CH2 Meetings


    Nobuyuki Masaki was performing his usual evening juggling act. He was currently in the process of manipulating, one briefcase, three plan tubes, filled with architectural drawing that had to be checked by morning, one bag of take out, a set of house keys, one weeks worth of mail, and finally, an open umbrella. His act had an unusually high difficulty rating this evening, as there was a good stiff breeze blowing that threatening to rip the umbrella from his hand, and leave him open to the deluge of rain that was currently pouring down.

    An avid audience of birds watched from the shelter of a near by tree. Would he make it, or like last night, would he drop the take out, spilling rice all over the front stoop. It was going to be close. He had managed to tuck both the brief case and the plan tubes under one arm, and was holding the bag of food and his umbrella in the other hand. Carefully, maintaining his grip on every thing, he slid a hand in his pocket and started to go for his keys. The birds leaned forward, and then let out a piping cheer as the inevitable happened.
    
    Damn, Nobuyuki cursed in a muffled voice, as a sudden strong gust of wind wrenched his umbrella free of his hand. Then he cursed again, as his desperate attempt to regain his umbrella, resulted in him dropping his food, to the cheers of the audience, closely followed by his briefcase and the architectural drawings. The only thing he managed to retain, was the mail, and that only because it was gripped between his teeth. Pulling his house keys from his pocket, he stooped down to see what he could salvage.
    "Here mister, let me give you a hand with that." A cheerful, bubbly feminine voice said. Simultaneous with the voice, the rain, which had been pelting down on Nobuyuki's body since the loss of his umbrella, stopped.
    Nobuyuki's ears pricked at what sounded like a pretty girl. Looking up, he found himself eye to chest with a most attractive young lady. Indeed, as he had guessed, she was very pretty, and very healthy as well. He stared in bliss for a second, before lifting his eyes upwards to look at the face of his benefactor. He was pleased to see that the face of the small red head was every bit as attractive as the rest of her. She was smiling as she held an umbrella out over him.
    Nobuyuki smiled back, and then realized that one of the reason her state of health was so apparent, was that she was not sheltered under the umbrella she was currently holding, but instead was being soaked by the rain as she shielded him from the downpour. This caused her clothing to cling to her very curvy body, and reduced their concealment factor by a substantial degree.
    "Thank you my dear," he enthused as he stood up. "But this will never do. You'll catch your death if you don't cover up. Please, come inside, and we'll get you out of those wet clothes." He grinned widely at the little red head, who returned his smile, just before
vanishing.

    She had not really vanished, she had merely dropped so quickly, it had appeared that way.

    "Wha" was all Nobuyuki had the time to say, before the space formally occupied by the young girl's head was filled with a massive black and white paw, armed with a most impressive set of claws. The paw swished through the air with an audible ripping sound, as the air protested being displaced so abruptly.
    Nobuyuki followed the path of the paw through the air with his eyes, and then wrenching them back around, he stared up in horror at the owner of said paw, and yet further up. His eyes traced their way over a massive fury body, up to a head as large as a keg, and armed with a massive set of fangs. Strangely, there was a pair of eyeglasses hanging off of one round furry ear.
    "O please, mister, save me from that monster." the girl said from behind him, her voice faint with fear. He felt her hands on his back, forcing him to stay between her and the beast, that even now was growling in anger at being denied its prey.
    Nobuyuki did the only thing he could under the circumstances.

    Ranma felt the body of the man in front of her go limp and watched as he bonelessly slid to the ground, leaving nothing between her and an enraged panda but thin air.
    Ranma jumped back out of the way as her father once again lashed out at her. "Hey pop, your friend is a bit of a wimp ain't he? I mean, imagine fainting at the sight of you. Your so fat and slow a little kid could keep away from you."
    As Ranma mocked her father, she kept moving, dancing and leaping around her father's best efforts to chastise her. "I don't know what your so upset about Pop. I mean you wanted me to make a good first impression, didn't you? It ain't my fault you only bought one umbrella. If you'd gotten one for me, I wouldn't have had to take yours."

