OK, I haven't proof read this myself yet, but I did use a spell check. ^_^

So, this is a draft, I hope you guys C&C this cause it REALLY needs it. 
(This means you, Misa-chan!)

			Chinese Samurai
			    By Jack Ji
			Part XII: AbNornal

	As I unloaded our luggage, I thought about the three weeks 
that I spent in Nerima. I thought about Shampoo, the strange people 
living there and the demon that had an interest in my friends and me. I 
still had a bit of a headache, but it was clearing up well.
	I was still pondering how the four of us fell asleep in front of 
the dojo. My nanny didn't think much of it, which made it even 
stranger.  It was like a bad dream. It was still very blurry. I remembered 
fighting Ranma and Ryouga. Why did I go crazy on them? I couldn't 
explain it. The last thing I remembered was a bright light, then I woke 
up in the car.
	"Hey, Jack," Mike began. He had a look of deep thought, 
"You know, I've been thinking, what if they made a TV series about 
Nerima? And they had all this merchandise like T-shirts, pins, and 
posters?"
	"I'd say they'd have a hell of a time doing the stunts and all 
the fight scenes," I replied.
	"Well, I meant a cartoon series in the U.S," Mike added. "It 
would be easier if it were an animated series."
	I thought about it for a bit, "Nah, something like this wouldn't 
sell in the US. Too many parents would get mad from all the talk about 
gender changing and all the violence."
	"What if they put it out on video and mad it a comic book?" 
Dan suggested.
	"Yeah, how about we make Hanny draw everything since he's 
so good at drawing?" I grinned.
	"Huh? What about me?" Hanny said from the other said of the 
car.
	"Well, I think that's the last of the luggage," my nanny said. 
"I'll see you boys in a few weeks when I pick you up to go to the air 
port. Have fun and behave!" She got in the car and drove off.
	We stood there, admiring the beauty of the temple. It was so 
peaceful and friendly. Best yet, it looked like it had lots of room. I took 
a long, deep breath. The air was fresh, unlike most urban areas, and my 
headache was gone!
	We picked up our suitcases and headed inside the temple. 
*SNAP* Dan's suitcases broke off at the handle.
	"Argh! You guys go ahead, I'll be there in a sec," Dan told us.
	"OK, be quick," I replied. "I heard that Belldandy's, I think 
that's her name, cooking is very good and that most likely she'll have 
some treats for us."
	"OK, just save some for me," Dan said, examining his 
suitcase.
	"Alrighty, then," Hanny smiled, "Onward!" We walked line 
abreast up the steps of the temple. We came to the door and stopped.
	"Who's going to knock?" I asked.
	"Uh, not me!" Mike backed off.
	"I'm certainly not," Hanny did the same.
	"Well, you speak Japanese the best," I argued.
	"So? I'm not a native speaker!" Hanny retorted.
	"You sure sound like one to me!" I exclaimed.
	"Ah! You must be Tojo's friends," someone said.
	"Huh?" we all turned our attention to the door.
	A short little Japanese boy, I'd say about 5 feet tall or so that 
looked like he just began high school greeted us in the doorway, "Come 
in, come in. We've been waiting for you."
	"Oh, uh, thank you," I nodded.
	"I hope you don't mind," he said, "I heard you talking outside 
so I figured it was you. Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Keiichi Morisato."
	"Nice to meet you, Keiichi," I said. I was surprised. Ken told 
me that Keiichi was in college but he was so short, he didn't look like 
he was. "My name is Jack Ji."
	"And I'm Michael Lyon," he said. "But just call me Mike."
	"I'm Hanny Lee," he sighed, as if he didn't really want to tell 
anyone his name.
	"I was told that there were four of you," Keiichi said as he led 
us through a small hallway to the living room.
	"Well, Dan is outside," Hanny answered. "He had a little 
trouble with his suitcase."
	"Oh, please, let me help you with those," Keiichi insisted. He 
tried to grab the suitcases out of our hands.
	"No, it's OK," I smiled. "They're kinda heavy."
	"Are our guests here already?" a familiar voice said. "Please 
have some treats that I made for you."
	"Kasumi?" I turned my head. The voice sounded exactly like 
Kasumi's! 
	I dropped my suitcases. Standing in the living room was a nice 
looking young woman, around 20 I'd say, holding a tray of desserts. 
She had long, and I mean LOOONG, brownish hair and a very amiable 
smile. 
	To her right was a small girl with equally long black hair. She 
seemed a bit timid and hid behind her sister. I assumed it was her sister. 
Strapped on her should was a small red and white mallet.
	On the other side of her, was a taller lady, about the same age 
as the middle one. She also had very long, and a bit wavy, hair. I 
couldn't tell if the color was white, gray, silver or platinum. Boy, she 
looked like one vivacious babe with that tan and figure.
	But I didn't drop my suitcase because of that. I dropped it 
because of their markings on their forehead and below their eyes.
	I summoned my katana, "Demons! Those markings on their 
head, Cologne told me those markings mean they're demons!"
