Unexpected Meetings
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Chapter Two:  Unexpected Meetings

Ranma was running down the street being chased by Genma.   Under normal circumstances this might have drawn some attention; a raised eyebrow, or perhaps a second look.

But, since it was raining....

Needless to say, a cute redhead being chased by a giant panda drew more than a little notice.  People dove out of their way as Ranma skidded to a halt in the middle of the street.

He'd been following Genma to a friend's house just a few minutes earlier, and had actually been glad to get back to Japan and away from the backwaters of China.  He'd gotten so tired of having to build fires just to warm water that he'd given up several weeks ago and spent the rest of his time in China as a female-- it had just become too much effort to try and avoid the constant drenchings that seemed to come with the curse.  He'd no sooner turn male than something would happen to get him wet again.  Even dealing with periods was better than being wet all the time.

Besides, it had seemed like every time they stopped to rest, Shan Pu had almost caught them.  The Amazon had been nearly impossible to dodge.  Sheer luck, and a convoluted trail had kept him from having to face any of the slow agonizing deaths the Guide had painted for him at Shan Pu's hands.  The Guide had seemed oblivious to the effects his stories had on the pair of them as he droned on and on to pass the time while traveling.   Ranma had no idea how much of his confusing ramblings were true or due to embellishment, but he had more than one nightmare about the bloodthirsty girl during the two months she had chased them around China.   Genma had refused to head back to Japan until they were sure they had lost the girl for good.  Then he'd taken a few days in a seaside village on the west coast of Honshu just to make sure she hadn't found them again.

After all of that, Japan had seemed like a haven.   He'd looked forward to spending most of his time as male again.  Zhu Shu may have taught him enough about being female that it hadn't been that bad being one full time in China, but he was male and wanted to stay that way.

He'd even looked forward to meeting the Tendos- friends of Genma's that they were going to stay with for awhile....

Then Genma had told him he was going to have to marry one of them.

It had been the last straw!  A curse, a homicidal Amazon, and now ... a betrothal!  Enough was enough!

He faced the panda across the rapidly emptying street, then Genma lunged and he launched herself over the massive paw.  "Yo! Cut that out!!'

Ranma's return kick sent Genma flying.  Ranma set himself as the panda rose in front of the muttering crowd.  "Your move!" he called.  Genma responded with a flurry of blows which forced Ranma to duck furiously.

"Well, I still say," he dodged a fast moving paw, "this whole thing sucks!"  Ranma snagged the paw before Genma could pull it back.  "Picking my fiancée for me," Genma flipped and hit the ground with a loud TWHOOOOM as Ranma finished, "without even asking!!!"

The panda lay there like he was unconscious as Ranma pushed the braid he had taken to wearing back over his shoulder.  Homicidal Amazons were better than this!   And maybe if he could find Zhu Shu, she could help him search for a cure.  "I'm going back to China!  So suck on that, old man!!!"

  
He picked up his pack and shoes, then started trudging back down the street.  Behind him, Genma sat up, casually grabbed a street sign, and whacked him across the head with it.  Ranma's triumphant thoughts fled before a tidal wave of darkness.

* * * * *

Rain is supposed to be a cleansing, a refreshing of the Earth as it washed down the dust and fed thirsty crops.  All of her life, Shan Pu had liked rain.

Until she came to Tokyo.

Now, it was just another sign of the depression she had sunk into.  She had never thought any place could ever be as huge as Tokyo.   Nine days of searching high and low had revealed not a single clue to Ranma's whereabouts, and she had only explored a small part of the city.  It was far worse than she had anticipated, and she had not counted on the problems she had encountered as a girl alone in Tokyo.  While she had been safe enough from the one mugger she had met, she spoke poor Japanese, and what little money she had had soon been gone.  Nothing in her life as an Amazon warrior had prepared her for a place like this insane city.  

At present she was setting in the rain on a low railing, overlooking one of the city's drainage canals and feeling like she would never redeem her Honor. 

After losing Ranma  in China, it had been logical to suspect he had finally returned home, so they had come to Tokyo by boat. It had seemed like such a smart suggestion for her and Zhu Shu to split up and search the city for him.   In retrospect, it had been anything but.  She had come no closer to finding her groom, and had not seen her blood-sister in days.  Now, to top it all off, she'd been caught in the sudden rain and was stuck as a cat till she found hot water. 

She growled in aggravation, once more cursing the arrogant prince who'd....

"Why, hello there, little one."

The voice coming from so close behind her nearly made her jump out of her skin.  She warily turned to look at it's source, ready to run in a heartbeat....

But there was no need.  The woman may have been dressed a trifle oddly by her standards, but the smile on her beautiful face held no malice, only a kindly warmth.  The tattoos on her forehead and cheeks didn't even look strange; on her, they just seemed to belong, like she would be incomplete without them.

"You poor dear, you must be freezing with that wet fur.  Won't you come in to dry by the fire?  I'll get you a bowl of warm milk ...."

Shan Pu allowed as how that would be nice, given the fact she was, in fact, rather cold, but she didn't know the tall woman and she'd escaped from a couple of nasty situations which had started as innocently.

The woman nodded and her smiled widened.  "I can certainly understand that, but you need have no fear.  I am Belldandy, of the Goddess Relief Office, and I'm here to help you.  I can assure you, only safety lies within...."

Shan Pu decided she believed her.  She was so kindly looking and exuded an aura of such caring and peace that not trusting her seemed foolish.   Shan Pu followed the woman into a warm and cozy room before she realized she hadn't even meowed.  She turned to look back at the door she had entered, debating about bolting, but instead of the cold alley, she saw a walled courtyard and a shrine.

The shrine reassured her, because it gave her the clue to identify why she wanted to trust Belldandy; she felt like a priestess.  Feeling more confident, she tasted the bowl of thick cream Belldandy set on the floor and let the beautiful girl comb out her wet fur.

"You're welcome to stay the night if you like, or longer.  Keichii is away visiting his mother and won't be back till next Monday, but I don't think he'll mind you staying for awhile.  We have a nice guest room you can stay in and Skuld must have some clothes that will fit you after your bath.  You are welcome to rest here for as long as you wish before resuming your search."

Shan Pu gave her a startled glance over the rim of the bowl, examining Belldandy's still ever so kind face.  How could she know so much and speak the Amazon dialect so well?

A small touch of a blush touched Belldandy's cheeks as one hand went to her lips in an unconscious gesture.  "Oh, well, I'm a Goddess First Class.  It's just one of those things we do ... like granting wishes to people who truly deserve them."

A goddess?  Shan Pu blinked at the tall woman. 

Belldandy nodded, "Yes, Shan Pu."

Shan Pu shook her head, the small bells on either side of her head chiming.  She'd never heard of a goddess granting wishes. 

Belldandy smiled.  "It's what Kami-Sama created the Goddess Relief Office for.  My sisters and I find out what our clients wishes are and aid the ultimate force in accomplishing them."

Like her wish that her relationship with Ranma would work out happily for everyone concerned?  She shook her head.  How could she be sure of that when she couldn't even find him?  It would be foolish to even utter a wish like that to someone who had been so kind.

She broke off her musings as the tattoo on Belldandy's forehead flared into light.  Shan Pu found herself floating in mid-air in front of the goddess as electricity seemed to fill the air.  Wonder filled her eyes as small objects swirled around the room and Belldandy floated off the floor to slowly spin in the center of the room.  Her head tilted back as her tattoo glowed ever brighter, then a shaft of argent light rose from her forehead to pierce the ceiling.  Time seemed to freeze for an instant as everything settled to the floor.

Belldandy opened her eyes and smiled at Shan Pu.

"Your wish has been approved."

* * * * *

Zhu Shu had to admit she was lost.

She hated having to admit it; it was too close to admitting defeat, that she had failed in her quest to find Ranma as badly as she had failed in her quest for a husband.  In the two months since she and Shan Pu had left the Amazon village on the husband hunt they had repeatedly almost caught up to the pair only to have them slip away in the chaos that seemed to follow them.  They had succeeding in tracking the pair all over China to a small seaport, only to find they had escaped by swimming to Japan.

She'd agreed when her blood-sister had suggested they split up to search, and since had learned how insane the idea had been.  She still fumed at the idiot boy who had stolen her panties.  Yes, it had been an accident that he'd knocked her down when running from the lightning bolt throwing girl who was chasing him.  But to get his hands stuck in her panties as she tried to extricate herself, rip them off of her as he tripped her, then land face down between her legs....  The boy either was the most skillful letch she'd ever met, or cursed with incredibly bad luck.   Then to have the girl throw lightning bolts at her because she'd knocked the boy unconscious!

At least she'd been friendly enough afterwards.   She'd made friends with Lum and had let a slightly crazy priestess, Sakura, examine her curse.  She'd even allowed Lum to talk her into staying in her saucer while another friend hired investigators to search for Ranma.

Today, they had finally tracked down a story of a red haired girl fighting a panda to a Ginza in Nerima.  She had gone there and tried searching an ever widening spiral, but had quickly gotten turned about.  Now, after wandering through the mazes the locals called streets for hours, she had climbed to the top of a shrine in hopes of seeing a landmark, anything that looked vaguely familiar....

She surveyed the Tokyo skyline over the cherry trees that surround the hilltop shine in resignation and sighed.  Nothing.  She raised an eye to the lowering clouds overhead, noting the signs of rain scattered across the city.   She needed to find shelter soon or she was likely to spend the night soaked.

Without warning, a beam of light pierced the heavens, so bright it had made the night seem like a stark black and white drawing.  As it faded, clouds swirled around the hole the beam had made in the sky.

Zhu Shu blinked, trying to clear her eyes from the blaze of light.  She had never felt a surge that strong.  It had ripped through the night like a hurricane, leaving her senses reeling and raw and her consciousness teetering on the brink of the abyss.  She closed her eyes as she sought her center, slowly regaining her equilibrium as the aftershocks faded.

A footstep behind her caused her to turn quickly, swords in hand.  Green fire flickered fitfully along the edges, a sign of how shaky her chi control was following the wild surge, but she forced herself to focus.  She'd heard no sounds of approach, and she'd found that in cities, stealth usually meant trouble.

But the fires died as her concentration was shattered at what greeted her eyes.

