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A fan fiction based on the works of RumikoTakahashi, creator of
     Ranma 1/2,
     and, Masaki Kajishima, who I've been told is the creator of
Tenchi.
     Hitoshi Okuda, is the artist and creator of the Tenchi Manga.
     Go figure.
     I have no rights to these characters.  Which should come as no 
     surprise to anyone.
     
     A Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?  Side Story.
     China Girl, or
     Mother, Chef, and Violence.  Part d
     
     What's going on?

     Nodoka and the girls have reached Jusenkyo's and like the
infamous little Indians, they have fallen one by one to the pools of
sorrow.
Last chapter was Akane's turn.  Now join us as we learn who, or
what she has become.

T.H Tiger




     Slowly, a group cautiously formed around the hole in the
ground, keeping well back from the crumbling edge.  Ukyou had
been the first to reach the scene.  She fell to her knees, and leaning
forward carefully, called down the hole.  "Akane, are you alright?"
     A muffled cough, and the reply, "Yes, I think so," floated up to
her.  Ukyou frowned, the voice did not sound at all like Akane's, and
had a strange echoing quality.  She blinked in surprise, and then
brushed the strangeness aside.  Obviously the hole Akane was in
distorted her voice.
     Nodoka was the next to arrive, and before she could say or ask
anything, Ukyou reassure her.  "She's all right, but I don't know
how we're going to get her out, the side looks awfully unstable."
     "I'll climb back up." Came Akane's strange echoing voice from
down in the hole." 
     "No, stay where you are!" Nodoka called out, worry in her
voice.  "If you try to climb up you may bring the whole thing down
on your head.  Stay put.  I mean that Akane!  Don't try to climb
out!" Nodoka put all the power she could in her voice, hoping for
once that Akane would listen to her.
     "All right," Akane replied.  The tone of her voice indicated she
would not stay put long however.  "You had better hurry," she said
nervously.  "I think there is something else down here with me."  

     Plum arrived at that point, and looked at the hole in the ground
with a pale face.  "Oh no!" she murmured to herself.  For what
seemed like the hundredth time that day, she found herself praying
for a return to boredom.  
     "Titties," a voice said beside her, and she turned to see a boy
about Akane and Ukyou's age leering at her cleavage.  His face was
suddenly replaced by a broad shiny surface.  

     SPLANG, went Ukyou's baker's peel as it impacted.  "Get lost
you.  This is all your fault!" Ukyou yelled at the comatose boy. 
Rather futilely as it happened, he was obviously not going anywhere.

     The small black pig Akane had found limped up, and poked its
head over the edge of the hole.  No one paid any attention, not until
a rough gravely voice asked.  "So, what's going on here?"

     Three heads turned in incredulity, three pairs of eyes looked
into a pair of brown eyes that looked back at them placidly, if a little
impatiently.  "Well," the pig said, "I'm waiting."  
     Even if any of them had been capable of speech at that point, he
would not have received an answer.  Akane's distorted and echoing
voice suddenly cried out in panic.  "There is something down here! 
Get away from me you perverted monster!" A second later, two blurs
rocketed up out of the hole, and landed several yards away from it,
one on each side.
     
     The sight that greeted the three girls, and one pig, drove all
other thoughts out of their mutual minds.  The creatures on either
side of the hole were well covered in mud, but that did not keep their
general appearance from being made out.  About six feet tall, maybe
a bit more.  They were covered head to toe in short, light honey-
blond fur.  It clung close to their bodies, in most places no more then
a half an inch in thickness, but so heavy that no sign of skin could be
seen.  Only in a few areas such as their heads did it grow thicker.  
Observation of their appearance was greatly aided by the fact that
they were stark naked.  Their modesty somewhat preserved by the
heavy blond mane each possessed.   Hanging from their heads, it fell
as far as their knees.  The mud and water that soaked it helped it
greatly in its job of concealment.  Weighed down by the water and
muck dripping from it, it hung in great tangled streamers around
their bodies.  
     As the two strange beings glared at each other, another feature
attracted the watchers' attention.  Swishing in agitation behind each
of them was a long tail. One had a tuft on the end of her tail.  While
the other's ended in a blunt point. The tails were currently giving a
very clear indication of the two's current mood.  
     That is, if they lived up to their general cat like appearance. 
On a dog, that much tail movement would have indicated great
happiness.  None of the people watching thought for even a second
that was the case here.  The way they were baring their teeth at each
other, and the manner in which they warily circled the other, gave
pretty clear evidence that they were not happy campers.
     Their faces were almost human, but in keeping with the rest of
their bodies, they had a distinctive feline cast to them.  It was too far
away to make out their eyes, but the watchers had little doubt they
would continue the trend, and be slitted cat eyes. The one with the
tuft on the end of her tail had a patch of whitish fur on her left
cheek.  The grain of that small patch ran opposite to the rest of her
pelt, giving it a ruffled look, and exposing the pale undercoat of her
fur.  
     Last, but not least, topping their heads were large triangular
ears that projected up out of the mud and water soaked hair that
covered their heads.  They were mobile, and as the girls watched
each other intently, they twitched back and forth, moving in time
with the agitated swishing of their tales.  