	"Demons?" Mike and Hanny both dropped their suitcases and 
popped out their weapons.
	"Wait! What are you talking about?" Keiichi jumped in front 
of us. "You got this wrong! They're not demons! Honest!"
	"Poor guy," I said with sympathy. "They must have put a spell 
over you. Please, move out of the way so that you don't get hurt."
	"But they DON'T have a spell over me!" he still continued to 
argue. Mike used a shiatsu pressure point to put him to sleep and then 
shove him in the corner.
	"Mike, you get the small one," I ordered. "She has a little 
hammer so you should use your aikido and try to disarm her. I got the 
big one and you get the middle one, Hanny."
	We turned our attention to the demons. They all looked 
confused, except the big one, "What do you mean by `big?'"
	"Keiichi! What have they done to you!" the middle one 
exclaimed. "I'll make you pay for hurting Keiichi!"
	"We'll show you," I began, "that you DON'T mess with ANY 
Horsemen, demon or not! WOOOO!" I flashed the Sign.
			******
	Ken sat on the living couch, his nose deep in a school book. It 
was another beautiful day in Nerima. Jack and his friends had already 
phoned their farewell and had left.
	Ken's mom arrived from work, "Well, you're back from 
Nekomi City early."
	"That's what I was going to say to you," Ken replied.
	"I thought you said you wanted to drive them there," Jack's 
nanny showed him the note. It was in his handwriting.
	"But I found this note when I got home," he showed his mom 
another note. It was definitely her handwriting.
	"If neither of us drove them, then who did?"
	"We better call the Tendo's," Ken suggested.
			******
	"Keep away from me!" Skuld brandished her mallet.
	Mike backed away, "OK." Skuld let her guard down. He 
actually obeyed her command. A mortal had actually listened to her!
	In her blithe state, Mike extended his staff from far away and 
knocked the little mallet from Skuld's hand. She bent down to pick it 
up, but felt a small tap on her neck instead. Instantly, she dropped to 
the floor.
	She could still see what was going on. She felt the slight 
impact of hitting the floor and her mallet press against her leg. She 
heard the battle around her but she couldn't do anything. She was 
totally aware but was incapacitated.
	"Hey, the shiatsu paralysis point works on demons!" Mike 
cheered. He then turned his attention to everyone else. Jack was doing a 
fine job against Urd, but Hanny was in a stare down with Belldandy. No 
one was doing a thing there. He sighed, knowing he'd have to give 
Hanny a bit of support. He mumbled under his breath, "I can't wait till 
Dan gets in here."
			******
	"BARRIER UP!" Belldandy exclaimed. An invisible barrier 
surrounded the Goddess of the Present just in time to stop all of 
Hanny's beautiful, flowing strikes.
	When the car pulled in, she felt a disturbance, along with 
Mara's waves. She felt Mara's waves leave for a few seconds but 
immediately return afterwards. She knew that the strange aura of 
negative emotions originated from one of the young men in the living 
room, but she was too distracted to figure out which one.
	"Please, why are you doing this?" she asked, hands out in 
front of her. "We have done no harm to you."
	Hanny dropped his guard, "Well, you're demons. Jack says 
that there's been a demon harassing him lately. We just thought you all 
were in this together."
	"But we're not demons, we're goddesses," she argued.
	"Do you have any proof of this?"
	"Your friend was misinformed about our markings," 
Belldandy explained. "All demons have markings on their foreheads, 
but they are not like ours. They all have a V shaped marking."
	"Well, you could be lying to me," Hanny scratched his head.
	"I am here to help you, Hanny," Mike said, blandly.
	"Well, this lady here says she's not a demon," Hanny said.
	"I don't know," Mike replied. "She could be lying."
	"I am not lying," Belldandy said with her usual calm smile.
	"How about we vote on it?" Hanny suggested.
	"Yeah, that's a good idea," Mike nodded. "Hey, Jack! Come 
over here."
			******
	"They're demons!" shouted a voice from inside the temple.
	Dan's head shot up. It was Jack's voice. He left the luggage in 
the middle of the temple yard and quickly ran in. He wondered why 
demons would be in a temple of all places.
	He ran into the temple and to where he heard all the fighting 
going on. All three of his friends where busy with three young women. 
All of them had strange markings on their heads.
	"That's right, Jacky-baby, do it," a depraved voice said from 
above.
	Dan looked up and saw a figure in the shadows floating in the 
air. It was doing something with a small device in its hand.
	"Ah, this is getting boring," it jumped down, right in front of 
Dan. The figure in the shadows was Mara. She turned around, "Better 
head back home and come back later. Eh, what are you doing here?" 
	"That's just what I was going to ask you, demon!" Dan 
hopped back.
	"Don't get in my way and you won't get hurt," Mara said.
	"Never! You must be the demon that beset Jack," Dan said. 
He carefully snuck a few disks out of his pocket. "And you must pay!" 
He chucked the disks.
