Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

Just Won't Die Urd





  In a room that had no walls nor floor or ceilings, Urd met with God.
  "Urd, I have a favor to ask of you," He said.
  "I'll be glad to help in any way I can," Urd knelt down on one knee, "What is 
it you request that I do?"
  He extended a hand toward Urd, a small box magically appearing out of thin air 
and in His hand, "I wish for you to take this item and bring it to a village in 
China named Joketsuzoku. You are to hand it to the matriarch of that village. 
That is all,"
  "Yes, Sir," Urd nodded, "Might I inquire as to why He wishes that I carry out 
this task instead of Him using His divine powers to do so?"
  "It's a task I'm giving you, to determine whether or not I should allowed you 
to remain as the system administrator of Yggdrasil or to let Skuld take over 
your task," He said, "You have gotten lazy with your task of doing even simply 
system checks that I wonder if you're cut for the job,"
  Urd said nothing. She knew that was a problem of hers, not taking her job that 
as Yggdrasil's system administrator seriously. She spent most of her free time 
just wandering worlds and taking in the sights than actually doing her job of 
overseeing Yggdrasil.
  "If you succeed, I'll consider not stripping you of your powers and letting 
your younger sister, Skuld, take over your role," He said.
  "Thank you, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to show you how much I care 
about my job," Urd said. She really did love her job. It was an easy job, much 
easier than being some wish-granter most Goddesses did around here.
  "Is it all right if I ask as to what this box is for?" Urd asked curiously.
  "This box is destined to be found by a man," He said, "At the moment, he is 
nothing more than a broken young boy, but he will eventually grow up to be a 
very strong man. A few decades from now, he will find this box while there 
looking for a cure for his curse and will open it and be transported to a 
different world. In that world, he will save the lives of a young boy named 
Shinji Ikari,"
  "Shinji Ikari?" Urd asked curious, "Is he not the young boy that prayed to you 
with his dying breath on the world that was basically destroyed by Third Impact, 
caused by a girl named Rei?"
  He nodded, "Yes. I've decided to be sympathetic and allow for the young boy to 
live a life differently from what he was destined to live. Rather than be one in 
only two survivors of that Third Impact, I have decided to change his destiny so 
that he could live the life of a regular boy,"
  "Very well," Urd said, "I'll carry this request as soon as possible. But 
before I can, my I ask for one request?"
  He said, "I already know. Yes, you have my permission to visit Belldandy's and 
Keiichi's gravesite. You don't need to ask me for such a request, especially on 
the anniversary of their deaths,"
  "Thank you," Urd said.
  With that said, Urd disappeared to carry out her task.

  Urd appeared via a portal onto the main world. 
  In an existence where there were infinite worlds, there was one main world. 
This world was one that God watched over more directly and considered it His pet 
project to keep running smoothly. It was the world that connected all other 
worlds, the only world where it was possible to travel to the infinite other 
worlds that were secretly linked to this one.
  Urd appeared somewhere over Japan. There was no real reason for her to appear 
over this particular country in general, her ties to this world no longer 
existing. The only thing that had tied her to this world were her sister 
Belldandy and brother-in-law, Keiichi. However, Belldandy had been bestowed 
mortality where she lived happily with Keiichi for the remainder of her life and 
died together with him not too long ago.
  Now that they had passed away, there was no reason for her to be a part of 
this world anymore.
  Spotting the graveyard, Urd quickly hovered down to the ground. It was the 
middle of the day and anyone could see her floating down from the sky, but Urd 
wasn't worried. She was no longer connected to this world anymore so no one 
could see her. She was invisible to this world. Only someone whose life was that 
of a divine level, be it a person whose destiny was altered by divine 
intervention or a fellow Goddess, no one would be able to see her. If a Goddess 
was able to see her, it wouldn't matter because they would know she was there to 
do her job, whatever it may be.
  The only other way she could be seen was if she allowed herself to be seen  
Since there was no reason for her allow herself to be seen, she remained 
invisible.
  Landing on the ground in front of a large tombstone, Urd gazed down longingly 
down at it.
  "I miss you sis, and even you, too, Keiichi," Urd smiled sadly. Of course, 
there was no reason for her to be sad even though two very close people to her 
were gone. They each had lived a mortal life to their fullest and had no 
regrets.
  Urd steeled her emotions. She couldn't help but want to be selfish because she 
missed her sister and Keiichi so much that she actually wanted them to be alive 
again.
  Of course, that would never happen. In God's and her own eyes, it was a very 
selfish thing, to want someone to be alive simply because they missed them. It 
was something that she couldn't comprehend but had to accept because it was 
God's view. 
  God's view was Law. She could not argue against it because she would be 
arguing against something she didn't fully understand. God had mentioned to her 
if she understood everything like Himself, she would understand as well.
  She stood in front of the tombstone that belonged to both Belldandy and 
Keiichi for several minutes, recalling the great times they had spent with one 
another, cherishing those moments.
  A piece of newspaper ended up landing right in front of the tombstone, carried 
there by the strong winds.
  Urd bent down and picked it up, annoyed at how people could litter in a 
graveyard and such. Although she was invisible, she could still interact with 
her environment. Of course, if she wasn't careful, someone might see the 
newspaper move around in an odd fashion and get confused.
  The headline of the newspaper caught her attention. She started reading the 
newspaper.
  "Entire town of Nerima destroyed. Tens of thousands killed. Atrocity 
officially named 'Nerima Massacre'," she read to herself. 
  Giving the newspaper a quick skim, she read something about the city of Nerima 
being destroyed by a bunch of 'robots'  about a week ago and how it seemed like 
everyone had perished in Nerima.
  She shrugged as she let go of the newspaper and let the wind carry it off, 
making a quick gesture to manipulate the winds so that it carried the newspaper 
all the way over to a trashcan conveniently located not to far from where she 
was.   
  There was no real reason for her to care about this world's current events 
anyway. Even though she was sympathetic in nature, there was really nothing she 
could do about it. Everything happened for a reason and it was not her place to 
question what God wanted to happen.
  Done with paying her respects toward Belldandy and Keiichi on the anniversary 
of their deaths, Urd took to the skies, heading off toward the East toward 
China.
  She had a quest to carry out.

  Urd allowed herself to be seen as she hovered down toward the center of the 
village of Joketsuzoku late that afternoon. It had taken her a few hours to 
traverse the distance from Japan to China. She could have gotten their faster 
but she took her time flying.
  She knew where the village was, God having used his powers to give her the 
necessary knowledge to carry out her task.
  It was the middle of the day as Urd landed in the middle of the village. She 
looked around at the wooden huts that made up the village and watched as scores 
of Amazon women came rushing from all those huts, weapons in hand to surround 
her.
  "Who are you?" one of the women said in Chinese. 
  "My name is of no concern to you, mortal," Urd responded in Chinese.
  "Why are you here?" the same woman asked.
  Urd produced a box from out of thin air, "I've come to give the matriarch a 
gift. Where is she?"
  "Our matriarch, Cologne, passed away," one of them said, "She was killed when 
the town she lived in was destroyed about a week ago,"
  Urd recalled the what she read, "The city of Nerima?"
  "Yes," the first woman said, "She and as well as two of our brethren, Shampoo 
and Mousse, were killed when that city was destroyed,"
  "So who replaces the matriarch of this village should she die?" Urd asked.
  An elderly woman stepped forward, "I do. Might I inquire as to why you're 
here, child?"
  Urd regarded the woman for a bit. She looked to be somewhere in her hundreds 
and was extremely short and carried a walking cane in one shriveled hand. 
  "I'm not a child," Urd corrected, "And for your information, I've been around 
longer than you but that is besides the point. I've come here to give you a 
divine gift,"
  "A divine gift?" the elderly woman said.
  "Yes," Urd said, "You are to accept this gift and keep it with you,"
  "Whatever for?" the woman asked.
  "That is not your concern," Urd said, "It will serve its purpose when the time 
comes a few decades from now,"
  "And if we refuse to accept it?" the woman asked curiously.
  The clouds above started becoming dark all of a sudden, swirling around over 
the village, creating a very ominous feeling of foreboding.
   Urd pointed up toward the sky, a smirk on her lips.
  "God will become angry,"
  
  Urd, invisible again, was flying eastward over the country of China.
  She had a smile on her lips. She had carried out God's request flawlessly. The 
matriarch eagerly accepted the box Urd had given her and had put it away for 
storage. She had had a talk with God and He seemed pleased and said that He 
would let her continue being the system administrator of Yggdrasil. 
   Because her administrative duties were rather laid back, it meant she had a 
bit of free time before she needed to get back to Heaven to get back to work. In 
the meanwhile, since she was already down on Earth, she figured she might as 
well go sightseeing, a hobby she enjoyed.
  She didn't really care much for the going on's of an world, but she did enjoy 
taking in sights when she had the chance. She had decided that she wanted to see 
the Great Wall of China. She had seen it many times before but it always amazed 
her how humans could create something so vast as that.
   As she flew, about five hundred feet up in the air, she looked down toward 
over the vast amounts of mountain forest racing by below her. It surprised her 
how a good portion of China, which had the largest population in the world, was 
made up mostly of mountains and forests.
  As she continued to fly, she saw a clearing in the dense forest and saw 
someone standing in the middle of that clearing, standing right near a tent. It 
looked to be a young man with a red shirt and black pants and black hair. What 
caught her eye was that the man seemed to be looking right up toward her as she 
flew right over him.
  "What the?" she asked herself, feeling like she had been watched that whole 
time. That wasn't supposed to be possible because she was invisible to everyone 
on this world. There was no reason for him to be able to see her.
  She stopped flying and gazed down at the young man as he continued to look 
upward toward her. She noticed that his head was tilted backwards as his gaze 
seemed to be directly on her.
  "He can't see me," she told herself. However, she wanted to make sure.
  She quickly flew around in the sky in a random pattern, watching him carefully 
as he seemed to continue watching her. After a moment, she believed she must be 
seeing things. There was no way that that man could see her. She was not only 
invisible to the naked eye, but she was invisible to the world completely. Not 
even technological marvels could detect her presence. If the man was a martial 
artist and had a unique ability of sensing his surroundings and disturbances in 
his surroundings, it would not matter, she would not be detected.  
  She noticed the young man turn his gaze away and walk off, disappearing into 
the woods. 
  "Nah, I'm just seeing things," Urd told herself, "It must be a coincidence,"
  Little did she know that the young man seemed to have lost interest in 
watching her flying around and decided to go about his business, whatever it may 
be at that point in time.
  Urd resumed her eastward flight toward the Great Wall of China.
    
  "Peorth," Urd approached a fellow Goddess in Heaven, back to resume her 
administrative duties, having seen the Great Wall of China. Peorth was a friend 
of Urd's. They weren't friends initially but somehow became friends over the 
course of time.
  Peorth turned toward Urd, "Yes?"
  "Is it possible for someone to see us?" Urd asked "If we don't want to be 
seen?"
  Peorth asked, "Why are you asking me that question all of a sudden?"
  "Just humor me," Urd said impatiently,
  Peorth asked, "What do you mean by 'someone'?"
  "A mortal," Urd said, "A person on Earth,"
  "No," Peorth answered, "Only a fellow Goddess can see us. If we make ourselves 
invisible to the world, we will not be seen,"
  "That's what I thought," Urd said.
  "Of course, I don't know about you," Peorth smirked, "You have been known to 
mess up with the use of your powers from time to time. Maybe your wanting to 
make yourself invisible to the world isn't working like it's supposed to since 
this is you using your powers, afterall,"
  "Ha ha," Urd said, not amused.
  
