The little girl with teal colored hair bounced happily down the street. A long skinny braid with a large yellow bead at the end fell from the middle of each of her two odango. Her old fashioned Chinese clothes bounced along with her in their bright and cheerful red, fuschia, light pink, and dark yellow colors, and the tips of her bright red slippers barely touched the ground before pushing off again.
To the residents of Nerima, this young girl seemed the epitome of delight; an almost visible aura of empty-minded happiness exuded from her. To anyone knowledgeable in the emotional states of Nyan Nyans, however, it would immediately be evident this one *was not happy.* The dragging feet, instead of the typical floating above ground, the wide open purple eyes that should have been closed in a smile, indeed her very aura of cheerfulness was much more subdued than normal. To the extremely knowledgeable entity, it would also be evident: this Nyan Nyan was on a rampage; avoid at all costs.
And this is exactly what Taitsukun had done; when this Nyan Nyan had gone into a fixing frenzy after her failure to fix Nuriko's problem the old woman had tolerated it for a short while but when the fixing frenzy showed no sign of getting better anytime soon, she had booted the Nyan Nyan out before she infected her sisters.
"Go explore the Miko's world," she commanded, and sent the Nyan Nyan on her less-than-normally-merry way. What, you might ask, is the problem? Well, you see, occasionally when a Nyan Nyan is unable to fix! fix! someone, especially someone she is fond of, she may become depressed and try frantically to fix anything else. The result is similar to how Dr. Tofu acts when Kasumi visits, only worse.
This Nyan Nyan had been stumped by an especially tricky problem: how to fix someone who was a guy but wanted desperately to be a girl? At the moment, however, she had no room in her head to think of her failure; she only knew she had to find something to fix. No one had ever accused the Nyan Nyans of having large brain capacity.
As the Nyan Nyan bounced along, the residents of Nerima remained unaware of their danger. Her aura of happiness touched all those who saw her, and they continued on their way, their day made brighter by her presence. For now, the Nyan Nyan was content to help these many people in this small way.
Soon, however, a boy caught her attention; tall, with black hair in a braid, and wearing loose black pants and a red silk shirt. She first noticed him as he hopped along the roofs next to the road, but what held her attention was the strength of his ki. As she watched him, a child tossed a water balloon at his older sister. It missed, improbably bounced off a car without breaking, shoot high into the air, and collided with the boy - girl? - and broke, splashing him? her? with water, making her shrink and changing her hair red. This confused the poor Nyan Nyan to no end. She vaguely remembered something about a girl/boy she wanted to fix, and rose up in the air to greet this....person. For some reason, the....person lost his? her? balance when she? he? noticed her, and jumped to the ground. She slowly followed, still filled with confusion.
"Ah! My pig-tailed Goddess!" cried another boy. "You have run to my embrace to throw yourself unto my protection from the vile cur Saotome Ranma!"
"In your dreams, Kuno!" the strange girl/boy shouted in annoyance, and sent him into Lower Earth Orbit with a well placed kick.
"help? help?" inquired the Nyan Nyan when she reached him.
"Ahhh..." the girl/boy scratched the back of her head, looking at the weird girl who hovered at eye level. "Do you need help? Are you lost?" The girl certainly looked lost, her round face radiated confusion, and Ranma had never heard of anyone who could float hanging around Nerima before.
The Nyan Nyan beamed at her new toy. She/he liked to help people too!
Ranma smiled back in response. It was impossible not to. Unfortunately it didn't look like she would be able to tell him where she belonged, but maybe Nabiki could find out.
"Come on," he said, tugging on the floating girl. "I'll take you to the Tendo Dojo."
"fix? fix? she inquired.
"Uhhh....yeah. There's usually somthin' around the Dojo that needs fixed."
"Oh my!" Kasumi said when a grinning Ranma-chan came inside, towing a kawaii, giggly little girl by her hand who hovered several feet above the ground. "Would you like some tea? Ranma, would you like some hot water?"
The Nyan Nyan gazed adoringly at Kasumi as the tall girl chattered with Ranma. She had instantly recognized one of her followers; Kasumi was one of those kind souls who enjoyed helping people and fixing things. The Nyan Nyan could appreciate her followers as much as the next Goddess, even if she couldn't count past two. And she was friends with her new friend Ranma!
While Ranma had been hopping along the rooftops, Nyan Nyan in tow - it had been so much fun! - she had taken the opportunity to observe him with her othersight, and discovered he had a curse. Now she watched wide eyed as Ranma took a kettle of hot water from Kasumi and poured it over her - now his - head.
"I wish I didn't have to deal with this curse," he grimaced. "I don't like being a girl!"
"I know, Ranma," Kasumi soothed.
An Idea slowly trickled through the Nyan Nyan's brain. Ever so slowly, a small spark of thought speed, momentum, and mass, finally avalanching through her mind, leaving behind a Plan.
"FIX! FIX!" she cried, and with a "pop!" she became two. Ranma gaped at the two identical girls, that had, a moment ago, been one girl, and he goggled even more when one of them vanished.
"Oh my!" Kasumi said.
When she received the signal from her otherpart in the World of the Four Gods, the Nyan Nyan who had stayed at the Tendo Dojo was helping her follower make dinner, a very enjoyable task. She carefully put the vegetable she had been peeling down, picked up the special cup of cold tea she had prepared earlier, and went to look for Ranma.
In perfect sync with her otherpart, she dumped the tea on Ranma, and cried, "FIX! FIX!"
She carefully carried the tea cup back to Kasumi as everyone else stared at the unconscious form of Ranma. Instead of the familiar form of the female Ranma, they beheld a slender, very beautiful boy with long purple hair.
The Nyan Nyan handed the cup to Kasumi, and flung her arms around the taller girl.
"Bai Bai," she said softly, releasing Kasumi. Then she vanished.
In the Konan Palace, a short girl with red hair woke up....
tbc?