	"Ack!" Mara tried to dodge the razor sharp disks but still was 
cut by most of them. "I'm going to get you first!" She disappeared in a 
puff of smoke.
	"Yeah, well, you'll have to go through the Four Horsemen 
first!" Dan exclaimed. He then joined his friends, who were busy with 
the goddesses.
			******
	"Demon, I shall show you that none of your kind can mess 
with the Four Horsemen," Jack said with animus.
	"Listen, buddy, the Four Horsemen aren't supposed to be 
awake yet," Urd said. "And I'm sure that the Four Horsemen of the 
Apocalypse aren't three dorky teenage guys."
	"Silence!" Jack shouted. He was breathing harder with each 
breath. Every second fueled more heat for his anger. "I have had 
enough of your kind's lies. I don't care if it is you, someone you know 
or you're related to that's been bothering me, but I'm going to make an 
example of you."
	"With what? You and your strip of rust?" Urd laughed.
	Jack shut his eyes and took a deep breath. Urd stared at him in 
anticipation. What was he going to do? Take a nap standing up?
	Suddenly, Jack's eyes opened and stared straight into Urn's. 
She saw it, all the anger, all the frustration in him. And he was going to 
take it out on her.
	He ran at her and started spinning. He stuck out his sword and 
became a human blender. He hacked and sliced up, down, left, right 
and just about everywhere else.
	Urd broke into many mini-Urd forms and sneaked behind Jack 
while he was spinning. She came back into one unison form far behind 
him.
	Jack threw out a punch and he turned around. He was far 
away from the target, but he could still hit with the Air Drill. He 
followed up with a series of thrust kicks and arm strikes that each hit in 
a vital spot. It would have knocked anyone normal unconscious but not 
a goddess.
	"Time to fight back," Urd struggled to stand up straight. "I, 
URD, ELDEST OF THE THREE NORNS, SUMMON THE POWERS 
OF THE LIGHTNING TO STRIKE DOWN ON... uh, HIM!"
	"Urd?" Jack mumbled to himself. He heard it somewhere 
before, but it didn't come to mind. He was too angry to think straight.
	A group of dark cloud formed above the temple. In a few 
seconds, cracks of thunder could be heard. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning 
shot down from the heavens and struck down Jack.
	He fell to the floor, in shock, pain and nausea. The lightning 
knocked the wind out of him and completely wiped out his chi shield. 
But he was still awake and alive. Urd's taunting laugh was more than 
enough incentive to continue.
	He hopped to his feet, "Th-that's nothing!" Jack shut his eyes 
and let his katana go back into N-space, where Akane's giant hammer 
comes from also. He raised a hand at the hole in the ceiling 
<ANCESTORS, FEED ME THE POWER SO THAT I MAY BRING 
HONOR AND PRIDE TO YOU!> I blue beam of light shot down from 
the sky. A beam that only Urd and Belldandy could see. A beam that 
Jack could feel. A beam that Urd would feel too.
	"MOUKO TAKABISHYA!" he unleashed a chi blast at Urd. 
The blast fried her and pushed her into a wall. Her body slumped down 
onto the floor semi-conscious, right below the charred wall.
	"Urd! My sister!" Belldandy cried out.
	"And now, demon, I shall drain you of your life force so that 
you may atrophy and leave behind a shell of a corpse," Jack shut his 
eyes again and spread out his arms.
	"N-no, yo-you mustn't," Urd demurred. A bright blue aura 
formed around her. She felt the life escape her body. She began to feel 
weak and hold. All her magical abilities where slowly being drained.
	As he waited for the essence to slowly come to him, Jack 
wondered what demonic chi would feel like. What would it do to him? 
He didn't care, as long as he could make an example out of a demon.
	Just when the first bit of chi entered his body, Jack opened his 
eyes in shock. He felt the holiness and the divinity of the chi. It was so 
pure that it couldn't have come from a demon. He stopped the process 
immediately and let the rest of the chi returned to its origin.
	"What have I done?" Jack dropped to his knees and shook his 
head in his hands.
			******
	"One...Two...Three. JACK!" Three voices shouted.
	"What?" I turned. It was Hanny, Mike and Dan. "Oh it's you 
guys."
	"Geez, we were trying to get your attention for the longest 
time now," Hanny said.
	"Well, why didn't you tap me on the shoulder?" I asked 
askance. "Or better yet, jumped in front of me! If you did that, none of 
this would have happened!"
	"Well, Dan gave us his `don't interfere' lecture," Hanny said, 
looking the other way. "Plus no one wanted to get pounded by you."
	"You guys are such chickens!" I exclaimed. I pointed at Dan, 
"If you had let go of your honor, this wouldn't have happened. I almost 
killed a goddess! You understand that!? A goddess!"
	"Oh, so you found out," Dan said, very calmly. "Everything is 
OK now that we discussed it a bit and then voted on whether Belldandy 
here was telling the truth or not."