  A year later, Urd visited Belldandy's and Keiichi's grave one early morning. 
Not much had changed with the world since she was last on there. She rarely 
visited the main world, visiting only because it was the one that had 
Belldandy's and Keiichi's grave. Otherwise, there would be no other reason for 
her to visit. The main world wasn't all that amusing a world to visit. It was 
slowly starting to make leaps and bounds in terms of technology but would not be 
considered a technologically advance by her standards for probably another 
twenty to twenty five years. 
  After paying her respects, she was about to head back to Heaven or perhaps go 
visit some other world but something crossed her mind, the sudden image of the 
young man watching her that day over China a year ago.
  She recalled Peorth mention that it was impossible for a Goddess to be seen by 
the inhabitants of any world.
  "If that's the case, how come it really looked like he saw me?" she asked 
herself. 
  She looked over toward the side where she saw a widow standing before a grave, 
paying respects to her late husband. Wanting to make sure she wasn't going 
crazy, Urd walked up to the woman and stood right next to her.
  The woman seemed completely oblivious of Urd standing right next to her
  Urd waved a hand in front of the woman, to try and catch her attention but the 
woman did nothing, still oblivious.
  "So how was he able to see me?" she asked herself. 
  The woman started when she heard a voice, looking around, wondering where it 
had come from. Urd, embarrassed for having spoken when she shouldn't had, 
quickly took a step back and watched as the woman looked around. 
  She was invisible to the world meaning she couldn't be heard. That didn't mean 
she could not be heard or felt or such. 
  Sure that she couldn't be seen, Urd couldn't help but feel like she really had 
been watched that time. It was too much of a coincidence for him to happen to be 
looking directly at her general direction, moving his gaze as if to follow her 
as she flew around in a random pattern in the air.
  Wanting to know for sure whether or not the young man had been watching her, 
Urd took to the skies, heading in the direction of China. 
  She hoped the man was still in China.

  Urd came across the clearing in the dense forest where she had spotted the 
young man a year ago. As she flew over that clearing that late afternoon,  she 
noticed there was something different about it, that the clearing was now a lot 
larger, many of the surrounding trees gone.
  The tent she remember was no longer there, replaced by what looked like a tiny 
rectangular log cabin. This led her to believe that that young man seemed to had 
cut down several surrounding trees and built himself a log cabin, provided that 
that man still lived in such an isolated location. It has been a year since she 
had been to this world and a year was a long time by human standards. The young 
man could have just been camping there at that point in time and had moved on 
with his life after Urd went on with her own life as well.
  In front of the log cabin was a small bundle of rocks that formed a circle 
around a bunch of charred logs which seemed to make Urd believe that that was a 
campfire.
  Hovering down to the ground, she looked around, wondering if this place was 
abandoned. She noticed the campfire looked like it had gone out long ago. Of 
course, she had no real idea whether or not it had gone out a day ago or a year 
ago. It looked the same to her. If there was perhaps smoke coming from it, then 
she would have realized it had been recently put out.
  She turned her attention toward the log cabin. The log cabin couldn't 
necessarily be considered a log cabin. It looked very much like a rectangular 
log cabin with no front wall, the missing wall being the front entrance. The 
roof was made up of logs places right next to one another on top of the cabin, 
covered by what looked like a spread out tent tarp to prevent leaking whenever 
it rained.
  She glanced into the front of the cabin and noticed the dull interior. It had 
a pile of logs that seemed to be meant for use as firewood located near the back 
of the cabin, a sleeping bag on top of a large pile of leaves right next to it. 
On top of the sleeping bag was a red shirt. On that stump was a single pot which 
seemed well used.
  Seeing the shirt made Urd realized that she had found her man. She remembered 
seeing a man wearing a red shirt similar to that. 
  "This guy must really be roughing it," Urd said to herself in Japanese, the 
language she was used to using by default.
  "Perhaps it's the only way he knows how to live," came a voice.
  Urd shrieked in surprise as she quickly pivoted around to face the voice.  
  She took a step back when she saw the young man.
  Standing before her was a young man with scars covering his entire body. There 
were scars everywhere, on his chest, on his arms, on his neck, and on his face. 
He had this sad look on his face like his life was marred with tragedy and 
suffering. And judging from all those scars, it seemed like he had suffered 
through more tragedy and suffering than humans were supposed to go through.
  She noticed that there were more scars than usual around both his wrists. She 
didn't need to be a genius to know that those scars looked like failed attempted 
suicides. His hands were all callused and blood was freely dripping from the 
open tears around his knuckles and down his fingers and staining the white fur 
of the dead rabbit he held in his hands, his dinner for tonight.
  The man had a very thin body, not from being in good physical shape, but from 
lack of proper nutrition. Whatever that man ate for sustenance didn't seem to be 
enough.
  The man had long black hair that hung down below his shoulders, fluttering in 
the wind. His jawline was covered with facial hair, the man looking like he 
hadn't shaved in over a year. He wore black pants that looked very worn and 
ripped in several places. A quick glance made Urd realize that that was the 
young man's one and only pair of pants. He had blue eyes that seemed to have 
seen too much despite his young age. His eyes look like it was near the verge of 
tears but no tears shedding, as if the man had cried so much that he had no more 
tears to shed.
  Urd surmised that the young man was around eighteen or perhaps even nineteen. 
However, whatever he had been through in the past made him actually seem older 
than expected, as if he had had to grow up earlier than most people.
  Urd found herself staring at him as the man regarded him. 
  "What do you want?" the young man asked coldly.
  Urd said nothing, still staring at the man. After a moment, something dawned 
on her.
  "Y-you can see me," she stated.
  "So?" the man asked.
  "You're not supposed to see me," Urd stated.
  "Well, you're wrong" the man said, "What are you doing here? Who are you? What 
do you want?"
  Urd quickly composed herself. She was a Goddess and this man was a mortal. 
Even though it was obvious the man could see her, she could not let the man know 
who she was. There had to be an explanation as to why he could see her.

  "Who I am is not your concern," she said, trying not to stare. She was not so 
heartless that her heart didn't feel great sympathy for the man and whatever he 
had suffered through to have so many scars.  
  "I was merely curious as to who lived here, that's all," she said, "That's why 
I'm here,"
  "What do you want?" he asked, Urd not having answered his third question.
  "Um, nothing," she said.
  "So if you're here for nothing, then leave," the man said, walking past Urd 
and into his cabin.

  She watched as the young man walked up to where the sleeping bed was and 
picked up a handful of leave up before exiting the cabin and walking over to 
where the circular pile of rocks were. She watched as he dropped the rabbit on 
the ground and proceeded to remove the charred logs from the pile of rocks, 
throwing it off to the side to be disposed of later before throwing the handful 
of pile of leaves in its place.
  He then picked up what looked like two rocks from the pile and started 
striking them together. Within around thirty seconds, she saw smoke coming from 
the pile of leaves. Before long, a fire was started.
  Urd just stared in wide eye at the man. This was the first time she had ever 
seen anyone start a fire like that. Not many people could really do that, many 
humans dependent on things like lighters and such to start fires. Seeing the man 
start a fire from basically nothing made her realize the man was probably a lot 
more independent than most humans she had ever come across.
  The man walked past her and entered the cabin again, grabbing one log from the 
inside before heading out.
  "You're still here," the man said coldly as he walked past her, saying in a 
way that made her realize that she was not welcomed.
  She watched as the man walked over to the campfire and throw the log in, 
placing a pot on top of it. He then picked up the dead rabbit and proceeded to 
skin it with his bare hands. This made Urd feel queasy as she watched him do 
this. 
  When he was done skinning the rabbit, he picked up a nearby stick and stuck it 
through the rabbit and brought it over the fire to heat it.
  "You're going to eat that?" Urd couldn't help but feel a bit disgusted.
  "Yes, I am," the man said, "There's not much in terms of choice of what to eat 
around here,"
  There was a moment of awkward silence.
  "You were that woman I saw flying around a year ago, huh?" the man asked.
  "So you did see me," Urd realized she wasn't seeing things. She was sure the 
man had someone seen her and now she knew that that was true.
  The man shrugged, a habit of his that he would probably carry on all the way 
into his adult life.
  "How did you see me?" Urd asked curiously, "You shouldn't be able to see me,"
  "Well, I saw you," the man said, "You were flying around in the sky in some 
odd pattern,"
  Urd's lips became a thin line as she wondered what she should do. Should she 
use her powers to alter this man's memories so that he had never seen her? But 
then again, all that had happened was that he had seen her flying around. It 
wasn't as if he knew she was a Goddess or such.
  "Um, about my flying," Urd tried to think of an excuse, "I know it comes as a 
surprise seeing someone flying around but I can explain,"
  The man shrugged, "I don't care. You don't hafta explain anything,"
  "I don't?" Urd was surprised to hear this. For a woman whom had been to 
different worlds on a regular basis, it was hard to surprise her. The statement 
the man had given her surprised the heck out of her.
  "What's your name?" Urd asked curiously. Perhaps she had heard of this man 
before.  
  "Who I am is not your concern," the man repeated what Urd had said to him 
earlier.
  Urd paused for a moment, wondering if it was okay for her to tell him her 
name. But then again, all she would be giving him was her name. There was 
nothing wrong with that.
  "My name is Urd," Urd stated.
  The man regarded Urd for a moment before he said, "Ranma,"
  "Ranma, huh?" she said, seeing if she could recall that name anywhere from 
memory, coming up with nothing. She didn't know much about this world despite 
having lived her for a while with Belldandy and Keiichi when they used to live 
here as well.
  "That name doesn't sound familiar," Urd said to herself.
  "So? Urd doesn't sound familiar to me either," Ranma retorted coldly.
  "Look, why don't you drop the attitude?" Urd started getting annoyed, "I don't 
know why you're angry at the world or such. I was merely passing by. There's no 
need to take it out on me,"
  "I have my reasons to be angry with the world," Ranma said coldly.
  Urd said nothing. Perhaps she should not have said what she had said. It was 
obvious that this Ranma person had been through quite a bit, judging from all 
those scars he had. It made her wonder if she wanted to know what he had been 
through to get such scars.
  Ranma regarded Urd for a moment before he sighed, "Look, I'm sorry if I seem 
like I'm angry at your or something. I'm not. I've been through a lot and just 
wanna be left alone,"
  Urd smiled slightly, surprised that the man seemed more civil than his initial 
impression gave her. For some odd reason, she believed he wasn't some mean-
spirited individual and that he simply had a lot on his mind. 
  "Look, I'm sorry I bothered you, I'll be going now," Urd headed off.
  Ranma looked down at the cooked rabbit. 
  After a moment, he asked, "You want some rabbit?"
  "No, that's disgusting," Urd stated without thinking.
  "Fine, then forget I offered," Ranma muttered, "I guess what I hafta eat isn't 
quite up to the standards of what you're used to eating from wherever you come 
from,"
  Urd felt regret, "I didn't mean it like that. It came out wrong,"
  "Look, can you please just leave me alone?" Ranma asked.
  "All right," Urd said, "I'll leave you alone,"
  There was no real reason for her to be hanging around and interacting with 
Ranma. Although she felt like she should give Ranma a piece of her mind about 
his attitude, she decided it wasn't worth it. She knew that he wasn't really 
taking out his anger toward her. He was simply angry at something else, whatever 
it may be.
  "Have a nice life," Urd said, "We'll probably never meet again,"
  Ranma shrugged, turning his attention to eating his rabbit, "Have a nice life 
then,"
  She cast him one last glance before she took to the skies.

  "Hey, have you ever heard of a man named Ranma?" Urd asked Peorth the same day 
when she got back to Heaven.
  "Ranma? Doesn't sound familiar," Peorth stated, "Who's Ranma?"
  Urd shook her head, "No one in particular,"
  Peorth smirked, "Right. Spill it,"
  "Remember how I asked you about a year ago if it was possible to be seen when 
we don't want to be seen?" Urd asked.
  Peorth said, "Vaguely, yes. What about it?"
  "Well, I asked you that because I could have sworn someone was able to see me 
when I was visiting Earth," Urd said, "Well, today, I came in contact with that 
same person and found out what his name was Ranma,"
  Peorth asked, "So?"
  "Well, he didn't seem all that surprised to have seen me flying," Urd said, 
"If that's the case, that mean he's probably seen more things than the average 
human to not be surprised by something like that," 
  "Well, it's not like no one can fly on Earth," Peorth stated, "He probably 
bumped into one of the few individuals that can fly there. Also, for all we 
know, he could had seen a few Goddesses that were living down there that flew 
around thinking no one was watching them,"
  "You have a point there," Urd agreed.
  
