Chapter Text

Nerima Mew Mew Kiss Kiss

Episode I

Akane's Fourth Kiss

Akane couldn't sleep.

The tiny, irritating bite mark on her lips tingled persistently with each heartbeat.

That little annoying scrape was an ever present reminder her of the impossible magical phenomena she stumbled into that night.

On paper, Akane always knew magic existed.

The dojo would occasionally get a call over a rampaging monster, or a rowdy martial artist - or any supernatural crisis that caught the eye of the government's Martial Artist Dispatch Office. She had seen her father defeat a frog-like yokai with her own eyes, too, so neither the existence of supernatural forces, nor a possible encounter with a magical girl wasn't in question. Even if she had never heard of the latter existing outside fiction.

Akane… just never expected that she would be the one causing the magic to happen - and that her strange power would be called forth by a kiss, of all things.

Well, she didn't know exactly if the magic had come from her, but the kiss in question had caused a magical girl to blink into existence, and it was undoubtedly a magical moment; one she'd remember and cherish forever.

The pinks and reds of the magical girl had etched themselves deep into Akane's memory. She could almost see the beautiful girl swirling into existence in a momentary flash of bright light, even when her eyes were closed.

Akane could almost taste the hint of strawberries on her lips, could almost feel the gentle, tingling touch of their lips; could remember the widening of her eyes, as she realized it was actually happening.

Clearly, neither of them had expected it.

Her heart was beating overtime. Akane smacked herself right on the face with her pillow. Flopped over once again, finding herself wrong side up. Kicked her legs, unable to contain the thought that was beating together with her heart.

My first real kiss was with a girl.

And it had been a real kiss, one where her breath was taken away, one where a spark went though her whole body as the world itself tilted to now forever include a universe where Akane had kissed a girl and now it couldn't ever be taken away from her. Couldn't be any other way - there was no way to go back or even erase the experience out of her head.

This kiss, however improbable, was now part of reality she lived in.

And Akane didn't… couldn't… dislike it.

Even as it kept her awake deep into the night.

How could she sleep like this? How could she even think about anything else now? How could she fit it all in her own body, and not run outside screaming about it in the streets at night?

Well, a traitorous part of her offered an unexpected answer, my first kiss has always been with a girl. As if that made it not as big of a deal.

Akane didn't really recall the name of the girl who played Juliet in their elementary school play. They had technically kissed twice during rehearsals, before finally figuring out the tape trick for the actual performance… and neither of these two kisses clearly didn't count as her first ones, because neither girl really understood the significance, nor felt anything towards each other…

Right?

Akane bravely attempted to push aside the half-forgotten memory of a friendship letter she received from the Juliet-girl that very same year.

Sayaka, Akane recalled suddenly, with unusual clarity. My elementary school classmate Sayaka was the one who played Juliet that time! She sent me all those letters!

And there had been many letters! Sayaka had sealed each with a heart-sticker, and doodled multiple hearts inside, too. Akane had been good friends with the girl, accepting and treasuring each letter as a mark of their friendship, right up until the other girl ended up going to a different middle school. The letters kept coming, until she'd moved to an entirely different ward.

How could I have forgotten?

Akane wasn't sure if she'd even kept any of the letters… which stung a little.

Maybe, a traitorous part of Akane returned to whisper, those fumbled kisses did mean something for the other girl? Maybe she had deliberately moved the tape aside, both times?

Akane shook her head. It was all part of the play and rehearsal. It wasn't real. Those kisses couldn't actually count.

Then… what about Yuka?

Akane's mind leaped to the much more recent memory, almost relieved to leave the guilt of lost friendship behind. Her mind helpfully replayed to the awkward peck on the lips, one that happened almost two years ago.

Yuka had been embarrassed, but quite determined… If Akane remembered right, it must have been on the day Yuka knocked Akane out of the school competition with a brilliant checkmate, and was high on her victory, for it meant that Yuka would be the one representing their school in the Tokyo competition.

They had gone to celebrate with ice-cream, Yuka still sporting a bruise on her face that was mostly Akane's fault… and not caring about it one bit. Whenever Akane remembered the day, she'd usually remind herself that it didn't count as a real kiss just… practice, at best… or, a silly curiosity at worst.