	"Belldandy?" I repeated. It sounded familiar. It sure wasn't 
Japanese. I walked over to Urd and picked her up in my arms, "I'm 
very sorry about all this, Belldandy. Do you mind showing me her 
room so that I may set her there to rest?"
	"Of course," she nodded, "right this way." I followed her lead 
down hall. "Anyone could have made that mistake when not fully told 
the meaning of the markings of supernatural beings. I accept your 
apology, and I'm sure that my sisters will too."
	"Well, I dunno," I shook my head. "It's just been a strange 
day for me. I just need some relaxation, I guess."
	Belldandy stopped in front of a door, "I hope we can help with 
your demon problems."
	"Me too," I stepped into the small room. 
	It was a humble looking room. Next to the mattress on the 
floor was a little drawer with a romance novel on it. I heard the birds 
chirping outside the window. The room had a calm and soothing feel. I 
set Urd down on the mattress and tucked her in. I was surprised how 
light she was. She looked around 120 pounds but only felt around 25 
pounds. She was a beautiful sight. Her sleep was so peaceful, I lost all 
my hate and anger. My anger had prevented me from seeing how 
gorgeous she really was.
	I then realized something, "Hey, why didn't you try to stop 
me? She is your sister after all."
	"I wanted to and I would have but your friend, Dan, wouldn't 
let me," she replied. "He said something about honor and a covenant 
your friends and you signed. I did not want to upset him."
	"Wow, and you didn't zap him?" I asked.
	"No, that is the last alternative," she replied. "Let's let Urd rest 
now."
	"Yes, let's let Urd rest," I nodded, caressing Urd's cheek. I 
sighed and followed Belldandy out the door. It was my fault. I could 
never forgive myself if she didn't recover. I would have killed someone, 
no, a goddess for the wrong reason. What was wrong with me?!
	When we went back to the living room, the little girl and 
Keiichi were back up. The little girl, however, was keeping her distance 
from Mike.
	"How is Urd doing?" Keiichi asked.
	"She's asleep and will recover in a day," Belldandy answered.
	"Well, at least she can't do any harm for a little while," he 
smiled.
	"Awe, won't you forgive me?" Mike pleaded.
	"No!" Skuld stuck out her tongue.
	"Skuld, be more polite to our guests," Belldandy scolded. "It's 
not Michael's fault that he believed you were a demon."
	"Yes, Onesama," Skuld said. "I'm sorry, Michael. I forgive 
you."
	"Skuld?" I laughed. "Skuld, Urd, and Belldandy. I get it now! 
You're the Three Norns! I did a research project on you for my World 
Mythology class!"
	"Yes, we are the Three Norns," Belldandy smiled. "I am glad 
that they still teach us in schools."
	"What the heck are Norns?" Hanny asked.
	"Let me take this," I smiled. I then explained to my three 
friends who the Norns were. "Oh, boy, this isn't good. I hope Urd 
doesn't try to mess up my past."
	"Don't worry, I'm sure Urd will be very lenient," Belldandy 
assured me.
	"So what is this about demons?" Keiichi asked. "Could it be 
Mara again?"
	"I believe it is," Belldandy concurred. "I felt her waves when 
you four arrived and Dan had a small encounter with her. Did you 
notice anything else strange when you got here?"
	"Nope," Mike shook his head.
	"Not really," I answered. "Other than the fact that my nanny 
didn't seem to care much that she found us asleep at the place where 
she picked us up."
	"You don't suppose..." Dan trailed off.
	"...That this Mara was pretending to be Jack's nanny?" Hanny 
finished.
	"That could be," Belldandy said. "Why don't you call her?"
	"That's a good idea," I agreed. "This will clear a few things up. 
Where's the phone?"
	"Right over there," Keiichi pointed to the phone in a corner.
			******
	"There's no answer," Ken said, putting the phone on the hook. 
"They must be out. Maybe they helped get them?"
	"With what?" his mom asked. "They don't have a car."
	"Right," he sighed. The phone rang, causing Ken to jump out 
of his seat. He answered it, "Hello."
	"Ken! Hi! This is Jack!" came from the other side.
	"Oh, Jack, hi," Ken said.
	"I called to tell you that we made it to Nekomi City alright."
	"Uh, just how did you get there? My mom and I had a small 
communication problem and neither of us picked you up."
	"Oh, uh, Keiichi came down and drove us," Jack replied. 
"Right, Keiichi?" He covered the phone with his hand, "Just go along, 
OK?"
	"Uh, yeah!" Keiichi shouted in the background so that Ken 
could hear.
	"He's a great driver," Jack continued, "and quick too!"
	"Well, I'm glad you're OK," Ken replied. "Hey, I tried calling 
the Tendo's but there wasn't an answer. Do you know what's up?"
	"Um, not really," Jack replied. "We left without too much 
communication. They could all just be out for some reason."
	"Yeah, that's what I figured."
	"Well, that's all I wanted to say for now. I'll contact you on 
whether we're going to catch a flight from Tokyo back to the US or 
from here. See you later!"
