"Well?" Nabiki demanded haughtily as she looked at the people gathered in the dojo, her agile mind rapidly going through things. Her gaze fell on the first person that odds dictated as the most likely at fault. "What happened?"
Cologne, as was usual, was untouched by Nabiki's glare. "I had nothing to do with this incident," she stated calmly. "As an innocent bystander as well, I am also seeking answers."
Nabiki's eyes narrowed as she stared at the amazon matriarch. Cologne arched an eyebrow. Everyone else just watched, enthralled by the little play before them.
"Okay," Nabiki said finally. She then turned to her second most likely person to blame for whatever it was that was going on. "Ranma! What did you do to my cousin?!"
"Wha . . . " Ranma gave a small start of surprise. "Hey! Don't look at me, I had nothin' to do with this." As he fumbled through protesting his innocence he managed to break free of Shampoo and held his hands up in front of him defensively. "He got splashed all on his own. I was nowhere near him!"
Splashed.
That word, a small, innocent word to others, had brought Nabiki to a halt. "Splashed," she whispered. Her eyes turned to Touma, furry ears sticking up from his wild blue hair and an equally blue fox tail twitching behind him. Splashed, her eyes narrowed speculatively, with Jhusenkyo water? If so, the curse seemed to have gone wrong somewhere. "Really?" she drawled out and pulled out a tea kettle of hot water. Everyone blinked in shock as she stepped forward and poured it over Touma's head.
"Do you mind?" Touma protested as the hot water flowed down his hair and dripped on the floor, drenching his shirt as it did so. The ears and tail did not disappear.
"Where did she get that kettle from?" Arial hissed through her teeth at Shin. He just shook his head.
"He didn't change," Nabiki dryly observed. She put the kettle back wherever she had pulled it out from (kettlespace?) and turned back onto Ranma. "Ranma . . . "
"It is a modified curse Nabiki." Akane stepped forward. "Permanent. Hot water does not reverse it."
"I want to know how this happened."
"Is it possible for us to move this discussion somewhere more appropriate? Somewhere where we can sit?" Shin requested, looking from Ranma to Akane then Nabiki. "It is a bit of a long story."
" . . . and when the one guy in the suit got splashed, he turned into a crow. And then the water really started to fly. That was when we all started diving for cover." When they had relocated to the main room of the Tendo residence, Arial had been nominated to tell Nabiki the story, mainly because no one else wanted to. She had shot Shu (he was the one who had nominated her) a nasty look, and began the tale right after Shin had defeated Kunou.
"I see . . . " Nabiki murmured as she lifted her cup of tea to her lips. "And Touma was splashed with Spring of Drown . . . What was it you called it?"
"Youko," Arial informed her. "It is a type of fox demon."
"I see . . . " Nabiki murmured again, taking a sip of her tea. She did see, and it wasn't looking good. "And there is no cure for this curse?" At this point, Nabiki had begun to doubt that any of the Jhusenkyo curses could be cured. No one had any luck at it sofar.
"No," Cologne said from where she had been perched on her staff next to Shampoo. She had been quite since Nabiki had burst in on them in the dojo. "The closest he could ever become to being human again would be to be splashed with Nanniichuan. Normally that would neutralize the curse, but for Hashiba it would curse him with the form of a human male. But as we all know, there is no such water in Japan."
"Oh dear," they all turned. Kasumi had walked into the room with a tray of snacks. "That is going to cause cousin Touma some problems, isn't it?"
Everyone hit the floor with a resounding *thunk*
"Everyone, please?" all heads turned to Touma. "I would like to know a few things myself. Cousin Nabiki," Touma turned to his cousin, "how is it that you are so familiar with cursed springs in China?"
Nabiki casually shrugged. "Simple, cousin-dear. I've seen enough people cursed by Jhusenkyo in the past year to become quite familiar with that place. In fact," Nabiki flashed Touma one of her rare sincere smiles, "here in Nermia, if anyone uses the words 'cursed' and 'water' in the same sentence, the subject of said conversation is bound to be involved with Jhusenkyo in some manner."
"Others?" Touma softly asked. "Here in Nermia?" Nabiki blinked at him. He couldn't ~not~ know about Ranma and Shampoo . . . not at this point.