The girl who stood behind her was wearing a variation of the typical school uniform that Zhu Shu had seen all over Tokyo, yet it looked far different in major ways.  White gloves covered her arms to her elbows, form fitting and trimmed in red.  Her top was fitted so closely to her torso that Zhu Shu figured it couldn't just be cloth.  Her red pleated skirt was so short that it barely passed her hips, and a large red bow adorned the back.  A ruby heart held the center of a large blue bow on her breast and a tiara of gold made a V above her blue eyes.  Her long shapely legs ended in a pair of red high-heeled shoes.  Her waist length black hair framed a pretty face that was currently occupied with a puzzled look.

"Well, you don't look like a Cardian, but what are you?  I felt you the moment you entered the temple's grounds, and those swords fairly screamed with energy a second ago, but now you feel like a normal girl."

Zhu Shu returned the puzzled look.  "Zhu Shu is Zhu Shu.  Is only girl.  Not know what other things is."

"She doesn't seem to be radiating any negative energy right now, but her signature is really weird this close up.  Similar to Ail and Ann's," another voice chimed in.  Zhu Shu spun to see another girl in a sailor outfit, similar to the first, but in blue and white, who was looking at her through a set of lenses.

"So is she a left over Cardian?  I thought Ail and Ann took all of them with them," asked a third, this one with two long blonde ponytails and round odangos.

"I don't know," Blue replied.

Zhu Shu counted five girls surrounding her and cutting off any direction of escape.  Her senses were still too raw from the aftereffects of the wild surge for anything remotely resembling clear sight, but she sensed too much energy for them not to be prepared to attack.  Chi began to flicker along her blades again.

"She's spiking again!" Blue cried.   "That weird biosignature is getting stronger!"

The red suited girl stepped in front of the orange and green suited girls as they took stances.  "Hold it!  Hold it!  I really don't want to start a fight on top of THIS shrine!"

The other girls stepped back as Zhu Shu said, "Zhu Shu want know who girls and why threaten?!"

All five of the girls looked shocked.  

The blonde with the red bow in her hair recovered first.   "Who- who are we?!" she asked unbelievingly.

"Yes!  Zhu Shu just stands here!  No look for fight!  Who girls want fight Zhu Shu?!"

The twin pony tailed girl stammered "W-w-w-we're the Sail- Sailor Senshi!  Don't you know who we are?!"

Zhu Shu shook her head.

"But, we're famous!  We're in every paper in Japan!"  The red-bowed blonde protested, "I've even got a Manga!"

"Zhu Shu not read Japanese.  Zhu Shu Mandarin."

The red sailor laughed, "Serves you right, Sailor Venus.  It seems your fame isn't quite as universal as you thought."  The orange clad girl looked crestfallen as the odangoed blonde stuck her tongue out at her.   The red suited girl kicked her in the shin, "Sailor Moon!"

"Wha-" the blonde started, straightening up.

"Don't you think we should introduce ourselves?"

"Oh ... yeah ...  Right!"  The blonde stepped back and struck a pose.  "For Love and Justice, I am the pretty sailor suited soldier, Sailor Moon!  In the name of the Moon I ... um ... greet you?"

Sailor Venus broke out in a mad fit of giggles.   Sailor Moon glared at her, "What?!  I'm used to introducing myself to bad guys right before I blast 'em.  Give me a break!"  At Venus' continued giggles, she crossed her arms and pouted.

The blue suited girl went next, "I am the pretty sailor suited soldier Sailor Mercury!  For the element of water, I greet you!"   She ended with a sweet and friendly smile and added, "And maybe we can figure out why you keep spiking on my sensors...."

The orange suited blonde continued, "For the planet of love, I am the pretty sailor suited soldier, Sailor Venus!  I shall deliver love's heavenly vengeance!"  She gave Zhu Shu a wink, "Or at least I shall to those who deserve it." she finished as an aside, then looked at the red suited Sailor.

"For the element of flame, I am the pretty sailor suited soldier, Sailor Mars!  In the name of Mars, I will destroy evil!"   Mars finished her speech and turned to look at the tall girl in green.

"By the element of lightning, I am the pretty sailor suited soldier, Sailor Jupiter!"  She looked around at the other girls, "And we are the Sailor Senshi."

Zhu Shu stifled her laugh at all the posturing, then bowed, "Song Zhu Shu, of China."  She looked around at the Senshi, "Still not tell why want to attack."

Just then, the still swirling clouds overhead let loose with a light gust of rain.

"Energy spike off the scale!"  Mercury shouted as the other Senshi looked on in amazement at the suddenly blonde, animalistic girl.

"Possession!"  Mars cried, "She is a Cardian!"  She began to chant as she pulled out an ofuda. "Rin, pyou, tou, sha-"

Zhu Shu recognized the scroll as part of a spell even though it was in Japanese and her swords flared as she moved to stop the girl's casting.   As she stepped forward, ribbons ready to tangle Mars' hands, Mercury cried out "Shabon Spray Freezing!"

Zhu Shu launched herself straight up over the spray of bubbles that sprang from Mercury's hand and coated where she had been standing in ice.   In mid air, she crossed her swords and focused, "Dragon Tail Whip!"  

The ribbons of Zhu Shu's swords streaked down towards Mercury and at full extension launched a small ball of green fire at the blue clad Sailor.   It struck the girl in the chest in a small explosion that knocked her backwards several feet.

Zhu Shu grimaced.  The girl should have been knocked out at least.  She angled for a spot on the roof away from the girls.

"Crescent Beam Shower!" the blonde called as she launched a shaft of golden light at Zhu Shu.  Zhu Shu's ribbons flashed into a spiral dance around her as the beam split into dozens of shafts of light and arced towards her. Her ribbons deflected the barrage, but the impacts threw off her landing and she came down badly on her ankle, twisting it as she hit the roof.  Through the pain, she sensed the ionization of the air and Lum born reflexes tried to move her away as Jupiter called, "Supreme Thunder Dragon!"

Her ankle betrayed her as the lightning dragon's jaws closed around her back.  Her world went black and white, then only black....

* * * * *

Ranma sat in the Tendo's bath, listening to the crash of distant thunder and wondering what his dad had gotten him into now.

Three Tendo girls, and he was supposed to select one.   How was he supposed to chose?

Kasumi was nice and all, but she exuded such a sisterly aura it would be unnerving to actually marry her.  He'd feel ... incestual.

Nabiki was cute enough, but she seemed far too ... mercenary.  He'd constantly fear she'd trade him in for a new car or something.

Then there was Akane:  "Let's be friends!"   Could she still be friends when she found out he was a boy?  She had been so ... vehement about them after their sparring match.

But, she'd been so nice to him ... Like Zhu Shu had.   In the months since he had left the Chinese girl, he'd learned what loneliness really was.  Akane had, for just that little while, made the loneliness go away....

Would she still treat him that way when she found out?   Finally deciding that there was only one way to find out, he stood up, muttering, "I may as well go out as I am."

In mid-step, the door opened and a fully nude Akane stared at him, too shocked to even cover herself with her towel.

Just as shocked, Ranma stood frozen as Akane's eyes traveled down his body, then she took a step backwards and slid the door closed.

He heard the sound of her putting on a robe ... then her sandals ... Finally, he heard the outer door click closed and her leaning on it to draw a breath ....

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

In the dining room, Soun and Genma looked up at the scream and the sounds of Akane's approach.  Kasumi and Nabiki, just starting to bring out dinner, stared as a still yelling Akane ran past them to grab a large stone ornament from the garden.

"I'll weigh him down! I'll drown him in the tub!!!"

Curious as always, Nabiki was the first to ask, "Akane, what is it?  What's that for?"

"There's a pervert in the bathroom!!!" Akane yelled.

"Why don't you just kill him with your bare hands?" Nabiki asked, ever logical.

Never logical, Akane could only say, "Because I'm afraid!!"

With a worried look, Kasumi added, "That's odd.   Ranma was in the bath just now."

Just then, Ranma appeared at the end of the hall.

Akane glared as Kasumi started, "Who ... who....   "

"Who are you?" Nabiki finished

Even more embarrassed than the first time, Ranma could only stare at the floor.

"I'm ... Ranma Saotome."  He scratched the back of his head.  "Sorry about this...."

All three girls just stared in shock....

* * * * *

The five Sailor Senshi stood around Zhu Shu's unconscious body as Mars finished her exorcism.

"That was weird."  Sailor Moon said as Mars carried out the last few chants.  "How could she be able to deflect Venus's attack like that and not be able to handle Jupiter's lightning bolt?  And why did my healing have no effect at all?"

As her chant concluded, Sailor Mars looked puzzled as well, "She should have changed back to normal and the Cardian forced out of her if it was possessing her."

Mercury tapped her computer, "That's not the weirdest part.  Now that she's unconscious, all traces of that bioenergy are gone, but I've still got massive traces of the other kind.  She's definitely one of the sources we've been tracking all week, but it's wild.  It's almost impossible to detect from any kind of distance, except when it spikes, and then it's too quick to triangulate.   I've gotten three other spikes since we got her, but I can't get a lock on any of them.  And those swords ...  I can't make heads or tails out of the readings on them."  She sounded frustrated.

"It's okay, Ami."  Mars said from where she sat with her hand touching the ofuda on the unconscious girl's forehead.  She looked over the prostrate form.  "Now that I've had a chance to get a really good look at her, I think I know what your readings are.  I'm so used to fighting evil villains that I wasn't thinking like a priestess," she sounded upset.

"Rei?  What's up?"  Sailor Moon looked worried.  When Mars was upset, it usually meant that _she_ had screwed up.

Rei stood, "Usagi, help me get her down to a bed in the shrine.  I'll explain inside."

Sailor Moon nodded and moved to help pick up the unconscious girl.  Venus bent down to pick up the pair of fallen swords and just for an instant, the faint dragons etched on the blades flared brightly.

Ami dropped her computer and ripped the visor off her eyes with a cry of "Ouch!"  She rubbed her eyes.

"What happened?"  Venus asked, looking at the swords in askance.

Mercury picked up her computer, "Silver Millennium energy spike off the scale.  It almost overloaded my computer."

"Silver Millennium?"  Rei looked at her, "From the swords?"    

"I can't tell.  It was too quick a flash."

Jupiter looked from the swords to the unconscious girl, "What is she, Rei?  Is she a Cardian?  I've never seen one so quick."