	"Yeah, see you." They both hung up.
	"Well, what happened?" Ken's mom asked.
	"Well, he says that Keiichi drove them," he answered. "How 
he was informed to do it, I don't know."
	"Well, as long as they got there in one piece, it's fine. I'd have 
a hell of a time explaining to Jack's parents how I messed up if they 
didn't."
			******
	"Well?" Dan asked.
	"Well what?" I retaliated. "Ken says they had a 
communication problem. I guess your hypothesis that this Mara guy 
drove us, pretending to be my nanny was right."
	"Um, one note," Belldandy intervened. "Mara is a woman."
	The four of us dropped our jaws, "WHAT?!"
	"That's right, she's a woman," Keiichi repeated. "I thought 
she was a guy also. Strange, isn't it?"
	"Yeah, all this time, I thought that it was a guy demon 
harassing me," I laughed. "Guess that shows I'm a little sexist!"
	"Yeah, but why would she help us after she was messing with 
Jack?" Mike asked.
	"She has her reasons," Keiichi answered. "We'll probably find 
out in good time."
	"Hey, let's have some of those desserts now that we've got 
everything cleared up!" Hanny proclaimed.
	"Yeah, that sounds good," I sighed, not as excited as my two 
colleagues. Somehow, I had a feeling that it would have been better if 
Urd was there.
			******
	After I woke up, I went straight to Urd's room. I sat on the 
floor against a wall. She was beautiful, and even more comely in her 
sleep. How could I have not seen her beauty before? How could I have 
mistaken this creature for a demon?
	I sat there for the entire morning, waiting for her to wake up. I 
skipped breakfast just to be there when she awoke so that I can 
immediately apologize to her.
	"Lunch time!" Belldandy called from out the door. I could tell 
that she wanted me to come out and eat.
	"Yay!" Hanny cheered as he ran past the door. "Bell's food is 
better than Kasumi's!"
	I chuckled. Belldandy was a lot like Kasumi. For one thing, she 
sounded exactly like her. Her cooking was the same, her decorum and 
demeanor were exactly like Kasumi's and she had that ever-happy 
mood also.
	"Ooh, my head," Urd stirred. She began to sit up.
	"Hey, you still need to rest," I gently pushed her back down. 
"You took a pretty bad beating."
	"Keiichi, did you take one of my voice mutation pills?" Urd 
turned to look at me. "What the!? You?!" She sat up and clench a fist, 
which a small bolt of lightning formed in, "Keep away from me."
	"Listen, you already gave me your best shot and I survived 
that plus I countered it," I chuckled. "If I wanted to kill you, I would 
have by now."
	"Um, I guess you're right," Urd lied down again. "Oh, what a 
head ache."
	"Hey, uh, I don't really know how to say this, but," I began, 
"I'm sorry. I just don't know what compelled me to jump to 
conclusions like that. Will you ever forgive me?"
	"Yeah, sure," Urd nodded. "But just who are you?"
	"Oh, I should have introduced myself," I smiled. "I'm Jack. 
My three friends, who are eating lunch right now,  are Hanny, Mike and 
Dan. I'm sure you'll meet them later."
	"Just why did you attack us and call us demons?"
	"Well, there was this demon who was harassing me," I started. 
"She was fooling around with my dreams and doing a bunch of other 
things. She had these markings on her head and a wise old lady told me 
what her markings meant. I just thought that she meant that ANY 
strange markings meant demons. But your sister cleared everything 
up."
	"That's good," Urd smiled. "Hey, could you get me some 
food. I'm a bit hungry."
	"Uh, sure," I stood up. "Right away. You are a goddess, after 
all."
	"Thanks," she smiled. She seemed a bit surprised at how tall I 
was. Watching a 6'2" guy walk past you while you're lying down must 
make him look taller.
	I quickly stepped out and got a tray of food for Urd as well as 
myself. Belldandy was very happy that I finally ate something. I mean, 
happier than her usually happy mood.
	For most of the afternoon, Urd and I chatted while we slowly 
ate our food. She told me how her job changed in the past 3000 years 
and what she likes to do now.
	"So you're the self-proclaimed Cupid of Love?" I repeated.
	"Yup, but leave out the self-proclaimed part," she nodded.
	"Wow, you must like to get involved in your work then."
	"What do you mean by that?"
	"Well, when I began draining you chi, I felt your divinity along 
with other things."
	"Other things?"
	"Yeah, see, when two people, um, copulate, they exchange a 
bit of each other's chi. And it stays there for ever."
	"Oh," she blushed.
	"You've been around up in heaven, haven't you?" I raised my 
eyebrow.
	"Um, let's change the subject," she blushed more. "So, can 
you tell me about this chi stuff? I didn't pay attention much in class 
when we had a lecture on this stuff."
	For the next hour or so, I attempted to explain how chi 
worked. I have to admit, I'm a very bad teacher. I tried orally 
explaining, drawing it on paper and even use little objects. Either my 
didactic skills were worse than I thought, or Urd had attention deficit 
disorder.
