Hello all, and welcome to my first fic of any length.  I'll warn you from
the start that this is a bit of an insert fic (okay, maybe a goodly amount
more then a bit, okay, it IS an insert fic).  Anyone still there?  To those
of you who are, well, I set out from the start of this to have fun, I also
wanted to try my hand at writing a Non-omnipotent new character that
couldn't kick Ranma's butt.  I've tried, and will continue to try, to make
the new character less then perfect, and it is one of my goals to try to
solve as few of the problems that the characters have as possible.

After re-writing and revising this thing over and over I decided the only
thing I could do now was to send it out to the list as a whole and let it
be looked at by eyes that were somewhat more objective then my own.  I
want, need, and humbly ask for, C&C to this fic, I know its still rough in
some spots, part of that is from re-working parts of it and adding on
others in the middle while trying to keep what I had before as well.  Tell
me any comments you can possibly think of as this is my first fanfic and I
don't think that I have the hang of it quite yet.

Going over this one last time, and also reading some fics that I had come
across a while back I realized that parts of this, just a few maybe, were
inspired by, perhaps unintentionally stolen from, other fics.  But from
what I can see that may just be me being too critical of what I was
writing, I'm one of my own worst critics looking back on my work so I may
be pessimistic.

As of now further parts of this remain unwritten, some of them are
partially plotted out in my head but not much further then that.  For one
last note this is taken mainly from the Anime due to the fact that that is
what I have had the most exposure too, seeing all of season 2, most of 3,
and the OAV's and movies as well.  I have read a few volumes of the manga
but not very much.

Anyway, I'm too damned long-winded for my own good, here's the story.  Once
again, _Please_ give me C&C, I would appreciate it greatly.

Sending this now before I get cold feet and delete the message

Jeremy

--------------

Lost and Forgotten

Prologue: "Hey Jude."

	Ryoga Hibiki was lost.  This was nothing new to him, he was lost more
often then he preferred to be.  He looked around at the blowing snow around
him and the hard paved road beneath his feet and scratched his head.  He
couldn't recall ever being here before.  Wherever here was, that is.
	This thought sparked the phrase that he had had too many occasions to say
in his life, "WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW?" he cried out, of course, there was
no one there to answer, there almost never was.
	He started to walk down the road, it would lead somewhere, and from there
he would get somewhere else.  He wasn't heading anywhere in particular at
the moment, Nerima, for all the happy times that it gave him, also supplied
many of the dark reminders of the things he didn't want to think about.  He
had left the Tendo dojo two weeks ago and by now he was far away from
Nerima, far away from Japan even, although he didn't know that at the time.
	His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a vehicle behind him, he
stepped to the side of the road and looked back through the cold blowing
snow to see a pair of headlights speeding toward him.  He watched as the
lights began to twist from their course and as they neared him.  By the
time Ryoga could make out the car it had started to spin out of control.
It began to turn about in full circles, growing closer and closer to the
side of the road, the ditch, and Ryoga.
	As it neared him Ryoga leaped into the air, avoiding the car and severe
injury.  The car, and its driver, weren't so lucky, they avoided neither
the ditch, nor the telephone pole along the side of the road.
	The wind died down and Ryoga stared at the car's path through the snow
filled ditch and into the telephone pole.  Then the sound of the car's horn
reached him and brought him into action, he plowed through the snow and to
the car, the driver would need help, if they were alive at all that is.
	Ryoga got to the car and looked it over quickly, it wasn't going to be
driving anywhere soon from what he could tell.  He looked inside to see the
driver slumped over the wheel, his head pressing against the car's horn.
	Ryoga pried open the door with his umbrella and looked closer at the
driver, checking for any glaringly obvious injuries such as detached limbs
and large gashes.  The only thing that Ryoga could see was the blood over
the driver's face, he had a head wound of some sort, Ryoga knew those
always bleed more then they would seem to.  He pulled the man back from the
steering wheel to get a better look for any other injuries.  The car's
radio was still going, even though the engine seemed to have cut out, and
as Ryoga brought the driver to a position where he was sitting back in his
chair he could hear the radio playing a song in English, *Hey Jude, don't
make it bad, take a sad song, and make it better.*
	Ryoga noticed two things at that time.  One, that the driver was somewhat
awake, he looked blearily at Ryoga and then closed his eyes and slumped
into his seat.  The second was that there was smoke coming from the car's
hood.  "That's a bad sign," Ryoga thought to himself, and he unhooked the
man's seatbelt and lifted him out of the seat, he grabbed the coat from the
passenger side and slipped it on the driver as well as he could and then
walked away from the car as quickly as he could manage.
	Ryoga looked back at the car only when he heard the rush of air as the
engine caught on fire, he saw the blaze consume the front of the car and
make its way to where, just a short time ago, the man he was carrying had
been.  He continued to walk along the road seeking shelter from the weather
and help for the person he held in his arms.  He found the shelter in an
old abandoned house by the road, he started a fire in the fireplace and
then looked over his patient.  The bleeding had stopped and dried blood was
crusted over the man's face.
	Ryoga took off one of his bandannas and soaked it in some water, careful
not to splash too much on himself in the process.  He started to clean off
the man's face and he realized for the first time that he was wearing
glasses, glasses that had somehow remained perfectly intact in the crash.
He took the glasses off and placed them carefully to the side, noting only
in passing their relatively thick lenses.
	As he continued to clean he realized that this man was only perhaps a few
years older then he himself was.  There weren't any cuts on his face to
account for the blood so he cleaned farther up.  The wound was just above
the hairline and it seemed to have clotted over, he dabbed lightly at it
and then got out the rudimentary first aid kit that he kept in his pack.
Soon the head wound was cleaned and bandaged completely.  Ryoga checked his
patient for any other wounds and found just a few bruises over the rest of
the body, one particularly nasty one was across the chest in the shape of
the seatbelt's strap.
	Ryoga fed the fire and then went about feeding himself.  He looked out the
window and saw night falling upon the country-side.  The wind picked up
once more and the road grew harder to make out.  He watched for any passing
cars for a time and saw nothing at all.  After a few hours he stopped and
looked back over to his still sleeping patient.  Figuring that all was done
for the night he added some more wood to the fire and went to sleep, he was
a light sleeper, and he would know the moment that his patient awakened.

				***

	He awoke in the middle of the night when he heard his patient start to
move, he got up and kneeled down by the young man.  Soon the man slowly
opened his eyes and said, *What happened?*
	Ryoga replied in English saying, *You lost control and crashed into a
pole, I got you out of your car before it blew up.*
	The man shook his head as if to shake the cobwebs out of it and looked
around, *Where am I?* he asked in a groggy voice.
	Ryoga winced at the familiar question and said, *Some building by the
road, I'm not sure where.*
	The man nodded slowly, he seemed to wince slightly and he closed his eyes
in thought as if trying to access some piece of information that wasn't
quite within reach.  He looked up with an odd, almost scared expression in
his eyes and said, *Uh, WHO am I?*
	Ryoga was startled by the question, it wasn't one that he was expecting at
all.  He questioned the young man and soon found that he had no memory of
who he was at all.  He seemed to remember basic things, history and trivia,
at least as far as Ryoga could tell.  But his basic identity, his name,
where he lived, his family, they were all blank spots.
	They searched his belongings but found no forms of identification
whatsoever.  Apparently the man had taken his wallet out of his pocket as
he drove.  The only thing that came up when Ryoga asked for the man's name
was, *I seem to remember someone saying �Hey Jude' that doesn't quite sound
right, but I guess it will do.*
	So Ryoga and Jude, who hadn't decided on a last name talked through the
night, checking where Jude's memory was intact and where it was Swiss cheese.