"She's not a Cardian, Mako-chan."  Rei said as they jumped down and entered the shrine.  "And as a Shinto priestess, I should have known,"  She looked down at the strangely beautiful face of the changed girl, "It's my fault we nearly killed this poor girl.  Her only crime was trying to defend herself against the five of us."

"Hey," Ami called, "The readings on her are much clearer in here.  She almost glows."

Rei nodded, "I thought that would be the case."   She nodded down at Zhu Shu as Minako and Makoto slid back the doors of a spare room.  "This girl is probably perfectly human, and I suspect she's under a spell of some sort."  She settled Zhu Shu onto the bed and removed the ofuda, "I should have known.  Close as we were, I felt the spike when she changed, like that huge bolt that occurred just before we got to the roof.  It could only have been magic."

She pulled out her wand and transformed.

Back in her normal garb, Rei continued, "I'm a priestess.  I should have recognized it immediately.  I suspect the surge you keep reading is the spell which transforms her."

Ami nodded and started tapping away at her keyboard.   Minako closed the door to the room and asked, "But what about that weird green energy she hit Ami with?  Or that flash from her swords?"

Rei closed her eyes and sighed, "I don't know.   Some other kind of magic I guess.  It almost feels like ki, but on a level I've never heard of."

"Just plain old ki?"  Makoto asked.   "She'd have to be some kind of super Martial Artist for it to be that.   I've never seen anyone who can manifest enough ki to even be visible, much less anything else she did."

Rei shrugged, "It's doesn't feel 'magical' that way the transformation spell does.  Anyway, it's my fault she's like this ...  I'll take care of her till she's awake."  She laid a hand along side the scorched girls cheek.  "She's a hell of a lot tougher than we had any right to expect for a simple human, even a cursed one.  She'll be okay, but we were lucky this time."

Makoto nodded, "Yes.  We owe her a big apology when she wakes up.  I'll cook dinner for her."

Usagi suddenly got a big grin.  "I know!" she said, her finger held up to indicate her great idea.  "We can take her to that new okonomiyki restaurant in the Ginza!  That'll make a great apology!"   She beamed in happiness at the thought.

Rei nearly kicked her.

* * * * *

Ranma awoke lying face down on a sleeping mat, a wet cloth over a bump on his head and a memory of having smugly told Akane he was better built rattling around in his skull.

"Ah! She's awake!" Kasumi called out next to him.  Ranma's head popped up, then pain hit,  "Ooooooooooooo ...." Ranma said.

Kasumi leaned over, concerned, "Are you okay? Don't think badly of Akane," she pleaded, "She's really a very sweet girl ...   She's just a violent maniac."

"Oh, good Kasumi.  That makes lots of sense." Nabiki said from her seat next to Kasumi.

Ranma shrugged.  He thought they were all crazy.

A few minutes later, after assuring Kasumi that he was alright, Ranma stumbled down the steps towards the bathroom feeling the bump on the back of his head.  It still smarted.  What kind of girl was Akane anyway?  Zhu Shu had been much nicer. Hell, even Shan Pu had at least been understandable!  What was Akane's problem?

Friends, she'd said!  So much for friends when she found out he was a boy!

He stripped in the outer room and thought again of Zhu Shu.  It would have been nice to have another friend like her, but it didn't look like that friend would be Akane.

He was reaching for the door to the tub room when it slid aside.  A once more completely nude Akane stood there.

Ranma was taken aback, and tried to think of something to say as Akane stared at him getting madder and madder.

"Why ... you ... you ... YOU ..." Akane growled, then she slapped him ... Hard.

"So she's got spunk," Genma said after Ranma had finally gotten his bath, "That just makes a fiancée cuter!"

"Cute is not the word." Ranma growled.

Behind him in the dining room, Nabiki was discussing the incident as well.  "But you were both girls, right?  That makes it okay!"

Akane refused to be mollified, "Okay is not the word!!!"

* * * * *

Following Usagi's comment, Rei chased the other Senshi out of the shrine, then returned to her patient.

"Whoever you are, I hope you can forgive us," she whispered as she knelt beside the bed with a bowl of warm water and a washcloth.   She looked over the scorched girl, taking careful stock of her condition.  Her clothes were charred and useless, as well as her pack, but surprisingly little damage had been done to her body.  Rei thanked her ancestors for that.  Gently, she rolled the unconscious girl over to check her back, where the lightning bolt had hit.

Most of the back of the silk dress had been charred to ash, coating the girls skin with black smudges, but here and there, faint metallic gleams caught Rei's eye.  Reaching for her small first aid kit, she took out a pair of bandage scissors.  With enormous care, she began to cut away the rest of the ruined dress.  Afterwards, she took the washcloth soaked in warm water and began to wash away the soot.

At the first touch of the warm water, Rei jerked her hand back as the unconscious girl shifted back to her original form.  She watched carefully for a few moments, but there was no other reaction, so she resumed.   Cautiously, she wiped away the ash....

The first stroke revealed a brilliant pattern of red and gold scales picked out in metallic ink along a sinuous form.  Gently, Rei washed more of the ash and soot away from the rest of the tattoo, revealing an elegant Imperial Chinese Dragon.  Golden eyes seemed to watch her as the girl's breathing seemed to make the Dragon writhe.  It's long serpentine form crawled across her back from her right shoulder in spiraling coils down to it's tail just above the joint of her left leg.   Enwrapped in those coils was a long golden staff that Rei found hauntingly familiar, yet could not place.  In overall appearance, it vaguely resembled an old fashioned key topped by a large ruby.

In one of its four claws, the Dragon gently held cupped a pink flower, a cherry blossom, so exquisitely drawn as to almost seem real.  A single dewdrop traced down a petal, almost like a tear.  As she touched it, Rei sensed an enormous sadness, and an almost unbearable sense of loss.

She looked away, not sure if the feeling was hers.   Her "feelings" were never predictable, or controllable, and she wished she understood them better.

Another claw was reaching out towards a tiger as beautifully drawn as the flower.  It seemed as if the Dragon yearned to reach the tiger, but it was just beyond reach.  Rei had a strange sense of connection, however, as if the Dragon and the Tiger were in some way a part of each other in a way she could not describe.

She shook her head and moved on to the next claw.   The symbolism was puzzling to say the least.  This claw gripped a sword identical to those born by the unconscious girl, complete with the long ribbons, but those ribbons twined about an object that Rei had to look twice at to be sure of.  It appeared to be an oversized spatula.  The ribbons twined around the object in a tight spiral that tied the two together as one.

The last claw also held a sword, this one's ribbons wrapped around a throwing star.  The four objects made a complimentary spiral down the girl's back, from the flower on her left shoulder opposite the dragon's head down to the star on her right cheek, they formed a double helix around the golden staff.  Rei was reminded of a DNA helix.  The artistry throughout was a master's handiwork, and surely, to have spent such a long time detailing the individual items, they must possess a significant meaning to the unconscious girl, but Rei had no clue as to their purpose....

As she cleaned the last of the soot away, a final detail emerged.  At the base of the long staff, just above her coccyx, a group of golden symbols circled a gold ring with a dot in it's center.

Rei's breath caught at the sight of those symbols, and her hand reached out involuntarily to the uppermost one....

Her symbol ...  For Mars....

As her fingers brushed the sign, a feeling of an electric shock coursed up her arm and images formed in her mind...  A pink haired girl with sad eyes, waving goodbye, a black haired Japanese girl holding twin tiger-head pommeled swords, a flash of golden cat-slit eyes glowing in the darkness, a flash of fire followed by a vision of a girl dressed in a boy's outfit, holding out an okonomiyaki with a heart on it, replaced by a female in a red ninja's gi, holding a fan and a spray of darts ...   A flash of light illuminated one of the dragon etched swords, a golden fire burning along its blade as the dragon blazed like the sun ...  As the light faded, the ring with the dot burned in the darkness, then drew back to assume its spot in the center of the ring of nine before darkness covered them all.  In the darkness, those golden eyes opened again, then as the dragon's face appeared around them, it drew back to form the heart of a burning mandala.  Rei felt a surge of power throw her backwards, and she lost contact with the tattoo.

As quickly as it had come, the vision passed, leaving her no wiser than before.  Shaken, Rei dropped her cloth into the basin and willed her heart to stop racing.  She looked at the still form of the Chinese girl and whispered.

"You become more of a mystery yet."

Finally getting a hold of herself, Rei finished the sponge bath, then tucked the girl into the bed.  Taking the girl's swords to her room with her, Rei sat and started to polish the soot off of them, humming a song that was running in her head, then softly singing the lyrics.

It never even occurred to her to wonder that they were all in Chinese.

* * * * *

Zhu Shu woke up in a place far softer than she'd thought she'd be after the lightning dragon had bit her.  As her eyes opened, they focused on a vase of flowers that sat on the table beside the bed she was tucked into.  She stretched under the blankets, and, reluctant to leave the warmth of the bed, felt gingerly along her spine, where she remembered a burning sensation before blacking out.  Her skin felt fine, but the explorations confirmed she was nude under the blankets.  She looked around the room.

A cheongsam hung above a Japanese sword stand where both her swords were set with honor.  They had been cleaned and polished, and shone brightly, the tattered remnants of her ribbons replaced in red silk.  A small meditation mat had been set before the swords, and Zhu Shu smiled at the thoughtfulness.   She peeled back the blankets and stood, her ankle giving her barely a twinge.

She stepped over to the mat and sat on her knees to begin her exercises.  She opened her chakras first and purged her channels of the chaotic energy she'd absorbed from the lightning and the huge surge as she began to re-establish her normal flows.  She was surprised that her environment seemed to be free of the typical disruptions she was used to dealing with in cities.  The local energy was clean, almost purified, which could only mean she was in a shrine.  It took her less time than anticipated to clear the wild energy out.  Calm again, she reached out to re-link with her swords.  A strong surge swept back through her channels as her hands touched the hilts and a wave of dizziness washed over her.  She shuddered, and shook her head to clear it.  Apparently, the bolt had left her farther off center than she had thought.  She closed her eyes and sought her center, grounding herself before she placed the swords behind her back.

Pleased her control was returning, she focused her chi along the side of her hand and began to clear her body of all the hair that had sprouted since she had been knocked unconscious, the exercise one her grandfather had insisted on to teach her fine control of the Dragon's Claw technique, now performed as a calming routine.  Once again hairless from the neck down, she relaxed, assured she was once more in control of herself.  She stood and stretched again before starting her katas.