Was it, really?

After that disastrous short experiment… Akane had had been the one to run away. She remembered the embarrassment she felt and tears in her eyes.

It had to have been a meaningless kiss. Unremarkable. Forgettable.

Except it hadn't been.

Akane never let herself admit it could have meant anything. She'd been afraid of what would happen if it had been meaningful. Instead of facing her fears head on, Akane pretended it was a misunderstanding, that it had never happened, and kept changing the subject whenever Yuka attempted to even bring up that day in conversation.

This time, Akane sighed, I can't do the same. I can't lie to myself. This one kiss was real.

Undoubtedly.

Irrefutably.

She exhaled slowly. "I should apologize to Yuka," she mumbled to herself. She'd been a horrible friend, even if Yuka had clearly forgiven her by now.

Maybe even forgotten about the whole thing…

No. Tonight, having kissed the pink-haired red-clad magical girl, Akane couldn't muster enough willpower to believe her own little lies. The deceptive wall she'd build herself over the years had shattered.

She… could see the truth.

Akane turned over and yelled into her pillow. Then, afraid it was a little too loud and would wake her family, she just bit into it.

The kiss of the evening was still fresh in her memory, much clearer than any of the past ones.

Akane had been so swept up with the moment she'd never had thought of stopping, so it was the little magical girl who had broken the kiss first. Same as Akane did for Yuka.

Akane remembered the sudden break, how she was pushed away. Even as gently as it happened to her, it was completely devastating. As if something precious had been stolen from her.

She remembered Yuka's face, two years ago, and suspected that her own had looked exactly like that, when the magical catgirl ran.

Akane enjoyed every moment of the kiss and she ached for the magical girls presence. Hoped she'd have stayed at her side. Couldn't help but wish for more with all her heart.

Akane pushed her face deeper into the pillow. She knew, if she got up and grabbed the mirror from her table, in the reflection she would see exactly what happened to Yuka - that distant look of longing and fracturing hope.

Hope.

Will I ever see the magical girl again?

Akane released the bite and came up for a breath of fresh air. Even know, she could almost imagine the faint smell of strawberries and magic lingering in the air.

Her first kiss had always been with a girl… except it took her four attempts to stumble into the right one. To understand that they all had counted in their own way.

And the strange strawberry girl had slipped away, scared, exactly the same as Akane had ran from Yuka.

The thought of losing the magical girl like Sayaka had lost Akane all those years ago was frightening. It felt, in some ways, like a well deserved taste of her own bitter medicine, and the thought burned her heart and stung at her lips.

Akane covered her eyes, ignoring the sudden wet sensation on her palms.

How did it all come to this?

In Akane's defense, she didn't know the stray cat had been a magical-girl-turned-cat, even if it wasn't behaving like a regular cat should.

Akane replayed the events of the night in her head. Again.

She slid into the memory willingly, letting it overtake her, even as it caused her to fidget and roll about, once again unable to keep calm about it.

…

It was raining then.

Already late into the night.

Someone was clawing and meowing at the dojo's gate, and Akane happened to be the one to hear it first, by pure chance. The poor kitty had been scared, probably hounded by someone recently, all wet and miserable.

Akane's heart didn't let her leave the crying creature alone, so she went up for a closer look.

It wasn't a cat Akane knew, nor it looked like it was of the neighbors' pets… No one she knew had a brown-red cat like this. It was a little larger than an average housecat, had a barely visible spotted patten that Akane would have associated with a larger predator - except it clearly wasn't one.

Actually, Akane couldn't be exactly sure if the cat was a local beast. Unlike Kasumi, Akane didn't actually get to meet and feed all of the local felines, but… She felt like the cat had taken quite a trip to get there, at their dojo, by random chance or deliberately.

Naturally, she couldn't keep the poor creature outside in such a miserable weather… Akane dashed outside, grabbed the cat and sprinted back inside in a flash, getting only slightly wet by braving the rain for a brief moment.

Even brought into the much warmer dojo, the cat was clearly still in distress, however much Akane tried to calm it down, however gently she carried it into the bathroom.