				***


	They set out down the road in search of a town so they could get some
medical assistance for "Jude" and so Ryoga could perhaps get some
directions back to Tokyo, or even back to Japan.  Along the way they talked
as much as they good, Ryoga proved to be quite adept at basic English which
was useful since Jude had no knowledge of Japanese whatsoever.  After a
while the conversation turned to names, neither of them thought that just
"Jude" was much of a name.  They both seemed stumped, Ryoga had never had a
knack for naming things and Jude was too busy trying to remember his real
name to think of a new one.
	Finally Ryoga stopped them both and said, *Well, just pick something, if
you don't like it you can change it later, but hopefully you'll remember
before you use your name much.*
	Jude sighed and started to run his fingers through his hair, he was
stopped by the bandages on his forehead so he put his arm down by his side
and sighed.  *I guess you're right Ryoga, how does Smith sound to you?*
	*Sounds okay to me, although English names always sound a bit wrong to me
anyway.*
	*Well, I don't know, it's a common enough name, and it doesn't sound corny
or anything like that, seems to me that there was a character in a book
named �John Smith' who had a car accident too, something about a coma and
psychic powers or something* Jude stopped then and laughed ruefully, *It's
funny isn't it, I can remember a damned book I read better then I can
remember who I am or where the hell I live or anything.  Yeah, a real joke.*
	Ryoga said something to change the subject and Jude accepted the change
easily, he didn't want to dwell on his memories, or lack thereof, for any
extended period of time.  They continued on their way, talking and perhaps
not paying as much attention to where they were going as they should.
	Soon they were lost.
	*Uh, Ryoga?* Jude asked as he stopped walking.
	*Yes Jude?* Ryoga asked as he turned to Jude.
	*Where did all the snow go?  And for that matter, where's the road?*
	Ryoga looked around to see that wherever they were now it wasn't the
snow-covered plains they had been on before.  Green grass was to the North,
East, and West of them and to the South lay a large forest.
	*I have no idea,* Ryoga replied.
	*Oh,* Jude said as he pondered the situation, *Okay, how about if we go
East?  I think we were heading that way before.*
	*Sounds good to me,* Ryoga replied.  He had found that, when he was really
lost, one direction was as good as any other anyway.
	And so the two set off once more on their Journey.  One of them was lost
to the world and the other was lost to his past. And neither of them
realized that they were heading West instead of East.

Chapter One: New arrivals and reunions

	It was raining in Nerima when the two travelers finally reached their
destination.  The rain came down hard upon them as they walked down the
streets.  The streets were nearly empty, most people preferred the warmth
of their own homes to the cold rain that was beating down upon the Nerima
ward at the moment, but one of them finally managed to get the attention of
one of the few people that were on the street.
	"Excuse me, but where are we?"  asked.
	The man Ryoga had question paused at the odd question for a short while,
but not very long, this was after all, Nerima, odd things had become common
place in the last year or so.  He looked over his questioner and her
companion, there was something familiar about them.  As he looked closer he
realized they must be twins, or at least sisters.  He took in an eyeful of
the two attractive red headed girls before him, their wet clothes hugged
their impressive curves attractively and he couldn't help but feel that he
had seen one of these two before.
	As the man looked at them he could see that they were both dressed in worn
clothing, as if they had been traveling for a long time.  One of the girls,
Ryoga, was in a yellow sleeveless shirt and blue pants, her short hair was
held back by a yellow and black bandanna, when she spoke the man thought he
saw a glimpse of fangs but he wasn't sure.  The other, Jude, was in a black
shirt with long sleeves and silver buttons down the front and had blue
jeans on, her hair was longer and had a bandanna identical to the other
girls to keep the longer hair from getting in the way.  Both of them
shouldered heavy packs, and each pack had an odd bamboo umbrella on the top
of it.  Although in this weather the question of why neither of the girls
was using her umbrella was beyond him.
	He might have continued to stare had Jude not grown impatient and
interrupted him saying, "Well, where the hell are we dammit?  Quit staring
and answer the bloody question!"  She glared at the man and waited for an
answer.
	The man blinked, startled out of his ogling, and stammered out, "W-w-well
you're in Tokyo, Nerima ward to be exact."
	Ryoga blinked, "Did you say Nerima?"
	"Yes, that what I said, did you expect to be somewhere else?" the man
replied, he glanced from one girl to the other.  He was about to say
something more when they both let out cries of joy.  The man gaped even
more then he had been, the way they were acting it was almost as if they
had just won a lottery or had something else extraordinarily lucky happen
to them.
	Jude started to laugh and said, "If you had said this was Moscow or
Melbourne we wouldn't have been too surprised."
	"One more question," Ryoga said, "Could you tell us where the Tendo Dojo is?"
	The man gave the two girls directions and when he was done he asked, "Are
you two from around here?  I could swear that I've seen you around hear
before."
	As he watched the two girls looked to each other and then the one in the
yellow shirt spoke up, "Well, uh, we've got a sister who lives here, so,
you, um, might have seen her around somewhere."
	The man blinked at that, then he figured if they're twins why not triplets
as well?  The girl in the black shirt finally said, "Thanks for the
directions, and, I'm sorry about yelling at you, but you were staring you
know."
	With that she turned to the other girl and said, "Come on Ryoga, now that
I've got the directions I should take the lead, it wouldn't do for us to
show up in Peking when we've already reached where the right town would it?"
	The other girl, Ryoga? the man thought that that was certainly an odd name
for a girl, grinned sheepishly at that and said, "Alright, you lead the way
Jude," then she paused a bit and glared, "but I don't think we'd get as far
as Peking."
	The other girl, Jude, another odd name, raised an eyebrow at this
statement, questioning what her companion said.  Ryoga stopped glaring and
grinned, "Osaka maybe, but not Peking.  At least, probably not Peking." The
man looked to the two girls with a puzzled look on his face as ninety
percent of this conversation, at least, went over his head.
	None of the many questions he might have asked ever passed his lips as the
pony tailed girl said, "With you, anything is possible, come on, lets go."
And with that they started off down the street.  The man watched the two as
they walked away, he had a feeling that they had a story or two to tell, he
also had a feeling that he wouldn't be the one hearing those stories.