Her warm-up routine took about twenty minutes, and her ankle gave her almost no trouble, a sign she'd been unconscious at least a few days.   She finished with her workout and stood in front of the mirror on the folding screen, examining herself.  She seemed to have no burns, and her hair had only a few frazzled ends.  Somehow, she'd survived the bolt almost unscathed.  Her eyes locked for a moment on the slit pupiled eyes of her guardian in the reflection of her tattoo and she smiled.  Grandfather had asked for him to watch over her, after all.   She closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment.  When she opened them, the tattoo had vanished.  Satisfied, she reached up for the silk dress.

A few minutes later, she stepped from the room into a hallway.  A quick search along the hall showed her a small bedroom piled with clothes and lots of thin books full of pictures and Japanese text.  A second door led into the main shrine area.  As she stepped into the large room, she saw a girl on the outer steps sweeping.  The girl looked up at Zhu Shu's entrance, "Hello.   It's good to see you awake."

Zhu Shu jumped back, her swords flashing into her hands.   She knew that aura, "Why?  Wait for second chance to kill Zhu Shu?!"

The girl looked puzzled, then alarmed, "Wha- ...   Why would I- ... you think I- you think I tried to kill you?"

"Zhu Shu not fool!  Not wear Sailor suit, but aura not lie!  Sailor Mars try kill Zhu Shu once already!  She game for rematch!!"

Panicked, the girl stepped inside and slammed the shrine doors closed.  Zhu Shu stepped further back into the hall, watching the girl warily, but not wanting to fight in a shrine.  Rei turned to her, hands up, "Wait!   Please!  Will you accept my word as a Shinto priestess that I mean you no harm?!"

Zhu Shu blinked as her swords lowered, "Priestess!?!"

Rei nodded.  "Hai.  Rei Hino, priestess of Hikawa Shrine, Juuban ward."

"Why priestess attack Zhu Shu?" the Mandarin girl asked in wonder.

Rei looked downcast.  "I- I made a mistake,   I ... thought you were possessed.  I wanted to exorcise you.  We didn't know you were under a spell."

Zhu Shu put her swords away and put her hands on her hips, "Nearly kill with lightning.  Zhu Shu not build tolerance from Lum, maybe _would_ kill!"

Rei's face flamed with shame as she answered in a small voice, "I know.  I- I am sorry.  I didn't know."

Zhu Shu hesitated, then nodded, "Can accept.   Zhu Shu knows about Oni.  Priestess must fight."  She cocked her head, "Beside.  If want dead, Zhu Shu not wake up"

Rei seemed to deflate in relief, "Thank you."   She looked around to double check that they were alone, then looked back at Zhu Shu, "How can you know I'm Sailor Mars though?

Zhu Shu cocked an eyebrow, "Rei is priestess?   Not know auras?"

"You- you can see auras?"

Zhu Shu nodded.

Rei leaned against the wall.  "That- that is incredibly dangerous for both of us.  Spirits help me, but I have no idea what to do about you.  I- I have to call the others," she looked up at Zhu Shu, "Please don't be alarmed when they arrive.  I- I won't let anyone hurt you, and I'd rather die than cause you further harm, but we must decide what we should do about you.  There are creatures out there who would stop at nothing to enslave you for the knowledge you possess."

Zhu Shu sighed as she put her swords away.  "Why not surprised.  Is okay.  Call friends.  Zhu Shu have more important thing do."  She rubbed her flat belly,  "Zhu Shu hungry.  Make lunch...."

* * * * *

Rei sat on the temple steps waiting for the other Senshi a few minutes later, trying to figure the Chinese girl out.  She had presented mystery after mystery since her appearance, and Rei had a hard time getting her out of her mind.   There was something about her that ...  Minako's arrival disrupted her train of thought.  The leggy blonde looked askance at Rei's gi top and skirt, "I thought this was a Scout meeting?"

Rei shrugged, "It is."

"Shouldn't you change?"

Rei shook her head, "There's no point."

Minako looked at her oddly, but as Ami and Makoto arrived with Usagi, she refrained from any more questions.

"Hi, guys!  What's up?" Usagi asked brightly, then saw Rei, "Whoops!  What's going on?"

Rei looked over her shoulder at the closed shrine doors, "We have a problem."

"Oh, no!  Don't tell me she died?!!"   Usagi looked horrified, both fists pressed together under her mouth, "Wahhhh!!!  We killed her!!!!"  Streams of tears poured from her eyes.

"Will you dry up!!!" Rei shouted.  Usagi froze, her ponytails straight out behind her from the force of Rei's shout.  Rei crossed her arms and tapped her fingers as she growled, "Just come inside and see for yourself."

Rei stormed into the shrine, followed by the other girls, and stopped at the cheerful "Nihao!" from Zhu Shu.  She stared at the small grill and wok, the cloth laid out on the floor with full place settings, and the nearly complete meal Zhu Shu was cooking.  Where had Zhu Shu gotten all this?  And how?   She'd only been outside for ten minutes!

"Oh, wow!  Chinese!" Usagi cried.

Zhu Shu finished chopping vegetables for her stir-fry and turned the shrimp over on her grill before she looked up, "Sailor Rei say must talk.   Never talk on not full stomach.  Come!  Eat!"

Ami looked over at the priestess, "Sailor ...   Rei?!"

Rei nodded as she led the way to the table setting, "That's what we need to talk about ...."

* * * * *

It had been a tough two days for Ranma.  His first day of school had ended up being as much of a disaster as his meeting with the Tendos.   He hadn't even made it to school before he'd been doused, and Akane had had to get him some hot water from the crazy Doctor she was sweet on.

Then he'd watched as Akane plowed her way through the school's boys just to get in the gate.  Then he'd had a fight with the mad kendoist, Kuno.  He would have won if it hadn't rained.  Changing back had made him late to class and he'd had to stand in the hall with Akane.  Then Kuno had to go and attack him again.  And to top it off, he'd molested him in the pool!  And to add insult to injury, Kuno had gone and insulted his bravery, so he had had to beat him into the ground!  For most people, that would have been enough, but not for Kuno!   No!  He'd had to go and issue a challenge to Ranma's girl side too!

So here he stood, waiting in the field by the school, ticking off the minutes till the appointed hour, getting more and more pissed.  He wasn't going to settle for unconsciousness this time!

At precisely ten o'clock, Kuno appeared.  "So.   You have come, my tree borne kettle girl!"

Annoyed, Ranma shot back.  "You don't learn quick, do you pal?"  He looked around for Kuno's boken, but it was nowhere to be seen.  "Where's your sword?!"

"Heh."  Kuno smiled.  "I have no need of a sword."

"Yeah?  Pretty confident, I guess."

"Confident enough to give you-" with a sudden motion, Kuno threw something.  "-THIS!!"

Ranma caught it easily, intending to throw it back, but the odd way it crinkled drew his attention.  He lowered it slowly, not believing his eyes.

Kuno blushed as he turned to walk away, but Ranma heard him clearly.  "I love you..."

Wide eyed in shock, Ranma could only stare after him...   Then his legs gave way and he slid to his knees, setting and holding the roses as a wind blew the petals away.

The only thought he could form was to recall Zhu Shu's words from the pond, and realize how right she had been....

* * * * *

Urd walked into the house, hunting for her sister.   "Hey, Belldandy!  Who's the Chinese girl practicing in the courtyard?"

Belldandy poked her head out of the kitchen, and smiled.   "Her name is Shan Pu, and Father said to tell you she's your next assignment."

Urd made a noise that might have been "Urk!" and froze, "Um ... Sis ...  I'm on _PROBATION_, remember?!"

"I know!"  Belldandy beamed, "Isn't it wonderful?  Kami-Sama is giving you a chance to get your license back!"

"Oh great," Urd muttered.  How Belldandy could see the bright side of what was sure to be a hellish assignment, she could never understand....

The phone rang.  Urd stared at it in horror.

Oblivious to her sister's state, Belldandy called to her, "Urd?  Could you get that?  My hands are covered in flour."

Urd looked sick.

Picking up the phone, she answered, "H-hello?"

Belldandy finished her dumplings and washed her hands, then went into the hall to see her sister still standing by the phone, her hair blown into disarray and a frozen grimace on her face.

"Urd?" a concerned Belldandy asked.

"I'm doomed," Urd croaked.

* * * * *

Shan Pu finished her practice session in the courtyard and sat at the entrance to the shrine to meditate.  She hadn't really meant to spend the last two days here, but the place just radiated such an aura of peace and tranquility, like Zhu Shu when she was cooking, only magnified a thousand, ten thousand times.   She'd found the last couple of days to be a perfect remedy to the depression she'd felt on arriving here.

She'd so rarely had truly quiet times like this at the Amazon village.  She had so much to live up to as Ke Lun's great-granddaughter, and she'd trained hard all of her life.  It had been the joy of her life to be Champion!   Then one kick from Ranma had changed all of it.

At first, it had been such a humiliation.  To have been bested so easily by an outsider!  A non-Amazon!  The shame of being defeated so quickly had been more than she could bear.  She'd been so gleeful to give her the Kiss of Death!

Then Zhu Shu had told her the truth about Ranma, and it had all changed again.

The Amazon mindset was peculiar.  Men were considered the caretakers, women the warriors.  For a man to possess the skill to defeat an Amazon warrior was a sign he would give her strong children.  The Amazons were not a numerous tribe and survival was very important.  She could not let a prize like Ranma get away!  All Zhu Shu's tales had done was increase the burning desire she had for him. She found her thoughts returning to the day of their fight constantly, the flash of blue eyes, the sun on red hair....

Despite Zhu Shu's descriptions, her mind could not conjure up a male version of Ranma's face.  Her mind refused to stop glorifying the image beyond any sort of reality.  If his female side was so beautiful, what a handsome man he had to be!

Shan Pu sighed and dismissed her daydream.  She believed Belldandy's assurance that her wish had been approved, and that now the Ultimate Force was at work, she just wished it would work faster.

But, then, Shan Pu really had no idea how big her wish was....

* * * * *

Usagi was so busy stuffing her face she could barely mumble, "So what?" when Rei told them Zhu Shu could read their auras well enough to identify them, but Ami realized what she meant right off.

"You mean she can see through our disguises?" she asked, looking around at the other Senshi, still in their uniforms.