    Genma made no reply. Not even a growf. He was thoroughly winded from trying to catch Ranma before she got to the Masakis', and had no breath to spare..
    He had made the mistake of telling her the address while they were still some distance away, and she had taken off like a shot. Genma was under no delusions as to her reason. She might have promised to cooperate and marry Tenchi, but Genma knew she was not going to do so without a fight. If he let her get to the Masakis' ahead of him, there was no telling what she might do to dissuade them from accepting her as a potential bride. Faced with this, Genma had no choice in the matter but to make the best speed possible after Ranma.
    He had barely managed to keep pace with her, and the instant they had reached the Masakis' and seen Nobuyuki standing in front of his house, she had stolen his umbrella, leaving him exposed to the falling rain.

    Ranma watched her father's labored breathing with some satisfaction. Much as she had initially disliked and hated her new body, she had gradually become aware of how much faster she could move in it. Faced with the possibility that she might be a girl for the rest of her life, she had focused all her efforts on increasing that speed, drowning her fear in an orgy of training. The results exceeded her wildest dreams. She was so much faster then three months ago, there was no real comparison. She knew if she were to face off against her male body, she could clean it's clock. Whoever the girl was who had drowned in the spring, she must have been chained lightning in a fight.
    Ranma easily dogged a half hearted swipe from Genma, and decided she'd had enough fun for the night. The rain was icy, and unlike her father, she did not have a thick coat of water repellant fur. Of course, if her father did not give up this crazy idea, she might acquire one in the not too distant future. The point was however, that she was chilled to the bone, and was wanting a good hot bath.
    "Come on Pop, give it up. Let's get your friend inside before he drowns." Ranma said, gesturing towards the unconscious Nobuyuki, who was laying face up on the front stoop, rain water filling his open mouth. A steady stream of bubbles rose to the top of the little pool of water, making Nobuyuki look like some particularly ugly fountain.
    Glad for an excuse to stop, Genma merely grunted. He waddled over and picked up Nobuyuki and slung him over his furry shoulder. Ranma gathered up the various objects Nobuyuki had dropped, and followed her father inside.

    Once inside, Genma wasted no time in finding himself some hot water, and Ranma went off on her own in search of the bath.

    Nobuyuki woke to find himself laying on his living room rug. Blinking his eyes, he wondered if he had dreamed the whole sequence of events. Then the sound of someone eating drew his attention. Turning his head, he spied a large man in a white training Gi stuffing his face from a cardboard take out box he held inches away from his mouth. The man's chopsticks were a blur and the sound of his chewing filled the room. The sight sparked a memory in Nobuyuki's mind, and an image from years ago rose up.
    
    Scene: The school yard of a junior public school. A figure recognizable as chibi-Genma is using his foot, pressing it against the face of a crying chibi-Nobuyuki, to hold off the other boy as he scarfs down his lunch.

    "Genma?" Nobuyuki said, a questioning tone, half disbelief, half dread, in his voice.
    Genma took a few seconds to finish the box of take out he was eating, then after setting it down, he jumped across the room and drew Nobuyuki into a bear hug.
    "Nobuyuki, you old dog!" Genma shouted as he hugged the astounded man. "I haven't seen you in years. Not since my daughter was born. Bet you thought I'd forgotten about our arraignment didn't you? Well, no fear, Genma Saotome's word is his bond. I promised my daughter would marry your son, and here we are, ready to fulfill my promise."
    