				***

	The rain had let up a bit when they finally reached the dojo.  Jude looked
to Ryoga and said, "Are you sure this is the place?"
	Ryoga was about to answer that she wasn't sure when they both hear the
yelling from the building.
	"RANMA YOU IDIOT!"
	"UNCUTE TOMBOY!"
	Then there came the sound of a splash from the back yard.
	Ryoga grinned at Jude and said, "I _know_ this is the place.  I'd know
those insults anywhere.  Come on, lets go in, I want to see Ranma's face
when he sees that he won't have P-Chan to push around anymore!"
	Jude frowned slightly at that but then shrugged, "You lead the way Ryoga,
you know these people, I don't."  Ryoga pushed open the gates and Jude
followed her in and closed them after she was in.  Ryoga was already
rapping on the front door of the house when she was done.  She shifted her
pack on her back and walked up to the door just as a young woman with a
long pony tail over one shoulder opened the door, she looked from one girl
to the other and exclaimed, "Oh my."
	Ryoga scratched the back of his head and said, "Uh, hi Kasumi, it's me,
Ryoga, can we come in?"
	Kasumi blinked, "Ryoga?" she said.
	"Yeah."
	Kasumi processed the information quite quickly, two nearly identical
girls, both looking very much like Ranma did when he was in his cursed
form, and Ryoga being one of them, she came to the obvious conclusion,
"Have you two been to Jusenkyo then?"
	They both nodded.  Kasumi frowned slightly at the thought of more people
cursed by the springs, she had images of countless kettles of hot water to
heat.  But she put those thoughts behind her and smiled saying, "Come on in
you two, do you want me to heat up some hot water?"
	"Yes please," the two girls replied in unison as they stepped into the
entry way.  Kasumi made her way to the kitchen while they stopped where
they were.  Jude would have followed Kasumi but Ryoga stopped her saying,
"Remember to take off your shoes."
	Jude stopped and said, "Oh yeah, Japan, got it."  She took off her shoes,
and got ready to head where ever it was that the woman, Kasumi, if she
heard Ryoga correctly, had went when she heard voices from farther inside
the house.
	"Who was it Kasumi?" a female voice asked
	"Yeah and why are ya setting up more kettles hot water?  Pop and I already
used the last ones ya made." a male voice asked.
	"Well," Kasumi said, "Ryoga has just arrived and it appears that he and a
friend have been to Jusenkyo recently."
	"Jusenkyo?" the two voices replied in unison.
	Then the girl's voice could be heard to say, "Poor Ryoga, what happened to
him?"
	At almost the same time the male voice said, "Ryoga? Cursed? This I gotta
see!"
	Jude watched Ryoga's face light up with joy when he heard the girl's
voice, she stared off into space and quietly said, "Akane, I can see you
again."
	Jude prodded Ryoga lightly, "Come on, lets head in and you can see Akane
again, lord knows you've talked about her enough on the trip."
	"Yeah, lets go," Ryoga said, and they both began to walk the direction
that Kasumi had left earlier.  Before they got very far, two people walked
into the entryway.  One was a tall man in a red shirt with black pants and
the other was a woman in a blue and white dress.  The man had black hair
that was pulled back into a tightly bound pony tail while the girl had her
hair cut in a short style.  They both stopped short at seeing the two
identical girls.    The man just stared but the woman managed to speak,
"R-r-ryoga? Is that you?"
	"Yeah Akane, it's me," Ryoga replied.  She seemed a bit too flustered to
say more then that.
	At that the man who had been staring before finally said, "Wow, it's
strange enough to see that face in the mirror, its even stranger to see it
twice in person."  He then grinned and said, "How's it feel to be cursed
P-Chan?"
	Ryoga's cheeks reddened and she started to say something, then she paused
and smiled at the man and said, "Oh, it could be worse Ranma, I could end
up turning into an animal or something, as it is, I'm still human."
	Akane tried to smile at Ryoga and glare at Ranma at the same time but
settled for just smiling at Ryoga instead, she figured she had done enough
glaring at Ranma for the day, "That's a good attitude to have Ryoga, unlike
_some_ people around here," she said, then she turned to look at Jude and
said, "I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced, I'm Akane Tendo, and this is
Ranma Saotome, what's your name?"
	Jude smiled at her friendly words and said, "Hi Akane, Ranma, I'm Jude
Smith, I don't want to impose but Ryoga said that this would be a good
place to go."
	"Hey no problem," Ranma said, "It'll be good to talk with someone who's
got the same problem that I do, I bet Kasumi has the hot water ready by now
too."
	"Yeah," Akane smiled, "As long as you aren't engaged to Ranma or wanting
to kill him I can hardly see that you'll be any problem at all," then she
paused with a serious look on her face, "You aren't are you? Engaged to him
or wanting to kill him that is?"
	"What?" Jude blinked at the odd question, "Why ever would I want to do
either of those things?"
	Akane smiled at that and Ranma let out a sigh of relief, "Well," Akane
continued, "Ranma seems to draw enemies and fiancee's in equal numbers, in
other words, too many."
	"Oh, I see, wait, did you say Ranma?"
	"Yes, that's Ranma," Akane replied, "Why?"
	Jude turned to face Ranma and drew herself up to her cursed form's full
height and bellowed as loud as she could, "RANMA! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
	While both Akane and Ranma jumped and then fell into slight combat-ready
positions Jude turned to Ryoga and said with a grin, "You're right Ryoga, I
do feel better."
	Ranma and Akane fell out of their combat ready stances and onto the floor
as Ryoga and Jude started laughing loudly.  Kasumi had hurried in to see
what was the matter.  She surveyed the situation and smiled when she saw
that there was nothing wrong.  "The hot water is ready you two," she said,
and then walked back to the kitchen.  Everyone else followed her in.

				***
	They got to the kitchen with no trouble save for Ryoga's brief detour into
a closet and Kasumi directed Ryoga and Jude to the waiting hot water.  The
two accepted the water gratefully and poured it over their heads in the way
that seemed to be the easiest for a complete soaking.  Ryoga appeared to be
his usual self after being restored, although his clothes fit much better
then they had before.
	Jude shivered and put the kettle down on the table and fished a pair of
glasses out of his shirt's front pocket.  "That," he said as he put his
glasses on, "Will take some getting used to."  He shifted his clothing
slightly and looked himself over to see if everything had changed back.  He
was tall, one or two inches over six feet, and had light brown hair.  Brown
eyes stared out from behind his round glasses.  He smiled at Kasumi and
said, "Thank you again for heating up that water, it's been a few days
since we've been able to change back, seems like this rain has followed us
most of the way."
	Kasumi smiled at Jude and said, "You're welcome Jude, it seems that very
few people thank me for the hot water these days, it's nice to hear that."
	At this statement Akane managed to send yet another glare toward Ranma, he
seemed oblivious to it as he was staring at the glasses on Jude's face.
"Why weren't you wearing those before?" he asked.
	"Oh, these?" Jude asked, pointing to his glasses, when Ranma nodded he
said, "Well, apparently Nyannichuan's "Girl what drowned there 1500 year
ago" had perfect vision, that's one benefit of the change at least."  Jude
pushed his glasses up on reflex and said, "I can barely see clearly past my
arms when I hold them out without these glasses."
	"Well, I'm sure the others are wondering what's going on, why don't we
meet them and you two can tell us all about what happened," Akane said.
	"Yeah, I'm sure you two have quite a bit to say, it's been a while since
we've seen you here Ryoga, we thought you mighta been lost for good," Ranma
grinned.
	"I'm not that bad Ranma!"
	At this Jude coughed, "Uh, Ryoga?"
	"Yeah?"
	"You are that bad, trust me, I've been following you for a few months now,
I know."
	"A few months?" Ranma and Akane asked in unison.  They weren't sure if
they were more stunned that Ryoga had been lost that long or that he had
stayed lost even with someone that could be assumed to have an average
sense of direction.
	"It's a long story," Jude said, "I believe you said something about
meeting everyone else Akane?"
	"Right this way you two," Akane replied.  She walked out of the kitchen
and the rest followed.

				***

	They were all seated at the table after a quick round of introductions
with Jude meeting the rest of the Tendo household.  "So," the man that had
been introduced as Akane's father said, "Ryoga, tell us, just how did you
end up in Jusenkyo?  And how did you end up getting cursed at all if you
knew where you were?"
	"Well Mr. Tendo, a few months ago I left for a training trip, as you may
know," Ryoga started.
	"Training trip?" Ranma broke in, "Is that what you're calling it now?
What's the matter? Don't want to admit that ya got lost heading to the
bathroom  again?"
	"Shut up Ranma!  This time I really was on a training trip!"
	"Yeah Ranma, just let him talk and quit teasing poor Ryoga, he's been
through a lot lately," Akane crossed her arms over her chest and glared at
Ranma once more.
	Ranma took a look outside into the backyard and saw that the rain was
still coming down outside.  He figured that he didn't need another trip to
the pond, or even outside for that matter.  He was also just as curious as
to why if Ryoga had been to Jusenkyo he wasn't totally cured.  "Uh, yeah,
go on Ryoga."
	Ryoga calmed down a bit and started to explain once more, "Well, anyway, a
while later, about a week or so later I ended up meeting Jude in the U.S."
	"Meeting?" Jude said, "You didn't just meet me you saved my life."  Jude
grinned for a bit, then his face grew serious, "Well, you go ahead Ryoga,
you had a better view of the situation anyway."
	Ryoga went on to describe the accident and Jude's memory loss and their
getting lost the next day.  He detailed a bit more but didn't get far
before getting interrupted.
	Kasumi let out an "Oh my" when she heard that Jude had no memory.  Ranma
muttered something about "Shinnosuke" that only Akane seemed to hear
clearly, this merely earned him a frown instead of the glare she seemed to
have grown so attached to.  Then the frown faded as if she remembered
something else about what he said.  She turned back to where Jude and Ryoga
were sitting with a sympathetic look.  Soun and Genma looked serious and
told Ryoga to continue with his story.  Nabiki, the person Jude pegged to
be the most suspicious of the bunch, said, "So you have no memory about
your identity at all?"
	"Just a few jumbled images, but I can't call up anything specific at all,"
Jude frowned, "When we finally did find a doctor he wasn't much help, he
just checked out the cut on my head which had healed up by that time and
said that my memory may or may not come back."
	Nabiki frowned in thought and then said, "By the way, how did you learn
Japanese?  You said that you didn't know it when you met Ryoga, the way I
see it you must be a fast learner.  Either that or Ryoga here is a
wonderful teacher."
	"Actually there was an extra factor in my learning Japanese." Jude said,
"It was, well, magic."
	Nabiki raised an eyebrow at that statement and said, "I find that hard to
believe."
	Jude blinked, then he grinned, "You're telling me that, while sitting at a
table with four people that change form with hot and cold water, you're
having trouble believing that a person could learn a language by magic?"
	"Well," she said, "I suppose you do have a point."
	"Okay, well, this is how it happened . . . "