Rei nodded.  "She took one look at me and knew I was the same girl who had led the attack on her.  And with the speed of her reactions, I doubt I could have changed in time before she would have cut me to ribbons.   I'm glad she went on the defensive at first and gave me a chance to talk."

"Zhu Shu never attacks first.  And would not kill priestess.  Much bad Karma.  Only sought to stop from casting spell first night.  But can see would take as attack," the Chinese girl added, without looking up from her cooking.

Ami looked over to where Zhu Shu was chopping vegetables for a second round of stir fry.  The knife moved almost too quickly to see as the vegetables appeared to fairly fly into the wok.  Despite the aura of happy tranquility Zhu Shu exuded, Ami had no trouble contemplating what those knives could do to her before she could say "Shabon Spray" and shuddered as Makoto looked on jealously at the speed with which Zhu Shu was making the meal.

The gruesome thought sparked a revelation in the studious girl's mind.  She looked over at Rei in sudden understanding, "You didn't transform so she wouldn't feel threatened...."

Rei nodded, "And also because there was no point to it.  She'll recognize me in any disguise.  It would take years to learn how to change my ki aura enough for me to hide from her."

Ami nodded, noting the raised eyebrow of the Chinese girl, "I agree."  She took out her wand and stepped away from the table.   "Mercury Power, Makeup!"

Sailor Moon looked at her, a pair of chopsticks halfway to her mouth, "Whatcha do that for?  Now she'll recognize you."

Rei glared at her, "Haven't you listened to a thing I've said?!"

Usagi emptied another bowlful of stir fry, "I've listened!"

"Then what did I say?" Rei challenged.

"Um ..." Usagi thought, but couldn't answer.

Rei buried her face in her hands.

"Usagi, what Rei-chan said was that Zhu Shu can see who we are whether we are in Sailor Senshi guise or not," Ami sat down. "I think she has a point.  We can't hide from her, and she already knows too much about us for us to just ignore her.  We should make friends.  She's far too dangerous for us not to.  We can't afford for her to be an enemy," she turned to Zhu Shu and bowed, "I am Ami Mizuno.  Juuban Junior High."

Zhu Shu bowed back, "Song Zhu Shu of Clan Dragon.   Song school of Sword Dance," she intoned formally, giving her full name.   They were trusting her with a secret, after all.

Usagi looked at them and muttered.  "Luna will be sooo pissed about this if she ever finds out ...."  but she took out her locket.

* * * * *

When introductions had been made all around, and the third round of stir fry had been eaten, the question and answers began.  Zhu Shu told about her quest ... (Wow!  You mean they still do things like that?  _Sigh_   That's sooo romantic!) (Hush Usagi!  Let her finish!) ... and the Senshi had told her about the fight with Queen Beryl and how they had just defeated an alien pair who had been stealing life energy.  Zhu Shu forgave them for thinking she might have been a Cardian.  She could understand the mistake, and the fact that the Senshi would assume she was one of those creatures in her cursed form.

Still, they did owe her for the destruction of her clothes, and they decided to take her to the Ginza and do some shopping for some ... or so they said.  Zhu Shu found out quickly that "shopping" meant running from store to store trying different makeup and squealing over "cute" outfits.   She got made up three different ways by Usagi, Rei and Minako, and completely confused by Ami showing her a dozen small gadgets.  Makoto actually had her trying out clothes, but the only real silk panties she could find were useless, tiny things with string sides.  After looking at the other offerings available, she sighed and gave up looking.  Dresses were almost as bad.  She did find several silk cheongsams, but they were as poorly made as the one she was wearing.  With a philosophical shrug, she resigned herself to more early morning katas again.  Sooner or later, she had to find a real dressmaker.

Following the trip, Rei invited Zhu Shu to stay at the temple until she had found Ranma.  Zhu Shu thought that would be a better alternative than Lum's saucer.  It would certainly be safer, Makoto wouldn't throw lightning bolts as casually as Lum, and she'd be safe from Ataru.  A quick call had resulted in a visit by the Oni, and her "Darling", to deliver the few things she'd left in the saucer, but socializing was cut short when Lum found Ataru hitting on Minako and Usagi.  Makoto rated the lightning blasts at a 6.9, but the rest of the Senshi gave them 8's. 

They spent the rest of the afternoon telling each other about their adventures, and Zhu Shu promised to not tell anyone about their secret.   She also told them a little about her style, and after several requests, demonstrated one of the actual dances her form was based on.  She was immediately besieged following the dance with pleas to teach them a few steps. She finally capitulated, but made them promise to learn the whole style, not just the dances. 

Hearing them talk, she had come to realize only Makoto had any formal martial arts training and that they relied solely on their powers.  She got five eager students who promised to show up for daily lessons after school, providing their Sailor duties didn't interfere.

And five best friends.

* * * * *

Urd looked through the folder Skuld had given her, looking more and more despondent.  Kami-Sama had to be punishing her for that whole bit about the Terrible Master.  She'd never seen such a tangled wish!  She sighed.   Well, a wish was a wish, and she was a Goddess!  Second Class!

Or at least one on probation....

She slumped, resting her head on one hand as she looked down at the folder yet again and read the original destiny.  Poor Shan Pu was to have been destined to be a failure, trying time and again to win Ranma's love, but doomed to never succeed.  Urd could sympathize ... She had days like that too.  No ... let's be honest ... she'd had years like that!  In fact, she'd swear she was having a year like that now!

Sheesh!  She'd just been trying to help out her little sister!  It wasn't her fault Belldandy was such an innocent!  Or that Keichii couldn't get a single one of her plans right!

A rumble of thunder derailed that train of thought and she hastily went back to reading the folder.

Ranma.  Akane.  Shan Pu.  Ukyo.   Kodachi.  Tatewaki.  Mu Tse.  Zhu Shu.  Ryouga. Nabiki.   Tao-Ching.  Nodoka.  Ke Lun... 

Her head started to spin as she looked over the alternate threads of destiny.  So many people impacted by this one wish!  It was worse than her favorite soap opera!  And the further one got into the future, the worse it got!

Maybe she could get Skuld to help her out by calling future Urd and asking her how _she'd_ done it.  A glance up at the boiling cloud that had appeared over her let her know what Kami-Sama thought of that idea.  She sighed again.  Dad hadn't forbidden her to ask her sisters for help, after all, her domain was the past, but just as obviously, he wasn't going to allow her to cheat either.   She had to come up with a plan on her own.

It shouldn't be _that_ hard.  It was fairly routine goddess work after all.  It's just she couldn't remember the last time _any_ goddess had been given a mess quite _this_ tangled....

Did she really want her license back that much?

Yes.  Yes, she did.  She wasn't cut out to be a mortal and she really didn't want to take the only other option open to her.  Demon, Third class, limited, Urd just was not a title she'd be able to bear.  Mara would never let her live it down!

No.  Kami-Sama had made it quite clear this was her _last_ chance to get her license back, and had been very explicit with the description of exactly what failure meant to her personally.  She imagined her face with the twin red slashes she'd borne as the Terrible Master and shuddered.  Maybe mortal life _was_ better....

She leafed through the folder again, and sighed once more.   At least there wasn't much she could do to make the situation worse!  It was a time bomb all on its own.

She closed her eyes and checked the variables with Yggdrasil, the tattoos on her face glowing briefly, and shook her head in disbelief.   This had the potential to spawn four blood feuds, one of which could lead to a major war that could escalate into a world war.  Another timeline led to a world controlled by Chaos.  A third led to a long and bloody vendetta that ended with all of the principle participants dead or suicides.  Yet another led to Shan Pu's death at Ranma's hands.

Urd shuddered, it could all get out of hand so easily.

_Face it Urd-_  She told herself,  _There is no easy solution to this one.  You're actually going to have to work at it!_

And that, she had to admit, was probably why Kami-Sama had given it to her as a test.

She glared at nothing and pouted.  She felt so picked upon.  Belldandy would never have a test like this!

Then again, Belldandy would never get herself put on probation either.  In fact, Belldandy could probably solve this tangle, so all Urd had to do was try hard to think what Belldandy would do.

So what would Belldandy do?  Urd thought for long moments before it finally occurred to her.  Belldandy would try to find a way to make everybody happy.

She scowled.  It was a perfectly _obvious_ answer, the only question was how....

She checked with Yggdrasil again, running profiles of all of the varied characters in her little drama, and a germ of an idea began to form in her mind.  She thought and checked personalities, cross checked compatibilities, and all the while a smile grew wider and wider on her face.  As she finished laying out the possibilities to Yggdrasil, the world computer laid out possible courses of action.

She laughed.  She could do it!  She knew she could!

After all, she was a goddess of love, right?

She gave herself a hug of delight then exploded into a dozen chibi Urds, all zipping off in different directions to check on the players in her little game.  Behind her, forgotten on the step, the folder lay unattended, but not for long.  As the shadow of a tree fell across the folder, a figure emerged.

In form, she looked much like Urd, with pale blonde hair, only the scarlet split V on her forehead and the double triangles on her cheeks made her look more sinister.  She smiled, a long, slow smile that showed extended canines, and bent to pick up the folder.  She flipped through it slowly.

"So," she said.  "Urd has a new assignment.  How ... interesting ..."  She came to the final page. She looked over it for long moments, a wild light beginning to grow in her eyes.  She laughed maniacally, "Urd, Demon, Third class, Limited!"  She hugged the folder to her chest, "Now, I will be able to get my revenge!"  She hissed, "I will pay her back for making me her slave!  For trying to feed me to Fenrir!"  She dropped the folder back on the step, "I will make the Terrible Master bow before me!"  She stepped back into the shadows, her laughter now indistinguishable from sobs.  As she faded from view, a final whisper could be heard, "Finally, Urd will be mine once more ...."

With a last whisper of wind, Mara vanished back into the shadows.

* * * * *

Tuesday morning in Juuban found Zhu Shu up and performing her katas at a small pool behind the temple.  She was regretting more than ever that her travels had been so hard on her clothes.  The Senshi had been kind enough to buy her a few new dresses to replace the ones they'd destroyed, but the machine made silk just wasn't as good as the ones she had lost.  She especially regretted losing her new practice dresses, the gifts from Ke Lun and Shan Pu.  They had been her only clothes that could endure the contortions she put her body through in practice, which meant that once again, she had to do her katas in the nude.