<Uh-oh!> Arial thought to herself. <Shin, I think we overlooked something. Touma was catatonic when everyone else was cursed. He doesn't know about you or any of the others!>
<Oh great!> Shin moaned. How were they going to explain it to him?
Nabiki, unaware of that conversation, had come up with her own way of informing Touma. "Oh yes," she drawled, once she realized that Touma indeed did not know. "Several others. Wanna see? It will only cost you a small token fee . . . "
"Touma," Shu called out from across the room. Touma turned. Shu was holding a glass of water in his hand. "Look." Without hesitation, Shu threw the water . . . right at Ranma, who had not seen it coming.
"Hey!" Ranma-chan leaped to her feet, blue eyes glaring at Shu between dripping red tresses. "What the hell did ya do that for?" she screeched.
"You're the best one to splash. I'm not tossin' water at my friends." Shu's choice was derived more from the fact that he knew that Ryo, Shin and Seiji would throw worse things back at him than mere water. He didn't know about Ranma's ki attacks at this time, but he fully well knew what his friends were capable of, and Ranma still ended up the better choice. "See Touma, you aren't the only one cursed . . . " Shu's voice trailed off as he turned back to Touma. He had collapsed against the wall, his eyes opened wide in shock.
"He . . . she . . . Ranma?"
"Yep, that's the baka," Akane stated, giving her fianc� a steady look. Ranma-chan was in the process of wringing out her shirt. Fortunately, she had not removed her shirt to do so.
"He was splashed at the restaurant as well?"
"Oh no, he came here that way." Kasumi cheerfully informed him. "Here Ranma," Kasumi handed Ranma a tea kettle of hot water that she had just brought in from the kitchen. He gratefully took it from her and poured it over his head. As the hot water flowed over his head, his hair darkened, and he changed from a well-endowed young girl to a fit young man. "Uncle Saotome is the same."
The image of Ranma's father turning into a girl filled the minds of the Trooper crowd. "Ewwww . . . " Shu shuddered. "He turns into a girl as well?" That was disgusting.
"No, a panda."
This time everyone turned to Shin. "At least, that is what the koi said."
That earned Shin a very strange look from the Nermia crowd. "The koi?" Ranma asked, in a patently disbelieving voice. "The fish told ya that Pop turns into a panda?"
"And that you turn into a girl. I really didn't believe them until I saw you at the restaurant as a girl." Shin paused and gave Ranma a curious look. "Just how many times a day do you and your father end up in the pond anyway?"
Ranma blinked at the strange question. "Ehh . . . "
"So," Nabiki broke into the strange but semi-interesting conversation. "Who else got splashed?"
Everyone turned to her.
"Come now, Shu clearly stated that he threw that water at Ranma because he didn't want to throw it at his friends. Plural. That means that at least two of you were cursed as well. Who is it?"
Nabiki looked from face to face. She easily picked out who was now cursed by their expressions. Touma, who was also looking at his friends, was unable to tell.
"Who?" Touma whispered.
Ryo was the first to speak. "I was."
"What spring?"
"Spring of Drown Child."
"And he looks so cute as a child too, but not nearly as you Touma," Shan Lai said, earning her several hard looks and one puzzled, all of which she ignored.
"Anyone else?"
A deep sigh. "I was as well," Shin said. Touma turned to him, a distressed look on his face. The thought that Shin was cursed bothered him more than Ryo for some reason. "Spring of Drown Ocelot."
"Ocelot?" Nabiki repeated, an eyebrow arched high. "In ~China~?"
"Well, isn't that is easier to believe than 'Spring of Drown Yeti Riding an Ox Carrying a Crane'?" The entire Trooper crowd turned to Akane. "You don't want to hear about it."
"I am sure we don't," Arial quickly agreed. The mental picture was not a pleasant one. It looked a lot like Gyuushu to her, and that had never been a pleasant thing to think about.
"And then there's Seiji." Seiji turned and gave Shu 'The Look of Extreme Pain'. Shu shrugged it off as though it were nothing. "Might as well tell 'em now than wait until later Seiji."
"Seiji?" Touma whispered in shock. Seiji was cursed as well? This was not right.
"What spring?" Nabiki asked with great interest. Whenever someone was reluctant to discuss their curse, it was usually an interesting, and embarrassing, one.