  Yggdrasil, the main computer of Heaven, was the most powerful computer in 
existence. Used to keep all those infinite worlds running smoothly and separated 
from one another, it was basically the ultimate archive of information.
  As the system administrator in charge of overseeing Yggdrasil and making sure 
it continues to run smoothly, Urd had access to this ultimate archive of 
information. And because her job was very easy, it also meant she had a lot of 
free time, even free time to do a quick background check on this Ranma 
individual when the thought popped into her mind a couple years down the line.
  A few years had passed since she had bumped into Ranma and found out what his 
name was. She was just sitting in front of Yggdrasil, done with her routine 
administrative duties and wondering what she should do to pass the time when the 
thought suddenly popped into her mind.
  "Let's find out who you are," Urd asked herself, quickly using the computer. 
Sure, she wasn't really supposed to do something like that but no one was really 
going to know anyway.
  "What are you doing?" came a voice
  Urd yelped in surprise, quickly turning around.
  She couldn't help but feel a sense of relief when she realized it was her 
sister Skuld.
  "Skuld, don't surprise me like that," Urd said, touching her chest to check 
how fast her heart was beating.
  "What are you up to?" Skuld narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
  "Nothing much," Urd said, "Just doing a quick background check on someone,"
  "You're not supposed to do that," Skuld lectured.
  "No one will know if someone doesn't tell," Urd grinned, placing a hand over 
the back of Skuld's neck, giving a quick squeeze to emphasize her words.

  Skuld said, "Fine fine,"
  "Anyway, I'm just checking up on someone," Urd said, typing on Yggdrasil's 
keyboard, "Some guy named Ranma,"
  "Ranma? Who's that?" Skuld asked curiously.
  Urd smirked, "That's what I'm trying to find out,"
  After a bit of typing, Urd came across an error, an access denied message.
  Skuld smirked, "Man, and you're the system administrator? I can do your job 
better than you can,"
  "You're just gunning for my job because it beats being a wish-granter," Urd 
snickered,   
  "Man, I can't wait for you to get busted one day," Skuld said, "I can't wait 
to become Yggdrasil's system administrator,"
  Urd smiled warmly, "Until the day comes, wait your turn, kid,"
  "I'm not a kid," Skuld glared at Urd.
  "You're always a kid to me," Urd said. 
  Skuld let out an annoyed breath before she stormed away from Urd.
  Urd went about typing on the keyboard, wondering exactly what kind of 
information she would come across regarding Ranma. She didn't type for long 
before she came across a list that matched Ranma's name. 
  It numbered in the trillions. 
  Urd sighed, "Damn, I guess I need to narrow my search,"
  After a moment, she decided she didn't really care. 
  She had been merely curious afterall. It wasn't as if she really wanted to 
know who that man was. It had just dawned on her from out of the blue to try and 
find out who he was anyway.
  Urd walked away from Yggdrasil, her interest in who Ranma was already lost.

  "Urd, I want to speak with you," God said to her.
  Urd gulped, "Y-yes, sir?"
  "I don't appreciate you using Yggdrasil for your own personal means," He said, 
"For that, you need to be punished,"
  "A-again?" Urd gave a meek smile.
  "If you quit messing up and slacking off on your duties, then that would not 
be the case," He said.
  "Um, what's my punishment?" she asked. 
  "You are to be  learn humility, that the powers and the life you live are a 
privilege not to taken for granted," He said, "Using your administrative power 
to use Yggdrasil for your own personal means to do research on a specific 
individual is prohibited. For that, you are to spend one year on Earth with 
restricted powers,"
  "But-" Urd tried to protest.
  "No buts," He said, "Skuld is to take over for your duties as the 
administrator of Yggdrasil for the time being. And before you believe Skuld told 
on you of what you've done, I assure you she did not. Had you not have forgotten 
to terminate your session with Yggdrasil, I might not have known,"
  Urd said nothing. Had she forgotten to terminate her session? That was such a 
stupid mistake on her part. 
  "Your punishment is a lesson in humility," He said, "You are to spend a year 
on Earth as with restricted powers. Should you get killed or end up needing me 
to come to your aide, you will not only lose your job as Yggdrasil system 
administrator, you will also be demoted from Top Goddess, Top Class down to 
First Goddess, Elite Class,"
  Urd said nothing. She didn't like the thought of being demoted as a Goddess. 
As the top Goddess in Heaven, she had a lot of liberties. It allowed her to 
travel to whatever words she wanted to visit as well as possess powers dwarfed 
only by God's powers Himself. She liked her position quite a bit and did not 
want to lose all those liberties that would be a result of her being demoted.
  Oddly enough, she knew she deserved it. Actually, she was surprised that God 
was letting her off easy with such a punishment. Spending one year as a human 
without powers would not be all that hard. She had been punished before and 
enjoyed her stay on Earth, spending her days with Belldandy and Keiichi and 
such. It would be very much like when she had to spend time on Earth with 
restricted powers then.
  Suddenly, reality dawned on her. Belldandy and Keiichi were no longer around 
to make her punishment not feel like a punishment.
  Urd realized her punishment was not going to be easy this time around. She 
would be carrying out her sentence alone.
  "Urd, your punishment is effective immediately," 
 
  Urd was teleported to Earth late that night via a portal of God's own 
summoning. 
  When she emerged, she looked around, wondering where she was. It took a moment 
for her to gather her thoughts and realize where she was. She recognized exactly 
where she was. She was in Japan, standing in the middle of an old temple, the 
same temple where Belldandy and Keiichi lived for the remainder of their lives.  
  Urd didn't really know what to think. Should she be sad of looking around and 
seeing reminders of the life she used to live back on Earth or should she be 
happy that she could feel the sense of nostalgia she was feeling?
  After a moment, Urd believed she was feeling the former than that latter. She 
really didn't like being reminded of Belldandy or Keiichi that much because it 
always made her sad. Why her sister would choose to have become mortal and 
eventually died was something she could not understand. 
  Believing God was being benevolent by letting her live out her punishment in a 
portion of the world where she was familiar with, she believed He meant well 
with the gesture. Of course, even though God was all-knowing if He wanted to be, 
He wasn't all that aware of her inner sadness. He needed to Will Himself to make 
Himself know how Urd thought and felt, but He never did that. Although He was a 
stern God, He was also a kind one, letting everyone have their own sense of 
privacy. He would only make himself know about someone, anyone, if it was on a 
need-to-know basis. Knowing about Urd's past was not a need-to-know basis in His 
eyes.
  "I know you mean well, but I can't stay here," Urd said more to herself, as 
if giving herself the excuse she needed to already defy God's wishes that she 
live out her punishment her. God was a kind one and would understand if he knew 
how sad it made her to be reminded of her past.
  She stood where she was, wondering where she should go to live off her 
punishment. She wanted to go somewhere where she could start anew. Before long, 
she remembered reading an article when she arrived on this world.
  "That's right, an entire city was destroyed on this world not too long ago," 
she said, "I can live there for the remainder of my punishment,"
  She took to the skies, grateful that she still possessed her abilities of 
flight as well as remaining invisible. 
  "Now, if I only knew what the name of the town that was destroyed was,"

  Urd found out the name of the destroyed town was called Nerima. Becoming 
visible and asking a random stranger as to what the name of the town that was 
destroyed got her an immediate answer. The entire world was aware of it. It was 
a tragic event that shocked the entire world. No one really knew exactly what 
had happened and believed it to be some form of terrorism. Of course, no one 
seemed to take responsibility of such an act or acknowledge where those robots 
came from.
  The entire city of Nerima was gone. It was nothing but a large park, 
artificially created as a memorial to all the lives that had been lost in the 
Nerima Massacre. It looked relatively new, created probably no longer than a 
year ago. It looked much like an average park. The only difference was that 
everything was artificial, even the large lake the park surrounded.
  She walked up to the park entrance where she saw a large sign. She was now 
visible for anyone to see and clad in casual wear of that world's current 
timeline, sporting a pair of jeans and a sweater. Although most of her real 
powers were gone, powers like being able to travel to different worlds, altering 
reality slightly, and resurrection, she retained many minor powers. In a sense, 
she retained similar powers to what she had when she had been punished and ended 
up living with Belldandy and Keiichi for a while. Powers like creating clothes, 
flight, invisibility, generating lightning discharges she still retained.
  "Dedicated to the countless of lives lost in the 'Nerima Massacre'," she said 
in a sad voice. 
  She couldn't help but wonder why God wanted something like this to happen but 
didn't question it for long. It wasn't as if she would understand Him anyway. 
Even though she was a Goddess and knew much more about how things worked than a 
normal human, she was still limited in understanding things.
  She was a Top Goddess, Top Class. That meant she was basically as far up the 
divine ladder as one got without actually being God. She had only been given 
this rank only several years ago, a rank she was proud of. The rank itself 
basically meant that, before long, she could very well be delegated tasks only 
God was supposed to do, tasks such as creating entire universes from nothing. 
Because of this, it was one of the reasons why she was no longer what she used 
to be, arrogant, selfish, pushy, and impulsive. Those kinds of qualities could 
ruin universes. She became what she was now because, in a sense, she grew up 
shortly after Belldandy and Keiichi passed on.
  Realizing there was no way she could possibly set up some kind of residence in 
this area, she decided she should head off somewhere else. She had no real idea 
where to set up a place of residence.
  Oddly enough, she had the powers to actually generate money and probably rent 
out a luxurious penthouse for a year if she wanted to but her punishment was 
meant to teach her humility. God would definitely not appreciate it, that was 
for sure.
  "Hi there," came a voice.
  Urd turned around to face the voice, her gaze coming to rest on a young man 
that looked to be in his late twenties. When the man got a good look of her, he 
suddenly became intimidated and nervous. Because it was dark out, the man didn't 
get a good look at her until she turned around to face. He simply wanted to get 
to know who she was based on the beautiful body he noticed she had.
  Urd was a stunningly beautiful woman that most guys usually got nervous around 
her. 
  "Yes?" she asked, figuring she might as well indulge in conversation with a 
mortal. She couldn't help but smirk. Lots of me men were intimidated by her 
beauty.
  She regarded the man. He looked rather plain looking and had no distinguishing 
features that caught her attention. The last person she remembered that had 
distinguishing features was that man named Ranma she had bumped into in China 
years ago. He had sad eyes that looked like it had shed more tears than need be 
and scars all over his body.
  Urd suddenly wondered why she thought about that Ranma person from out of the 
blue. She suddenly noticed the man had said something to her, "What was that you 
said?"
  "Um, er, nice weather we have," the man repeated nervously.
  "If you say so," she said, wondering how long it would take before the man 

realized he was way out of her league.
  There was a moment of awkward silence as the man could be seen trying to think 
of something to say. 
  Urd decided to end the encounter on her own, "If you don't mind, I have 
somewhere to go,"
  "Um, okay," the man said.
  Urd entered the park, leaving the man right where he stood, a dumb look on his 
face. She walked down a stone path, thinking to herself. She wondered why she 
thought of that scarred-man named Ranma all of a sudden.
  She quickly banished the thought as she tried to think of where she should set 
up a place of residence. It didn't last long before she caught sight of a very 
large marble stone wall located a short distance down the path she was walking.
   Wondering what it was, she walked up to it. A quick glance of it made her 
realize that it was some kind of memorial dedicated to all the lives that had 
been lost in the 'Nerima Massacre'. 
   Urd touched the surface of the wall, reading at some of the random names that 
were etched in the marble. She knew that those names were the names of those 
lost in the tragedy.
  She actually had the power to undo such a tragedy. Of course, it would cause 
her to become so exhausted from such an abundant use of power that she would 
probably have to sleep for several weeks to recover. Unfortunately, she could 
not do such a thing, the 'Nerima Massacre' happening for a reason she could not 
comprehend.
  Seeing the wall made her curious as if anyone had survived the 'Nerima 
Massacre'. All of a sudden, she thought about that young man she bumped into in 
China. The man spoke Japanese and had been full of scars. 
  "Maybe he was one of the survivors," Urd commented. It could help explain away 
where he got all those scars from and those sad eyes of his. For all she knew, 
he had lost his entire family in the Nerima Massacre.
  "I'm probably jumping to conclusions,"
 
  Urd flew over China at around seven in the morning. She had been flying for 
most of the night.
  She had yet to establish a place of residence and decided that that could be 
put on hold until tomorrow. Something was bugging the heck out of her and she 
needed to know the answer.
  She had tried to push aside the thought as to whether or not Ranma was one of 

the survivors of the Nerima Massacre or not, much to no avail. It kept popping 
into her mind and kept bugging her and, a curious person by nature, she really 
wanted to know the answer.
  Having no idea whether or not that Ranma person still lived where she had last 
seen him, she believed it was at least worth a try. Of course, since she was 
looking for him, that mean her statement that she and Ranma would most likely 
never see each other again no longer applied which meant she was wrong. She 
didn't like to be wrong.
  Arriving at the area where she last saw Ranma, she was very surprised at what 
she saw. The clearing in the forest was now significantly larger than what she 
last remembered. In the middle of the clearing was a log cabin which actually 
resembled that of a small house, no longer looking like that of a small log shed 
the last time she remembered.
  It made her realize that the clearing was much larger now because it was most 
likely that many extra trees were cut down to build such a cabin.