	I doubt a goddess could have a learning disability. However, 
Urd did seem a bit distracted. I felt how lonely she was, how she longed 
for someone to be with her forever. She was jealous that her sister had a 
bright future with Keiichi that she doesn't.
	"... And you see, it's actually like a tree," I finished.
	"Uh, huh," she stared into my eyes. "Very interesting. So, 
Jack, do you have a girlfriend?" I almost choked. She had the tenacity 
to ask me that?
	"Hey, Jack," Hanny stuck his head in the room and rudely 
interrupted. "You've been in here all day. Are you sure Shampoo won't 
mind this?"
	"Shut up," I threw my chopsticks at him. "Now get outta here! 
This is a PRIVATE conversation."
	"Alright, alright," he acquiesced. "But have Shampoo in mind 
to keep you out of trouble, OK?"
	"Who's Shampoo?" Urd asked.
	As if on queue, there was a loud "NI HAO, JACK!" from 
above. *CRASH* The roof collapsed. Bits of debris and dust where 
everywhere. The room was a mess!
	When the dust cleared, I found Urd on top of me in a tight 
embrace. She looked like she wanted to protect me from the falling 
objects.
	"Dutiful wife come serve husband," shouted a voice from 
above with a bicycle ring.
	"Are you alright?" Urd looked me in the eyes. I swear, I 
thought she was going to kiss me.
	Suddenly, her body pushed against mine in a very *AHEM* 
uncomfortable way. It felt like there was a dumb bell on top of us.
	"Where is groom?" a familiar voice asked. I looked to the side 
of Urd's head. It was Shampoo, and she was on her bike on top of us!
	"Get off me, whoever you are!" Urd stood up, forcing 
Shampoo to jump off the tilted bike. She landed gracefully on her feet.
	When Shampoo saw me, she gasped, "What groom doing 
with big lady?"
	"Who are you calling big?" Urd balled up her fists. They both 
looked like they were ready to get into a brawl.
	"Wait!" I exclaimed. "I can explain everything!"
	"Big lady put evil spell over groom!" Shampoo pointed a 
bonbori at Urd.
	"Stop calling me `big lady!'" Urd gritted her teeth.
	"Look," I sighed. I turned to Shampoo, "I'm not affected by a 
spell. I am perfectly fine. Urd was just shielding me from the debris, 
right?"
	"Right," she sternly agreed.
	"OK, and to answer your question of if I have a girlfriend or 
not," I turned to Urd. "No, I don't have a girlfriend."
	"B-but..." tears began forming in Shampoo's eyes.
	"But I do have a fiancee," I finished. "There, now to clear 
things up more."
	"Hey, what's going on here?" Hanny slid the screen open. 
"We thought it was Mara again. Oh, it's only Shampoo. Never mind."
	"Oh, what a mess," Belldandy gasped. "Would you please 
step out so that I may clean it up?"
	"No, this is my fault," I disagreed. "I'll clean it up, no matter 
how long it takes."
	"That is very unselfish of you, Jack," Belldandy smiled. "But I 
can fix everything with a spell. It will save you lots of work and time."
	"Oh, OK, then," I quickly stepped out. Shampoo made sure 
that she was between Urd and me.
	Belldandy shut the door, chanted a strange few words and 
then opened it again. Everything was back in place. The roof, the books, 
the futon the dresser and even Shampoo's bike were all back where 
they were. Even the food trays where also!
	"How you doing that?" Shampoo asked, pointing to the room.
	"Well, who is our newest guest?" Belldandy asked me.
	"This is Shampoo, Jack's fiancee," Dan answered for me.
	"Ah, pleased to meet you," Belldandy smiled and bowed.
	"Alright, let me say one thing before something bad happens," 
I interrupted Shampoo and Belldandy's meeting. I turned to Shampoo, 
<The "big lady" is a goddess. Her name is Urd.>
	<Watch it,> Urd warned. I should have known that goddesses 
would be able to speak and comprehend any language.
	<Sorry,> I continued, <the nice lady is Belldandy, Urd's sister. 
And there is a little girl, who is also their sister, who is also a goddess. 
Do you understand now?>
	<Yes, I do,> Shampoo looked embarrassed. She turned to Urd 
and did a kneeling bow, <Please forgive my effrontery. Had I known 
you were a creature of holiness, I would not have blatantly attacked 
you.>
	"Yeah, yeah," Urd waved her off. "I forgive you."
	<Please, do not trouble yourself with these ancient customs,> 
Belldandy pulled her up to her feet. <You should treat us as equals.>
	"What the hell are they saying?" Hanny whispered in my ear. I 
gave him a look that said "I'll tell you later."
	<Yes, madam,> Shampoo made a small bow.
	"Great-grandmother teach Shampoo how to behave when 
immortal being present," Shampoo smiled. The word "immortal" 
formed in my head.  I just realized that they were immortal. They could 
live forever and never die, or could they?
	"That's right, you are immortal," Mike stated. "That means 
you can never die, right?"