"Same as Ranma," he said in a low growl.
"Really?" Nabiki drawled. Now that could be financially promising . . .
"Drop it Nabiki." Seiji had learned about her mercenary tendencies his last stay at the Tendo residence.
"And these curses are activated by either cold or hot water, depending on what form the person currently is in?" Touma was holding a glass of water in his hand. With a quick swipe, he threw the contents at Ranma, once again drenching him and turning him into a girl. "Interesting."
"Splash someone else for a change!" Ranma-chan yelled, tired of being a water magnet when there were four other cursed people present. Touma acted as though he didn't hear him.
"Height and mass both changed, along with anatomical structure. Fascinating." In a smooth move, Touma swept up the kettle sitting next to Ranma-chan and poured the rest of the hot water over her, his eyes gleaming. Ranma gave Akane's cousin-turned-youko a spooked look and quickly relocated across the room. The move put him closer to Cologne than he really liked, but at the moment she was the lesser of the two evils present.
While that had been going on, Arial had adopted a thoughtful look. After thinking for several minutes, she turned to Shin. "Shin?"
He absently turned around to her. "Yes Arial?"
"I just remembered something." She got to her feet. "If I miss something interesting, could you tell me about it?"
"Uh, sure." Shin gave her a long look. Just what was she up to this time. "Don't get into any trouble, okay?" Arial flashed him a look of pure innocence, which made him nervous for some reason, and left the room. Shin stared after her with a worried expression on his face.
"Where's she goin'?" Shu asked.
Shin shrugged. "I haven't a clue."
"Oh, that figures." Knowing Arial, it was probably something that he didn't want to know about. She had a bad habit of specializing in things like that.
Shin did not comment as he turned away from the doorway. As his gaze rove across the room, it landed on Cologne. She was a bit slower than the others in turning away, and in that moment, without her being aware of it, Shin got a look at her face. He looked away before she noticed his attention on her. The look on her face, the contemplative look that had followed Arial out of the room, that he did not like. She probably needed more watching than they had previously thought.
"So, let me get this straight." Nabiki's dry voice filled the room. "Two unknown, foreign men show up at the Neko Hantan with an unspecified number of bottles containing Jhusenkyo water. They met up with three other men, foreigners as well, argue, and start throwing water at them. The other men retaliate, and in the crossfire Touma, Seiji, Shin and Ryo all get cursed. I assume everyone bailed out after that, and you returned to the dojo." There were nods of agreement around the room. "Cologne," Nabiki turned to the Amazon matriarch, "just how familiar are you with the springs of Jhusenkyo themselves?"
"I am familiar with most of them, more so now than I had been a year ago, unfortunately."
"So, as far as you know, all with the exception of Touma received what would be considered normal curses, correct?"
Cologne nodded thoughtfully. It seemed Nabiki was on to something here. "Yes, from what I saw, they did."
"And how many springs in Jhusenkyo are like the one Touma was splashed with?" Nabiki pushed.
"Five springs, known as the Forbidden Springs. All are marked to keep them from being disturbed."
Nabiki nodded to herself, as though she expected such an answer. Everyone in the room continued to watch her and Cologne. "What would you say the odds are of, say, someone randomly getting water from one of those springs?"
"Wait a second?" Seiji interrupted. "Nabiki, just what are you getting at?"
"I am not sure, yet. I do have a feeling that there was a bit more to those men at the Neko Hantan than we know. It might be important."
"Than we shall leave that in your capable hands," Cologne said lightly. It was an interesting theory, one that she would spend time on herself, if it wasn't for the fact that something else more important to her had come up during this incident. Or, to be more accurate, immediately following. "For now there is not much more we can do about that. But, there is something that I am curious about, something which does not concern Jhusenkyo in the least bit." She hopped off of her staff and jumped onto the table. "You five," she intoned, pointing her staff at each of the Troopers, "have come in contact with true magic. I am curious as to how that came to be." And if she could get a grasp on it as well . . .