  Located in front of the cabin were a bunch of neatly placed stones that formed 
what looked almost like a makeshift brick oven. Of course, it wasn't made of 
brick, but was made of well-chiseled rocks into that of bricks to be placed on 
top of one another to form such a structure.
  Next to that stove was a hollowed out wood stump which had water within it. 
This led Urd to believe that it was some kind of container for water for 
putting out the fire within the makeshift stove when need be.
  "This guy's really resourceful," Urd was impressed, believing this Ranma 
fellow most likely made everything with his bare hands. 
  She walked up to the cabin and up to where the front entrance would be. The 
front door was nothing more than a piece of bear skin that hung in front of the 
entrance, there to keep cold air from blowing into the cabin.
  "Hello?" she asked, wondering if she should be there. Sure, she really was 
curious as to if this guy was a survivor from the Nerima Massacre, but then 
again, did it really matter? What was she going to do after she found out if he 
was or wasn't a survivor?
  She shrugged. At least knowing will help ease her sense of curiosity.
  "Anyone home?" Urd asked, brushing the bear skin curtain aside and peeked in 
after a moment.
  She took a quick glance around and noticed the interior of the cabin looked 
rather dull. The floor was nothing but grass, a large pile of leaves with a 
sleeping bag on top of it in the back left corner, a makeshift bed in a sense. 
Next to the bed was a pile of rocks that formed a circle with charred logs of 
wood. 
  She assumed that was some makeshift fireplace that would provide warmth on 
cold nights. After a moment, she really didn't know, believing that that 
fireplace could also act as fire for cooking food as well.
  On the far right back corner was a small pile of wood that seemed to be used 
for firewood. It made her wonder how Ranma cut such wood because she saw no ax 
or such. Heck, it made her wonder how Ranma had built this cabin in the first 
place.
  "This place is hundreds of miles from any form of civilization," she said. 
There was no way someone could have built the cabin for Ranma. He must had made 
this cabin with his bare hands. But then again, how did he cut down the trees 
since she saw no ax upon inspection?
  "I like it that way," came Ranma's voice.
  Urd yelped in surprise, startled as she turned around to face Ranma. 
  "That's twice you startled me," she said in annoyance.
  "And that's twice I found you snooping in my cabin," he retorted.
  Urd was silent for a moment, surprised at the comment. She regarded him for a 
moment.
  Ranma didn't look much like what she remembered. He had very long hair that 
came down below his waist, as if he hadn't cut his hair once since she last saw 
him. He still sported a jawline full of facial hair which made Urd realized that 
the man didn't seem to have a razor handy.
  He was still shirtless like she last remembered. His body was very lean, as if 
there was not an ounce of fat on him. His body was very well-defined as he 
carried over one of his shoulders a large boar that probably weighed three 
hundred pounds that he had killed earlier. This made Urd wonder how Ranma had 
managed to kill a boar that large in the first place.
  She noticed that his scars had healed up quite nicely that they weren't all 
that visible anymore. His eyes still had that sad look on it, the only part 
about him having remained unchanged after all those years.
  Oddly enough, even though Ranma looked like he hadn't shaved or cut his hair 
in a few years, he looked relatively clean, as if he bathed regularly. He looked 
disheveled and not groomed, not dirty.
  Urd noticed an awkward silence between them as they stood by the cabin 
entrance.
  "We meet again," Urd couldn't help but be somewhat nervous. Although the man 
indicated no animosity toward her, she felt a bit off-balance because she was a 
trespasser in a sense.    
  Ranma walked over to the side placed the boar down by his feet by the front of 
the cabin. She noticed the man carried the large boar with relative ease, like 
it weighed nothing to him. Seeing this made her curious as to exactly how strong 
this human was to be able to do something so effortlessly.
  "Why are you here?" Ranma asked, his voice a bit distant. She noticed there 
was no coldness to his voice like when she first encountered him.
  Urd quickly thought of the first thing that popped up in her mind and said, "I 

was just visiting,"
  "I thought you said we would never meet again," Ranma stated.
  Urd realized she needed to take control of the situation, to banish her 
nervousness with the confidence she usually had.
  "What, are you saying you don't like having someone as beautiful as myself 
visiting?" she smiled innocently.
  Ranma regarded her for a moment. She did have a point. She was indeed a very 
beautiful woman, perhaps one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes 
on. Of course, that really meant nothing to him, especially since he was still 
grieving over the death of a girl he still loved.
  After a moment, he let out an annoyed breath to indicate that he was not 
amused one bit at the comment. To her, it looked as if whatever sense of humor 
he did have he had lost long ago, as if there was nothing in his life to be 
amused about anymore nowadays.
  He turned around toward the boar and crouched down over it, jamming his hands 
right into the belly of the animal. Urd turned her gaze away in disgust, unable 
to watch as the man went about skinning the boar with his bare hands.
  Urd was a very worldly person and had seen many things over the course of her 
life. She knew that Ranma had to do what he had to do to survive. He needed to 
eat and that was the only thing available for him to eat. 
  Even though she knew this, she still had trouble stomaching the sight of Ranma 
working at skinning the boar with his bare hands.
  "Ya want any?" Ranma offered, his back toward her.
  "No thanks," she said.
  As if her stomach was a plot device, it suddenly rumbled. It made her realize 
that she hadn't eaten in quite a while. Although she was a Goddess, she actually 
had human qualities, like the need eat and drink and sleep. 
  She said nothing, embarrassed.
  After a few minutes of hearing sounds she believed she would most likely never 
get out of her mind anytime soon, sounds like tendons snapping and bones 
cracking, Ranma walked away from the gutted boar, two slabs of meat in his 
hands, one much larger than the other.
  She watched as Ranma walked over to the stone stove nearby and stuck two stick 
through it and placed them on it. After a minute, he got a fire started and 
walked away from the stone stove.
  "How come you're here?" Ranma asked, walking past her and into the cabin, 
emerging a second later with a few logs of wood, putting it into the stove to 
keep the fire going.
  Urd quickly said, "I was just curious about something,"
  "What do I hafta do with it?" he asked.
  "Well, I was in Japan the other day and came across the Nerima Memorial Park," 
Urd started off.
  Ranma twitched slightly at hearing the word Nerima which made Urd realize she 
was onto something.
  "While there, I couldn't help but think of you," Urd continued on.
  Ranma said, "Sorry, I'm not interested in you. I'm in love with someone else,"
  Urd blushed a deep shade of red, "I'm not here for some kinda relationship. 
Wait, how can you NOT be interested in me?"
  "Is this some kind of sick joke?" Ranma asked, "Because if it is, it isn't 
funny,"
  Urd, realizing that she was getting off the subject, said, "That's besides the 
point. I'm not here for some kinda relationship. You didn't let me finish,"
  Ranma crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Go on,"
  "Well, as I was saying, I was visiting the Nerima Memorial Park and something 
popped into my mind," Urd said, "I was just curious as to whether or not you're 
one of the survivors of the Nerima Massacre,"
  "Does it matter?" Ranma asked, his voice still distant.
  "I was merely curious," she asked.
  Ranma regarded her for a moment, a look of shock on his face.
  "Lemme get this straight," Ranma said, "You traveled hundreds of miles-"
  "Thousands of miles actually," Urd corrected him.
  "Okay, you traveled thousands of miles," Ranma said, "just to ask me if I'm a 
survivor of the Nerima Massacre just because you're curious?"
  Urd nodded, "Yes, that's basically the gist of it,"
  "As a matter of fact, yes, I am a survivor," Ranma said, annoyed, "I'm perhaps 
the only survivor from that,"
  "I figured," Urd said.
  Ranma regarded her for a moment before he said, "So now that you know I'm a 
survivor, what do you intend to do?"
  Urd thought about for a moment. She then realized she had no idea what she was 
going to do after that. She had never given any consideration what she would do 
after she found out if Ranma was a survivor or not.
  She scratched her head, finding herself brainstorming for something to say. 
This definitely felt unnatural to her, she having trouble thinking of what to 
say. It made her wonder if that was how men usually felt when talking to her, 
seemingly trying to think of something to say to keep her attention.
  Ranma noticed she seemed to be struggling and figured he should say something.
  "I still don't understand why you care whether or not I'm a survivor," Ranma 
commented.
  Urd said without thinking, "Actually, I don't really care, I was merely 
curious-"
  Ranma became visibly angry, "I think you should leave,"
  "Hold up, I didn't mean it like that," Urd flushed with embarrassment. She 
didn't mean to say that she didn't care whether or not he was a survivor of the 
Nerima Massacre. It had come out all wrong.
  Ranma ignored her as he turned around and headed into his cabin, not wanting 
to associate with her anymore. It was obvious there was no reason for her to be 
there anymore since his reply one whether or not he was a survivor of the Nerima 
Massacre had satisfied her curiosity.
  Urd just stood where she was, surprised that Ranma was walking away from her. 
This was definitely a first, that some human male actually ignored her. Most of 
the time, it was the other way around, that human males would do whatever they 
could to keep her attention and she usually forced to ignore them.
  Urd wondered what she should do. Should she excuse herself and leave? Should 
she stay and try and explain herself? She couldn't help but feel like it was her 
fault she had said something that had suddenly made the situation very awkward.
  "I suggest you leave now because a storm's coming," Ranma stopped to tell her 
from the doorway of his cabin.
  Urd looked up toward the sky and noticed that the clouds forming on the 
horizon were getting dark, an indication that a storm was coming.
  "Look, I'm sorry about the comment," Urd began, turning to face Ranma, "I best 
be going-,"
  She stopped speaking when she noticed Ranma was no longer there. This angered 
her slightly. Was Ranma purposely ignoring her? How was that possible? All human 
males sought her attention and it seemed like Ranma was the exact opposite.
  She gritted her teeth, a bit angry, not really knowing why she was angry in 
the first place. She was used to being the center of attention whenever she ever 
visited this world so this was definitely something she wasn't used to.
  "Well, I'm going now," Urd decided to swallow her pride. It was her fault for 
having said what she had said and making Ranma angry at her. 
  Her stomach rumbled again.
  Ranma faced Urd again.
  Urd felt like she had already imposed on Ranma enough and given him 
unnecessary grief and decided that she would decline his offer for food so she 
could leave him alone and be out of his life.
  "You should get going now," Ranma said, his voice somewhat cold, "It's going 
to rain really soon. Being cold and hungry isn't a pleasant feeling,"
  Urd was surprised Ranma didn't offer her any food like the last time around. 
But then again, considering she not only brought him unnecessary grief and was 
imposing on his solitude, she shouldn't be surprised he wanted her out of his 
life.
  Without saying another word, Urd turned around and stepped out of the log 
cabin and into the cool outside air. It surprised her how cold it suddenly got. 
It seemed like Ranma had built a cabin well insulated from the outside world. 
She realized that she needed to seek shelter quickly because she was aware of 
how quickly the human body could lose heat if caught out in the rain without 
shelter.
  Damn, it's going to get annoying getting used to possessing a human body, Urd 
thought. She felt her body slowly beginning to shiver from the cold. The sudden 
temperature change from the inside of the cabin to the outside environment made 
the cold feel all the colder.
  Leaping up into the air, Urd took to the skies. She didn't care that Ranma had 
seen her take to the skies since she was already aware that he knows she knew 
how to fly. It did make her wonder why never asked about how she was able to do 
that, humans generally being a curious race.
  She cast a quick glance behind her toward the cabin and noticed Ranma wasn't 
even standing by the entrance watching her fly away, having chosen to stay 
inside the warmth of his cabin instead of step out into the cold to even see her 
off. 
  Shrugging, she chanting a few words and becoming invisible to the world as she 
flew in the direction of Joketsuzoku, deciding that that was a good place seek 
refuge there. 