	"Well, not exactly," Belldandy corrected. "We can never die of 
old age and we age very slowly. But our physiology and anatomy are 
99% the same as a human. We can be killed, but it's very difficult."
	"Hmm... And if I take decapitate, do I get your power?" I 
asked.
	"You've been watching too much Highlander," Dan said.
	Urd raised her eyebrow, "That doesn't exist in this universe. 
Even if you did take our heads, there wouldn't be a Quickening."
	"Hey, it never hurts to ask," I grinned at her.
	Keiichi walked into the hallway and asked, "What's all the 
commotion about?"
	"Oh, Keiichi, you're finally back," Belldandy greeted. She 
then introduced Shampoo to him.
	Keiichi turned to Dan, "Are you ready to go?"
	"Yeah, let's go," Dan nodded.
	"Hey, where are you going?" I asked.
	"I'm going to check out Nekomi Tech's computer lab," Dan 
answered, halfway out the door. "I heard it's great!"
	"Have fun and look out for demons!" Mike admonished. I 
could sense a little sarcasm in it.
	"Demon?" Shampoo repeated.
	"Let's go to my room," I smiled. "I'll explain there."
	The group broke up and went back to what they were doing 
before. Was I ever had that there was no altercation at Shampoo and 
Urd's first meeting. I should have seen it coming.
			******
	The door shut on the room labeled "Computer Lab." The last 
patrons stepped out as the lab monitor closed it for the day. The very 
last two patrons slowly walked down the hall.
	"How do you like our computer lab?" Keiichi asked Dan. He 
had spent a good amount of time showing him how to use the lab.
	"It's a great lab," he replied. "It's way better than the 
bureaucratic lab that we have at school. It's just the keyboard that 
makes surfing a little hard."
	"Good," Keiichi smiled. He put a hand in his pocket to find a 
key. "Great, I left my keys in the lab. Hey, meet me by my motorcycle, 
OK?"
	"Sure," Dan agreed. Keiichi ran back towards the lab as Dan 
continued to leave the building.
			******
	Dan leaned against the parked motorcycle, patiently waiting 
for Keiichi to arrive. He took off his glasses and cleaned them on his 
shirt while he waited.
	"Help me!" cried someone from behind a bush. Dan jumped 
and turned around. "Help me!" He quickly hopped over the fence to 
see who it was.
	"Help, I tripped and hurt my ankle. I think it's broken," a 
young lady with long black hair wearing a mini-skirt and blouse 
pleaded. She was lying on her side, tending to her foot.
	"Uh, I'll call an ambulance," Dan began to run off.
	"Not so fast, buster," someone said from above him. It 
dropped down and blocked his path. It was Mara, "Retribution is at 
hand."
	"You, demon!" Dan pulled out a few disk and prepared 
himself to defeat her. "This woman needs help. Don't get in my way."
	"Didn't I say I'd get you first?" Mara laughed. She pulled out 
a brown, potted jar from behind her. "See this?"
	"Yeah, what about it?" Dan asked, ready to throw his disks.
	"Go into it!" Mara ordered.
	"Neve-" Dan began but could not finish. His body was 
convoluted and twisted like dough. It began with his head, then his neck 
and down to his toes. He slowly was sucked into the bottle bit by bit. 
When his toes entered the bottle, Mara put a cork in it to seal it.
	There was no pain or a scream. Just a quick process which 
she's done many times before and that she'll do many times again. She 
twirled the bottle in her hand. It had "Dan" written on it now.
	"Dan!" Keiichi ran towards Mara, but he was too late to do 
anything. Mara already disappeared before he could reach her and had 
left with the bottle. He turned to the girl, "Sayoko! What are you doing 
here?"
	"Uh, I was just resting here after a long day of classes," she 
smiled. "I think I'll go home now." She quickly stood up and left.
	There was no good-bye. Keiichi knew he had to get back to the 
temple, and fast! There was no time to lose. Who knew what Mara 
would be up to next.
			******
	The motor stopped abruptly. The parking job of the 
motorcycle was horrible. It showed the signs of panic, like someone 
was in a big rush.
	Keiichi ran into the temple, past Skuld and right into the 
kitchen, "She got him!"
	"Who got who?" Belldandy stopped chopping vegetables. 
"You look like you ran a marathon. You should sit down and rest."
	"No," he panted. "Mara got Dan!"
	"Mara!" Belldandy repeated.
	"That's right, it was her."
	"No, I mean Mara is in proximity," she elaborated. She looked 
around carefully, then chanted a few words. "Stay in the kitchen, 
Keiichi. I've put up a protective barrier in this room."
	"Right," Keiichi agreed. Belldandy quickly took off her apron 
and stepped out in search of Mara.
			******
	I had finally had some time to spend alone with Shampoo. 
After being apart for only a day, it was still very nice to see her again. 
She thought I had a spell put on me by Urd and was doing her bidding. 
Eventually, the conversation got deep and serious.