    Nobuyuki was in a state of shock, the appearance of his long ago acquaintance in the middle of his living room, after his encounter with that monster outside, had left him a little slow on the uptake. One concept did manage to filter through the flood of words Genma was directing at him.
    "Marriage?
    "Tenchi and your daughter?
    "What deal? I don't remember a deal. Beside's you have a son. Nodoka wrote my wife and told her so."
    Genma's face took on a tragic look. "You don't remember the solemn promise we made to each other the night little Ranma was born. O to think my friend has sunk so low as to forget the meaning of honor. I wrote and told you we were coming. Don't tell me you never got the letter?" Genma said in an accusatory voice.
    "Well . . . no!" Nobuyuki said, putting his hand behind his head and rubbing it. "I've been sort of busy. Don't check the mail much. Not that much time. Sleepy when I get home from work, you know how it is."
    He cast his eyes around the room until he spotted the pile of soggy mail that Ranma had dropped on the hallway table after carrying it inside. Getting to his feet Nobuyuki crossed to the mail and leafed through it until he found Genma letter. Opening it, he read the contents with astonishment. He looked closely at a photo copy of the original agreement between him and Genma. Finally he lowered the pages and looked at Genma with puzzlement, "This is my writing, no doubt, I'll take your word we made this deal, but Ranma's a boy, not a girl, I'm sure of it."
    Genma carefully schooled his features. This was the critical point. He had managed to get Ranma's promise to go through with this marriage, but he was under no delusions as to Ranma's real feelings. His former son would do everything she could to sabotage Genma's chances at a peaceful retirement.
    He had been giving the situation much thought, and had come up with a way to at least spike some of Ranma's plans.

    Looking at Nobuyuki he let his face fall into an expression of great sadness. "I'm sorry to tell you this Nobuyiki-san, but your cousin has fallen ill. Nodoka was convinced she was going to have a son. I thought nothing of it at the time, I merely thought it the natural thing for an expectant mother to imagine their coming child to be one or the other. I did not recognize Nodoka's obsession for what it was. When Ranma was born, I was shocked that despite the obvious fact she was a girl, Nodoka insisted on giving her a boys name.
    That was only the first sign, and I shrugged it off, but over time I came to realize that Nodoka truly believed little Ranma was a boy. She referred to her always as a boy, all the letters she wrote to her friends said Ranma was a boy. Every time she talked to a friend, it was about her son.
    "She refused to treat Ranma as anything other then a boy. I tried to reason with her, but it was no good. I loved her deeply, and foolishly went along with her obsession, hopping that she would eventually come to her senses.
    "I did not realize how grave my error was, until I discovered that Ranma thought she was a boy as well. Not wanting my daughters life to be ruined, I put my foot down, and insisted that Nodoka treat Ranma as the girl she was." Here Genma grimaced, "That was a mistake, Nodoka almost took my head off with the family sword, and Ranma's reaction was not much better. Neither one of them would speak to me for weeks."
    Genma looked at Nobuyuki in desperation. "Please don't think Nodoka was completely mad, except for that one blind spot she was perfectly normal. Maybe if there had been other signs I would have acted sooner." Genma shook his head, and covered his eyes with a hand. "In the end, I did the only thing I could think of, I played into her madness. I accused her of coddling Ranma, of turning him into an unmasculine man. I told her that I was going to take him away and turn him into a man among men." Genma turned away from Nobuyuki, who was looking at him incredulously, to rummage through his backpack, which he had pulled near. Finding what he sought, he handed Nobuyuki his copy of the agreement he had signed with Nodoka.
    "As you can see, I agreed that if I did not turn Ranma into a man among men, I would commit Sepuku. I was willing to give up my life to give my daughter back her life, but Nodoka insisted on adding a clause that would include Ranma in the agreement. If I take Ranma back to her, and she does not judge her to be a man among men, Ranma must kill herself along side me.
    "Even with that I hoped to restore Ranma to her lost womanhood, if it meant we could never go home, then so be it.
    "Nodoka's influence proved too strong, however, and she continued to believe she was a boy. I hoped when she began to blossom, she would no longer be able to deny the truth. For a while I thought I'd guessed ritght. When Ranma started to change, she felt doubt for the first time. She still denied it, but I could see her belief wavering."
    Genma looked at Nobuyuki, tears streaming down his face. "I was so close old friend, another few months, and I truly believe Ranma would have at last admitted the truth." Genma sobbed out loud. "But it was not to be."
    Genma lowered his face into his hand and began to cry bitter tears. "So stupid. I was so Damn stupid!!" he cried into his hands.
    Nobuyuki had been listening to him with a mixture of shock, and a large dose of scepticism. This was not the first time he had been witness to a Genma Saotome production. He knew his cousin Nodoka, and this did not match that knowledge of her. Still it had been almost sixteen years since he had last seen his cousin. A lot could have changed. He would listen to Genma's story, but he would keep in mind other times he had fallen for one of Genma's tales.
    
