Here is the rest of chapter one.

**************************

Akane and Ranma were once again in Akane's room, this time with Suteko.

	Suteko looked around.  She was expecting one other person who she didn't see.  "Where
is Ryouga?" Suteko asked.

	Akane and Ranma both looked at each other with a simultaneous "Uhoh."

	"What?" she asked.  Her brother and Akane had matching expressions on their face.
 Something had happened.

	"Um, well you see."  Akane started.

	"Ryouga's secret got out finally."  Ranma looked at once happy and a bit sad at
that news.

	Suteko looked surprised.  Her eyes went from her brother's face to Akane's.  She
had found out about Ryouga's curse when she was laid up after the battle to save
Ranma from their grandfather.  She was surprised.  She, like everyone else had sworn
to not tell Akane until they felt she was ready. That Akane knew was a surprise.
 The next part surprised her more.  They went on to tell her about their morning
and she hid a smile as the two blushed when they got to the part about loving each
other.  It was about time they admitted it to each other.  She nodded in the right
places and looked sad at others.  It was too bad that Ryouga had walked in when he
did.  Though a bit dense the eternal lost boy as she had come to think of him was
quite sweet.  For some reason thinking of him brought to mind another of their friends.

She waited until they were finished and then ask.  "How's Uyko?"

	Akane looked surprised at the question but answered.  "She is fine.  She is still
running her restaraunt." 

	Suteko smiled and then rubbed her tummy.  She had held off eating this morning.
 She wanted to save her appietate for one of Ukyo's number one specials.  Her personal
favorite.  She blushed as her stomache rumbled.  "Oh, um, I think I will go see her."
 She got up and started for the door.  "If Ryoga comes back while I am gone, hold
him down here for me will ya?" She gave her brother a sly look and chuckled at the
expression on his face.  She had loved teasing him about Ryouga when she had stayed
here.  Ryouga was cute but he wasn't the guy for her.

	Ranma just shook his head.  "Nah, he won't be back that fast."  His eyes lit up
at the idea of one of Ukyo's specials.  He turned to Akane and then back to Suteko.
 "Why don't we come with ya?" Ranma asked.

	Suteko smiled.  "Sure, why not?"  They all went down the stairs and called out that
they were going to Ucchan's.  

	Ad they entered Uyko turned and saw Ranma.  Her eyes lit up but the light died as
she saw Akane right behind him.  but the light came back as she saw Suteko behind
Akane.

	"SUTEKO!"  She leapt over the grill and ran to give Suteko a big hug.  Suteko smiled
and hugged her back.  "What are you doing here?  I thought you were studying up north?"
Her eyes were all curious.

	Suteko nodded but then added.  "I am just in the neighborhood visiting for a bit
and I thought I'd drop by and say hi to everyone," Suteko said calmly.

	Ukyo smiled and nodded.  Suteko had been a good customer when she was last in Nerima.
 Unlike her brother or father she always paid her bills.  No free loading for this
Saotome.  Ukyo turned and leapt back over her grill.  "So, what can I do for you
3?" Uyko asked.

	Suteko grinned and held up three figners.  "3 #1's all around." She looked at Ranma
and Akane and said, "My treat."

	"Thanks!" Ranma and Akane chorused together with huge smiles.

	They took a booth and started in on the specials as soon as Ukyo slid them in front
of them.  Akane and Suteko ate slowly, enjoying the flavors and Ranma scoffed his
down with a smile.  Suteko smiled as she watched her brother and Akane bicker back
and forth.  It was a good thing to see and she had missed them alot in the time she
had been gone.  Having a family meant so much to her.  Her eyes grew troubled as
she thought back to over the past year.  How could she explain?  Finally Suteko felt
comfortable enough.  Ranma and Akane had stopped their little arguement before any
blows were exchanged and she smiled a bit.  She was about to speak when Ryouga came
crashing down through the roof. He fell to their table, all beaten up and shaking
from shock. Suteko jumped up, looking up through the hole in the ceiling.