Touma glanced at the others, his tail twitching. <I hope someone has put some serious thought into an explanation for earlier. My hands are clean on this, it was your guy's idea, not mine.>
<Thanks,> Shu grumbled. <Well?> he glanced over at Ryo, Seiji and Shin. <Letting Khu Lon know we are not somethin' to be messed with is one thing, but I ain't tellin' her about Kongo.>
<I agree with Shu, the yoroi are to be left out of the explanation totally.>
<Shin,> Ryo glanced over at the Trooper of Trust. <You tell her something. You look ernest enough to tell a lie and get away with it.>
<Thanks . . . I think.>
<And remember,> Touma helpfully reminded him. <She was there to watch your fight with Kunou.>
Shin sighed. That was right. Her invitation to the restaurant probably had something to do with that. <'True magic', hmm? Well, lets keep it on that theme.>
"It was inherited through our families."
Four mental 'gacks' filled Shin's mind immediately following that statement, along with a very interested look from Cologne and four blank looks from the rest of the Nermian crowd. Shan Lai was wearing a passive look, just waiting to see what all Shin was going to say. Kasumi had once again left the room.
"You see," Shin continued, "we are all the future heads of our families . . . "
<We are?> Touma asked.
<Hush!> Ryo responded.
"And certain responsibilities rest upon our shoulders. Because of that, we were granted . . . "
<Granted? I musta missed ~that~ part . . . >
<Shu . . . >
" . . . limited mystical abilities." Shin finished. He gave the other four a quick irritated look, their mental side comments were not welcomed, and continued with his explanation. "Teleporting is one of them."
"As are your elemental abilities?" Cologne's eyes narrowed as Shin nodded. She had not heard about such things being passed down before. "And you four, do you also share that ability?" They all shook their heads. It wasn't precisely a lie, Shin was the only one who was a water elemental. If she had phrased the question differently . . .
Cologne focused on Seiji. "And you, young man. Do your healing abilities also derive from this mystical bequeathment?"
Seiji returned her calculating look, his lavender eyes showing nothing. "Partially."
She waited a moment for him to elaborate. He did not, and the look she sent him didn't inspire him to speak further. Cologne looked around at the others, they also wore the same look as their friend. This was not something, it appeared, that they were willing to discuss further.
Ah well. Cologne gracefully backed down. She would find out, eventually. Future heads of their families, were they? Well, it looked as though she needed to do some checking on their respective families. Going up against practiced masters of the martial arts was one thing. Going up against possibly dan ranked martial artists who practiced unknown true magic with their art was the fool's way to suicide. She would bide her time. After all, after three hundred years, she was a master at waiting for things to come to her.
Around an hour later, Arial returned. Cologne and her great-granddaughter were gone, which elicited a grin from Arial. In light of what she just learned, their absence was a relief. Cologne and Shampoo were not the only people absent. The two elder Tendo sisters were not present, off doing whatever it was they did in the afternoon, no doubt. Akane was gone as well, as was Ranma. Out of her group Shu, Ryo and Shan Lai were present.
Arial stepped into the room and looked out the sliding doors into the yard. Shin was sitting on one of the boulders surrounding the pond. Her cousin was sitting on the ground not to far away, meditating. Touma was nowhere in sight. After a moment of quietly watching, she walked over to Ryo.
"What happened to everybody?"
"Huh?" Ryo quickly looked up, startled by her unnoticed approached, and stared. "What did you do to your hair?"
Shu and Shan Lai, who had also missed her entrance, turned as stared at her.
"My hair?" Arial reached up, and realized that she had forgotten to take out the hair comes when she had changed cloths.
"I don't believe it, ya left to put your hair up?"
"No Shu, I left to find out something. I just decided to put my hair up while I was at it. Where is everybody," Arial repeated again. She really wanted to know. And answering her would get them off of the subject of her hair.
"Cologne and Shampoo left," Shan Lai told her. "They needed to get back to the restaurant." Arial nodded at that. That made sense. She wouldn't want to leave the duck there by himself for extended periods of time either. "Don't know what Nabiki is doing, Kasumi went to start on dinner. Akane went to her room, Ranma to the bath."
Well, that took care of one group. "Where is Touma?"
"Outside somewhere."
How helpful. "Could you call for him? I found out something that everyone needs to hear."
"What?" Shu asked.
Arial smirked at him. "Not until everyone is here." Shu grumbled something under his breath. "What was that?" Arial bent toward him. "I didn't quite catch it."