    Lifting his tear stained eyes to Nobuyuki, Genma visibly brought himself under control. "I was so close Nobuyuki. I had been training Ranma, taking her to all the old training grounds, and teaching her many of the ancient and lost styles. You can not deny your body and become a good martial artist. I hoped that having to deal with her body in such a comprehensive way, she would come to accept it.
    "Then I heard of the Amazons of China, and my and Ranma's fate was sealed"
    "Amazons?" Nobuyuki asked, questioningly.
    "A small tribe in China, where the women are all fierce fighters, and the men little better then servants. I hoped that seeing them would make Ranma realize that she could be a woman and a warrior. Such hope I had. If it had not been for that cursed training ground, all might have been well."
    Overcome by his grief, unable to continue speaking, Genma fumbled with the dishes on the table top until he found a glass of water. Upending it over his head, he shifted form.

    Nobuyuki reared back in shock as his old friend suddenly turned into the massive beast that had threatened him on his own door stoop. Falling backwards, he raised his hands in a warding gesture. The beast made no move to attack however, instead it picked up a tea kettle and dumped a stream of warm water over it's head. Nobuyuki watched in awe as the beast became a man.
    "What? How? I don't understand," he babbled.
    "Jusenkyo," Genma said flatly. "The cursed training ground of Jusenkyo. We had to pass through it on the way to the Amazon village.
    "Whoever falls into one of those springs, becomes the creature that last drowned in that spring. I fell in the spring of drowned Panda, and you see what happens to me. Cold water changes me, hot water reverses the change.
    "Did . . . did Ranma . . .?"
    "Fall in a spring? No!! If only she had. That I could have dealt with. Instead, the springs provided her mind with a reason for her female body. Even though hot water did not effect her, she became convinced that she had fallen in the Nyanniichuan. That she had been a boy, and now was cursed to be a girl. Nothing I have been able to do has managed to convince her otherwise. That is when I remembered our agreement. If Ranma were to get married, eventually she would have to except the truth. Having a baby would leave her little choice.
    "But if she thinks she's a boy?"
    "I've taken care of that, she may be delusional, but she has a strong sense of honor. I've been able to convince her that she must marry for the honor of the clan. The only hold I have over her is the agreement that you and I made." Genma leaned in closer to Nobuyuki. "Please, I beg of you, don't forsake me. You are my last hope, I fear I might have to take drastic measures otherwise.
    Nobuyuki was torn, he did not really want to marry his son off to a crazy woman, but he had made the agreement, there was a certain amount of honor involved, and she was a very nice looking girl. His eyes glazed slightly as he recalled how she had looked with her wet shirt plastered to her torso.
    Tenchi had been a bit of a disappointment to Nobuyuki, he seemed to have little interest in girls. Maybe an arranged marriage to a beautiful girl would bring out his true Masaki nature. He sat up straight and faced Genma, a resolute expression flowing across his face. "I'll do it, for the sake of your daughter, I'll agree to the marriage.
    "My friend," Genma shouted lunging across the table and pulling Nobuyuki into a rib creaking hug. Nobuyuki returned it with fervor, Tenchi would be so happy that he had found him such a nice looking girl. And so what if she was a little crazy, his mother had believed some very strange things, and he had loved her anyway.
    Their self congratulations, were suddenly interrupted by a male voice coming from the direction of the bath.

    "Nani . . . No way!"
    "Tenchi?" Nobuyuki exclaimed in surprise, "he's not suppose to be back from his grandfathers till tomorrow. What's he doing home?"