It wasn't that she really minded that; she was discovering that it was actually kind of refreshing to not have to pull a stretch because the cloth of her dress bound, but Rei's grandfather was nearly as bad a hentai as Ataru had been and she was having to get up at dawn to do her exercises before he woke, otherwise she would have had to deal with him spying on her.  But at dawn, she had the small pool all to herself.

She had spent yesterday helping Rei around the temple, until it was time to go to school, then she had searched the schools around Juuban for signs of Ranma.  After school, she had given the Senshi their first lessons.

She had decided to start simple and see what they already knew, so had started out by having them attack her.  She'd been amazed at their ineptness.  She had tried to tell them they had been lucky so far none of the villains they had fought had been as quick as she was.  They had laughed and Usagi responded with "We took you down didn't we?"

Zhu Shu had told them to transform and attack her again....

Two minutes later, Zhu Shu sat in the middle of the mat holding four henshin wands and a locket.  Groans and whimpers came from the five girls lying around the room in various impossible positions.  Over the noise, Zhu Shu had told them they were lucky no-one had attacked them before they could change, then given them back their wands so they could heal.  They listened carefully after that, memories of broken bones following a whirlwind attack giving them plenty of incentive.  

She smiled at the memory of their clumsy attempts to duplicate her easy motions.  Then she let out a giggle at the thought of how their eyes would bug out if they could see her morning exercises!

Still, nice as the gaggle of fifteen year old girls were, she still had Ranma to find and a quest to fulfill.

She stopped in mid kata as she realized she was no longer alone.  She turned, swords ready, to face the intruder.

Standing in the shade of a cherry tree was a beautiful woman with tousled blonde hair.  She was dressed in an ornate outfit of black and red that despite it's intricacy left little to the imagination.  A scarlet split V tattoo adorned her forehead and twin double triangles defined her cheeks.  She smiled and Zhu Shu saw a hint of tooth at the corners of her smile.

"Song Zhu Shu?" the sinister looking woman asked.

Zhu Shu's eyes narrowed. 

The woman spent a long moment looking Zhu Shu over like she was a delicacy she was about to devour, then said, "If you want to find Ranma Saotome, be here at this time."  She walked up to Zhu Shu like a hungry cat, and stuck a folded piece of paper on the end of one sword.

Zhu Shu tried to move, but the woman's gaze held her frozen.  She felt like a mouse fixated by a snake.  The woman walked around her, looking her up and down, "How interesting.  You can actually sense my true nature?" she purred.  Zhu Shu shivered, "Usually, only priests like your fifteen year old defender over there can do that." 

Zhu Shu heard a gulp, and the sound of hurried chanting.

The woman laughed, unconcerned, "Don't bother.   I'm only here to pass a message and was leaving anyway.  Besides, that charm won't have any effect on me dear."  She turned and walked back towards the shadows under the trees.  At the edge of the shadow, she turned and looked back over her shoulder, "Don't forget to say hi to his fiancée for me!"  She laughed as she disappeared back into the shadows and faded from view.

Rei rushed up and grabbed Zhu Shu in a hug from behind, "Are you ok?  I was so afraid for you.  She radiated such evil she had to be a demon or an evil spirit!  I woke up as soon as I felt her presence and ran down here!"  She hugged Zhu Shu tighter.

Distracted, Zhu Shu answered.  "Zhu Shu fine, but could Rei please let go of breast?  After way woman look at, Zhu Shu really not in mood."

She could feel Rei's blush of embarrassment right through the girls pajamas as she reached to pluck the slip of paper from the end of her sword.

It had two items.  A time, and the name Furinkan.

* * * * *

A few hours later, Zhu Shu stood on the roof of an apartment building near the school Rei had directed her to as Ranma was pulled past by a pretty Japanese girl who had him by his braid.  She had debated about the meaning of the mysterious visitor, but it seemed she had been a godsend.  Zhu Shu followed Ranma, studying the girl.  Her aura showed her to be a strong martial artist, only she had a streak of impulsiveness she did not control.  Beyond a shell of defensiveness and that hair trigger, there was a sense of potential.  She brought to mind the image of a young tiger cub, and Zhu Shu could only imagine how beautiful she could be if she would let herself be. 

Zhu Shu stopped that dangerous line of thought.   That's how she and Cherry Blossom....

Her thoughts were interrupted by her quarries arrival at school.  She found a vantage in a tree just as the girl slammed Ranma into the wall just inside the gate at Furinkan High.

"Listen Ranma!  Why don't you keep your big mouth-"

"Whadda ya mean 'Big Mouth'?!"  Ranma interrupted.

"I mean about Dr. Tofu and," the girl broke off to stare at Ranma's chest then ripped open the front of Ranma's shirt, revealing his breasts.  "When...  When did-???"

"I told you to wait!"

Behind them, unnoticed, a crowd of boys had gathered, dressed in various sports outfits.  They looked on to the scene between the two and gave a collective low whistle.

Ranma yelled, "Hey!  Get outta there you perverts!" as the girl whipped around into a defensive pose, "So-" she called, "Who's first today?"

The crowd sobbed collectively as one of the boys spoke, "Akane...  We shall no longer challenge you."

"Instead, we shall swallow our sobs," another boy said, "And give our approval to your engagement to Ranma!!"

Zhu Shu almost fell out of her tree.

"What in the name of ...." a still open shirted Ranma started, but was interrupted by an aside from Akane.  "Button your blouse!"  She hissed, then turned back to the crowd, "Now.  What in the name of ...."

"So then ..." A new voice interrupted, "You have all heard this _rumor_ ... this _falsehood-_"  the newcomer was a tall male who's chest and face were so swaddled in bandages that only his eyes were visible, "that Ranma Saotome _defeated_ me!"  Maniacal laughter echoed around the yard, "Upperclassman Kuno does not _admit_ to defeat!"

The crowd of crying boys turned back to Akane, "Kuno was the greatest fighter at Furinkan High!"  one said.

"Yeah!  And it's greatest pervert!" an anonymous voice called.

"Pervert!"  Kuno steamed.

"If it's Ranma you've chosen," the first speaker sobbed, "then we shall give you up"

Akane looked at Ranma, "they don't know a real pervert when they see one." she giggled

"I'll let that one slide."  Ranma growled.

The kendoist started to unwrap his bandages, "Kuno shall _not_ give you up!  A hundred, two hundred kicks..." huge foot shaped bruises were revealed as the bandages fell away, "from a coward like Ranma ... do not even itch!!"

Zhu Shu watched as Ranma steamed and shook her head.   He had never listened to Zhu Shu about the importance of keeping his temper.

"Just who are you calling a coward?!" he asked as he stepped forward.  "Can't admit that you lost, huh!?!"

"Watch it Ranma!" Akane called.

Kuno meanwhile had seemed to notice Ranma for the first time, "Ohhh!  It is you!"  He sobbed in joy, "My pigtailed goddess!"

Ranma froze.  "Urk!"

Zhu Shu giggled.  She had warned him!

"You just can't remember, can you?" Akane said resignedly.

Kuno stepped close to Ranma, "How I have pined to see you!"  Tears of joy dripped down his face.

"Whoa! Whoa!"  Ranma protested, "I thought you liked Akane!"

"Of course I do," Kuno replied puzzled.

"She's watching, you know!"

Kuno looked over to where Akane had deliberately turned her back, "No she's not."

Ranma looked at her, "Hey! Akane!  _Watch_ us already!"

"Please ... Upperclassman Kuno ..." Akane turned wide eyes towards the kendoist, "if you really love this girl ... I won't stand in the way!"  The one hand poised below her mouth gave her a look of heartbreak barely hidden.  Zhu Shu had to admire the artistry.

"Oh, Akane.  Akane ..." Kuno murmured in wonder as an irate Ranma called out, "Hey!  What gives here!?"

To thin air, Kuno emoted, "I won't stand in your way!   So noble!  So touching! So sweet!  Oh Akane!  How can I discard you!?!  I love you both!" he cried as he lunged towards the two girls and was met with a simultaneous kick and punch.  He went down twitching.

The crowd of boys looked on, "Well.  We've said our piece!"  They turned to go, "Give our congratulations to Ranma!"

Akane pushed the female Ranma the other way, "When I ...  uh ... see him.  Sure"

Ranma said not a word as he walked off.  Zhu Shu sat back in the tree and thought about what had just happened.  There were so many levels to consider.  Shan Pu ... Ranma ... and now Akane....

She decided she was just going to have to watch them for a while and gather more information before deciding on a course of action.

Below her, Kuno groaned and set up.  Zhu Shu watched, approving of his stamina.  He might have been worthy as a possible husband candidate if it hadn't been so obvious he was as crazy as a loon.  He stood and looked around, "Oh, curse my weakness that I fainted!  My beloved's are gone!"  His sword lashed out to slice through  a tree.  Unfortunately, it happened to be the one Zhu Shu was using as a perch.  She leaped across to another tree, but Kuno was at the base of it too, "Spy!  Villain!  Assassin!  Show yourself!"   His blade hit the trunk and there were no other trees nearby.

Zhu Shu did a flip in mid air and led with one foot.   Kuno watched her descend, mesmerized.  He whispered, "lovely" just before her foot impacted with his face, and he crashed to the ground once again.  Zhu Shu landed lightly and frowned at the smile on Kuno's face.  She really was going to have to do something about panties soon.

* * * * *

At Gym class, Zhu Shu spied on Akane and Ranma as they participated in their separate activities, her vantage point too far away to hear what was being said.  The boys were apparently impressed with his gymnastics ability, but Zhu Shu knew he was just playing.  Ranma mostly ignored the boys, staring distractedly at Akane playing softball.

Zhu Shu smiled.  She knew that look.  He might fight it, he might deny it, he might even run away from it, and if she knew Ranma, he refused to admit it even to himself ... but he was hooked.  Lost.  Head over heels.  She should know ... Shan Pu had demonstrated that look often enough during their search.

She sat back and considered.  This definitely meant complications for Shan Pu.  She thought about several different plans, but concluded she still needed more information before she could decide.  She had to find out if Akane shared the same feelings.

* * * * *

From her vantage in a squirrel's nest, the Chibi Urd who was watching Zhu Shu stared in amazement.  The Chinese girl might not have the ability to read minds, but she was better at untangling the conflicting array of emotions she could see from auras than Urd would have given anyone credit for.  Intrigued, she looked deeper into her.  What she saw brought a wide eyed look to her face and an awed "whoa."