	"Ryouga!" Ukyo cried. She quickly rushed to his side.

	"Uhhhhhnnnn," he painfully moaned. Uyko looked him over and then noticed that Suteko
was looking upward, instead of at the moaning Ryouga she looked up at the roof just
in time to seea black shadowy form disappear out of sight.

	"Wow, not even Ryouga deserves a beating like this!" Ranma exclaimed.

	Ukyo looked back at Suteko, who just nodded toward Akane.  Ukyo nodded back.  "Akane,"
 the other girl looked up from Ryouga's battered face.  "Why don't you get a hot
cloth?" Uyko said in her usually quick voice when something was amiss. 

	Akane nodded and rushed around the counter to ther kitchen.  Ukyo continued to tend
to Ryouga's wounds when Suteko spoke in a flat voice.  Very quiet, almost like she
was talking to herself.  "That is the real reason why I am here, but I shouldn't
have come.  If I hadn't decided to come here Ryouga would not have been hurt." She
sighed, closing her eyes and turned to walk out of the restaurant.

	Ranma reached out and gently lay a hand on her arm, stopping her. He searched her
face, confused.  He wasn't sure what was going on but he decided to speak to her.
 "Suteko, what do you mean?"  She looked up at him, her eyes shadowed.  "What is
the real reason you are here?"  She shook her head with a long sigh.  Ranma pulled
her close and gently hugged his sister.  "Come on sis, tell me.  Don't worry about
Ryouga, he is one tough guy.  He'll be fine."

	She stood there for a few long minutes and then with a deep breath she started.
 "Well," she said her eyes losing focus as she recalled the past year.  "I came to
find you Ranma because I need your help."  She raised a slender hand to stop Ranma
from saying anything.  "But before you interfere, let me tell you my tale."  She
looked down to the table, her hair hiding her face and continued. "I have been travelling.
 Looking for the cure for you and father."  Ranma looked to Akane and then back at
his sister.  "Well, a year ago I found the spring of drowned man."

	"WHAT!" Ranma, Akane, and Uyko all gasped in unision.

	Suteko sighed deeply.  "Yes, the spring of drowned man.  The same spring I dove
into before I met you."  She winced but continued.  "I spoke to the Guide and he
explained a lot to me.  Things I never thought to ask when I was there.  There is
one drawback to it, you can't be cured by the spring.  But there was a way.  So.
I went and did a little research and found it."

	"What did you find Suteko?" Ranma blurted.

	"Well there is a cave near Jusenkyo that can only be entered if you know it's true
purpose."  Her eyes grew a little dim as she remembered.  "This cave's purpose is
to cure the effects of the waters of Jusenkyo.  Due to my curse I was able to enter.
 The minute I did there was a crash of thunder out of no where.  Tt began raining
very hard."

			************************

	Suteko turned to look back out of the cave.  That storm had come up out of nowhere.
 She stood shaking her head until she heard a small scrap of leather against stone.
 She spun about, her staff appearing in her hands from nowhere.  There before her
was a little ghoul.

	"Suteko Saotome, I have been waiting for you for over 200 years."

	Suteko's eyes narrowed a bit.  "How do you know my name?  And who are you?"

	The little man just ignored her questions and continued his speech.  "Now it is
time to resurrect my master, Desakusa, the Demon King.  With your blood he will rack
this world with terror."

	Suteko screamed, "No!  No one is using my blood for anything."

	The little ghoul smiled and nodded.  "Ahh, I see.  You are not ready.  Just as the
legend foretold."  Be started bouncing around the cave, finally landed just outside
of the reach of Suteko's staff.  He smiled and held up one finger.  "Listen to me,
Chosen one.  There is one and only one way to avoid the world being destroyed."

	"And what is that you little freak?"  Suteko's eyes narrowed.  She didn't trust
this little man.