    Tenchi Masaki had not slept for three days. Not since he had snuck into a certain cavern, and come face to face with the legendary demon that was sealed up inside it. So shattered had he been by that experience, that the instant his eyes closed, the image of the demon would rise up in front of him, and bring him screaming out of his sleep.
    His grandfather had noticed his lethargy, and tiredness, and had told him to go home. Not in anger, as Tenchi might have expected, but in concern. Sometimes he forgot how kind his grandfather could be. So often in recent years he had been the rigid taskmaster who set Tenchi to slaving every vacation. It was easy to forget that this stern man had held him in his arms and wept with him in their mutual grief. Tenchi for his mother, Yousho for his daughter.
    So he had arrived home a day early to an empty home. He had staggered upstairs, dropped his luggage in the middle of his room, and had barely made it to his bed.
    For the first time in three days, he managed to sleep for more then thirty seconds. Thanks to the warm familiarity of his own bed, he actually made it to sixty seconds. He spent the next six hours in a half awake stupor. Every time he fell all the way into sleep, the image of the demon would bring his out of it drenched in a cold sweat, but his exhaustion was such that he never woke completely. At some time he became aware of voices downstairs, but he did not have the energy to let his father know he was home.
    Finally during one of his periods of wakefulness, he became aware of a pungent odor. Lifting an arm he sniffed. Wrinkling his nose in disgust he realized the odor was coming from him. Hours of sweating in fear had given him an especially fragrant bouquet. Giving up on the thought of sleep, he decided to see if a hot bath might sooth him enough to allow him to finally sleep.

    Ranma looked up from the bath as she heard the door open. She expected to see her father, instead it was a slender boy, about her own age and height, or what once was her height, she corrected herself, he was about ten inches taller then her at the moment. His hair was cut short on top, but was left long enough in the back to form a small pony tail. While he was slender, he had very good muscle definition, he must train, she thought to herself.
    She drew herself up in the bath and rested her elbows on the edge of the tub, cupping her chin in the cradle her fingers made. To her surprise, the boy did not noticed her. Careless, she thought. A true martial artist should be aware of everything around him at all times. However, she did note in his defense, that he seemed bone weary. She had been in a similar situation enough times to emphasis with him slightly. Most recently while fleeing a certain homicidal amazon.
    Then she realized that this must be the boy her father meant her to marry, and any sympathy she might have had fled. Her expression hardened, and she looked at him with new eyes.
    He still had not noticed her, and as she watched, he tossed the towel he had wrapped around his waist aside and sat down on the scrubbing stool. Filling a bucket with water, he upended it over his head, shuddering as the cold water cascaded over his body. His eyes widened, with the shock of the cold water, and he reached down to pick up a bar of soap, and froze. He stared in shock at the small girl who was glaring at him from the tub.
    "W. . . wh. . . who, are you?" he stuttered, clapping his hands over himself.
    Ranma snorted in derision. "Don't bother, it ain't like you got anything I ain't seen before, and a lot better then what you got to boot..
    I'm Ranma," she stood up in the tub and Tenchi hastily averted his face, but not before Ranma saw a thin tendril of red run out of his nose. Again she snorted, this time in disgust, and stepped out of the bath. Walking across the room, she picked up a towel and wrapped it around herself. Opening the door she exited, but before she slid it shut, she turned back and said, "I'm your new Innazuke." She slid the door shut, and Tenchi stared at the shut portal in shock. Then he started as the door opened and Ranma stuck her head back in. "O, by the way, I'm a lesbian too." Then she slid the door shut once again.
    Tenchi stared at the door flabbergasted for a minute before finally finding his voice
    "Nani? . . . No way!"

    Out in the hall Ranma smirked, she was not sure what a lesbian was, but the several boys who had called her that in the last month had acted like it was something pretty terrible. Of course Ranma had flattened them, rather then asking for an explanation of the term. Just because she did not recognize the word, did not mean she did not know when she had been insulted.

