Waking up hours later, for all Ranma could tell, there were a couple of things she immediately noticed. First, she was sitting in a small pool of water that was slowly spreading from the overflowing faucet. This must have been what woke her up on account of it. She felt more exhausted than she ever had before. The next thing she noticed was her ki. Something was different; not necessarily wrong, but something definitely changed. Gone was her smooth-flowing liquidity ki. What had replaced it was a mystery to her because it felt like ki but was more viscous—more like thick honey—rather than the thin, watery ki she used to control with ease.
With a groan, she managed to pull herself up, refusing to mess with this new type of ki until she had some sort of understanding. She finally reached over and shut off the faucet. That's when she noticed another difference. Everything just seemed too much. The previously hidden smells of cleaning chemicals hit her nose, which caused a minor burning sensation in her throat. Quietly wondering how she didn't smell it when she first came in, she focused on the rest of her senses, trying to mute them like she had done many times with her pops. She began to dial back her sense of smell more and more. Unfortunately, it seemed she needed to dial it back to almost zero before she could finally not smell the bleach that was used to clean the shiny bathroom.
With her eyes still closed, she gave a sigh of relief, only to be disturbed by the faint buzz of the lights above her head. Unfortunately, that wasn't what bothered her the most; that would be the fact that the sound wasn't coming from where her ears were usually located. The sound was coming from further up on her head. She opened her eyes to confirm what she suspected. On the sides of her head, leading upwards towards the top of her head, were two large red cat ears.
Stumbling back in fright, Ranma's back hit the wall, only to slide down it as her feet lost traction. Landing on her butt with a thud sent a jolt of electricity up her spine. Forcing her to react on instinct, an adorable little yowl sounding like a cat in sudden pain escaped her lips as she jumped up from the floor while holding the base of her spine. Only to feel that where her spine used to end now had a long furry red tail.
Ranma truly expected to be more affected by this than she was. Shouldn't she be curled up in a ball, hiding from the reality that somehow she had become a furry demon hybrid? But she couldn't find it in herself to be afraid. Maybe it was because it's still just her, and you can't really be afraid of yourself. Or better yet, maybe she was finally cured. All Ranma knew was that she definitely needed to figure this out and she only knew one person, besides the old pervert, who could give her information.
Steeling her nerves and attempting to lay her ears flat, it seemed almost natural how quickly she moved her new accessories, focusing on her ki. She could feel it flow like sludge throughout her whole body, including the new appendages. This further confirmed that they were indeed real. Her heart sank just a little bit when she felt a tiny bit of her ki pooling in her lower abdomen. It wasn't much, just a little more than a drop. If it weren't for the way her ki flowed around it, you wouldn't notice that it was now separated from her ki. The new thickness of her ki compared to her very thin ki only made it more obvious that it wasn't her ki at all.
All Ranma could do was hope no one would read into her ki; it would be months before she started showing. Figuring that it was something that she could think about down the road, she decided that there were more important things to deal with right now, such as what happened to her and why she could no longer feel the curse. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, not noticing the frost that billowed from her breath, she turned and exited the bathroom. Closing the door without looking back, she didn't notice that she left behind an icy mess on the floor as all the water that touched her froze.
Putting on her clothing after poking a small hole in her pants where the base of her spine was so she could slip her new appendage through it, she carefully wrapped her tail around her waist. Feeling the shift in her balance, she began to adjust her form to account for it. Smoothing out her hair to cover her new ears that she had laid flat, she began to walk down the street to her new destination: the Cat Cafe. Seeing the fence that she usually balanced on made Ranma debate what to do. She needed to adjust to her new balance, but with everything that was going on, did she really want to risk getting wet? That answer came clear to her fairly quickly: hell no.
Finally making it to the Cat Cafe and thanking Nix that she didn't run into anyone from school, she hesitantly reached for the door, hoping Shampoo was on break and wouldn't hear her enter.
Ranma sighed to herself while shaking her head, "No, Xain Pu, I came to talk to the old ghoul; some stuff happened, and I need to talk to her about it." As if appearing out of nowhere, a cackle resonated from behind Ranma, giving her a minor fright. With a high-pitched yelp reminiscent of a startled cat, she leaped into the air, clearing half the restaurant and landing on her feet, but not in her normal, relaxed fighting stance. Instead, her back was slightly arched, her ears shot up momentarily, her fur frizzing wildly, and her long red tail unwrapped and straightened behind her to counteract her more forward stance.
The elder looked upon the slightly frightened cat girl with eyes that screamed contemplation. "I see this will be one of our more serious conversations, son-in-law." She stopped and hummed for a couple of seconds as if scanning Ranma, "Or should I say daughter-in-law?" Ranma's eyes widened only for a second because she stood straight up. "Not the exact conversation I wanted to have right now, but I guess we can add it to the mess I need to sort out. Just somewhere less public."
All throughout this, Shampoo stood to the side. She was very surprised to see Ranma's new appendages. She didn't quite know what to think about them, but the first thing that popped into her mind was how adorable they made her. Maybe this meant that her airen mastered the neko ken; that could mean that he wouldn't be afraid of her. Her next thought was whether they were soft. While all this was processing in her mind, she didn't even hear her great-grandmother escort Ranma to the rear. Shampoo quickly came to her senses and began her search for the one person she truly loved. Leaning against the door where she assumed Ranma would be, she heard quiet whispers. Quickly grabbing a glass from the counter, she pressed it against the door to create a magnifying effect. She knew that Ranma would never speak the whole truth with her around; too many misunderstandings with women made Ranma apprehensive around them.