     Both creatures cried out at the same time.
     "Saotome-san, Ukyou, Plum!  Get out of here!  I'll hold it off!"
     "Saotome-san, Ukyou, Plum!  Get out of here!  I'll hold it off!"
     
     "What?  How dare you mock me, you, you, you, creature you?"
     "What?  How dare you mock me, you, you, you, creature you?"
     Again, the creatures spoke in perfect harmony.

     "Spring of drowned twins." Plum murmured in a dazed voice.

     "What?"  Nodoka exclaimed.  She tore her eyes  away from the
sight of the two humanoid cat creatures arguing with each other,
word for word, and in perfect harmony, to look at Plum.  "You know
what going on, Plum-san?"
     The guide girl looked at Nodoka, her eyes glazed.  She spoke in
a mumble, as much to herself as to Nodoka.  Events seemed to be
catching up to her. "They act like person fall in spring of drowned
twin.  They think other fake, both talk and think same thing, same
time.  But that wrong, there no spring of drowned twin cat demon
here.  This part covered over three hundred year ago.  There was
spring of drowned rabbit, spring of Tasmanian devil, spring of
drowned Bush boy, spring of drowned Kangaroo, spring of drowned
crocodile, and spring--"
     "Yes, yes," Nodoka cried, afraid that Plum might go on forever
at this rate.  Reaching out and shaking the dazed girl, she said,  "I
understand.  There was not suppose to a spring here that would have
done this.  But there is a spring  that will turn one person into two?"
     "Yes, but it only change into two who be same as one who fall
into spring.  They no change into different thing." 
     "But that does not mean that it couldn't!" Nodoka said firmly. 
"After what has already happened here, I'm prepared to believe
almost anything.  That means that both of those things could be
Akane.  There is only one way to find out." Nodoka gave Plum a
good shake for emphasis, and shouted at her.  "Run and get hot
water! I'll try to get Akane to understand what has happened."
     "But--" Plum started to say, but was cut off by Nodoka before
she could say anything else.
     "Get the water!" Nodoka ordered her again.  Then, leaving
Plum, she strode off toward the two quarreling creatures.  With no
other choice, Plum hurried off toward her distant hut, wondering
what else could possible go wrong.  As if in answer to her thought, a
large fat drop of rain dropped onto her nose, followed shortly after by
others.
     
     Nodoka had managed no more then two steps toward what she
assumed was Akane and Akane, when the world went away again.

     Xian Pu stumbled, almost falling to her knees.  She caught
herself barely in time, and gave a muffled curse.  Was this the way
she was fated to spend the rest of her life.  Constantly coming to
awareness in strange situations, and moving in ways directly
opposite to the way she had been maneuvering when last aware. 
What was she to do if she woke in the middle of. . ."

     "Agggg!  What have you done to me you monster?"
     "Agggg!  What have you done to me you monster?"

      "a . . . battle!"

     Xian Pu's head whipped around in shock.  It couldn't be! 
She'd dropped a mountain on them.  They had to be dead!  As if to
give the lie to her thoughts, there they were, big as life.  The
monsters that had almost destroyed her village before she could lure
them out of it.  They were standing there facing each other and
ignoring Xian Pu.  Each of them was looking down at themselves in
shock, and running hands up and down their bodies.

     "You've turned me into one of you!"
     "You've turned me into one of you!" They shouted at each
other.
     "Are you making fun of me?"
     "Are you making fun of me?"
     "Stop that!"
     "Stop that!"
     "Arrrhhhhhh!  I'll Show you!"
     "Arrrhhhhhh!  I'll Show you!"