    Later Ranma lay awake in the bed Nobuyuki-san had given her and Genma. She had shamelessly eavesdropped on Tenchi's confrontation with his father. If you could call it that, she snorted to herself, confrontations between Ranma and her father usually resulted in various contusions and lacerations. Tenchi's argument with his father was more verbal, and seemed to consist of Tenchi protesting and Nobuyuki cheerfully ignoring said protests. Tenchi would ask what his father was thinking, and Nobuyuki would go into raptures describing the blissful life Tenchi would have with his lovely new bride.
    Ranma had soon realized that Tenchi was not about to out and out refuse the engagement, and Nobuyuki was not about to listen to his protests on the matter. So it looked like her plan, such as it had been, had failed.
    As she lay there, she began to feel uncomfortable, while she had been annoyed at Tenchi wimping out on her, she could hardly blame him for not doing what she had not done. She was beginning to suspect that her father had tricked her. He was a little to lively for someone who had stuck a knife in his belly only a few days before. She should face him down again, but she kept remembering the dark blood that had soaked the cloth Genma had held against his wound, and her resolve to confront her father faded away. Besides, she had given her word. God how could she have been so stupid. She had panicked, she admitted that, the thought of losing the only family she possessed, had frightened her badly. That's it. It's not like I love the old fart or nothing, I just didn't want to be left alone is all.
    Still, she was damned if she was going to marry some guy. So what was she going to do. One thing she had noted about Tenchi's argument with his father. Not once had he badmouthed her. Despite her behavior in the bathroom, not once had he said anything nasty about her. Not even when his father started to praise her good nature and cheerful disposition. Ranma laughed to herself remembering how she had to fight to keep from laughing out loud at that point, and giving away the fact that she was nearby and listening in.
    Ranma, rubbed her chin as she thought. Tenchi wanted this marriage as little as she did. Maybe the thing to do was to put her cards on the table. They could always use the horse defense. Mind made up, she got out of bed, and crept out of her room.

    Tenchi supposed he should be grateful. This was the longest he had gone without a nightmare, or a daymare for that matter in three days. Learning that he had suddenly acquired an innazuke, and a future father in law who changed into a Panda, had completely driven thoughts of Yousho's demon out of his head. Well at least till now anyway, and even now it seemed a distant threat compared to this much closer situation. The problem was, she was obviously being forced into this by her father, and that was too bad. She was the sort of girl Tenchi had always wished would notice him. Well, she had noticed him alright, but not in any of his dreams had Tenchi imagined his dream girl remarking on his deficiencies as a man. Still, he could not help but remember how she had looked, and he wondered if she was thinking of him right that moment, even as he was thinking of her.

