Here's a little teaser I whipped up.  Seeing as how this is my first creative
writing effort in a very long time and my first fanfic ever, I opted for a
straightforward adventure plot.  It's probably not terribly innovative but I
hope that people will at least find the implementation enjoyable.

----------------------------
Tentative title is "Tiger Claw". 
(Plotline subject to change without notice)

	Someone finally noticed that the cats had begun to disappear from Nerima.

	Shampoo shivered.  For the last day or so, she had felt a strange restless
anxiety.  Occasionally, she would look over her shoulder but nothing was ever
there.  Except Mousse, of course.  Usually it was just a nagging feeling, one
that could be shrugged off without too much effort.  

	However, when she was in her cat form....  Shampoo-neko just _knew_ that she
was in someone's (or something's) territory and that she had no business
being there.

                                        * * *

	In the underground chambers of an old stone temple, a meeting was taking
place between two women.

	"This is ridiculous!"  One of the women slammed a thin report folder down on
the table.	

	The other woman patiently replied, "The reports clearly state...."

	"Come on now!  You want to devote a substantial amount of time, energy, and
effort to investigate the existence of some obscure martial art form which
hasn't been practiced in hundreds of years and you're doing it based on the
eyewitness accounts of a bunch of high school students?  And the main
witness, this...."  she grabbed up the folder and thumbed through it.
 "...'Tatewaki Kuno' character ....  You don't mean tell me you intend to
rely on anything he says!  The man's a bloody idiot!"  she sputtered.
	
	"It's not just 'some obscure martial art form'.  It's about as close as
you'll ever get to a ultimate fighting technique.  And it's a very necessary
prerequisite if Lord Ebon is ever to get a new home."

	"And I'm supposed to believe that a seventeen-year-old boy has mastered this
supposedly undefeatable martial art?"

	"His body may be young, but I strongly suspect he has an old soul."  She
paused.  "Lord Ebon and I have waited a very long time for this.  As you've
said, there hasn't been a verifiable practitioner of this martial art for
centuries.  Call me impatient but I have no intention of having to wait
several more hundred years for another prospect to come along."

	"So, how are you going to make sure?"

	"I'm going to put it to the test, of course.  Within three days time, I will
judge for myself whether a true master of the Neko-ken walks the earth in
Nerima."

---------------------------------

Please let me know if you found this teaser at all interesting and worth
pursuing -- or you can tell me that you fell asleep reading it.  <g>

madamhydra@aol.com