     They lunged at each other in a perfectly choreographed move,
and seconds later they were rolling across the ground, trying to do
each other serious harm.  It was the strangest fight the befuddled
Xian Pu had ever seen.  Every single move they made was exactly
duplicated by the other, countering every attack before it had even
started.  Punches collided with each other.  Grappling moves tangled
with the their duplicate move.
     Xian Pu did not know what was wrong with the two cat
demons.  She was only glad that their quarrel was distracting their
attention from her.  What was she going to do?  If dropping a
mountain on top of them had not finished them off.  What would? 
Before she could come up with a suitably lethal plan, she was
interrupted.
     
     "Real intellectuals ain't they?" A gravely voice said.

     Xian Pu whirled around in shock.  While she had been
distracted, someone had snuck up on her.  She blinked.  There was
no one there.

     "Down here toots." Xian Pu lowered her head, and found
herself staring at a small black pig.  Having gotten her attention, he
turned back toward the two arguing cat girls, and continued to talk. 
"Not that the two of them were ever what you would call brain
surgeons mind you."

     Xian Pu got over her shock fairly quickly.  After all this was
Jusenkyo.  She had not thought people with an animal curse could
talk.  But there was no arguing with the fact that he was.  Besides,
her attention was more on what he had said, then the fact that he had
been able to say it.
     "You know them?" She asked him.
     "Too damn well.  They tried to kill my empress once.  See
Anna there?  How she's missing the tip of her tail.  That was me that
did that.  She was hiding behind a wall taking pot shots at the palace
guard.  Didn't think to keep her tail behind it as well though. 
Should have seen her jump when I nicked her.  Too bad her sister
Una got off a shot and distracted me before I could finish the job, or I
would have potted her in the air.  Funny thing though.  The girls are
looking pretty damn spry for three-hundred, considering their
species has a life span of about one-hundred-fifty.  Well, never mind,
we'll figure that out later." 
     The small pig held up one of his front hooves, and Xian Pu saw
that it was deformed.  Then, it shifted, the ball of dull grey material
that was at the end of his leg, instead of the expected hoof, turned
shiny, then flowed, taking on the shape of a large sharp spike.  The
small black pig looked at it with grim satisfaction. 
     "Nani?" Xian Pu exclaimed.
     The little pig waggled his eyebrows at her.  "Magic kid.  Can't
you tell I'm a great and powerful magician?" 
     Xian Pu nodded her head solemnly.  That explained a lot.  How
he could talk in his animal form, the strange hooves, everything. 
Even the fact that he claimed to be at least three hundred years old ,
and had faced the cat demons before.  "What would you have us do
elder?" She asked, giving him a slight bow of respect as she did so. 
Even if he was a male, he had a presence that would not be out of
place on a matriarch.  Besides, anyone who had fought those two
before, and lived, was deserving of respect.
     "Well now.  I was not really thinking of us.  'I' was going to
sneak up on them while they're arguing with each other, and give
them a taste of several thousand volts.  Hoping of course they don't
see me.  I'm too old and tough to make a good meal, but those two
are likely to make an exception in my case.  Anna was awfully proud
of her tail. You stay back here where it's safe."
     Xian Pu rejected that plan outright.  "I am an Amazon warrior. 
I too have fought these creatures before, and unlike you, I did more
then score a lucky hit.  I managed to drop the side of the mountain
on them." She saw no reason to mention that it had been pure luck
on her part, rather then any great skill or planning.  "If they were not
demons they would surely have perished.  I say we lure them into
one of the springs.  Even a demon might not be a match for the
magic of Jusenkyo.  If we can change them into something helpless,
they will be ours to defeat."
     The small pig had been listening to her with the long suffering
look of someone who had spent far too much time with eager
rookies, but when she mentioned Jusenkyo, his ears perked up. His
attention, which had been focused mainly on the quarreling pair of
cat demons was suddenly all directed toward her.  "Jusenkyo!  As in
the magic springs that give transformation curses?  Cold water
changes you, hot changes you back?" 
     Xian Pu was puzzled by his apparent lack of knowledge. 
Surely he must know the place he had been cursed?  Still . . . "That
is right, this is the valley of sorrow.  Every spring here has a curse. 
If we can just find the guide, and have her point out a suitable
spring, we can bring an end to the cat demons once and for all."
     "Just a minute, just a minute.  Let me think here," the pig said,
holding up his spike tipped leg in a be-quiet gesture.  Xian Pu
fumed, but before she could voice an objection, he asked her a
question.
     "You say you dropped a mountain on them?  When?" His voice
carried such a tone of command that Xian Pu had to fight to keep
from bracing to attention.  She almost said she had fought them
three hours ago, but then she paused., flushing sightly.  That would
have been the answer of a true novice.  During the excitement of
seeing the cat demons still alive, she had forgotten her own situation. 
Once again the pig's comment on when he had faced the demons
surfaced in her mind.  "It was three hundred years ago.  I drowned in
Nyanniichuan shortly after that.  I only recently woke up after a
woman fell into the spring and gained me as a curse.  I'm not even a
real person.  I am nothing more than a shadow of the past." Xian Pu
said the last with some bitterness, which was not lost on the little
pig.
     "Funny, you don't look like a shadow to me." He waggled his
eyebrows at her as he ran his eyes up and down her body.  "As for
being a real person.  I'd say your more then real enough for me. 
Alright, enough self pity." Xian Pu felt outrage at his remarks, and
at his casual dismissal of her situation, but once again the pig did not
give her time to voice this.  Speaking in a crisp voice, he said. "So
you claim to have dropped a mountain on them three hundred years
ago.  I don't suppose they tried to run away when you did that?"
     Disciplining herself, she kept her attention on the matter at
hand, but privately vowed that there would be a reckoning later.
"Yes, they did, but they did not escape.  I lost sight of them in the
dust near the end, but by then they were too far from safety for it to
have made a difference.  There is no way they could have escaped
fully."
     "I don't suppose they could have run into one of the springs
while trying to get out from under the landslide?  Say, just before it
buried them?"
     Xian Pu experienced a burst of understanding.  They fell into a
spring!  That's why they are still alive.  They are a curse!" She
glared at the little pig, and added.  "Like me." 
     He ignored her last remark, focusing instead on the part that
interested him. "So if we can splash some hot water on them, they'll
revert to their previous form, whatever that is."
     Xian Pu looked around her quickly, taking inventory of the
people she could see.  There was a ragged looking boy laying on the
ground nearby, his chest raising and falling, showing he was not as
dead as he looked.  Xian Pu did not recognize him, but his clothes,
and a certain feral quality, marked him as a member of the Musk. 
That would have to be dealt with, but later.  Near him, and watching
the two cat demons with a worried look on his face was the brown
haired boy from the spring.  The rain had obviously changed him
into his current form even as it had brought her out.  Far off in the
distance she could see the female guide hurrying toward them, a
kettle in her hand.  That left one person, unless there was another
unknown individual involved. 
     "Short, black haired girl, good fighter, but not the best.  Fairly
strong from the look of her. That is the one who likely has the
curse."
     "But that's only one.  Who's the other?"
     "There is no other.   If the Cat demons drowned, they likely did
it at the same time in the same spring.  They seem to be twins. That
makes it a twin spring.  One person falls in, two come out."