				***

	About two weeks into our travels, as I had begun to call them, we found
that, while we could communicate relatively well with each other, we had
trouble with other people.  Ryoga knew quite a few languages, or at least
enough to ask "Where is the Tendo dojo?" in quite a few, but we seemed to
be running into places where even that didn't work more and more often.  We
might have had some serious problems if we hadn't run across Mac.
	I'm not sure what really happened, but somehow we ended up in a desert.
As with all the odd travel jumps Ryoga and I went through, it seems like it
happened when neither of us were looking.  One moment we'd be in one place
and the next time either of us looked we were someplace else entirely.  At
first it gave the whole thing a bit of a spooky feel, but anyway.  As I was
saying, we stumbled across this guy, Mac.
	He seemed to be in pretty sorry shape, when we reached him he was dying of
dehydration, or near enough to it at least.  We set up camp by him and
started to nurse him back to health, neither of us could just leave someone
like that.
	We were surprised to find that he knew both Japanese and English fluently,
and he spent most of his time recovering in conversation with us, his
speech increasing as his health did.
	After a few days he said, "You two boys saved my life, I thank you, but
I've noticed you two seem to be having some trouble communicating, well,
I'm going to help you talk to each other and everyone else, language is
handy for world travelers like you two you know."
	We both agreed heartily at that, the language barrier was something that
was getting harder to work around.
	"Well, I've got just the thing for you two," he said, and with that he
reached into a bag and pulled out two simple golden rings.  I refrained
from making any references to the One Ring, but if the ring turned me
invisible I vowed to run it through a fire to see if there was any writing
on it.
	(This comment drew blank stairs from everyone around the table except
Nabiki.  Jude hadn't pegged her for the type that would read the Lord of
the Rings but he couldn't fault her taste.  He made a mental note to try to
cut down on references that would be a bit on the obscure side and
continued on with his story.)
	Anyway we both slipped on the rings.  Mine fit perfectly on my right
hand's ring finger.  Then Mac muttered something in a language neither of
us understood and the rings started to glow with a faint yellow light
After that I heard a rushing sound in my head and, in what seems to have
happened way too often in these last few months, I lost consciousness.
	I awoke to a hand shaking me, "Are you alright now?" someone asked.
	I shook my head and sat up, "Yeah, I'm ok, what happened?"
	"The ring's spell activated, it works best on people who are sleeping
though, so it knocked you out."
	"Did it work?" I asked, I looked around to see Ryoga shaking his head as
if to clear out any cobwebs that had accumulated.
	"Well, it seems to have worked, we're speaking Japanese now," Mac stopped,
"*And now we're speaking English.*"
	Ryoga said, "Wow, this should help quite a bit, thanks Mac."
	"Remember you two, if you ever need help, just get a hold of MacDonald
Guffin," after he said that he walked over the edge of a dune and when we
went after him, he was gone.  Of course, it would have been nice to ask if
he could restore my memory as well but I only thought to ask when he was
long gone.

				***

	"He gave you two those magic rings and then just... disappeared?" Nabiki
asked.
	"We weren't too surprised.  There was something . . .  mystical about him.
 So after that we went back to trying to find some place that one of us
knew.  Too bad we ended up in Jusenkyo on the way here though, that we
could've done without." Jude replied.
	"Yeah," Ranma said, "Just what did happen that got you two dunked in
Nyannichuan?"
	Jude looked down at his hands and seemed to flush a bit, then he said, "I
think I'll let Ryoga handle that one."
	"Yes Ryoga," Akane said, "Tell us what happened."
	Ryoga took a drink and then said, "We ended up in Jusenkyo about two
months ago," beginning his part of the story.  He was glad that Jude had
managed to leave out all details about his former curse, he didn't want to
know what Akane would think when she found out he had been P-Chan.  Now he
had to give a slightly edited version of the events at Jusenkyo as well.

				***

	We walked into the valley of Jusenkyo and soon we had been greeted a
figure that should be familiar to Ranma and Mr. Saotome.  He was a middle
aged man in a green mao suit and he greeted us in Chinese saying, <Welcome
to the Accursed Training grounds of Jusenkyo, you do not want to be here
young travelers, it is a very tragic place.>
	Jude and I looked from each other to the guide, "Jusenkyo?" we both said.
	<Yes, are you here to train?> he said in a sad voice.
	<Train? No, we've heard about this place from people who have been cursed
here,> I said, <We have no plans to be cursed at all.>
	The Guide breathed a sigh of relief at that, from what he said later he
had quite a few people come through here and get cursed because they didn't
know what they were dealing with.

				***

	"Or because _Someone_ couldn't read Chinese and was too stupid to listen!"
Ranma interrupted.
	"You should respect your elders boy!" Mr. Saotome shouted, he dived toward
Ranma over the table.
	Unfortunately for him Ranma was expecting that, he had been ready for it
and used Genma's own motion against him to toss him outside, through the
rain, and into the koi pond.
	Jude stared as a panda crawled out of the pond and tossed a sign at Ranma.
 Ranma and everyone else in the sign's flight path managed to duck, except
for Jude.  He watched as the sign flew toward his face.  Something told him
he should move out of the way but before he could it managed to make
contact with his forehead.
	"Ouch," he muttered from the floor.  Seeing that he was still conscious
and thus, not hurt too badly, everyone else went back to what they were
doing.  Akane came over and looked down at Jude.
	"Are you ok?" she asked as she helped him up from the floor.
	"Yeah," Jude said as he took her hand, "I've had worse training with Ryoga
on the road."  As he looked up at her he realized that Akane was cute when
she smiled.  He grinned and said, "Thanks Akane."  He sat back down at the
table and said, "Well Ryoga, the tale is almost done, we can't keep
everyone in suspense for long can we?"
	"You're right, there's not much to tell really," Ryoga continued his tale.

				***

	We camped that night away from the pools and warmed ourselves by a fire we
had set up.  The guide was eating with us and he was filling us in on a few
pools that hadn't been encountered in Nerima.  We both winced at the Spring
of drowned Idiot, and other very tragic stories.
	This wouldn't have been a tragic story of our own had it not been for the
trip Jude made to get some firewood, as he was returning we saw him trip
and fall into one of the pools.
	The guide and I ran up to the spring. <Oh no,> the guide said, <He fell
into the Spring of Drowned Girl.>
	He went into his typical "very tragic story" speech here and we both made
our way to the pool.
	A few moments passed, <Hey!> I said, <Why hasn't he come up yet?>
	<I don't know,> the guide replied, <But these pools do have many people
drown in them, there are many rocks for a person to hit their head on when
falling in.>
	I frowned at the thought of cursing myself but I had no other choice.   I
jumped into Nyannichuan to pull Jude out and get him back to the land of
the living.

				***

	"And the rest, as they say, is history," Ryoga said, "The guide gave us
the whole hot water cold water speech and we left the next day.  And now,
two months later, we finally get here."
	"Hey! Wait a minute Ryoga!" Ranma exclaimed as he jumped up to his feet,
"Why the heck didn't ya just hop into Nannichuan?"
	Ryoga frowned and started to answer but was cut off when Jude quietly
said, "It didn't work."
	Ranma froze for a moment and then sat back down on the floor, "What do you
mean it didn't work?" he asked.
	"We asked the guide, and then tried it anyway, Jusenkyo people pools can
cure animal curses, but not other people curses, and vice versa I guess,
although why someone would want to jump in an animal pool voluntarily is
beyond me," Jude replied.
	Ranma blinked at that and then reached out and shook Jude's hand, "Well,
welcome to being cursed I guess."
	"Thanks Ranma."
	"So," Soun said, "What are your plans now boys?"
	"Well, uh, Ryoga?  What do you think?" Jude asked.
	"I was, well, um, kinda thinking of staying here for a bit, if that's ok
that is, I don't want to impose but I also don't want to end up lost
somewhere far away from here when I try to find someplace else to go."
	"That sounds like a fine idea," Soun said, "Why, you can sleep in the
training hall, we have plenty of room, don't we Saotome?"
	Genma-Panda merely held up a sign saying, "But of course Tendo."
	"Oh that's good to hear father," Kasumi said, "I'll be sure to cook more
tomorrow morning."
	"Wonderful," Nabiki said quietly, "More freeloaders."
	"Honestly Nabiki," Akane said, "The only reason that Ranma and Mr. Saotome
cost so much is because of all the property damage they cause, you know
that, I doubt that Jude and Ryoga will knock each other through any walls
at all while they're here."  Akane of course neglected to mention all the
property damage she herself caused, thinking to herself that all of those
times were Ranma's fault anyway.
	Kasumi smiled sweetly at Akane and said, "That's right Akane," at the same
time that Ranma and Genma voiced their protests.  This of course lead to
them blaming the other about who really caused the most damage.  Jude
watched in astonishment as the two broke into a full scale fight.
	"Do they always do this?" He asked Akane.
	"Yeah, but don't worry about it, you should see them eat."
	"Oh, ok, just as long as I don't get hit with any more signs it's ok I
guess," he replied as he rubbed the spot on his head where the sign had
connected.