Compared to the intrigues of the Mandarin court Zhu Shu had been trained to serve in, this was fairly simple.  She understood the emotions involved and even had a dozen different plans for either eliminating Akane as a rival if she didn't love Ranma, or grooming both of them to wed Shan Pu if she did.  She even had half a dozen herbal recipes to help sway things either way if needed.  She had to admire such practicality!

Away on his throne in Asgard, Kami-Sama shook his head.   Urd had missed the point again.  She'd forgotten to look at the one truly important thing he had hoped she would see:  Why Zhu Shu was doing it....

He had not yet given up hope that his selfish daughter would learn what it meant to do something just because she cared about a friend.

Still, it was one of the reasons he'd given her this assignment, though it was the smallest one.  She still had much to do to see it through.  So much depended on it.

He sighed.  Sometimes, even an Almighty has to have faith.

* * * * *

Zhu Shu followed Ranma and Akane for the rest of the day, having taken a break during their classes to return to the shrine and leave a note for the girls that she would be out late so there would be no class tonight.  Ranma had a bandage on his cheek from where Akane had hit him with a foul ball.  She couldn't see what went on in the doctor's office, but when Akane left shortly after the arrival of a tall beautiful girl with a ponytail, Zhu Shu followed her.  After a period of wandering, she went into a large dojo house combo.  Zhu Shu found a vantage point to watch as she set up a training session.  Akane broke brick after brick until Ranma found her.  Zhu Shu moved to where she could watch Akane's face as they sparred.

"Come on!  Fight back!" Akane yelled as Ranma dodged "How can I work out my stress if you won't fight ?!"

"Akane," Ranma said as he dodged several other blows, "Don't you ever get tired of being angry all the time?"

"That's my business!" she yelled as he dodged yet another blow.

"Okay, but you know, you're cute when you smile."

From her tree, Zhu Shu smiled at the expression in Akane's eyes and aura for that split second before Ranma caught her with a nerve strike to the forehead, "Blew it!" he cat called

Zhu Shu departed her tree to the sounds of Akane's protesting, "That wasn't fair," and made her way to the walkway outside.   She had her answer now.  She wouldn't have to make Ranma unhappy, even for the best of reasons.  Nor would she have to remove Akane from the equations.  Shan Pu had already given her an option.  All she had to do was find a way to get Shan Pu worked into the picture too, then get Shan Pu to accept Akane as a sister-wife.

Whistling merrily, she headed back to the shrine.   Tomorrow was time enough to get things rolling.

* * * * *

The next morning, she pretended not to notice Rei trying to watch her secretly at her katas, but she did do her hardest forms.  No sense in wasting the opportunity to show her exactly how much she had yet to learn.  Rei's aura worried her a little, but at least it wasn't Usagi or Minako.  Rei was a priestess, and hopefully mature enough to recognize a minor fascination as what it was.   She could read the swirled tangle of admiration, envy and desire and know it wasn't serious, however muddled teenaged hormones could make the situation seem.

Zhu Shu sighed.  She could sympathize with her.   Those years hadn't been easy on her either.  She'd had her own share of confused feelings.  She recalled that spring day in their cave with Cherry Blossom, and how mad her aunt had been at the blood on her dress.  How she had beaten her until she had told her what had happened.  How if her grandfather had not intervened, her aunt might have beaten her to death.  Nor had she forgotten one word of the _Lectures on Familial Duties_, or the _Duty of the Wife to Produce An Heir_.  That one day of innocent exploration and tenderness had led to two years of her aunt training her in the Marital Arts as well as her duties as an Imperial servant, and a further year of training in the _Duties of a Concubine to her Emperor_.

She'd always wondered if her aunt had been responsible for Cherry Blossom's family moving to another village a week after that day.  She'd stood at the edge of the village watching her wave goodbye from the back of her family's wagon, promising she'd never forget Zhu Shu.  Zhu Shu had watched until they were out of sight and had turned to find that miserable Sung Li looking at her with a grin, "Well, babe.  There goes your only competition for me!  Guess you win by default!"

She hadn't even been able to summon the will to hit him.

Back in the present, she closed her eyes and closed off the thoughts once more, only a single tear falling down her cheek as she exerted all of her mental discipline on her unruly emotions and sealed them behind an iron wall.   She brought her forms to a close in a long moment of stillness, then put away her swords and walked over to put on her dress.  A mischievous impulse made her smile, and she blurred.

From Rei's point of view, Zhu Shu disappeared, only to reappear right beside her.  Zhu Shu gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then vanished again as Rei collapsed in a heap, wide eyed and heart hammering, unsure if she was dreaming, and not sure if she wanted to be.

* * * * *

The Chinese herbalist had stared wide eyed at the list Zhu Shu had given him, written in neat Mandarin pictograms, and fingered the circular seal at the bottom, "Where did you get this symbol from, little one?"

Puzzled, Zhu Shu answered, "It is my clan's crest."

The herbalist blanched and a drop of sweat rolled down his temple, "I- I will have this order made by tomorrow, Revered One!"  He bowed and bowed as he vanished into the shop's back room.  Even more puzzled, Zhu Shu left the shop when it became clear that he wasn't coming back.  She walked down the street, feeling the weight of eyes all around her as the people all stared at her, and the air buzzed with a thousand conversations.  Unnerved, she ran.

On a rooftop outside of the Chinatown, She sat and tried to figure out what had happened, but none of it made sense.  They'd been staring at her like she was a goddess, a dream made real...  She couldn't understand it.   What did they think she was?

No answers came, and it was almost time for Ranma's school to start.

* * * * *

Ke Lun stared down the narrow trail to the mouth of the cavern under the old Buddhist shrine.  She nodded to herself.  Well hidden and easily defended, a natural spot for hiding.  She could easily see how any survivors of Clan Dragon would have viewed the secluded village as a haven.  Had she not had directions from Zhu Shu, she would have had to spend a day or more finding the secluded mountain valley.  While it was only a few days from the Amazon village, it was outside of their normal territory, and didn't carry on much trade with it's neighbors.   Three hundred years ago, it likely had been as hard to find as legendary Shangri-La, and even now, the road to the village was little more than a jeep track.   Only the fact that a local Magistrate for Quinghai province lived here had rated the construction of a road at all.

Various paths led from the cave mouth to the Shrine, and to what looked to be a meadow higher up.  A small building stood at the entrance to the cave, bearing a Chinese flag.  Ke Lun smiled.  It looked to be about as well tended as the one at the PRC office in the Amazon village, though the house adjoining it was neat and orderly.  That would likely be the home of Sung Po, the magistrate, an unusual member of the Communist party in that he kept the PRC influence in the province to a minimum.  He seemed to have no more a wish for the "benevolent" rule of the PRC than the Amazons did.  

She had waited several months before coming, spending the time going over the old records, and studying the remains of the once proud Clan Dragon stronghold, discovering that a long since collapsed secret passage from the heart of the castle did exist.  Three hundred years ago, when the Musk had razed the castle, it had been undetectable.  The Amazons had come too late for anything but revenge, and bad blood had remained between the Musk Dynasty survivors and the Amazons.  The Musk had incurred a debt that could never be repaid, but had survived by locking themselves into that damn fortress.  There had been no way to eradicate them then, and little point in the centuries since.  The much reduced Dynasty wasn't worth the Amazon's time, however arrogant and skilled their prince was.

She took a deep breath.  The Amazon's had failed in their oath then, and as the leader in charge of the contingent that had been sent to Clan Dragon's aid, she had felt that personally all these centuries.  Zhu Shu had been a godsend, a chance to redeem one of her failures.  But there was much that she had sensed that Zhu Shu had not been forthcoming about.  A bitterness she needed to get to the bottom of, and a seeming lack of certain knowledge that she would have expected the heir of Clan Dragon to possess.

A tall man with long white hair and a beard stepped out of the shadows of the cavern and looked at her.  Ke Lun could have sworn the way he moved looked familiar.  He seemed to be waiting for her.  Warily, she descended the trail, her senses on alert.  As she drew closer, she realized the man had no presence, she couldn't even sense his chi.  Finally close enough to see his face, she realized why.  It had to be Zhu Shu's grandfather.

He bowed as she stopped in front of him, "Greetings Ke Lun.  I assume since you have finally found us,  my  granddaughter found her way to your village?"

Ke Lun raised an eyebrow, "Yes.  I admit, I was surprised to discover the survival of Clan Dragon."

The old man sighed, "I would hardly call my escape with my wife and child a survival, Ke Lun."

"Yet you did survive.  Why did you not come to us?  We would have defended you."

The old man shook his head sadly, "From what we fled, no.  We escaped because no-one knew we survived."

Ke Lun sighed, "That does not seem like you, Shi.   I remember the confident man who once tried to woo me."

The old man chuckled ruefully, "Survival has made me cautious."

Ke Lun nodded, "How many generations have called you grandfather?"

The old man smiled ruefully, "Six.  Little Mouse is the last of the line.  I have done everything for her I can, given her as much leeway as I could while doing my duty, but she must marry and produce an heir."

Ke Lun nodded, "I agree.  Yet you seem saddened by this."

The old man nodded and turned to the cavern mouth, "Come. There is much I suppose you must learn about my beloved great-grandchild."

Ke Lun watched the old man enter the shadows, then followed.  Life had been full of surprises lately, what with Zhu Shu, and Shan Pu's prospective husband.  The last thing in the world she had expected was Song Shi Wang, Weapons Master of Clan Dragon, and once upon a time her best friend. 

* * * * *

Zhu Shu spent the day observing Akane, and studying the Japanese school system. She wasn't sure how long she would be at this, and she might have to enter school to keep an eye on things.  She watched as Akane talked to her friends about Ranma and Akane's boy troubles, and other normal topics for schoolgirls, and by listening, Zhu Shu came to the conclusion that Akane was as confused about her feelings as Ranma had always been about his.  And like Ranma, she was very competitive.  By the end of the school day, she'd had two more fights with Ranma, and Zhu Shu decided that the time had come for direct action.  She waited until Akane was alone in the practice yard working off her frustrations.

* * * * *

 
Akane smashed another brick with a cry of "Ranma!   You jerk!" and looked around for another one, but that had been her last.   Disappointed, she kicked a piece into the Koi pond and plopped down on a bench under a tree.

"Confusing he is, yes no?"

Akane nodded, "Very!"

"Give insult, then say nice thing."