    The sound of his door sliding open brought Tenchi away from his thoughts of what Ranma might be thinking. He looked over at the door inquiringly, only to go wide eyed as the very girl he had been wondering about, slipped into his room. With her back to him, she looked both ways down the hallway, and then came the rest of the way into the room, sliding the door shut behind herself. Tenchi opened his mouth to protest her invasion, but before he could even get a word out, she was across the room and had a hand clapped over his mouth.
    "Shhhh," she whispered, "I don't want to be interrupted. You and I have some business to discuss."
    "Nani?" Tenchi said, keeping his voice low. Her remark in the bathroom about Tenchi having nothing she hadn't seen before came back to him. Combining that with the thin t-shirt she was wearing, and it was not long before a slight trickle of blood started to flow from his nose.
    Ranma did not notice, she was to busy trying to think about what to say. Sneaking around the matter had gotten her nowhere. She turned to Tenchi and grasping his pajama top, pulled his face to within inches of her own.
    "Look, I don't care what our old men cooked up, I ain't going to marry you, got it. That story Pop told you is full of shit. I ain't a girl, I'm a guy, and I did so fall in the Nyanniichuan. Pop should know, he's the one that kicked me in.
    Ranma noticed that Tenchi had a rather glazed look in his eyes, and she relaxed the grip on his top, fearing she had cut off his air.
    "Look, this is the way it happened," she said, backing away from Tenchi and sitting herself down on the foot of his bed with her legs crossed.
    Tenchi pinched his nose to stop the blood lose and listened as Ranma told her story. She covered how Genma had dragged her to Jusenkyo, and the foggy condition. She did not try to hide the fact that she taunted her father into fighting her. She described with some glee how she had managed to get the better of her father and slam him into the spring below where they were fighting.
    Tenchi was having some trouble following her story, Ranma was very into using body language, and her chest bounced quite a bit as she described the fight with her father, Tenchi finally with much regret closed his eyes, so he could focus on what she was saying with no distractions.
    "Well, when Pop came bursting up out of that fog, you could have knocked me over with a feather. All I could do was stand there and stare as the old fart who was guiding us spouted off about how these were cursed springs, and how Pop had fallen into the spring of drowned Panda.
    All I could think of was to get the hell out of there, but I was to late, Pop came at me, and the next thing I know, I'm sailing through the air surrounded by nothing but fog.
    "I mean, I couldn't see a damn thing, I didn't know up from down. Then I spotted a pole, and made a grab for it. Almost made it too, but this monkey comes flying out of the fog, and 'smack', right into me." Ranma punched her open hand with her fist to demonstrate the impact. "He used my head for a spring board, and the next thing I knew, I was splashing down in a pool.
    "Man that was weird, I could feel my body twisting and changing, and I knew I'd landed in one of those cursed springs, but I didn't know which. The only thing I could think of was getting out of there quick as I could. Problem was, that monkey had shoved so hard, my foot and one hand had driven down into the mud at the bottom of the pool. There was a lot of old Bamboo down there, and my Gi got tangled up. I might have drowned, but I'm a lot smaller now then I use to be, and my Gi was almost falling off by itself. I slipped out of my clothes and made it to the top. Course the first thing I did was take a deep breath, and that's when some jackass on shore threw a cup of water straight in my face. Instead of air, I ended up swallowing water. Shit, I came closer to drowning from that jerk then from when I was trapped underwater.
    "I was some mad, I'll tell you. I came out of that pool looking for a fight. Some guy with funny hair tried to distract me by shoving a banana in my face. Well I went up and over him, and gave him a boot to the back of the head while I was at it. Last I saw of him, he was splashing down in the same pool I'd just come out of, serves him right.
    Anyway, soon as I was clear of those goons I headed back the towards where I thought Pop would be. I really wanted to discuss my situation with him. Guess I got a little too mad, because I didn't watch where I was going, next thing you know, I come out of the fog, and I'm right on the bank of another pond, couldn't stop in time and in I went. Well I just about shit myself, let me tell you, but nothing happened, I crawled out the other side just the same as I went in. About then I figured that once you take a dip, the pools don't work no more, so I forgot about being cautious and just booted it back towards Pop.
    "Must have fallen in a dozen springs before I finally found him , and gave him a good pounding, but that didn't do me no good, I was still a girl. The guide, he wanted us out of there quick, and he hustled us out of the valley talking a mile a minute. Half the time we didn't have a clue what he was talking about, but one thing we picked up was that hot water would cure the curse, temporarily. Soon as we heard that we stopped and lit a fire. The guide, he didn't like that at all. All the time we were heating water he was pissing and moaning about this being very bad, and we should not waste time. We could of cared less, all we wanted was our own bodies back. Pop got the hot water first, I wasn't eager to be no guinea pig, and sure enough it worked. Pop turned back into a man, I damn near scalded myself dumping the whole pot over my head."