				***
Chapter 2: Some clarifications and little white lies

[Author's note: From here on the cursed forms for the characters will have
the suffix -chan tagged onto the end for simplicity's sake.]

	Later that night as Ryoga and Jude were bunking down in the training hall
Ranma walked through the door.  "Alright pig-boy," he said, "What really
happened at Jusenkyo, why didn't you just hop in Nannichuan the minute you
got there instead of ending up with Nyannichuan instead?"
	"Shut up Ranma! You can't call me that anymore anyway!"
	"You've got a point P-ch... Ryoga, you've got a point, well, anyway, what
DID happen?"
	"Well, it's like this," Ryoga started.
	"Uh, guys?" Jude interrupted.
	"Yeah Jude?" Ryoga asked.
	"I think I'll just go outside for this, you can tell it Ryoga."  After
saying that he walked out the door and into the backyard.
	"Why'd he do that?" Ranma asked.
	"Well, he didn't really trip Ranma"
	"He didn't?"
	"Well, you saw those glasses he was wearing?"
	"Uh huh, not as thick as Mousse's, but they were still powerful."
	"Well, ya see, we got into Jusenkyo pretty late so we had camped for the
night, we were too tired to end up going anywhere else anyway and I didn't
wanna end up losing my way again.  So, Jude and I had bedded down for the
night and, from what he said, he got up in the middle of the night to
relieve himself, but he didn't put on his glasses because he was too tired."
	"Whoa boy, I think I can see where this is leading, lemme guess, he walked
into Nyannichuan in the dark?"
	"Yep, he did, I woke up when I heard the splash as well as the guide and
we both made our way over to see where he had fallen in.  When we saw he
wasn't coming up I hopped in and dragged him out, I didn't know that that
was the only chance I'd get at being human."
	"Well, I guess I can see why you changed that, has to be embarrassing to
know that you walked into a cursed pool without anyone else interfering.  I
know tossing pop into the pond has always helped relieve some of my tension
about it, and you seem to have had fun blaming me."
	"Well it was your fault Ranma!" Ryoga growled, just one of his many old
grudges against Ranma began to flare up.
	"Hey!  Calm down Ryoga, I admitted that, remember?  Why do you think Akane
never found out about P-Chan's real identity?"
	Ryoga managed to cool down slightly and restrained the urge to do some
constructive rearranging of Ranma's facial features, or at least try to.
	Ranma relaxed and said, "Anyway, what's this about Nannichuan not working
Pi-.. Ryoga?" he stopped himself from digging at Ryoga's old curse yet
again, it didn't quite fit to call him "P-Chan" and "Pig-Boy" when he
wasn't any longer.
	Ryoga noticed the change and managed to keep his own anger in check, now
that he wasn't cursed to turn into an animal regarded as lunch by most of
the world he was in a slightly better mood then he had been before.  Of
course he couldn't sleep with Akane as P-Chan anymore, he would miss that a
bit, but he would also never feel as helpless as he had before when he was
about to be dropped in a kettle for cooking.  He looked up at Ranma from
his hands and started talking again, "Nannichuan really isn't a cure to
Nyannichuan Ranma, the guide was quite positive of that.  In fact, I'm
surprised you never checked that out when you and your father got cursed in
the first place, I know I was so angry at you for knocking me in that I
started chasing after you as soon as I could, but why in the world didn't
you two check it out, didn't you even ask the Guide about a cure?"
	Here Ranma looked a bit sheepish, "Well, uh, um, we uh, well . . . "
	"Yes?" Ryoga asked, "What's that Ranma?"
	Ranma muttered something under his breath.
	Ryoga smiled and put a hand up to his ear, "What was that Ranma? I didn't
hear you?"
	"I said . . .  WE NEVER EVEN THOUGHT TO ASK!  OKAY?  DO YOU HEAR ME?"
	"Oh, I hear you Ranma, I hear you loud and clear."  And then Ranma heard a
sound he could never quite recall hearing before, Ryoga, the man who could
destroy buildings with the strength of his depression, was laughing.  Of
course if he had a better memory he would recall Ryoga doing the same thing
in the entryway to the house, but Ranma's memory never was too spectacular.
 It was a sound that seemed to fill the dojo, and soon enough, after Ranma
got over his anger at being laughed at, he joined in.
	The sound of both of them laughing echoed out the door to Jude who was
sitting on a stone by the koi pond and watching the dark shapes swim within
the depths.  The sound also made its way into the Tendo house, Soun and
Genma looked up from their game board and quickly looked back to it to make
sure neither of them moved any pieces while the other wasn't looking.  It
went past the two fathers and into the kitchen where Kasumi was finishing
up the last of the after dinner cleaning, she looked up and smiled, "Ranma
and Ryoga are such good friends," she said.
	Last to hear it were Nabiki and Akane, they were sitting on the couch
watching the TV, Akane looked up and smiled as well, "Maybe those two fools
won't be fighting as much anymore," she thought to herself.  Nabiki heard
the laughter and filed it away in her brain as one more piece of information.
	Back in the dojo Ranma and Ryoga had finally stopped laughing, neither of
them were quite sure what had just happened, but perhaps it heralded a
change.  Ryoga knew that he was on equal ground in the curse department, if
Akane could accept Ranma turning into a girl she could just as easily
accept Ryoga doing the same thing.  Ranma on the other hand, was glad to
finally be rid of P-Chan sleeping with Akane, he was also glad to know that
not every single incident where Akane got angry at him would result in
Ryoga's immediate knowledge through P-Chan.
	"Okay Ryoga, I guess I can see what you mean, but I'm still surprised you
didn't just jump me the moment you saw me trying to attack me like you
usually do, seems it's either that or seeing P-Chan in the morning with
Akane, but I suppose you couldn't take that route now could you?"
	"Ranma, what's between you and I stays between you and I, I didn't want to
make Akane angry by breaking down parts of her house and I didn't want the
Tendo's seeing Jude for the first time and associating him with you and I
busting down a few walls, that's all."
	"I can see that I suppose," Ranma paused for a time and then said, "That's
another thing that's been on my mind, why the heck did it take you so long
to get here with someone who actually had a sense of direction?  I mean,
couldn't he just have used a map and got you here sooner then you could have?"
	Ryoga thought about that for a while and then said, "You know, I asked him
the same question, he said that he didn't particularly mind being lost, and
since he didn't remember any place he had to go there was no rush."
	Ranma shrugged, the two were silent for a time, then he turned to Ryoga
and said, "So what do you and he think about your curses?"
	"I'm not helpless anymore," Ryoga said, "For me it's a change for the
better, no longer needing to fear getting wet when I'm traveling and ending
up in a cook-pot," Ryoga gave a half grin at that and then it faded away.
He decided not to mention that the only thing that he would miss would be
P-Chan's bedtime activities.  "As to Jude, well, he hasn't said much more
then things like �It could be worse' he seems to be adjusting I suppose.
But why would _you_ want to know about somebody else's feelings Ranma?!"
	"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!" Ranma asked, he didn't like the way
that sounded.
	"You heard me Ranma!  You're usually a jerk all the time!  Why should you
care what someone else is feeling? Huh?" Ryoga felt his own temper flaring
as all the instances of Ranma acting before he thought and hurting Akane
with what he said coming to mind, he was itching for a fight really, he was
just looking for a reason, even if he wasn't looking as hard as he usually
did.
	Ranma looked out the doors to where Jude sat, staring into the koi pond,
"Well, it's just, I remember all the stuff that was goin' through my head
when I had just got cursed, that's all, if he's like I was he isn't too
happy right now, maybe I just wanna make sure that someone else has an
easier time adjusting then I did, is that answer enough for ya Ryoga?"
	Ryoga cooled off a bit, he too remembered trying to adjust to turning into
a pig every time he got wet.  The curse he had now was more like a cure
then a different curse, he didn't like turning into a girl, but he had
hated turning into a pig. "Yeah, I think it is Ranma," he said, "It's a
good answer."
	Anything more they would have said was cut off as it began to rain again.
The two looked out to see Jude-chan looking up at the sky.  She took off
her glasses and stuck them in her pocket and stood up.  She walked back to
the dojo with a dull expression on her face.  Ranma looked at Jude-chan as
she walked nearer and then back to Ryoga and said, "We really do all turn
into the same girl don't we?"
	"Yes indeed we do Ranma," Ryoga said, "Except for a few small things that
is."
	By this time Jude-chan had walked in the door, she grinned at Ryoga and
Ranma and then asked, "You two are both cursed, are all cursed people as
much a water magnet as I seem to be?  I mean I've been soaked an absurd
number of times since Jusenkyo."
	"Get used to it," Ranma said with a somber look on his face, "You are and
we are, and it doesn't matter what form you happen to be in, water will
find you and change you."
	"Murphy musta been a Jusenkyo curse-bearer then," Jude-chan said.  She
grabbed her umbrella from the top of her pack and then rummaged inside it
for some clothes.  She grabbed those and said, "Well, if I want hot water
it's in the house right?"  Ryoga and Ranma nodded.  "I thought so, good
thing that I've got this then, wouldn't do to get changed back and then get
soaked walking back later now would it?  Might as well get out of these
soaked clothes too."
	She turned to walk out the door and then turned back, "You two aren't
gonna attack each other then tonight?" she asked, "Cause Ryoga said that
you two almost always fought each other all the time."
	"Well, I don't think we'll end up doing that tonight," Ranma said, "Do you
Ryoga?"
	Ryoga shook his head, "Nah, I can beat Ranma up tomorrow when it isn't
raining."
	"Okay, I was gonna say that if you do you should be careful around my bag,
I'd hate to lose it in a destroyed building or anything," with that she
opened her umbrella and walked out the door and into the rain.
	"Beat me up tomorrow Ryoga?"
	"Well, yeah," Ryoga said, "Isn't that what I always do?"  He grinned at
Ranma's scowl, he enjoyed being the one pushing buttons for once, but he
didn't want to start anything tonight, "But there's plenty of time for that
tomorrow Ranma, you can prove me wrong."
	"You bet Ryoga," Ranma said with determination, then he stopped, "Speaking
of fights, that umbrella Jude had looked an awful lot like one of yours,
have you been teaching him how to use it or is it just to ward off water?"
	"Well, it's a lighter version of mine, but yeah, I've taught him a bit,
he's still not very good at all, at least, compared to all the rest of us
who've been training for years and years, but he might be something
someday, who knows?"
	"That's good to know, around here it seems like there's always a fight of
some sort going on."
	"Yeah, especially around you Ranma, you're almost as much a fight magnet
as you are a water magnet ya know."