"He's such a JERK!" Akane growled.

"He confused.  Not know how to say he love."

"Ha!  Right!  I wish I could believe that!"

"Akane confused too.  She not know how say either."

"Like I would want to!"

"Akane does.  Zhu Shu has seen way look at him."

Akane sighed, then did a double take and whirled.  A beautiful Chinese girl hung upside down from the tree looking at her curiously, "Akane not make easy for Ranma either.  Is too competitive too!"

Akane gaped, "W-w-w-who are y-you?"

The girl flipped and twisted midair to land in front of Akane.  She bowed, "Song Zhu Shu of Clan Dragon.  Song School of Sword Dance."  She straightened, "Friends call Zhu Shu.  Hope Akane is friend."

"Zhu Shu??" Akane asked.  The girl nodded, "What were you doing in my tree?"

"Zhu Shu watch Akane and Ranma.  Think Akane need someone talk to know Ranma well."

"You know Ranma?"  Quick surge of jealousy, "But- how?!  I've never seen you before!"  Ranma knew this beautiful girl?

Zhu Shu giggled, "Silly.  Ranma not just start existing on Akane doorstep!  Zhu Shu follow Ranma since Jusenkyo."  She looked both ways as if looking for listeners then added in a conspiratorial tone, "Zhu Shu have to teach Ranma how to deal with curse.  Ranma nearly panic when have first period!"  She laughed infectiously.  Akane had to join in, the image of what Ranma's reaction had to be was hysterical, and then Zhu Shu added, "Ranma thought he broken!"

"He must have thrown a fit!"  Akane giggled, "I'll bet he couldn't wait to change!"

"Zhu Shu not let!  Not have many pad!  Not let Ranma waste!"

"You mean he had to stay a girl all through it?!"  Akane had to hold her sides as she laughed, "Oh, what poetic justice!"

"Hey!  What are you laughing about Aka-"   Ranma froze at the door, "Zhu Shu!?!"

Zhu Shu waved, "Nihao, Ranma!  Zhu Shu come to Japan help with Fiancée!"

"WHAT???"

Zhu Shu hopped over and patted Ranma on the cheek, "Of course.  Ranma not be trusted on own without friend to help!"

"Hey!  I'm not doing that badly!"

Zhu Shu looked over at Akane, "Zhu Shu would not have guessed!"

He fumed, "You don't know what she's like!  She acts like a guy!  Not like y-"  He broke off when he realized what he had been about to say.

"Not like WHAT?!"  Akane yelled as she took a step towards him.  Zhu Shu casually sidestepped and neither Ranma nor Akane saw her quick foot as she caught Akane's heel and gave her a boost.

Ranma had been prepared to dodge a punch, not the lurch Akane gave.  Before he could move, Akane had stumbled into his arms and her lips met his.

They both froze for a split second, then both jumped back, hearts pounding, looking wide eyed at each other.

"W-w-what w-was t-that f-for?!"  Ranma stuttered.

Akane blushed and turned away, "What was what for?"

"Y-you kissed me!"

"I-I did not!  I-I just...  fell!"

"Oh."  Ranma actually looked disappointed, "Well, if you had just a bit of grace!"

Akane's embarrassment turned to fury, "Why you- you- "  She swung a punch at Ranma which he started to dodge.

Again, their lips met.  Zhu Shu had caught Ranma's foot just as he had begun to move, and as a result, Akane's fist was straight out behind his head as he found himself face to face and lip to lip with her.

The frozen tableau held long enough for the sound of the wind to whistle, then they both jumped back, blushing furiously.

"So nice.  Ranma kiss Akane for apology."   Zhu Shu said sweetly.

"Wha-" Whatever else Ranma had been about to say was muffled by Zhu Shu's hand over his mouth, "How cute."  Zhu Shu continued, "Ranma all tongue tied!"  She smiled winningly at Akane, "He say he sorry.  Ask forgive?"  She gave him a nerve poke and his eyes glazed in pain, "Right?"  Ranma looked at the finger still at the ready and nodded furiously.

Akane looked bewilderedly from the mad Chinese girl to a Ranma who was rapidly turning purple and looking at her with big pleading eyes.  Her lips still burned with the feel of Ranma's and she felt like she was in a daze, "It's alright..."  She said faintly "I forgive him ...."  She turned and wandered into the house.  She needed to sit down and let her head clear and maybe figure out what had just happened.

* * * * *

Ranma blinked twice after Akane, and even after Zhu Shu's hand left his mouth, it took him a few seconds to remember to breathe.  He'd never seen Akane act like that, except when looking at Dr. Tofu.  Certainly never after a fight with him.  He scratched his head and looked over at the Chinese girl sitting on the bench.

"Two questions, Zhu Shu.  One.  Why'd you do that for?  And two.  What's up with her?"

Zhu Shu shook her head.  He had so much to learn ...   but it was a start.

* * * * *

Kasumi came out of the kitchen to see Akane staring off into nothing, a stunned expression on her face as she absently pressed her lips, "Akane?"  she asked worriedly.

"He ...  kissed me ..." was Akane's only reply.

Kasumi beamed.  That was so wonderful!  She went back to the kitchen to get Akane a cup of tea, but paused, looking out over the Koi pond.   Who was that Chinese girl Ranma was talking with?  She approached quietly to ask him and heard him talking to her, "But she's so angry all the time, Zhu Shu!   It's like she hates me!"

"Same girl who dazed by Ranma kiss?"

"Oh, come on Zhu Shu.  You know that only happened because you tripped me!"

"Zhu Shu should not have had to trip!"

"_Ahem_." Kasumi cleared her throat to let them know she was there, "Hello Ranma.  May I meet your friend?"

Ranma jumped, "Oh.  Hi Kasumi ... um, yeah ...   This is Zhu Shu.  She's from China," he seemed a little embarrassed.

The girl rose and gave Kasumi a deep bow and introduced herself formally, "Song Zhu Shu, of China." 

Pleased at such politeness, Kasumi smiled and introduced herself , "And I am Kasumi Tendo.  Would you like some tea?"

"Zhu Shu would be honored," a glance and a slight roll of her eyes indicated she thought Ranma should have already offered, and Kasumi silently agreed.  She invited them into the house and inquired as she led the way, "May I ask what brings you to Japan?"  Ranma's body language told her there was far more between them than a casual acquaintance.  He was far too relaxed around her.

"Zhu Shu comes hunt Ranma.  Abandoned at Amazon village.  Zhu Shu think should kill for leaving her to fight Amazons alone.  But decide too much friend to kill," the Chinese girl said lightly.

"_W-w-what_?!" a very taken aback Ranma looked at her in horror.

Kasumi could tell from her tone and body language that she wasn't serious, but Ranma obviously didn't,  "_Abandoned_!?!  Pop's said that you had asked us to escort you there!  I thought it was were you were going!"

Zhu Shu sighed, "Should have guessed.  Panda man big liar," Kasumi noted the resignation in the Chinese girl's voice and figured she had reasons not to like Mister Saotome much.  She was very curious, but it would be impolite to ask.  She got them sat around the small kitchen table and bustled around getting tea things together as Ranma continued.

"You mean that wasn't where you were going?   Man, if I had known that, I would never have left you there!  I thought you'd be safe."

"Zhu Shu nearly have to fight whole Amazon tribe.   Only fact Clan Dragon she did not," there was a strong hint of amusement in her voice.

"Oh man, Zhu Shu.  I am so sorry!"   Kasumi raised on eyebrow.  He not only sounded sincere, but actually contrite.   This girl must mean a lot to him.  She studied her in the reflections on the kettle.

Zhu Shu was looking him up and down with a calculating look in her eye, "Ranma sorry?  Wish make up to Zhu Shu?"  Kasumi frowned.  The girl was definitely up to something.  Kasumi hoped she wasn't setting Akane up for a heartbreak.

"Anything!" Ranma said firmly

"On honor Saotome name?"  Zhu Shu prodded.

"Yes, Zhu Shu.  Just tell me what you want me to do!"

The small Chinese girl got up and leaned over to poke Ranma in the chest, "_No punish Akane for not be Zhu Shu!_"

Kasumi dropped the kettle as Ranma froze.

In the silence that followed, Zhu Shu spoke, "Ranma _not_ want Akane be like Zhu Shu.  _Believe_ Zhu Shu."  She turned and sat down again.

Kasumi recovered and moved to pick up the kettle, "Oh, how clumsy of me."  She grabbed a mop to clean up the mess.

Ranma finally got his voice back, "But Zhu Shu, she's so unfeminine!  She acts like a boy!  Not like a girl at all!"

"And think Zhu Shu does?"

"Yes!  You act like a girl!  You're the classiest girl I know!"

"And think Akane should be like?"

"Yes!"

Zhu Shu looked away, "Really think Akane should be like Zhu Shu?  No.  Ranma not know what he say."  There was a strange edge to her voice.

"Yes I do.  You taught me all I know about females!  You showed me what a real female acts like!"

"So you punish Akane for not be like Zhu Shu?!"   Shadows overhung the Chinese girls face, "Maybe want Zhu Shu teach Akane be like her?!"

"Why not?" Ranma yelled, "Then she'd act like a real girl."

Zhu Shu stood, "Maybe Zhu Shu should _show_ what type of girl is.  Maybe not want Akane act like that."  Her voice was strained.   Kasumi paused her mopping to look at her.  Was she okay?

Ranma was oblivious, caught up in his rant, "But I like your type of girl Zhu Shu.  You're all soft and fem...a..."

He trailed off out of pure shock.  Zhu Shu had moved and swept Kasumi into an embrace as she planted a long kiss on her.

The mop handle bounced on the floor.

Kasumi was too shocked even to protest, and by the time she had recovered enough composure to act, Zhu Shu had released her, and turned to Ranma, "_Now_ understand?  Ranma take care!  Not treat Akane _better_, maybe Zhu Shu steal!"  She turned and stalked out the door.

Kasumi and Ranma stared after her, then Kasumi looked down to the small note that had been left in her hand.  She read the barely legible Kanji, written even more brokenly than Zhu Shu's speech, and blushed slightly.  Her hand came to her lips as she said, "Oh my!" softly and looked out the door after the vanished girl again.

She agreed with the letter that Ranma would not have gotten the point any other way, and she could forgive Zhu Shu for the surprise.

But she hadn't expected to be thanked for such a wonderful kiss.

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