  Around ten miles out from Ranma's cabin, not even remotely close to 
Joketsuzoku, Urd noticed that she only had a few minutes before it would begin 
raining. It seemed like the speed of the storm was quicker than she had 
anticipated. It also doesn't help that she was heading toward Joketsuzoku which 
was in the exact same direction as the incoming storm.
  Realizing that she needed to make shelter quickly or be caught out in the 
rain, she quickly looked down below around the forest below her for a place to 
land. 
  "I better make a quick make-shift cabin out of the trees here," Urd said to 
herself.
  She wasn't worried about someone spotting her since she was in an extremely 
remote location in a heavily forested area of China. Therefore, she was in no 
danger of having any humans spot what she was about to do. 
  She quickly raised her hands skyward and began chanting a few words in a 
divine language no human would understand. A large circle with odd symbols 
inside seemed to magically appear on the ground below her feet.
  Urd made a gesture toward a few surrounding trees, Willing for those trees to 
do her bidding. She expected the trees to start uprooting themselves and begin 
flying through the air and coming to rest near her, positioning themselves and 
piling on top of one another in a fashion to eventually form a make-shift square 
log cabin.
  Unfortunately, none of that happened. Instead, the circular symbol below her 
feet faded out and disappeared, as if it had never formed to begin with.
  "What the?" Urd said.
  She told herself she did something and proceeded to chant once again. This 
worried her because, deep down inside, she knew she didn't chant incorrectly. 
She was highly skilled in using her powers. She feared that something else was 
wrong.
  When the circular symbol disappeared a second time, her fears were answered. 
It seemed like most of her powers were removed, even her powers to manipulate 
her surroundings.
  "Oh c'mon, how am I supposed to survive without even a some minor powers?" Urd 
spoke skyward, as if speaking to God Himself. It made her wonder just how many 
of her powers were removed while she served out her punishment. 
  "Let's see what kind of powers I still have intact," she asked herself.
  She closed her eyes and said a few quick chants. She was using an innate power 
that would basically inform her of her current status of health and powers and 
location. She found it a very useful ability, especially if she was visiting a 
world and accidentally got lost.
  When she opened her eyes, the color drained from her face as she realized just 
how limited her powers were. She basically had no real powers, powers that would 
be useful. She basically possessed far less powers than she originally figured 
with God would leave her. 

  Basically, the only useful powers she retained was flight and invisibility. 
Everything else was trivial.
  "What the heck am I going to do?" Urd thought to herself, genuinely worried. 
This was only her first day into her punishment and, already, she realized she 
was in a lot of trouble. She was well aware she possessed a human body so that 
meant she could get hungry and thirsty and tired and would not be immune to the 
elements.
  "Jeez, being human is going to be a real pain," Urd told herself. At that 
moment in time, she realized that this really was a punishment and it would not 
be an easy one to overcome either.
  Her stomach rumbled again. She found that rather strange. Her stomach rumbled 
but she didn't necessarily feel hungry. Perhaps the rumbling was a sign that she 
would eventually be hungry. But how long until then, she did not know.
  "Enough of that, I need to figure out what to do about shelter," Urd thought. 
Finding shelter was more important than finding food. 
  While she wasn't used to possessing a human body, and thus, possessing human 
handicaps, she knew that exposure to the elements would be very bad. Sometimes, 
she forgot to enchant herself immunity to the elements when she was a goddess 
doing a job around Earth and getting caught in a storm and found herself 
becoming miserable very quickly. Of course, a quick word of enchantment upon 
herself fixed that, but she was smart enough to know that she no longer 
possessed that ability.
  Realizing that she didn't possess the powers to build herself shelter, she 
decided she needed to go looking for shelter. She quickly abandoned her plan to 
head to Joketsuzoku for shelter since she knew she would be flying straight 
through the incoming storm to get there. She would be a goner long before she 
made it to the village.
  "I better find myself a cave," she told herself, taking to the skies. 
  She flew for a few minutes before realizing that there was a high possibility 
that she would not find a cave for shelter. 
  All around her were nothing but trees. There were no rock formations for as 
far as she could see, let alone the possibility that one of those formations had 
a cave.
  She found herself beginning to shiver when a cold breeze blew by. Without much 
thought, she said a few chants to enchant herself with immunity from the 
elements. When she noticed herself feeling no better than before the chant, she 
remembered that she didn't have that power.
  "It's going to be really hard getting used to not having powers," Urd said to 
herself sadly, rubbing her arms with her hands for warmth. She didn't like the 
cold one bit.
  She found herself shivering uncontrollably. This surprised her, to be unable 
to physically control it. When she was a Goddess, she had never been exposed to 
the cold long enough to even realize that. She knew that she didn't like the 
feeling of being cold so she never felt cold for longer than a minute before she 
would enchant herself against the elements.
  She suddenly felt a few drops of rain, sure signs that it would be pouring 
within a minute.
  "I'll just outrun the storm," Urd said to herself. It was the best course of 
action, at least from her point of view.
  She began flying in the same direction the storm was headed. It didn't take 
ten seconds before she realized she was in deep trouble. The surrounding 
temperature of the environment had dropped considerably. That meant the wind 
chill factor created by flying through the air at high speeds was excruciatingly 
cold.
  Even though she was outrunning the storm, she couldn’t outrun the cold. She 
was in a bind. If she slowed down, the storm would catch up to her and she would 
be soaking wet and would eventually come down with hypothermia. If she remained 
at that speed, she would suffer hypothermia anyway from the wind chill factor 
caused from flying at such speeds.
  Either way, she was screwed. 
  An image of Ranma flashed across her mind. He was only several miles away. He 
had a nice warm cabin. 
  "Hm, it seems like he's my only hope of getting out of the cold," she told 
herself reluctantly. She felt a bit angry with herself at realizing that. She 
used to be Top Goddess, Top Class. Not one day ago, she was basically as close 
to being God without actually being God Himself. And now she felt like a 
helpless human incapable of even finding her own shelter and in need of human 
intervention to survive.
  "Damnit, I used to be in charge of creating entire worlds from scratch and now 
look at me!" Urd muttered to herself. It made her realize that this punishment 
did indeed show her a sense of humility, "I'm downright useless without my 
powers,"
  Freezing cold, Urd forced herself to keep flying in the direction of Ranma's 
cabin. She wanted to slow down to make the wind chill feel less biting but that 
meant she the storm would catch up to her and make her wet.
  She felt both the sense of dread and relief when she saw Ranma's log cabin. 
She noticed that no lights could be seen flickering from within through the tiny 
spaces between the logs from a fire. It was as if there was no fire inside the 
cabin keeping the interior warm in the first place
  She pushed aside the bear skin door and peeked her head into the cabin and 
noticed it was completely empty. It was pitch dark in the cabin.
  "Where did he go?" she asked herself. She hadn't left the cabin a that long 
ago to go on her way before she was back. 
  She wondered what she should do. It was obvious that Ranma was not home and 
had gone out. If Ranma came back home and found her again, he would not be 
happy. It was as if she was the unwelcomed guest that he can not get rid of.
  Urd quickly dismissed the thought of what was to come simply because of the 
situation at hand. Surely Ranma would understand. She'd be on her merry way once 
the storm let up.
  She looked at the corner of the cabin where the was a small upright log that 
seemed to represent a make-shift chair. Figuring she shouldn't surprise Ranma 
once again, she walked over to the log and sat down, waiting patiently for Ranma 
to come back home. She would explain her situation to Ranma when he got back. 
She knew enough about human nature that she was confident he would not kick her 
out after hearing her story.
  Then again, if I'm wrong and he does kick me out, there's absolutely nothing I 
can do, she thought. She basically had no powers and was physically as strong as 
a human female. There was no way she could force the young man to let her stay 
in his shelter if he didn't want her there. It was a very sobering realization, 
realizing that she was basically at the mercy of this young man's sympathy. 
  The bear skin door flapped wildly as a cold breeze blew in through the door, 
plunging the cabin's temperature. She felt herself beginning to shiver from the 
cold. Luckily, it felt a whole lot warmer in the cabin than outside.
  The sounds of rain could be heard pounding on the cabin's rooftop.
  Urd sighed in relief, glad she managed to avoid the rain. She didn't like the 
thought of being wet and cold. At least now she was only slightly cold. The cold 
was bearable, at least from her point of view. There was nothing to complain 
about. She was far better off right now than what she could have been 
experiencing not ten minutes ago had she remained outside in the rain or trying 
to outrun the storm.
  As she waited for Ranma to come home, Urd noticed the temperature of the cabin 
was gradually decreasing for her slight shivering soon turned into 
uncontrollable shivering.
  "I need to start a fire," she said to herself, feeling a bit stupid for not 
having come to that conclusion earlier. 
  She got up and walked over to the small make-shift fireplace where she saw 
several pieces of dry firewood. Sitting on top were two rocks, the same two 
rocks she noticed Ranma use to start a camp fire during one of their previous 
encounters.
  "Hm, these seem to be the flint used to start the fire," Urd said to herself.  
  Fortunately for Urd, even though she didn't possess her powers, she did 
possess her worldly knowledge. She knew lots of things about basically 
everything.
  Looking down at the fireplace, she noticed the burned out logs and leaves. 
Aware that she needed to use fresh firewood and tinder to start a fire, she 
quickly reached into the fireplace and took them out, discarding it just outside 
the door.
  "Damn soot," she muttered to herself as she looked at the soot on her hands. 
She never handed firewood by hand before and never noticed just how dirty it 
made one's hands.
  She placed the dry logs in and took a handful of leaves from where the bed was 
in the fireplace. Recalling seeing Ranma striking the two rocks together, she 
proceeded to imitate what he had done, fully expecting a fire to start up. She 
was glad she knew the concept behind starting a fire.
  A fire didn't start. 
  "Damnit," she muttered, striking the rocks together again. When a fire didn't 
start, she found herself continuously striking the rocks together over and over 
again, much to no avail.
  Urd realized something. Even though she retained all her knowledge of the 
world and how things worked, she had absolutely no experience in implementing 
her vast knowledge without using her powers. Basically, she relied on her powers 
so much that it was very humbling to realize she could do very little on her own 
without them.
  Her stomach rumbled again. It also didn't help that her mouth now felt dry.
  "Great, I'm hungry, thirsty, and cold," Urd muttered under her breath. She had 
never really experienced those experiences before and she really didn't like it, 
"How do humans deal with this constantly?"
  She found herself respecting the human race a bit more after realizing that 
humans constantly dealt with what she was going through and was able to cope 
with it while she had a lot of trouble. 
  Aware that hunger and thirst could be pushed aside and getting herself warmed 
up was of higher priority, she continued to attempt to start a fire. The human 
body could go around thirty days without eating and around three days without 
drinking. With being cold, the human body wouldn't have trouble lasting through 
the night.
  Thirty minutes passed before long and still no fire was started.
  "What the heck am I doing wrong?" she asked herself. This confused her. She 
was fully aware that she needed to create a spark and have it land on the dry 
leaves and gently blow on it to feed it enough oxygen to get a fire started. The 
problem was that she couldn't seem to get the rocks to spark no matter how hard 
she tried.
  After over forty minutes of trying to get a fire started, Urd realized she was 
just wasting her time. Knowledge was useless without experience. She had never 
learned to start a fire with her own hands so she had no idea what she was doing 
wrong. Knowing of the general concept of something didn't prove useful if she 
didn't know enough to know what she was doing wrong in the first place.
  Urd stopped what she was doing and walked over to log for a chair and sat back 
down. She began shivering again and realized the cabin was a lot colder now than 
before. It seemed she had forgotten how cold the cabin was in the first place 
because she had been to preoccupied with trying to start a fire to notice.
  She glanced toward the sleeping bag in the corner of the cabin. It looked 
plenty inviting right about now. She was willing to bet her life that if she 
slipped into the sleeping bag, she would warm right up in no time.
  A thought crossed her mind about what might happen if Ranma came into his 
cabin and found her sleeping in his sleeping bag. It would most likely not be 
pretty. 
  She dismissed the thought and decided to just wait it out. Surely Ranma would 
be back before long and would get the fire started.
  Shivering from the cold, hungry from the lack of food, and now thirsty from 
lack of drinking, Urd tried the best she could do to banish her misery and 
closed her eyes, hoping Ranma would be back before long.
  A few hours passed and Ranma still didn't come back. Urd's body temperature 
had gotten so low that she stopped shivering, now suffering from a mild case of 
hypothermia. Her stomach rumbled so loudly that it drowned out the sounds of the 
downpour falling on the cabin rooftop.
  Feeling way beyond miserable, Urd didn't care what would happen if Ranma came 
home and found her sleeping in his sleeping bag. She needed some form of relief 
from the misery she was feeling and that sleeping bag seemed to be it. 
  She walked over to the sleeping bag and quickly slid herself in. The sleeping 
bag felt like a piece of Heaven to her. She wanted to kick herself for not 
having gotten into the sleeping bag earlier. Why did she prolong her suffering 
for so long before deciding on this? 
  She decided to not dwell on her past mistakes and focus on the present. Right 
now, she was warm and comfortable. She was hungry and thirsty, but she would 
worry about that later.
  "Tired," Urd found her eyelids heavy.
  She was sleepy and found it nearly impossible to stay awake. She wanted to 
stay awake so she could quickly get up and explain herself should Ranma enter 
the cabin at any moment. 
  Within a few minutes, she fell into a deep sleep.