    Ranma stopped talking for a minute, up till now she had been rattling her story off like a machine gun. Hardly stopping for breath. Now she sat there looking at the bed sheet. Tenchi cracked an eye, and looked at her sitting there, a dejected look on her face.
    "And?" Tenchi said, an inquiring tone in his voice.
    "Obvious, ain't it, it didn't work. I must have heated a dozen kettles of water, and none of them worked, I had blisters from the heat for days afterwards. I might have hurt myself bad if Pop hadn't wrestled me to the ground and tied me up. He carried me the rest of the night, until the guide figured we'd come far enough." Ranma trailed off, and just sat there looking into space, caught up in her own thoughts.
    Tenchi had been listening to her for a good five minutes, most of it with his eyes closed. He found that without the distraction of her body, it was easy to think he was listening to a young man. Ranma' s voice and speech pattern was masculine. Tenchi found himself believing her story. He had seen her father transform with his own eyes, and with that proof of magic, he found it easy to believe Ranma was really a guy in a girls body.
    As long as he kept his eyes away from her more obvious feminine attributes. That is. Resolutely he kept his gaze on her face, concentrating on the sad, and lost expression that it showed. As he looked at her closely for the first time he became aware of her eyes. Startled, he blurted out, "you're eyes! There just like mother's!"
    Ranma snapped out of her funk and look at Tenchi in surprise. "Well, that's a new one" she said snidely, "Most guys tell me my eyes are special, and the windows into my soul, all sorts of garbage like that. Ain't no one ever said they looked like his mother's."
    "But they do! Look like my mother's I mean, and like my grandfathers too, I guess, They both had the same color eyes."
    Now Ranma was interested. "Really, I ain't never seen anyone else with eyes just like these, and let me tell you, it's a real pain. Guys can't say things about your body in public, so they all look for something safe to say to you. Most of the jerks started spouting poetry and whatnot about my beautiful eyes. Gets to be a real pain, let me tell you, especially when it's not your eyes their looking at. Got so I'd thump any guy that started a sentence with, 'You're eyes are like'. Well I guess there had to be other people with eyes like this, after all the girl who drowned in the spring had them. Funny they live in Japan though. Did your family come from China?"
    "No, I don't think so, at least not in grandfathers line. They've been looking after the Masaki shrine for seven hundred years." At the mention of the shrine, Tenchi went white, as the vision from the cavern once again reared it's ugly head.
    "Hey man, you alright?" Ranma asked, "you look like you've seen a ghost."
    "You could say that." Tenchi said with a rather weak grin.
    Tenchi proceeded to fill Ranma in on the legend of the Masaki Shrine, and the experiences he had suffered through a mere three days before. Not being able to say anything about what had happened had not given him anyway of getting it out of his system. Now after the story Ranma had told him, he was comfortable enough she would not think him crazy to tell her everything.
    Ranma gave him a cheer when he told how he had tricked his grandfather and stolen his keys. She listened raptly as he described his decent into the cavern that had opened up when he accidentally cut the wards. She gasped when he described the desiccated corpse of the demon, and how it rose from it tomb to clutch at his face. He brushed by the part where he screamed like a child and fled the cavern in panic. Instead saying he had shaken free of the demon's grasp and beaten it to the entrance, barely managing to reconnect the wards before it could escape.
    When he was done she sighed in contentment and said, "great story Tenchi, wish I could have been there with you."
    Tenchi was startled to say the least. "You do!?" he asked incredulously.
    "You bet, sounds like it was a blast, did you get in any good wacks when the demon grabbed you?"
    "Wacks!? Wacks!?" Tenchi shouted. "This was a demon, a demon who crossed mountains with a single step, who destroyed countless villages before my ancestor stopped it with his magic sword, and you ask if I got in any good wacks. No! I did not get in any good wacks!"
    "Ok, ok, don't have to bite my head off. And keep it down will you. Last thing I want is for my Pop to find me . . ." A sudden sound caused both Tenchi and Ranma to slowly turn their heads to face the door. Both afraid of what they were going to see. Their worst fears were confirmed, both of their fathers were standing there, beaming at them with the joyful expression only possible to the truly drunk. Turning to each other Genma and Nobuyuki each raised a large bottle of Sake, and made a toast.
    
    "Tenchi and Ranma. Together For Ever!"