	The ghoul looked a tad hurt but continued.  "The one way to stop your fate is this.
 Find you identical image."  

	Suteko nodded. "That wouldn't be that hard.  After all her brother's cursed form
looked so much like her it was uncanny.  Jsut a little dye was all that was needed.
 But she knew that wasn't all.

	The ghoul continued, ignoring her.  "Then you and yourself will stand before the
master and he will choose yourself and will be destroyed then you will be gone from
this plane and the world will continue to exist but if he chooses you then this world
will be finished."

	Suteko broke into his explaination with a question.  "Why are you telling me this?
 Why are you trying to help me save the world?"

	The little ghoul gave her a quick look and then started to shue her out of the cave.
 He slurred then his response but Suteko clearly heard.  "Because, I am just fulfilling
the legend.  Now, you must go. You have 1 year to come back here or I will hunt you
down."

			************************

	Suteko's gaze came back to the present.  "And just like that he disappeared.  The
rain stopped, so I thought over what he meant and decided he must have been some
half crazy looney and went back to my studies."  She looked down at the table, avoiding
her brother's eyes.  "That was I did until a week ago.  He showed up at my dorm said,
'it is time'.  Ever since then I have been running."

	"That little freak found you at school?"  Ranma asked.

	Suteko nodded and sighed.  She looked up at her younger brother.  She knew that
she needed to ask him but she also knew what his reaction would be.  She slowly closed
her eyes and worked up her courage.  It had to be done.  "Ranma.."

	"Yeah, sis?"

	"I..I looked into the prophecy that the ghoul spoke of."  Ranma could see the tension
in his sister's form.  The hand he had placed on her arm could feel her shaking.
 All at once she spoke out the words.  "Ranma, I need you to come with me to the
cave.  In your girl form."

	Akane's eyes widened as she heard Suteko's request.  "Hey! You heard what it said.
 'If it chooses you the world will be spared and you will cease to be or if it chooses
you the world will die.'  Sounds to me that either way you don't have a chance Suteko.
 And if Ranma goes with you he could die too!"

	Suteko stood with her eyes still closed and nodded.

	Ranma looked a this sister.  She knew how they would take this.  That either way
she was doomed.  She wanted him to go along with this.  And there was no way he was
going to sacrifice his sister.  They had been through too much together.  "Now call
me crazy but I have no intention of letting you near that cave.  Or letting you die,
even if it will save the world.  Or dying myself for that matter."

	Suteko looked up, her eyes intense.  "But Ranma if you don't come with me then the
ghoul will just bring me back to the cave and resurrect his master!"  Her voice never
lifted above a whisper but they could hear the intensity of her responce.

	Ranma shrugged, outside he was all calm and relaxed but inside his mind was running
in circles.  "So, we don't let him near you."  He looked from Akane to Ukyo and then
back at his sister's face.  "I think I speak for everyone in that we don't care about
any prophecy.  If that little ghoul tries to take you we will stop him.  You aren't
going near that cave!  And niether am I!"

	The siblings locked eyes in a silent battle of wills.  Ranma being protective of
one of the women in his life, was sure of the right of his posistion.  Suteko, used
to being in charge of her own fate and having been raised by her honorable uncle.
 There was truth to the ghoul's story.  She had researched it over the past year.
 

	Their battle of wills was interuppted by a weak voice.  "R-r-r-anma, you will be
the one who saves the world" Ryoga gargled.

	Ranma looked down and rolled his eyes.  "Oh great, he's alive, how do you know this
I might ask?"

	Ryouga winced and tried to sit up.  He rested on one elbow.  "I was talking to an
old p-p-p-riest and," he took a deep breath. "The Priest said the man that changes
into a girl will save the world!" with his last ounce of strength he smiled then
collapsed.