  Ranma, in his cursed form, walked up to the cabin several hours after Urd had 
fallen asleep. 
  It was nearing dawn and the storm hadn't let up one bit. Despite the downpour, 
Ranma didn't seem bothered by the cold. Ranma knew his body perfectly well and 
knew exactly when his body would start suffering from hypothermia. He had been 
in the rain for long enough and knew it was time to get out and warm himself up.
  As he approached his cabin, he noticed a small pile of burnt firewood and 
leaves outside the door. This he found out because it wasn't there when he left 
the cabin to get some food.
  He entered the cabin and noticed something was strange about it. A perceptive 
individual, Ranma noticed something had definitely been disturbed within his 
cabin.
  Within seconds, he noticed someone was sleeping in his sleeping bag. He didn't 
know who it was but notice whoever sleeping in it curled up in a ball under the 
covers.
  He glanced over his shoulder and at the door and figured that perhaps it was 
some person seeking shelter from the rain that happened to have stumbled upon 
his cabin. If he thought about it, it was highly likely that that was the case. 
It did surprise him to find someone there because he figured he was in one of 
the remotest parts of China.
  Walking over to the sleeping bag, he opened up the top and peered in, curious 
as to who had the audacity to not only trespass, but to actually sleep in his 
own bed. His eyes widened when he found himself looking down on the sleeping 
form of Urd. 
  Ranma's eyes widened in surprise.


<new stuff 3/19>




  "What the?" he said to himself. Urd was the last person he expected to see 
here. 
  What the heck's with this woman constantly coming into my life, Ranma thought 
in annoyance. Doesn't she realize that I just want to be left alone? Why won't 
she leave me alone?
  A cool breeze blew in through the bear skinned door, making Ranma realize that 
she probably wanted to get avoid the storm and decided to take shelter at his 
cabin.
  Ranma scratched his head, wondering what he should do.
  He glanced at her face and noticed it seemed flush.
  It looks like she has a cold, Ranma thought. Her hair looks fine so it seems 
like she wasn't caught in the rain.
  Even though Ranma had no idea how long Urd had been in his cabin, he was able 
to tell her hair hadn't been wet initially and had dried naturally over the 
course of time. Her hair wouldn't look so elegant had it been caught in the rain 
in the first place.
  Noticing she seemed physically worn out and exhausted and figuring she had had 
a tough day, he'd decided to let her continue sleeping and hear her side of the 
story when she woke up. 
  Wanting to start a fire to warm himself up, Ranma walked over to the fireplace 
and noticed it had been disturbed. There were fresh logs and leaves in the 
fireplace already.
  Ah, so that's why there are discarded logs outside the cabin, Ranma thought. 
She tried to start a fire. I guess she couldn't get it started and that's why 
she's using my sleeping bag, to keep warm.
  He reached into the fireplace and adjusted the logs so it was level on the top 
to allow for something to be placed upon it. Looking around, he found the two 
rocks he used to start his fire. With a single strike, he started a fire. After 
blowing on the smoldering tinder a few times, the leaves caught fire, eventually 
growing into a roaring fire. He headed outside and came back in a second later 
carrying a pot of water. 
  He placed the pot of water on the logs and waited patiently for the water to 
heat up. For several minutes, he sat in front of the fire, allowing its heat to 
warm his body.
  After a little while longer, he grabbed the pot and poured some of the hot 
water on himself, transforming back to his original male form. It felt good to 
be back in his true form after having been in the rain for several hours 
training.
  He remained in front of the fire for a good twenty minutes, allowing the heat 
to dry his clothes. When he was good and dry, he turned his gaze toward Urd but 
remained seated.
  I should wake her up, Ranma thought. I'm tired and I want to get some sleep. 
But when he noticed that her face seemed flushed from a fever, he realized she 
needed more rest than he did. 
  Ranma snorted in annoyance as he walked over to the pot of warm water and 
began drinking it. He had no qualms about drinking hot water because he knew 
that the heat had killed any bacteria that thrived in the water. He would much 
rather drink healthy hot water than unhealthy cool water.
  Physically tired from constant training, Ranma sat down in one corner of the 
cabin, regarding Urd as she continued to sleep soundly. He wondered where she 
was from and why she constantly found her way in his life. He could have sworn 
he made it clear that he wanted to be left alone.
  Whatever, he thought to himself. She'll be gone before long, most likely when 
the rain lets up.
  Ranma closed his eyes, allowing sleep to bestow him.
  