When Akane started to wash it, it almost slipped her grip, as if attempting to leap into the hot furo, stopped at last second by Akane's vigilance. "Silly girl," Akane remembered saying, "the furo's too hot for you." That was enough to get the cat to stop trying to hurt itself.

Eventually, after bringing the cat back to her room, and finishing cleaning it off with a towel, it's coppery red fur puffed in full, glorious display; and Akane couldn't help but be entranced. This couldn't have been a wild cat, even if she didn't have a collar. It was too clean, too well cared for. Too majestic.

"You're such a pretty girl," was what Akane said, the words almost miraculously calming the rusty red cat down. As if it could understand, but couldn't believe what was being said.

The look in its eyes… Akane couldn't help it, she leaned forward, deciding to go in for a little peck on its snout.

However, the kitty jolted at exactly the same moment, nibbling at Akane's lips with its fangs - clearly entirely by accident.

That was when the unexpected magic struck them both.

Akane only felt her heart-rate quicken, and then, a sudden warmth seeped into her lips.

With a flash of light, the cat in her arms transformed into a magical girl, their lips still interlocked in a kiss!

She was a little smaller, and as Akane had been holding the cat in her arms… that was how they ended up - Akane holding onto the girl's torso, lifting her in the air before herself. Sure, the weight had changed, but Akane was strong enough so the difference was barely felt - especially not when her mind was otherwise occupied.

The sizeable red boots of the girl didn't even touch the floor.

The magical girl was pink haired, with a single braided pigtail, and two very distinct, large catlike ears. She was clad in a pretty red dress, with a little pink ruffled choker, almost alike a cat's collar, just missing a bell under her neck. A different little bell was tied with a red ribbon to her long cat-like tail. One of the catgirl's gloved hands reached for Akane's face, and they both shuddered at that unexpected gentle caress.

The girl's bright blue cat-eyes snapped open, trying to catch her gaze, taking in her face - whatever was visible from this close.

The moment seemingly froze in time, their tingling lips connecting for a single united breath.

Together.

It tasted of strawberries.

Then, the magical girl's eyes widened, as the full realization of what was happening came to her, and she pushed Akane away. While with incredible strength and firmly, still quite gently.

Akane let her go, and the strange magical catgirl planted her feet on the floor firmly, in a coiled for action martial arts stance.

She choked out a half-cough, as if grasping for air, looked at herself, then at Akane and started crying and laughing at the same time.

There was a strange mix of quite a lot of things all happening one after another in rapid succession. A shout, a cry for help, a guffawing laughter of disbelief, and then a roar of anger as the cat-eared girl leaped right out though the glass of Akane's room window, shattering it.

Akane didn't even think of pursuing.

She just stood there, completely frozen, until Kasumi came up to see if she was alright.

Since it was not too atypical for the dojo to loose a window, it didn't take Kasumi long to replace it with a new one, even if Akane was barely responsive though the whole repair process.

And so, Akane had to turn in for the day confused and filled with an a sense of painful longing. Her lips never stopped tingling, nor did she mange to fall asleep for a wink. She replayed the memory multiple times in her head, continuing her attempts to shut herself up by biting the pillow, kicking her legs and rolling about in bed.

Akane's morning clock announced it was time to get up for a school day, and she was still as restless as in the evening.

She hoped she'd at least have enough strength to beat up the horde of annoying boys and have enough power left in her to apologize to Yuka.

Akane's Fifth Kiss

She didn't get to see the magical catgirl again for two whole days.

First of those was all about the most awkward apology in Akane's life. There was a little bit of crying, a whole bunch of kowtowing, and even a helping of forgiveness. In turn, Akane spent almost a third of her allowance after school paying for all treats for Yuka, and, apparently, her long-term girlfriend Sayuri.

Akane was a little surprised neither of her friends had told they were dating before, but… not as much as she could have been, considering her tendency to pretend such things weren't real.

She tried not to think about the little pang of jealousy that she felt upon the realization just what was going on right under her nose. After all, if she hadn't ran away from Yuka two years ago, maybe she'd be the one holding her hand instead of Sayuri, as all three of them divided yet another parfait between themselves.