				***

	Jude-chan walked into the house and closed her umbrella.  She propped her
umbrella up by the door and adjusted her clothing slightly before turning
to Soun and Genma at their game.  "Mr. Tendo," she said, "I'd like to thank
you again for your hospitality, it's good to be able to sleep somewhere and
not have to get moving again right away in the morning for a while."
	"Think nothing of it my boy," Soun said, "You haven't tried to kill anyone
here, and you aren't engaged to Ranma, so you can't be that bad a guest."
	Jude-chan blinked and then said, "Akane said the same thing, or something
like it, does that happen often?"
	Soun started to laugh and said, "More often then you would think really,"
while Genma took the opportunity to add a few pieces to the game board.
Soun looked suspiciously at the board when he turned back to it but didn't
say anything.
	Jude-chan decided that saying anything more would just lead to more
confusing replies and made a mental note to ask Ryoga about the fiancee
bit, he knew that Akane was engaged to Ranma, but not much else.  Ryoga
hadn't seemed to want to talk about very much other then Akane and how she
was mistreated by Ranma.  She would not have wanted to see what Ryoga was
like when he _didn't_ have the release of being able to talk with someone
about his troubles.
	She shivered in her wet clothes and remembered she was here to get hot
water.  On her way to where she remembered the kitchen to be she passed the
couch where Akane and Nabiki were watching TV.  Akane looked up from her
seat and said, "Hi Ran.. Uh.. Jude, sorry, you do look a lot like Ranma
when he's like that you know."
	"Hi Akane," Jude-chan replied, "Yeah, I guess I do, so does Ryoga for that
matter, from what I can tell, all that we have telling us apart is our hair
and clothes."
	"And your manners," Nabiki added, "You can't forget that."
	"Manners?" Jude-chan asked, then she recalled the yelling that had come
from the house just before they had entered the house.  "Oh, yelling and
shouting or something like that?" she asked.
	"Yes," Nabiki said, "Something like that."
	Akane didn't seem to like where this conversation was leading and said,
"Why don't you join us Jude?  Maybe you can fill us in on some more of
where you and Ryoga ended up going in your, um, travels."
	"Sure," Jude-chan said, then she stopped, "Oh, but I'm soaked, would that
do any good for the furniture to have a wet person on them?"
	Akane noticed the bundle of clothes in Jude-chan's arms and said, "Well,
you could probably change first and then you wouldn't have to worry about
that."
	Jude-chan smiled and said, "Thanks Akane, uh, where should I do that?"
	Akane got up and said, "Follow me, it's just over here."  Jude-chan began
to follow her down the hall when Nabiki stopped her.  "You aren't by any
chance planning on falling in love with me are you Jude?" she asked.
	Jude-chan blinked and then said, "Uh, not that I know of Nabiki, why do
you ask?"
	"I don't know, I just had the feeling that it might happen, somehow," she
paused and then said, "And I wanted you to know that unless you end up with
some serious cash you don't have a chance so don't even think about it, ok?"
	Jude-chan decided that just agreeing with her would stop any other
confusing comments and left the way Akane had went after assuring Nabiki
that she had no romantic intentions towards her at all.

				***

	Jude-chan looked at the pile of clothes on the counter and then started
unbuttoning her shirt.  She folded it slightly and then laid it on the
counter.  She looked at her reflection in the mirror and was still
surprised to see a well-endowed red head staring back at her.  She noticed
that her soaked T-shirt seemed to have become almost a second skin and
tried not to think about the fact that her body's sex was even more evident
now then it had been in that baggy shirt.  She turned away from the mirror
as she stripped off the T-shirt and replaced it with the dry one she had
taken from her bag.  She then slipped on an identical black long-sleeved
shirt.   She contemplated changing back, that was the reason she had went
inside in the first place, but decided that she might as well wait until
she went to sleep so she didn't end up getting accidentally changed in the
meantime. 
	Next up was her pants and socks, she stripped these off with less
apprehension then she had her shirt, the only evident changes to her legs
had been the shape and length. She quickly changed underwear and slipped on
the other set of blue jeans, paying as little attention as she could to the
area in between her legs.  Even after all the weeks she had been cursed it
was still odd to see what was there, or more appropriately, wasn't there.
	She looked at herself in the mirror and decided that, while baggy, her
clothes still managed to fit well enough to get by.  She undid her bandanna
and ran her fingers through her hair, it was still wet enough to stay back
on its own so she didn't need the extra help that having it tied back
added.  She shook her head a bit and then gathered up her old clothes and
walked out the door of the bathroom.
	Throughout her changing she didn't notice the faint sound of a camera,
steadily clicking away and taking quite a few pictures.

				***

	When Jude-chan got back out Akane stared at Jess-chan for a bit before
speaking.  "Wow, it's still odd to see how much you look like Ranma does
when he's like that, although your hair is shorter, and not in that pig
tail he always has his in, that and you carry yourself differently."  
	"Why do I have the feeling that meeting someone that knows Ranma's girl
side will cause some confusion at first?" Jude-chan said.
	"That's true," Akane said, "You'll definitely have trouble for a bit from
some people I'd say, Ranma causes rather, extreme, reactions in people."
	Jude-chan looked down at the clothes in her hands and then said, "Do you
know what to do with these?  They might just need to be set some place to
dry, but a good washing would do a world of good too, is there anywhere I
can get these washed?"
	Akane took the clothes and said, "Don't worry about it we can just toss
these in with some of the rest of the clothes ready for the wash, I'll get
these ready."
	Jude-chan smiled and said, "I just want to thank you again for the help,
with everything."
	"Sure," she said, "You seemed like you needed some help, that's all."
	"That's for sure," Jude-chan said, she fidgeted with the bandanna and her
glasses for a bit and then stuffed them in one of the pockets on her shirt.
	Akane grinned and said, "I could see that, I'll just drop these clothes
off in the laundry room and then we can talk a bit."
	"Sounds good to me, lead the way, hopefully you won't get lost on the way
there."