  Urd woke up a couple of hours later, somewhere around late morning. The storm 
had disappeared and the skies were now crystal clear.
  She felt a great headache. Without a second thought, she made a motion with 
one of her hands to remove that painful feeling. One of the benefits about being 
a Goddess with powers was having the ability to alter her own state of mind and 
body if she wanted to. While she could experiences all the sensations as that of 
a human, she had the ability to remove whatever sensations she didn't wish to 
feel. A headache was one of them.  Her headache didn't go away.
  Completely unaware of where she was or the fact that she was serving out her 
punishment, she attempted to use her powers to remove that agonizing headache of 
hers.
  Once again, the headache remained.
  This confused Urd for a good minute before she had the sober realization that 
she no longer had most of her powers. When she realized that she would have to 
suffer though the headache as it took its course, it made her want to crawl up 
into a little ball and die.
  The sensations of pain came in throbbing pulses. Urd had never realized she 
had a headache and suffered through more than two pulses of pain before she had 
used her powers to remove it so this headache felt extremely painful, leading to 
believe that she was actually dying.
  No, this is a headache, Urd thought to herself. I'm not dying. I'm just 
suffering from classic symptoms of a headache. Man, it feels like it could kill 
me though.
  Urd became very concerned about what was in store for her. If she was 
susceptible to something minor like a headache, and to her it felt extremely 
painful, it scared the heck out of her just what other pains were in store for 
her.
  She banished her worries because she knew that she would also be able to 
experience the pros of being a human without powers along with the cons. 
Hopefully, the pros would outweigh the cons. 
  Not really knowing what to do, she laid back down, hoping it the headache 
wouldn't last that long. It was supposed to go away in due time, right?
  As she lay back down, she was able to turn her attention away from herself and 
realize where she was. She quickly sat upright as she realized that she was in 
Ranma's cabin and in his sleeping bag.
  Looking around, figuring she had only fallen asleep for a short time, she 
spotted a sleeping figure in the corner of the cabin. It only took a few moments 
for her to recognize that it was Ranma.
  She glanced in the direction of the bear skin door and noticed the morning 
sunlight filtering into the cabin through the gaps between the skin and the 
cabin doorway.
  How long was I asleep, she wondered. It was the dead of night when I went to 
sleep and now it's daylight. And judging by the angle of the shadows, it seems 
like it's later morning. Jeez, I've been asleep for several hours?
  She looked at Ranma and noticed he was sleeping soundly.
  Oh man, he must've come home and found me sleeping in his sleeping bag, she 
thought. 
  She looked at the fireplace and noticed mostly embers. She assumed Ranma must 
have gotten back home and started a fire in the fireplace before going to sleep.
  Her stomach rumbled.
  Oh yeah, I'm still hungry, she thought as she rubbed her stomach. She also 
noticed that her throat was very dry and she was in desperate need of a drink of 
water.
  She glanced toward the fireplace where she noticed a small pot with water 
still in it. When she saw the water, it looked at it was inviting her to drink 
it then and there. She was that thirsty.
  Momentarily forgetting manners, she tried to get up out of the sleeping bag 
and walk over to the pot of water for a drink. Tried. The moment she stood up, 
the world started spinning around her. She felt extremely disoriented. 
  She fell down onto her hands and knees before she even managed to take one 
step toward the pot of water. Her headache began throbbing as her head felt 
pulse after pulse of pain shooting through her temples. 
  "Ow, ow, ow," the pain was unbearable as she buried her head in her hands, 
curling up into a fetal position while still on her knees. The pain came in 
waves and she couldn't do anything about it but endure.
  She heard a rustle. Between the throbs of pain from her headache, she glanced 
toward the side where she saw Ranma slowly waking up. She remembered that she 
was imposing on him, trespassing on his property, and wanted to say something to 
keep him from flying off the deep handle now that she was awake, but she had 
trouble focusing her thoughts.
  She heard Ranma getting to his feet and walking over to where she was.
  "Headache?" came his wry voice. He wasn't sadistic in a sense that he enjoyed 
seeing Urd suffering, but he found the scene rather amusing. 
  Here was a woman who not only imposed herself on him last night but also 
helped herself to sleeping in his own bed and now it looked like she needed his 
help. 
  Ranma picked up the pot of water and placed it on the ground by Urd.
  "You're suffering from a headache because you're dehydrated," Ranma stated 
matter-of-factly, "If you drink some water, your headache will go awake 
quickly,"
  Urd noticed the pot and quickly grabbed it and drank its contents. It didn’t 
even cross her mind that there could be a chance that she wasn't even drinking 
water or that it could be laced with some kind of drug or poison. She didn’t 
even bother to say her thanks as she quickly downed the remaining water within a 
couple of thirst-quenching gulps.
  The water felt deliciously cool, having cooled off over the course of the 
night. The thirst she was suffering from seemed to have disappeared instantly, 
so much so that she found herself barely able remembering that she was thirsty 
in the first place. She was a bit surprised how something like a terrible thirst 
could be quenched so simply.
  "Thanks," Urd said softly, looking up toward Ranma, wanting to establish eye 
contact so he could actually see that she was genuine in her words.
  Urd regarded Ranma for a moment. Ranma's face was fairly close to hers and she 
found herself surprised at just how scarred from burns Ranma's face and arms 
were. She knew those scars came from surviving the Nerima Massacre, but they 
looked a lot worse up close.
  Ranma ignored Urd's staring. He knew that she was staring at how disfigured he 
was from all the scars. Being a survivor of third degree burns was not a pretty 
sight.
  He regarded Urd and noticed the flushed face. It only took him a second to 
realize that she had a cold, most likely having caught it last night.
  Urd noticed Ranma seemed to be deep in thought, as if trying to think of what 
to say next. Little did she know that Ranma was contemplating what to do with 
her, to get rid of her and send her on her way even though she had a cold or 
offer to let her rest up in his cabin until she got better before sending her 
off. 
  Ranma let out an annoyed breath as he realized he should do the right thing. 
  This led Urd to wonder if Ranma was always a grumpy individual. Then again, 
she shouldn't be surprised. She had a funny feeling, after what Ranma had 
suffered through and endured, he hated the world. It was understandable that a 
person like that would harbor a lot of animosity toward the world.
  "You should get back into bed," Ranma muttered coldly, "You've got a cold and 
need rest,"
  Urd seemed surprised, "Cold? I don't have a cold,"
  She suddenly coughed. 
  "See?" Ranma said, "You were probably exposed to the cold too long. It messes 
up your immune system which is why you caught a cold,"
  Urd said nothing, a bit embarrassed with herself. She shouldn't be surprised 
that she caught a cold. Being exposed to the cold lowered one's immune system 
which made it possible to catch a cold more easily. Not many people were aware 
of this, that cold weather was only indirectly related to catching a cold. It 
seemed like Ranma was a very knowledgeable person.
  Urd coughed again, "I must've caught it last night, while I was waiting for 
you,"
  "Waiting for me?" he asked.
  Urd felt that that was a good time to explain her situation, to prevent any 
misunderstanding. Surely finding her sleeping in his bed must have confused 
Ranma when he got back to the cabin whenever last night.
  "I got caught in the storm," Urd said, "I tried to make my own shelter but 
didn't have enough time. I went looking for a cave for shelter but didn't have 
enough time either. You were basically my last and only chance at getting 
shelter in time. I must've caught my cold when I was waiting for you last night 
to get back. I didn't want you to misunderstand that I came back to bother you 
or something. I was in a bad situation and basically, um, needed your help,"
  Ranma waved a dismissive hand, "Well, I guess it can't be helped,"
  "I tried to wait for you wait for you to come back to explain my situation but 
I guess I got too tired and, um, helped myself to your bed," Urd said, "I know 
it seemed odd when you got back and found me sleeping, but I really tried to 
wait up,"
  "How long did you wait?" Ranma asked, "The storm started shortly after you 
left,"
  "I must've waited a few hours," she said.
  "That was rather unnecessary," Ranma shrugged, "I didn't get back till several 
hours after the storm started,"
  "What, you stayed out in the rain the whole time?" she was surprised to find 
herself asking that.
  Ranma nodded.
  "How come you didn't seek shelter?" she asked. It made her feel somewhat 
jealous. Ranma seemed fine and had stayed out in the rain for most of the night. 
She had been only exposed to the cold yet caught a cold. It seemed as Ranma's 
immune system was leaps and bounds stronger than her own.
  Ranma shrugged, "I guess I'm used to the cold,"
  Urd coughed again as she tried to get to her feet, "I guess I better get 
going,"
  "Well, considering you've got a cold and shouldn't be moving around, where do 
you expect to go?" Ranma asked curiously. He wondered if Urd was trying to act 
strong to hide her weak constitution. Most people tended to do that, conceal 
their faults.
  Urd said, "Not too sure but I'll think of something,"
  Ranma figured it was a bad idea for her to leave in the condition she was in 
and figured he should stop but made no attempts to do so. It was her choice to 
do as she pleased. He had given her some advice, to stay and rest, but it was 
her choice to accept it or not.
  He watched as she collected herself and walked over to the door. He glanced 
toward her feet and noticed she didn’t wear shoes. Instead, she wore what seemed 
fingerless gloves but for her feet. Walking around without shoes was a bad idea. 
If she stepped on a rock, her feet could get cut up pretty badly.
  "I suggest you find yourself some shoes," Ranma stated, "Otherwise, you'll 
learn the hard way that it's painful walking over rocky ground,"
  Urd looked down at her almost naked feet. She then said, "You're right,"
  She found it all the more humbling how Ranma seemed to be able to point out 
all the things that was wrong with her. With her powers, she was a basically as 
perfect an individual one can be. But without, she was ill equipped to dealing 
with the harshness of this world.
  Stepping outside the cabin, her eyes hurt as her eyes tried to adjust to the 
brilliant morning sunshine. She also felt her feet sinking into the ground since 
it was muddy from last night's rain.
  "Ugh," Urd muttered as she realized, once again, she didn't have the powers to 
clean herself. She looked at her muddy feet.
  "Not only do you have a cold and shouldn't be going anywhere, but it also 
seems like you're not dressed to go anywhere either," Ranma stated. 
  Urd's Goddess outfit made her stick out like a sore thumb. He was positive no 
villages or cities within hundreds of miles had people that wore outfits even 
remotely similar to Urd's. Heck, Urd's outfit looked one of a kind.
  "Well, I best be going now," she said, turning toward Ranma and giving him a 
curt bow. It was a human nature she acquired over the years to show gratitude, 
"I really appreciate what you've done for me before. I'm sorry our encounters 
have constantly been, well, unexpected.."
  "It's fine," Ranma shrugged, "I don't really mind. Sometimes even I get bored 
of doing the same thing over and over again and need a change in pace,"
  Ranma had to admit that bumping into Urd last night had been a bit of change 
in pace from his otherwise monotonous life of training, eating and sleeping. 
Bumping into Urd made him realize that he did live a life of solitude.
  Ranma isn't such a bad guy, Urd thought to herself. Okay, at first, I thought 
he was just a bitter person but it seems like he's not nearly as bad as I 
originally thought. He's pretty smart and even caring for the matter. I wonder 
how something like kindness could still exist in him especially after the past 
he had suffered.
  Aware that Ranma knew she could fly, Urd tried to take off to the skies. To 
her surprise, her feet didn't leave the ground. She remained firmly on the 
ground.
  This confused her. She should had taken to the skies. She tried again, much to 
no avail. After a third time, she realized something seemed to be wrong with 
her. She was flying fine last night. Why wasn't she able to fly now?
  "What, you can't fly anymore?" Ranma asked.
  Urd coughed again, a sure indication of what was wrong with her. She sighed as 
she realized why she couldn't fly. 
  "It's my cold," she sighed, "It's preventing me from flying,"
  "So what does that mean?" Ranma asked, a bit confused.
  Urd gave an embarrassed look. 
  "I think I'm stuck here, until I get over my cold,"