The second day had come and gone by quickly. Akane's father was in a quite irritable mood - something about his friend being late. Akane remembered having been quite irritated about the news of the supposed family friend and potential engagement - but the meeting with the magical girl had overshadowed all worries on that front… until her father started sobbing about the Saotomes being late. Again.

Then, that late evening, long after the polite hours of arrival where over and everyone was all but ready to go to sleep, the two visitors showed up, painfully reminding Akane that the whole potential engagement mess was in no way over and forgotten.

Soun was crying tears of joy as a bulky bald man with round glasses grumbled entirely incomprehensible excuses and apologies while crying himself.

Akane's eyes, however, were instantly drawn to the short kid the man had brought with himself. Someone with their back to Akane, hiding both behind the older man and inside the oversized gray hoodie drawn over the head, hunched to slowly unlace and slip out of the red boots they were wearing.

The boots wouldn't have looked out of place in Harajuku, even if Akane couldn't remember seeing the exact model on sale - and they looked quite new, with barely any wear and tear. Red and tall, almost knee-high when revealed from under oversized dark pants and clearly a bit of a bother to take off.

Or maybe the kid was just shy and taking their time.

Then, Akane realized where exactly she'd seen those boots - at the very same time when the kid turned to face her directly.

It was the same face.

The very same lips.

Akane's hand went to touch at the almost-healed scrape on her lips, and her eyes widened.

"And this is my son…" the bald man was saying out loud, but Akane barely registered the meaning of the words, for she couldn't take her eyes off-

The next moment, she was pinned to the wall, the hooded, smaller figure showing incredible speed and strength, getting right into her face in a blink of an eye.

"It is you!" she hissed at Akane, all cat-like and furious.

Akane opened her mouth and closed it, no words coming out, feeling her face lighting up uncontrollably.

"Change me back," the weird girl demanded with an animal-like growl, her hoodie having slipped back from the quick movement, revealing two very much inhuman ears on her pink-haired head. "Change me back right meow."

Instead of figuring out what to reply to such a demand, Akane couldn't help but stare at the sharp fangs of the girl and the soft-looking strawberry-tasting lips from the magical memory.

"Ranma!" the man grabbed onto the catgirl's shoulder and tried to pull her back, except the girl didn't move an inch.

"She's the one who changed me!" the girl - Ranma - shouted again, "it's her fault the water isn't working!"

"Is that true?" The bald man swerved to glare at Akane, letting go of Ranma. "You turned my son into this?! How?"

"I don't know what or how it happened!" Akane finally shouted back, finding her voice - anger at the man's demands bubbling to the surface.

Kasumi chose this moment to interrupt, silently stepping up, and gently placing her hand on the shoulders of the man and his… supposed son. While the previous man's rough attempts to get Ranma's attention didn't work, the silent manner in which Kasumi all but appeared unexpectedly behind them, made both of the visitors jolt in surprise, actually letting Akane go.

Kasumi offered a beaming, polite smile, one that quickly disarmed everyone. "Maybe you'd like to talk this over with tea instead of in the hallway?" she suggested in a gentle voice. "Akane's not gonna go anywhere, after all, and I'd like to take care of our dad, too."

Akane hadn't even noticed when exactly Soun had fallen down on the ground. Probably out of shock of learning Ranma didn't look exactly like the boy he'd expected to see.

"Right," the man said, and that was that.

Moments later, Akane was seated on the opposite side of the table to the pink-haired catgirl, trying and failing to communicate with looks alone. Ranma was the one glaring angrily, while Akane was just examining the visitor.

She doesn't look one bit like a boy, Akane thought. But, if a cat can turn into a magical girl, maybe a boy can also turn into a cat?

Ranma's tail had slipped out from under the hoodie and was in the process of being slammed into the floor every so often, highlighting the irritation. The ribbon and the bell was missing, clearly taken off at some point.

Meanwhile, their father's old friend, Genma, was weaving a tale about distant training grounds, magical springs of horrible animal curses activated by water; the explanation included a small demonstration of turning into a giant panda. There were more little stories about and all kinds of distractions and obstacles in their way to reaching the dojo. Finally, Genma mentioned getting split up by appearance of local cats - which didn't make much sense - and Ranma finding him again after the curse had already been changed somehow.