	Ranma looked down at his friend and enemy.  Ryouga may be a pain at times but he
knew trouble when he saw it.  Suteko wasn't one to run from trouble either.  He looked
back up at her.  The fact that she had come here told him alot.  She needed his help
and he was willing to help her with alot but not willing to help her die or to die
himself for that matter.  Ranma thought about the options for a long moment and then
said, "I have no intention of dying or having anyone else dying around me.  So, what
we'll do is tell this Ghoul guy that we're not going anywhere near that place.  And
we are not going to resurrect his master."

	Suteko just looked at him sadly.  She knew that he was trying to make light of the
situation.  She needed to talk to him alone.  Away from his two fiances he was easier
to talk to.  He didn't have to act a certain way.  She bit her lower lip ad asked
quietly, "Ranma, why don't we go?"  Her voice fumbled for a moment at the look he
shot her but she continued.  "The prophecy has all ready been made, right?"  The
others nodded.  "So, why don't we go.  It is going to happen and we just might save
the world?"

	"WHAT!" Ranma shouted.  "I won't do it.  The price is too high.  Besides we don't
exactly match sis.  He could tell which was which easy enough." 

	Suteko smiled then.  "He won't know which one to choose if we're 
both guys, right?"

	Ranma just continued to argue "No, sis, I won't do it."

	Suteko sighed and then leaned toward him and whispered in his ear.  "Not even for
Akane?"

	Ranma looked over at Akane and his face softened.  His elder sister knew his weak
spot.  If this prophecy was true, Akane would be in danger.  He would give anything
to keep her safe.  But would he be willing to give up this sister that he had known
for such a short time?  And never mind his own life.  The thought that he would die
and then Suteko would cease to exist was abhorrent.  He looked over to where Uyko
was still tending to Ryoga.  Actually he had quite a few week spots.  And Suteko
knew that.  She had much the same.  Either of them would give up their lives to protect
those they loved.  Ranma sighed.  Maybe there was another way.  He just couldn't
let the then shrugged "I guess I have no choice.  But on one condition that we get
me back to normal"

	"Agreed, little brother."  She smiled at his wince.  "If we survive this little
thing we will get you fixed right up.  After all I have been meaning to change back
as well.  You are a good looking guy but I prefer to stay a girl myself." 

	Akane finally looked up.  She had been helping Ukyo and not really paying attention
to what the brother and sister were talking about.  But it had just added up in her
mind.  If Ranma went with Suteko to this cave he would die.  HE WOULD DIE!  "NO!"
Akane interjected.  She put both her hands on his arm.  "Ranma, I don't want you
to die, please don't go." Her eyes were huge and frightened in her face.

	Ranma looked down into her face and smiled.  It was easier for the two of them to
show how they felt.  But his eyes hardened just a bit.  He had made his decision
and he wasn't about to change his mind.  "I am sorry Akane, but I have made up my
mind" he calmly replied.

	Akane's eyes hardened too.  "Then I am going with you!" Akane blurted.

	"Me too" Uyko jumped in.  There was no way that she was going to let Ranma and Akane
go off alone together.  Even if is was to save the world.

	Ranma looked from face to face and shrugged.  "Who next, Ryoga? Mousse? or Maybe
Shampoo?" Ranma sarcastically remarked.

	Ukyo just nodded thoughtfully.  After a moment, "Hey, I got a great idea!" Uyko
said.

	"What?" Ranma asked trying to sound as polite as possible.

	"Why not just bring everyone.  I mean Kuno won't let you go, and Kodachi won't let
you go either, Shampoo and her Great-Grandmother know their way around China.  Mr
Tendo will probably want to accompany Akane, Nabiki and Kasumi will want to come
and see all of the action. Ryoga, Shampoo, Mouse, Genma, and you all wanna change
back, and I wanna help protect your back sugar."  She winked at Suteko and then smiled
at Ranma.  "So, why not?"

	Ranma just sighed and said "Why not? Oh well it can't get any worse than this."


**********************************************************************

to be continued??

As I said.  Any comments will be gladily read and looked into.  Thanks!!!
---
writer of stories and teller of tales



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