<new stuff 3/21>



  Ranma wondered if he had some form of odd luck in getting stuck in these kinds 
of situations. This seemed downright ridiculous, that he was now stuck with this 
complete stranger, forced take care of her so she would get over the cold she 
was suffering.
  Well, it seems like there's nothing I can do, Ranma thought. As much as he 
wanted to be left alone, he wasn't a jerk that he would send someone on their 
way when they needed his help.
  I hope things like this don't happen to me down the road, Ranma though. 
  At that moment, Urd's stomach rumbled.
  "When was the last time you've eaten?" he asked curiously.
  "I haven't," she said. It was true. She had yet to eat since she arrived on 
Earth so long ago.
  Ranma scratched his head, wondering what he should do. After a moment, he 
sighed.
  "Wait back in the cabin," he stated. Urd found the statement rather 
surprising, almost annoying. It was as if Ranma was telling her what to do. 
Aside from God Himself, no one had ever told her what to do. To be told what to 
do by a human should be considered downright offensive considering who he was 
saying that to.
  Urd was about to comment on Ranma needing some manners and to at least say 
'please' but he was already long gone, having headed off and disappeared into 
the surrounding woods. She would let it slide simply because she hadn't showed 
any manners when she imposed on him and slept on his bed. Perhaps this was his 
way at getting even for what she had done to him initially.
  Figuring that she was in no real predicament to defy him out of spite, Urd did 
as she was told and went back into the cabin. She looked around, wondering 
exactly where she should wait. 
  After a moment, she decided to take sit down on the upright log and wait.
  Over the course of the next twenty minutes, Urd simply sat there and waited. 
Her stomach rumbled several times and she noticed her coughing seemed to 
gradually get worse.
  Impatience finally getting the better of her, especially since she had no idea 
exactly what she was waiting for, Urd got up and exited the cabin, wondering 
where Ranma had gone off to.
  Just as she exited the cabin, she caught sight of Ranma as he emerged from the 
surrounding woods. In his hands were three dead rabbits. At the sight of the 
dead rabbits, she realized why Ranma had her wait. It seemed like he had 
realized she was needed some food to eat and went out to hunt for her.
  Their gaze met.
  "Didn't you hear what I said?" Ranma asked in an annoyed voice.
  "What do you mean?" she asked.
  "I said to wait in the cabin," Ranma gestured toward the cabin behind her, 
"What, you decided to stay out here out of spite simply because I didn't say 
please?"
  Urd looked backwards toward the cabin and then back at Ranma. Suddenly, she 
realized there seemed to be a misunderstanding and attempted to rectify it.
  "Wait, I did wait in the cabin," she commented, "I just came out to check what 
was taking you so long,"
  "Yeah, if you say so," Ranma said dismissively, leading Urd to believe that he 
didn't believe her. She found it rather weird that she almost felt like the bad 
guy here, that Ranma had asked her to do the simple task of waiting while he 
bothered to hunt for food for her and she couldn't even do something as simply 
as that. 
  Little did Urd know was that Ranma didn't even care if she did as she was 
told. Ever since his life was destroyed in the Nerima Massacre, everything else 
seemed trivial in his life, like whether or not Urd actually listened to him.
  Urd was about to say something until Ranma walked right past her and into his 
cabin, emerging a few seconds later with a few logs and some leaves in one hand 
while still carrying the dead rabbits with his other hand.
  Ranma walked right past Urd again and up to the make-shift brick over located 
in front of the cabin. Of course, it wasn't made of brick but was instead made 
of well-chiseled rock and placed neatly together to form a structure like that 
of a brick oven.
  He could be seen throwing the wooden logs and leaves into the bottom portion 
of the make-shift brick over and picking up two rocks located on the ground 
right next to said oven.
  Urd noted with extreme surprise at Ranma's efficiency at starting a fire as he 
simply struck the rocks together once near the leaves, creating a big enough 
spark to start a fire. After blowing a few times on the spark, it ignited into a 
full blown campfire within the oven.
  "Hope y'like rabbit," Ranma said wryly, "Because if y'don't, then you're outta 
luck,"  For some odd reason, she was unable to turn her gaze away as she watched 
in fascinated disgust as Ranma proceeded to skin each rabbit with his bare hands 
by jamming a finger in each rabbit's mouth and proceeding to skin it from the 
mouth and back to the hind legs in a single violent yank, ripping the entire jaw 
with it. While it was disgusting to watch, she knew Ranma seemed very efficient 
at what he was doing.
  In under a minute, all three rabbits where skinned and skewered by sticks 
found nearby and had been placed on the oven for cooking. She watched as Ranma 
went back into the cabin, emerging with a pot. He walked over to the hollowed 
out wood stump next to the stove where he scooped up a pot full of water and 
placed it on the stove as well.
  Urd had originally believed that hollowed out stump of wood was for putting 
out the fire in the stove but it seemed like it was for drinking. 
  An awkward silence took place as Urd found herself watching Ranma's back as 
Ranma proceeded to watch the fire cook the skinned rabbits, occasionally turning 
it over and over so the fire cooked the rabbits evenly.
  Urd coughed again. She noticed Ranma was about to say something about her 
being still outside but cut him off.
  "I'll go wait in the cabin," Urd said.
  She glanced back at Ranma before entering the cabin and noticed he seemed to  
remain focused on cooking the rabbits. She found the lack of attention from 
Ranma a bit strange. Men usually vied for her attention yet Ranma, on the other 
hand, seemed to be the exact opposite. 
  Little did Urd know that she had left a bad taste in Ranma's mouth after their 
first encounter with the comment about the Nerima Massacre
  "I still don't understand why you care whether or not I'm a survivor," Ranma 
had commented back then.
  Urd had said without thinking, "Actually, I don't really care, I was merely 
curious-"
  Ranma had become visibly angry, "I think you should leave,"
  "Hold up, I didn't mean it like that," Urd ended up getting flushed with 
embarrassment. This was because she didn't mean to say that she didn't care 
whether or not he was a survivor of the Nerima Massacre. It came out all wrong.
  That encounter back then had definitely a bad impression on Urd's part from 
Ranma's point of view. 
  Inside the cabin, Urd sat on the wooden stump and waited. She wondered how her 
life had so dramatically changed. Her current predicament was downright 
ridiculous. She was currently suffering a cold and therefore could not fly so 
she was stuck here with Ranma, a man that didn't seem to even want her there in 
the first place. To her, even if it did seem rather presumptuous on her part, it 
seemed rather odd that any male for that reason would act like that toward her. 
Most men would die to be in a situation Ranma was currently in, to be stuck with 
a Goddess as beautiful as Urd. Ranma, on the other hand, seemed the exact 
opposite.
  Ranma entered the cabin after several minutes. In one of his hands was a fully 
cooked rabbit. He didn't say anything. Instead, he held it out for Urd to take.
  She looked at the cooked rabbit. It looked rather disgusting, like a small 
hairless rodent that didn't even resemble the shape of a rabbit. She found 
herself just staring at the cooked rabbit.
  "Here," Ranma said, holding the cooked rabbit out farther, "You need to eat, 
right?"
  Urd's stomach seemed to answer the question by rumbling.
  She continued to look at the cooked rabbit. Was she really expected to eat 
something like that? She was used to eating divine foods, foods so delicious 
that if humans ever ate them, they would die just from the experience of how 
delicious those foods tasted. 
  "Oh how far I've fallen," Urd commented about herself.
  "Huh?" Ranma didn't understand the comment.
  "Nevermind, is that for me?" she quickly changed the subject.
  Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I've got my own,"
  She looked at the stick that that skewered through the rabbit. It was dark red 
from the rabbit's blood and black being exposed to the fire. She wondered if she 
was expected to dirty her hands.
  Before she realized what happened, Ranma reached out and grabbed one of her 
hand as he placed the stick in said hand, forcing her hand closed to take hold 
of the stick.
  "There are now you don't hafta worry about something stupid like getting your 
hands dirty," Ranma commented before leaving the cabin.
  Urd didn't overreact to getting her hands dirtied and accidentally throw the 
cooked rabbit to the floor. She simply stared at it for a good minute. While she 
did find holding a freshly skinned, freshly cooked rabbit a bit disturbing, she 
wasn't one to overreact to things when things didn't turn out her way. Over the 
course of her life, many things hadn't gone her way. Heck, being stuck as a 
human was a good example.
  Her stomach rumbled again, indicating that her body wanted something to eat, 
anything. Knowing that she needed to eat and there was basically nothing else 
around for to eat besides what Ranma had offered her, she reluctantly took a 
bite into the rabbit. 
  She chewed the meat several time, finding it rather tender and juicy. To her 
surprise, it didn't taste all that badly. Of course, it tasted revolting 
compared to the things she was used to eating, but it wasn't so disgusting that 
it made her want to regurgitate what she had just taken in.
  She continued to reluctantly take bite after bite of the rabbit. Before she 
even realized it, she eventually ate most of the rabbit. She did leave behind 
some bits of meat and such but no where near as much as, say, someone with 
sophisticated taste buds would leave. 
  Shortly after she was finished eating, she found herself looking at basically 
the skeletal remains of the rabbit that was still on the stick. This surprised 
her greatly simply because she had forgotten what she was eating until after she 
was done eating.
  As if on cue, Ranma entered the cabin.
  He cast a glance at the eaten rabbit and was surprised with what he saw. It 
seemed like Urd didn't consider herself above eating something so lowly as 
rabbit. Perhaps the extravagant outfit she wore belied exactly what kind of 
person Urd was.
  Urd looked at the rabbit on a stick in her hands and then at Ranma. She 
noticed Ranma was carrying a pot of water.
  "Done?" he asked.
  "Done what?" she asked.
  "What else? Eating," he answered.
  "Oh, yes, I'm done," she nodded. It seemed like Ranma was a man of few words.
  He held his hand out toward her. She looked at it curiously. It seemed like 
Ranma was definitely a man of few words.
  "The rabbit," he said, pointing.
  Urd found herself handing the rabbit to Ranma. She had no idea if what she was 
doing and if she was doing it correctly. She figured that was Ranma wanted her 
to do.
  Ranma held the pot out for Urd. She looked at it curiously again.
  "I'm not a mind reader, you know. Just tell me what you want me to do," Urd 
said, wanting to take control of the situation at hand. She didn't like being in 
a state of confusion and the cause of that state was all because of Ranma and 
his lack of communications skills.
  "Hold your hands out," Ranma stated matter-of-factly.
  Rather than comment on his obvious lack of manners, she held her hands out. 
They were both dirty from holding the rabbit while she was eating. It seemed 
like she had gotten a bit eager in eating the rabbit and had abandoned eating it 
with one hand while holding on the stick skewering it. When did she do that?
  Ranma proceeded to pour the water from the pot over her extended hands. 
  "Now is where you wash your hands with the water I'm pouring for you," Ranma 
said wryly, as if throwing back Urd's comment on his lack of conveying what he 
wanted her to do without words.
  Urd found Ranma's remarks a bit annoying. It seemed like Ranma seriously 
lacked etiquette in conversations. She said nothing about it when she suddenly 
recalled that he lived out here alone for at least a few years. Perhaps Ranma's 
lack of communication skills was due to his lack of interactions with people in 
the first place.
  The water was warm to the touch as Urd proceeded to wash her hands with the 
water. She glanced down at the water as it fell to the ground, disappearing 
between the gaps in the logs that made up the wooden floor.
  When it seemed like her hands were clean of the mess from eating the rabbit, 
Ranma stopped pouring and asked, "You thirsty?"
  "Me? No, not really," Urd said.
  "Okay," Ranma said. 
  To her surprise, she watched as Ranma bit into the remaining parts of the 
rabbit, finishing the rest of it off in a few bites. This struck her as odd. 
This was because, whenever she spent some time on Earth and decided to accept a 
date from a human male, she noticed that if she drank something, most guys would 
probably try and drink her own drink before she was done because, that way, they 
could use that to brink up the subject of an indirect kiss and hopefully use 
that as a way to breach the subject of a direct kiss. Human males were funny 
that way in the way they thought, purposely taking a sip or bite from something 
she had drank or eaten because they considered it an indirect kiss.
  From her point of view, that seemed the farthest things from Ranma's mind.
  "What?" Ranma asked when he noticed Urd staring at him. He wondered if he had 
something on his face.
  "Nothing," she said. She found the situation rather odd. Why would Ranma eat 
what she had eaten. If she was sick, then he was in trouble of catching a cold 
from her.
  "Three rabbits were all I could find on such short notice," Ranma said as if 
answering her unasked question, "I eat more than three by myself. What, you 
expect me to let this go to waste?"
  "Ah," she said, feeling a bit stupid for not having noticed something so 
obvious like that, "Aren't you worried about catching a cold from me?"
  "No," Ranma answered flatly. He was confident that he had a very strong immune 
system. If he didn't he would have gotten a cold many many times over simply 
because he always exposed himself to the elements which usually resulted in a 
lower immune system. If he didn't catch a cold from Urd last night after he had 
gotten out of the storm while at risk of hypothermia, the moment where his 
immune system was at its possible lowest, he wasn't going to get it from her now 
now that he was warm and his immune system was back to normal.
  Finishing the rest of the rabbit, Ranma threw it off to the side just outside 
the cabin entrance and then proceeded to wash his one messy hand by pouring 
water from the pot onto it with his other hand. 
  Once done, he drank the remaining warm water from the pot.
  "Well, I'm leaving," Ranma stated, "Since you need rest to get over your cold, 
just stay in my bed until you feel better,"
  "Where are you going?" Urd asked curious as she noticed Ranma heading toward 
the door.
  "To train," he said.
  "Train for what?" she asked.
  Ranma said nothing. Urd felt the air within the cabin suddenly become 
stagnant, as if she had asked him something she should not have asked. It was 
really none of her business to be asking anyway and it seemed like Ranma had 
wanted to say just that to her but chose to be nice and say nothing instead.
  The tension in the cabin disappeared when Ranma chose to ignore her query as 
he simply walked out of the cabin.
  Urd stayed where she was, "What the heck was that about?"

  Ranma entered the cabin a few hours later, sometime around evening. 
  Urd couldn't help but feel a bit relieved because she felt like she was about 
to go crazy. She had been lying in Ranma's sleeping bag the whole time, trying 
to sleep so her body could rest more effectively, but sleep never bestowed her. 
There were many factors contributing to that. Just as she was about to shout out 
in frustration at her predicament, Ranma had entered the cabin.
  She found herself almost welcoming Ranma's presence, even though there was a 
gloominess to him. She got the impression that Ranma was a very private person 
and had no intention of telling her anything about exactly who he was or why he 
was there training in the first place.
  Oddly enough, Urd found herself wondering why he never bothered to find out 
who she was, as if he didn't find her at all interesting that he wanted to find 
out in the first place.
  "Back from your training?" she asked curiously, wondering if he would reveal a 
bit about himself.
  "Yes, for now," he answered. He jerked a thumb toward the entrance door, "The 
food's cooking. Hope you like boar because that's all I've got,"
  Ranma had stumbled upon a boar while on the hunt for some rabbits. He felt 
moderately happy because it wasn’t all that often that he was able to eat his 
fill of food in a single sitting.
  She watched as Ranma walked over to the make-shift fireplace and proceed to 
start a fire. She felt like Ranma somehow knew exactly what she was thinking 
because she was thinking about how it was getting dark and how it would be 
getting cold soon. With a fire going, she wouldn't have to worry about that.
  Within under a minute, a fire was roaring in the fireplace.
  When she noticed Ranma was heading for the door to leave, she realized she 
would be alone with her thoughts again and didn't like that. She had enough time 
to be alone with her thoughts and wanted some company, even if it was someone 
lacking social skills like Ranma.
  "How'd you do that?" she asked.
  "Do what? You mean start a fire?" he asked.
  Urd nodded. It felt odd to be asking a human a question since, considering who 
she was, she was supposed to know basically everything and how everything 
worked.
  She nodded, "Well, I'm aware of how to start a fire and I tried starting it 
last night but couldn't,"
  "Maybe you were doing something wrong," Ranma stated.
  Urd was a big enough person to know that it was possible for her to do 
something wrong or inadequately. Life experiences showed her that she was prone 
to mistakes just like everyone else. Of course, she was less prone to mistakes 
simply because of her vast knowledge of most things around her.
  "Care to show me?" she asked, smiled.


<all ive got so far...>