	<I have to tell you something,> Shampoo switched to Chinese. 
Whenever she had something important to say, she'd say it in Chinese.
	<Go on,> I smiled. I forgot how much I really missed her, 
even though it had been only a day that we were apart.
	<We've been together for a long time now,> she began, <I've 
been trying to tell you this for a long time. I think this is the best time to 
tell you that I->
	I motioned her to stop, "Hold it." I heard someone running 
down the hall. Something had to be up. I got up and slid the door open.
	Belldandy ran past me, following Skuld, who was holding 
some sort of a homing device. I grabbed her wrist just, barely in time to 
stop her, "Hey, Bell, what's the rush?"
	"It's Mara," she began. "Keiichi told me she captured Dan at 
Nekomi Tech and now I feel her waves in the temple."
	Instinctively, I summoned my katana, "Lead on." My mood 
changed from the joy of being near Shampoo to that of defense for her 
and my friends.
	"Onesama, we're almost there! Hurry!" Skuld yelled from 
ahead.
	"Wife always accompany husband," Shampoo said.
	"OK, then let's go," I nodded. We headed towards the back of 
the temple. Where Mike and Hanny were training.
			******
	"Nice sparring," Hanny sat down and wiped the sweat off his 
brow. "We haven't done this for a long time."
	"Yeah," Mike nodded and sat down next to him on the steps. 
They both had gone through a taught sparring workout. Even though 
they used their weapons, no one really got hurt.
	"Hey, I'm going to get some water," Hanny said. "I'll be right 
back, OK?"
	"Be quick and get me some," Mike nodded. "I'm thirsty too."
	"Sure," he got up and went back into the temple.
	Mike sat back, shut his eyes and relaxed. He would be sore the 
next day, that's a sure thing. Things have changed since he came to 
Nerima. His martial arts skills were better. His tolerance for pain for 
lifted a bit and he was in better shape.
	"Too bad you didn't get Ukyou, eh, Michael?" someone 
teased in front of him.
	Mike opened his eyes and looked at who said that. It was 
Mara. "You!" He jumped to his feet and moved his staff into a 
defensive position.
	"Yes, it's me," she grinned. "What a welcome!"
	"Go away!" Mike exclaimed. "We don't like you bothering 
us."
	"Such immature words," she pulled out another potted jar, this 
time it was blue. "See this bottle?"
	"Yes, I do," he answered.
	"Go into it!" Mara shouted and laughed. Mike body turned 
into a distorted image. His shoulders and hips twisted into a swirl as he 
was sucked into the bottle, from head to toe. Mara sealed the bottle with 
a cork.
	"No!" Jack shouted as he ran out into the yard. Storm clouds 
formed as it began to rain.
	"You're too late," Mara laughed and disappeared in a puff of 
smoke, just in time to avoid the downward slash from Jack's katana.
	The insane laughter ricocheted in Jack's head. He had just 
witnessed the kidnapping of one of his dear friends and he couldn't do 
anything about it.
	"I swear by my blade that I shall get vengeance upon you, 
demon!" Jack shouted at the sky, fist pointing up there.
	He stood there, in the rain, and breathed hard. With each 
breath, he gained more anger. With each moment, his need for 
vengeance augmented. He wanted to strangle Mara, no strangle 
anything right then!
	"Jack, it's my fault," Hanny said, putting a hand on his 
shoulder. "I shouldn't have left him out here. I should have asked him 
to come in with me."
	"I don't care who's fault it is," he replied, putting his katana 
away. "But I'm not going to let this go on." He walked out of the rain, 
past Belldandy, Skuld and Shampoo, and back to his room.
	Shampoo started to follow him but Belldandy stopped her, 
"No, let him contemplate this on his own. We will help as much as we 
can but we shouldn't be a bother to him."
	Shampoo nodded her reply and walked past Jack's room, to 
the living room as the rain began coming down harder.

			End Part XII

Author's Afterward: OK, I'm FINALLY getting to the plot of the story. 
I don't know how well this reads because I took a two week break from 
writing this due to school. I also wrote this after doing 2 hours of 
calculus homework so my thinking wasn't very straight.

Yes, the title for this part is suppose to be like "abnormal" but since it's 
the introduction of the Norns, I thought I'd change it to that. Yes, this is 
where the cross over begins.

I was going to have this little scene where Ryouga wanders his way to 
the temple and it just so happens that Dan is sweeping outside but, like 
I said, I stopped writing for 2 weeks and I forgot about it. Maybe I'll 
add it in the rewrite and have him be knocked unconscious or 
something like that so that I don't have to add anything more at the 
end.

Preview of Part XIII: What will happen when Mara's program, 
BDC.EXE is executed? What is Mara's plan? And who is Big Daddy 
Cool? Be here to find out!


                            
______________________________________________________________________________
 Member of the #ShAS#: Shampoo Appreciation Society - Our favorite femaline!
	  jackji@efn.org - Jack Ji - http://www.efn.org/~jackji