				***

	The rain outside stopped.  Ryoga and Ranma looked outside when they heard
the sounds of rain cease.
	"Looks like that's my cue to go inside," Ranma said, "What do you say I
beat you tomorrow just for old times sake?"
	"We'll see who beats who Ranma," Ryoga replied as Ranma walked out the door.
	Ranma looked up to see himself standing and looking out at the yard from
the porch and for a brief moment the memory of the demon that showed up
when Happosai had split his male and female halves reared its head.  Ranma
shuddered and reminded himself that it was just Jude.
	Jude-chan stepped out to meet Ranma, she had her umbrella over her
shoulder and was carrying a kettle of hot water.  "You two done for the
night then?" she asked.
	"Yeah," Ranma replied.
	"And you didn't break anything?  From what Ryoga said you two always fought."
	"Well," Ranma said, "We called a truce for tonight."
	"Ah, I see, well, that's good I guess," Jude-can said, "Tomorrow is
another day huh Ranma?  Ah well, good night."  With that she walked back to
the training hall, careful to avoid any puddles along the way.
	When she got inside, she greeted Ryoga and searched through her pack until
finding her towel.  "Always have your towel," she had told Ryoga some time
back, it had come in handy plenty of times since she had been cursed.
After getting the towel she took off her shirt and tossed it on top of her
bag.  She stepped outside and doused herself as carefully as she could.
	Jude set the kettle down inside and dried himself off with the towel
before turning to Ryoga and asking, "Did you two work anything out or what?"
	Ryoga looked up at him and said, "I don't know, maybe we did, time will
tell."
	Jude took his sleeping materials out of his pack and noticed Ryoga doing
the same thing.  He knew his friend was glad to be here, but he seemed
uneasy for some reason.  "It's Akane isn't it?" he asked.
	"What? What do you mean?"
	"You're thinking about something, and I'd say its most likely Akane."
	Ryoga nodded, "Yeah, I guess it is, right now if I wasn't lost somewhere
I'd most likely be P-Chan and in her arms as she slept."
	Jude decided not to say what he thought about that to Ryoga and instead
asked, "Are you ever going to tell her?"
	"Tell her what?"
	"You know, P-Chan and the whole thing."
	Ryoga had images of Akane and her mallet dance through his head, he
shuddered and said, "I'll think about it, but I don't know, she'd probably
try to kill me."
	"Ouch." Jude cringed, then he grinned, "And with that cheery note, good
night and sleep well Ryoga."
	"You too."
	Then the two set up their bedding and closed up the doors to the training
hall.  Soon the two travel weary men were fast asleep with a roof over
their head for the first time in a long while.

Chapter 3-The journal

	Jude awoke in the night with the feeling  that he had forgotten something.
 He sat up quietly and looked around, his eye fell on his bag and he
remembered what he had to do.  He rummaged through his pack until he found
a small leather pouch.  He got up and quietly slipped out of the training
hall.
	It was only after shutting the doors of the hall that he remembered his
glasses, he decided he wouldn't need them and started to make his way from
the training hall to the house.  It was dark, there wasn't much more then a
sliver of moon and none of the light from the street lights quite made it
to the ground.
	He wasn't too worried, even without his glasses he could still make out
most of the ground and he knew where the house was.  Of course, in his
still partly asleep brain he had forgotten about the ever-present koi pond.
 This he managed to walk into without much trouble at all.
	That night at Jusenkyo where he had done the same thing flashed through
his mind and he idly cursed whatever forces had rallied against him to
cause such misfortune.  Then the transformation hit.
	Jude-chan stumbled her way out of the pond and made her way into the house
without much trouble after that.

				***

	After a quick trip to the bathroom to dry off Jude-chan looked in the
mirror.  She stared at the face of a girl that had died 1500 years ago.  A
part of her wondered what the girl's life had been like, another figured
that it truly was a tragic story for all involved.  She put these thoughts
aside and went to find a place where she could sit and have adequate light.
	She found her way to the kitchen and flipped on the lights.  She pulled up
a stool and sat down at the counter.  Here she opened up the leather pouch
and pulled out a small leather bound book with a pencil stuck in between
the pages.  When asked about the book she called it her Journal, in her
mind she called it her second brain.  She began to write.
	"Hey there Jude, this is Jude, in case you forgot, I hope you didn't
because it sucks for both of us, you're at the Tendo's.  They're Ryoga's
friends remember?  Of course if you do remember you don't need to be
reminded, if you don't ask Ryoga to fill you in."
	Jude-chan paused here and collected her thoughts, then she went on to
describe all of what happened in the day, concentrating on the people she
had met that day.
	"Ranma has the same curse you and Ryoga do, those two have some issues
between them to work out, childhood friends and enemies or something.  The
Tendo sisters, Kasumi is the oldest, kind and gentle and perhaps a bit
oblivious, or maybe not, something tells me there's more to her then meets
the eye, she's the one with the long hair in the pony tail.  Nabiki is the
middle daughter, she's suspicious of everything it seems, likes money too,
can't say much more, didn't talk to her much.  Akane is the youngest, she
helped you, me, us, (damn that's confusing, gotta think up something
definite for addressing you, myself, or something) anyway, she's engaged to
Ranma, apparently only one of his fiancee's (Note: ask Ryoga about the
other fiancee's there's at least two others) I guess Akane has a bit of a
temper so try not to make her mad, I guess she likes to hit people with
mallets and with our head that can't be a good thing.  Oh, Akane and Nabiki
both have short hair, Akane's is black and Nabiki's is a dark brown.  Mr.
Tendo is the guy with the long hair and mustache, seems really emotional.
Mr. Saotome is the guy with glasses and the cloth on his head, he's also
the panda with the signs, you guessed it, another cursed person. (Note
avoid flying signs, they hurt.)"
	She paused there and flexed her hand to loosen it up from the writing.
She hoped she wouldn't need this as anything more then a reminder.  She
added in a few more details that came to mind and was about to close the
book when she heard someone coming behind her.
	She turned around to see Akane standing in the door way.  "Hi Akane," she
said, "What are you doing up so late?"
	"I just came down to get some water, how about you Jude?"
	"Oh, just taking care of something I almost forgot, that's all."
	By this time Akane had walked into the kitchen, she looked on the counter
and saw the Journal sitting open on the table.  "What's this?" she said.
	"Well, this is my Journal, I've been keeping it to aid my memory.  There
are times when I just get up that everything is kinda muddled.  If I write
it all down, or at least, most of it down, it triggers my memories of what
happened so I remember.  Most of the time I don't have any trouble, but
it's the times that I do that this thing comes in handy."
	Akane nodded, "That makes sense," she said, she wondered how she would
cope with not remembering who she was or where she was from, it wasn't a
very pleasant thought.  The two of them talked for a while, mainly just
passing the time.  Soon they were both yawning and they came to the mutual
decision that sleep would be the thing to do.
	Jude-chan put away her journal and sealed it tightly in its pouch.  She
was about to leave when Akane stopped her, "Aren't you going to change
before you go back to sleep Jude?"
	Jude smacked her forehead for forgetting and immediately regretted it as
her hand connected with the bruise left by the sign from this evening.  "I
knew I was forgetting something!  Ah well, I'm pretty dry now, I'll skip on
it and change in the morning, it's not like I'm going to be conscious for
all that time."
	Akane nodded and grinned, "Okay then, see you tomorrow."
	The two made their way to their respective places of rest without further
incident and were soon fast asleep.

