luxuriate in their newfound freedom, the warm sun, and their full belly.
Ranma spends the next few days developing a routine. Stealing a hot fish breakfast first thing, and exploring the surrounding jungle afterwards. They do see the occasional human doing the same which they often tail for a while just for fun. Some of them even were even carrying off game back towards the buildings. Ranma hasn't seen any other animals, so the humans have probably mostly cleared the hunting grounds close by. That's a shame, because Ranma could do with a hunt or even just a good chase which is always fun. A few days into this routine, they find the river, which is the obvious source of the fish they've been stealing. They even find a basket one of the humans left behind near the water. Ranma ends up snagging an abundance of fish, and filling the humans' basket with them in thanks for the hot fish. It's a bit of a struggle, but they manage to drag the basket back towards the buildings where they leave it in plain view before dashing off once more.
The most fun day Ranma has is when they finally find another cat. The cat is big and striped. Ranma watches for a while and then pounces on the bigger cat in a playful hello. The other cat doesn't like that at all unfortunately. Ranma tries to play wrestle a bit, but the other cat starts growling and posturing. Silly cat thinks it can intimidate Ranma even though Ranma is faster and fiercer than any other cat. It isn't much of a tussle, putting the other cat in its place. But Ranma is still satisfied when it flees, whimpering. They admire the thick seeping stripes they left on their opponent. It only took a single swipe of their claws, which are still perfectly clean and shining.
Despite the fact that Ranma is the sneakiest cat as well, the silly humans do eventually realise that something odd is going on. Not stupid humans apparently. Stealing hot fish every morning, even if Ranma is never so much as seen, was apparently enough to cause some confusion and curiosity. One day when they go to snag their morning meal, there are several humans watching the sizzling fish. It's irritating enough to put up their hackles for the first time in days. Even if they hide themself properly, it won't be enough to stop the humans from noticing when they snag the fish. Ranma wonders if these humans like cats enough to give them fish instead? No, they haven't been around here long enough to risk it. The delightful smell and sound of sizzling fish is making Ranma grouchy. They steel themself to try a new trick, because they are just that hungry for more hot fish. They know just how they can make the humans stop watching the fish, they just need to be watching something else.
There's a tree that smells like rot a decent way off from the humans and their fish, in sight of them but not somewhere they'd pay any mind. Ranma hops down from the roof next to the dying tree and inspects it much like they would their own claws. They stay just out of sight. This will be a good show of just how long and sharp Ranma's claws are too. Ranma pushes them out. They can't hide properly with their claws out or fangs bared for some reason, but they aren't in view. The chattering humans do hush though. So Ranma doesn't wait long before going for the slash. Cold sparkling claws hit the wood, some of which explodes in chunks of rot and bark while some shears off cleanly. They leap back and go fully hidden once more before they tree even begins to topple. The thunderous crash draws dozens of humans over toward their hiding place when it finally hits the ground. Ranma doesn't waste a moment dashing back towards the hot fish. They have to pull it out of the hot embers from where the cooking was scattered. They're gone again in a blur. That may have been too much of a distraction. Hopefully it won't make the silly humans too leery of cats in future.
The next day sees the consequence of Ranma's poorly-thought distraction. The humans are all out and about between the buildings bright and early. Some of them are even carrying around large metal claws. Ranma is pretty sure their claws are sharper, but it's best not to cause too much of a fuss when the whole human gathering place reeks of fear. With a wistful mrrp for losing, at least for a few days, access to plentiful hot fish, Ranma dashes off to find somewhere new to sleep, closer to the river. They can come back once the humans have had some time to go back to being silly rather than scared.
Elder Ke Lun is surprised to hear about the mess going on in the village. How no one had brought any of this to her before today was going to be something to figure out on top of how to deal with her home's latest problem. Some kind of demon cat has apparently been loose in her village for almost a month. The tree that it had destroyed was just the latest in its mischiefs upon her people. It didn't seem hostile yet at least. A few of her warriors had admitted to some paranoid feelings of being followed while out hunting. One of them even brought to her the massive pelt of a full grown tiger she had slain. It wasn't quite ruined by the four wicked tears down one side, but the damage was telling, and much too similar to the remains of the destroyed tree. But the demon seemed mostly content to steal cooked fish from their fire. If it's incentivized to turn against us, we could have a full-blown battle on our hands.
It hadn't stolen food today. So for now, she and some of the other elders would dig back into the history of their people and see what if anything of use they could recall. They would hope it had left for good and do what they could to prepare for its possible return. Comparing the damage to the tree with that to the tiger, the demon was either quickly growing in power or hadn't meant to truly harm the beast. One of the warriors recalled a sharp spike of battle aura prior to the tree's destruction, which could be a useful piece of information. They would research and they would prepare. And if worst came to worst, they would show that demon the true mettle of the village of women heroes.
Ranma had to skirt several clawed humans keeping watch near the outskirts of the gathering place. Despite that, the atmosphere of the humans had settled back to much what it had been before. The stink of fear had faded, and the humans were back to their usual silly ways. It still felt a bit tense, but that was alright. Ranma was delighted to discover a single still-sizzling fish sitting in a bed of cooling ash when they went to check the old cooking spot. They happily snatched it and retired to a nearby roof to enjoy their first warm meal in several days. If they had been a bit more careful, Ranma might have noticed someone watching the fish from a nearby open window. Not that a single watcher matters much when Ranma can move through the area without being seen. A young girl reported back to the elders that the demon had returned.
Ranma was glad to be back around the silly humans.
Unfortunately the week that had gone by led to no useful discoveries. They had new information in that apparently the demon was invisible after this morning's report. But that did nothing to help. There was nothing in their records about a cat spirit that specifically targeted warm food. A few that would fight tigers and could cut down trees like this one had, but those were man-eaters all. They were dealing with something entirely unique. Ke Lun had even reached out to a few of the neighboring settlements in hopes of hearing of anything useful, but what word she got back was as empty as their own records. Three thousand years of history, and we know nothing of what we face today.
She had instructed one of the cooks to continue to leave grilled fish in that same spot every morning, though they had moved the cookfire off to a different part of the village as an additional precaution. They had posted scouts on a constant battle-ready watch. None had seen, heard, or even sensed the return of the monster, but the fish had been taken, right from under watchful eyes. Vanishing into thin air. The most dangerous thing it had done was destroying an already dying tree on the outskirts of the village, and if it could be appeased by a regular offering of cooked fish, that would be no large price to pay for her people's continued safety. She went to inform the watch to disband, it had served its purpose.
Ke Lun wondered if they could make an ally of this creature. It could apparently project a powerful warrior's aura, subdue a full-grown tiger, and move about unseen. And all it seemed to want was to eat cooked fish.