"Nothin'."
"Oh, okay." She wandered to the open doors to fetch Shin and Seiji.
<Shu, you should know better than that by now.> Shu decided that he was not going to answer Ryo.
When they all had gathered, and after Arial made sure no one was listening, she told them what she had discovered while she was gone.
"I have some good news guys. There are five bottles of Jhusenkyo water left in Nermia. And one of them is from 'Spring of Drown Boy'."
Six people stared at her in amazement.
"Arial, what did you just say?"
She turned to her cousin. "Probably what you thought you heard. Those two Americans still have five bottles of spring water left, and one of those bottles will cancel out your curse."
A quiet stillness filled the room. How had she came up with that information?
Ryo was the one who voiced the question. "How do you know that?"
"Errr . . . " she gave them an uneasy look. "Lets just say, I have my means. Very reliable, very trustworthy, and I really can't tell you anything else about it."
"Why not?"
"Because you wouldn't believe me," she told them flatly. "But just think, if we can find those two Americans, we can get the water. We can use the Nanniichuan water to reverse the curses, and we can splash Touma with some as well. I can study the other bottles, and find a real cure for Jhusenkyo."
"Arial?" Shin tilted his head to one side. "Wouldn't the Nanniichuan water cure us?"
Rapidly Arial shook her head. "No, that just cancels out the first curse. It is still there, but inactive. If something cancels out the second curse, or cures it, the first one will become active again."
"So," Seiji gave Arial a thoughtful look, "the Nanniichuan water would be sort of a . . . "
"Temporary stop measure," Arial finished. "A way to live a normal, relatively speaking of course, life until I can figure out the cure."
Ryo gave her a speculative look. "And you are sure you can come up with a cure?"
Rapidly she nodded. "Positive. It will take time, but I am sure I can find a way. No one, and I mean no one, has come up with a curse that can't be reversed."
"An' all we have ta do is find those two Americans?" Shu smiled slowly and cracked his knuckles in anticipation. It was an ominous sound. "I ~like~ that idea."
Seiji's eyes had grown icy. "As do I, as do I." A chance to get his hands on the people responsible for turning him into a . . . for cursing him as a . . . He couldn't wait.
"We will start looking first thing in the morning." Ryo announced, eliciting protests from the others. "I don't think we have any other option. Those two are probably in hiding right now, from those other three, and are possibly still in their cursed forms. We will have a better chance of finding them tomorrow."
"We will be rested then as well," Shin put in. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't feel up to running across town at the moment."
"Probably from stress," Shan Lai said. "Today has been a very stressful day, for everybody."
"mmmmmmm . . . "
In the distance, they heard the front door open. Mature male voices whispered into the room. Touma's uncle and Saotome-san had returned.
"And I don't think it is over yet," she muttered, giving Touma a quick glance. Several people sighed, and everybody got to their feet.
As they started to leave, Arial pulled Touma aside. "Touma."
He turned and looked at her. "Hmmm?"
She stared up at him, stared into his eyes for a moment, then for some reason grinned. "I have something for you." Arial reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled something out. She held it out to Touma on the palm of her hand. "Here."
He looked at it. A ring. With a puzzled look, he picked it up. It felt strangely heavy. He turned it, the ring was silver with a blue star sapphire set into it. "What is it?"
"A ring." Arial informed him, less than helpfully. Even he had figured out that part.
"And why are you giving me a ring?" he prompted looking down at it.
"It will protect you from demon wards, and mask your aura so that it looks human. Just because you are a demon doesn't mean that you have to have the same problems as they do."
" . . . what . . . "
"Just put it on, and everything will be okay. And you don't even have to worry about losing it or having someone steal it. The only way it will come off is by the hand that put it on." Arial beamed at him, obviously pleased with herself about it.
"Really?" Touma gave it a closer look, and then tried to put it on his ring finger. Too small. He frowned, and then slid it onto his little finger. Perfect fit. He looked down at it, it had no weight now. If it wasn't for the faint warmth he felt emanating from it, he wouldn't even have known it was there.
"Come on," Arial tugged on his arm, "lets go!" Without resisting, Touma let Arial drag him out of the room to Shin, who had been waiting for them. Together, the three of them wandered after the others.