Chapter 4- Awakening

	If a person were to examine the inner workings of Jude's slightly damaged
gray matter, they would find that the damage was essentially quite minor.
One tiny connection in the myriad of other connections didn't work right.
Of course, this connection was the one that lead from his conscious mind to
his specific memory and identity.  When his brain tried to access the
familiar route after the accident it came up with an error and reported no
information.  This had the effect of once again rendering Jude incapable of
remembering his past.
	Now the brain is a complex system filled with redundancy upon redundancy,
so, lacking its usual route to where it stored its information, and any
access to that information, it made another route to a new place.  So now
Jude's brain was cataloguing its data in a slightly different part of his
brain using a slightly different way of getting there.
	This usually lead to no problems at all, his brain knew enough to get from
the new route to his new memories without any trouble most of the time.  It
was only when changing states from asleep to awake that it would sometimes
try to access the original route that it had always taken before.  This
caused problems as may be expected.  Usually all it took to get his brain
back in line with the new routing was a quick read through the ever-present
journal.  The process of reading something that was placed in the new area
caused the brain to jump back online without any trouble.

				***

	The next morning Jude-chan awoke to the sounds of two people fighting.
Her first thoughts were of going back to sleep, after a time the continued
sounds of fighting convinced her that a return to sleep wasn't in the
making.  She sat up and looked around.
	She couldn't recognize a thing.  For some reason having no idea where she
was didn't cause any reaction other then annoyance.  She shook her head a
bit and then her eyes fell on the notebook lying near where she had been
sleeping.
	She opened up the book and started to read.  "Hey there Jude, this is
Jude, in case you forgot, I hope you didn't because it sucks for both of
us, you're at the Tendo's," the book said, she continued to read and soon
after finishing she closed it and placed it back in its pouch.  After
reading something written in her own hand her brain once again kicked into
gear and the memories came back, she knew where she was and why she was
here.  She turned back to Ryoga, who had awakened while she read, and said,
"Damn, that is certainly annoying."
	Ryoga nodded and said, "I would imagine so, good thing you had the journal
handy huh?"
	Jude-chan nodded and then looked in the direction of the doors and said,
"So, who's fighting out there?"
	"Oh that's just Ranma and his father sparring, that's all, we should head
in to the house, they probably have breakfast ready."
	"Good idea," Jude-chan said.  They both got up and made their way to the
house, careful to avoid the two combatants in their morning sparring.

				***

	After a bit of hot water and some breakfast Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki all
left for school. Kasumi began to clean around the house.  Soun and Genma
started yet another game.  Ryoga and Jude took this time to go into their
own training session.
	They started out working on a few katas and then branched into some
sparring, Ryoga had found that he enjoyed teaching another person when Jude
had started training.
	It had been a bit of a whim for Jude to decide to try to learn martial
arts.  He had wanted something to focus on other then the void that resided
in the place of memories.  So one night he had asked Ryoga to teach him,
Ryoga had been a bit startled at first but quickly decided that it was a
good idea.  It seemed that he too had wanted something else to think about
besides travel and the past.
	Their sparring was quiet different from Ranma and his father's aerial
feats though.  This was a match where both opponents soul purpose wasn't to
knock the other into the pond.  Ryoga went slowly, pointing out the flaws
in Jude's offense and defense and working to remedy them.
	One thing that they had found was that Jude was a quick learner, he had an
almost photographic memory it seemed, when he could remember at all that
is.  Ryoga attributed it to Jude's intellect, Jude pessimistically replied
that he didn't have anything else to crowd what he learned out of his head.
	After a few hours they decided to clean up and take a very careful tour of
Nerima.  They borrowed a map from Kasumi and soon they were on their way.

				***

	Earlier that morning Ranma and Akane were walking to school.  Ranma was on
the fence as usual and Akane walked along side him on the sidewalk.  There
was one thing different though, Ranma seemed very quiet today.  Akane
wasn't used to seeing him like this, she wasn't sure what to think.
	"I'm going to be cooking dinner tonight Ranma, you better eat it," she
said, usually that would get a reaction out of him.
	"Oh, that's nice," Ranma replied quietly, he had his hands behind his head
and was looking up at the sky as he walked.
	Akane blinked, that was definitely not the response she expected.  She
tried a few more of the usual argument starting triggers and got the same
results.  Something was wrong here.  She stopped and watched Ranma walk
along the fence for some way before noticing she wasn't along side him.  He
turned back and said, "Aren't you coming?"
	"Ranma," she replied, "Is something wrong?"  Ranma could be a jerk
sometimes but she was used to that and expected it, when he wasn't she
figured that something had to be wrong.
	Surprisingly enough, Ranma hopped down from the fence and walked over to
her.  "Remember last night when Ryoga said about Nannichuan not being a
cure?" he asked.
	Akane stopped walking, the reasons for Ranma's behavior becoming clearer
in her mind, "He did say something like that, either that or Jude did, is
that what's got you so.... quiet Ranma?"
	"Yeah, before there was always that last out, if all the other odd cures
out there didn't work that one was always there.  It had always just been a
matter of heading back to China and hopping in the pool and I'd be cured.
Now, well, that isn't there anymore, there may be some other cure out
there, but, I don't know, it's just, well I'm starting to think that I may
not find a cure."
	Akane looked at Ranma for a time and then said, "I think I understand,"
she couldn't think of anything to say to answer that so she just said,
"come on, we're going to be late for class."  With that she started once
more on her way to school.
	Ranma shook his head as if to dispel the thoughts of never being cured and
followed her.  After a time he managed to bring his mind to other things,
like the fact that Akane had actually listened to him when he talked.  Of
course he hadn't been anywhere near another woman so that might have had
some impact on her reactions.  He hopped back up onto the fence and ran
down the street to where Akane was and they both made their way to school.

Chapter 5-"Ah, so _that's_ where we are!"

	It was a typical day in the Nerima ward of Tokyo.  The skies had cleared
up during the night and the only evidence of the rain that had fallen was
the scattered puddles along the streets, puddles that Ryoga and Jude were
doing their best to avoid.  Jude was navigating and steadfastly ignoring
any directions that Ryoga happened to give him.  If I'm gonna get lost, he
thought to himself, it'll be my fault and not his.  There was something
oddly reassuring about that thought.
	"Ryoga, there's something I have to ask you," Jude said as he walked.
	"What's that?"
	"Well, it's something that came up a few times while I first showed up at
the Tendo's last night.  Something about them being glad that I wasn't
either a fiancee of, or the bearer of a death-wish towards, Ranma.  Now I'm
confused, I thought that it was standard practice to only have one fiancee,
and from what you said, that's Akane.  So what's the deal?  Care to fill me
in so I don't look like a fool when all the stuff that these people say
goes over my head?"
	Ryoga took this opportunity to give Jude an accurate, if slightly biased
against Ranma, version of Ranma's situation and how each one came to be.
After Ryoga was done filling him in Jude thought about it for a time, then
he said, "I don't remember anything like this happening to anyone else, but
I don't remember anything at all so that isn't much of a big thing, but I
still get the feeling that this situation isn't totally normal.  Ah well,
at least it isn't you or I huh?  You don't have any fiancees do ya Ryoga?"
	"No! No I don't, why do you ask?"
	"Well, I dunno, just seemed like a possibility, that's all," anything
further Jude was to say was interrupted by his stomach growling.  "I'm
hungry, do you know any place to eat around here?"
	"Well, when I could find Nerima, and when I wasn't eating as P-Chan, well,
there was the Ucchan and the Nekohanten for food mainly, a few other places
but those could be anywhere," Ryoga paused for a moment and then said,
"Well, the Ucchan is closed while Ukyo is in school, but the Nekohanten is
open now."
	"Ukyo?  She's another fiancee isn't she?"
	"Yeah she is, the other one, Shampoo, works at the Nekohanten," Ryoga
replied.
	"Well, I guess it's the Nekohanten, what kind of food do they serve there?"
	"Chinese food," Ryoga replied.
	"Well, let's get some directions and head there, what do you say?"
	"Sounds good to me, you'll meet everyone over there sooner or later if we
stick around in Nerima much longer so we might as well do it now."
	With that the two set off to get directions, stay un-lost, and get some
food as well.

				***

	Having received accurate directions and actually following them the two
made it to the Nekohanten in a surprisingly brief period of time.  Jude
pencilled in the location of the restaurant upon the map and showed it to
Ryoga.
	"That's funny," he said, "I thought this place was much farther away then
this."
	Jude was about to answer when a passing bicycle and a puddle combined
themselves to soak both of them.  The two girls sighed and entered the caf�.


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