"I don't know what exactly happened," Akane tried again, much more calmly than last time. "I found her as a cat outside, brought into our home, and, well…" She trailed off for a moment and blushed, nervously tapping her fingers on the table. "She turned into a magical girl and broke my window running away. What's up with that anyway, couldn't have stayed and talked with me?"

Ranma was also blushing. "I- I was surprised, that's all! If you had kept your window open, I wouldn't have broken it!"

"Oh?" Nabiki interjected, catching onto something. "Maybe you two do have an idea on what could have caused it?"

Ranma looked down at the table and said nothing.

"Speak up, boy," Genma bumped his… supposed son with his shoulder. "Maybe you two just need to retrace your steps."

Ranma covered her eyes and shook her head, completely red.

Akane froze. Could it actually have been the kiss? Just like she thought at first?

Nabiki glanced between Akane and Ranma and let out a single snort.

"Forget it, Pops, I clearly made a mistake," Ranma said not looking up, completely unconvincingly. "Maybe it was something else."

Akane clenched her fists. Stood up. Walked around the table and hooked her hand around Ranma's, easily getting her to stand up too.

"Come," she said to Ranma, resolved for the course of action already. "We can try the retracing steps thing!"

"What?" Ranma said, but let herself be dragged away to Akane's room.

Akane was very much aware most of her nosy family was not too far behind them.

"I had her in my room alone," Akane said, as soon as they were inside, and slammed the door shut, right into Genma's face - since he was the closest one behind them. "Wait out there!"

"What… are you doing?" Ranma finally slipped her grip and took a step back. "Are you serious right meow?"

Akane crossed her arms. "I don't mind trying it," she said, keenly aware of just how terrified Akane of last week would have been to offer such a thing. She was speaking softly but firmly, hoping that it wasn't really audible on the other side of the door. "It's not like it'd be my first time kissing a girl."

Ranma choked on air, coughing a few times. "But…. but…"

Akane stood there, hands crossed, tapping her foot. Even though her face was basically on fire, and her thoughts were very strawberry-flavored, she had just the right amount of determination to see this though. "If you don't want to test it, we can just go out and say that nothing happened."

Ranma swallowed, and started fidgeting. "It was mine…" she finally said almost too quietly to be heard at all.

Akane leaned a little closer. "Your… what?"

"First kiss," Ranma hissed out, all cat-like again. "And some sharp-eared freak of a boy tried to kiss me yesterday, too! Why does everyone want to do it?! Is there something in Nyarima's water?"

"You were attacked?" Akane asked, eyes widening, as her mind conjured an image of Kuno charging forward - who was a complete ass, but at least would never had gone in for a kiss without permission. "If it was someone from my school, I'm gonna beat them up!" she shouted out, forgetting their conversation was supposed to be private.

"Me and Pops already got him and his oversized rat pet running away pretty quickly," Ranma boasted, pride ringing in her voice, clearly at the memory of the fight. "I'm just about the best martial artist there is, and like this I'm even stronger and faster! The elf-guy didn't have a chance, even if he said he'd be back."

"Good," Akane said. I wouldn't want any weird guys kissing you, she thought, but didn't say out loud. "If he comes back, I'll help chase him away."

And just like that Ranma was back at fidgeting.

Akane sighed. "If you don't want to…"

"…ine." Ranma whispered. Swallowed. "It's fine. Let's try it."

Akane leaned so close she could taste the scent of strawberries in the air. It was clearly magic at play.

Ranma closed her eyes.

Akane gave the catgirl a quick, innocent peck right on the lips.

However much she wanted more, she was aware that if the crazy story was all true, behind the magical girl there was also a cat and… some kind of boy.

Pity, that.

There was a flash of light.

Ranma was gone, reduced to a meowing bundle of clothes on the floor.

Akane let out an uncontrollable giggle, then scooped the little copper-colored cat together with the gray hoodie and black pants and dashed to the door, opening it wide.

Half of her family fell inside, clearly having been listening with ears to the door.

"Honestly," she said, and pushed the whole tangled bundle into Genma's arms - since the man was still standing, if frozen in a little awkward position. "There you go. Fixed."

"Meow," Ranma confirmed from inside the hoodie.