     "No shit!" he looked over to where the two cat demons were
rolling around on the ground together, trying their level best to
strangle each other, and not having much luck.  The landscape was
not fairing as well.  They were surrounded by a churned up sea of
mud and rocks.  Even as he watched, they rolled near a large
boulder, imbedded deep in the ground.  One of the girls, he couldn't
tell which one, they were so badly coated with muck by now, placed
a foot against it and shoved.  She might have been hoping to gain an
advantage over her opponent with the added leverage, but all she
succeeded in doing was to shove the massive rock over, churning up
even more dirt.   
     P's expression became uncertain for the first time.  Damn, he
didn't remember them being that strong.  It must have something to
do with the magic, and that was something outside his experience. 
He turned to his companion.  She at least seemed to know a little
about it. "Should we douse them while they are together, or wait till
they separate.  I'm not up on this magic stuff.  Not even sure if I
believe in it.  Do they need to be touching to turn back into this girl
who fell into the spring?  Do we have to douse one, or both of
them?"

     "I'm not sure." Xian Pu frowned, and tried to remember what
her grandmother had taught her about the springs.   "Spring of
drowned twin is not like other springs.  The curse makes two people
where there was one, and they don't change back.  This is different I
think.  If it was the black haired girl who fell in, then she changed
into a completely different creature, two of them as a matter of fact. 
The hot water might not work, or it might leave us with two girls, or
they might merge into one person again." She shrugged her
shoulders.  "There is really only one way to tell."

     With no further word or explanation, Xian Pu went bounding
across the ground, straight toward the panting, out of breath Plum. 
Reaching her in seconds, she snatched the kettle from the startled
girl's  hand, and bounded back toward the fighting cat demons.  The
rain that was falling would make this a very short term experiment. 
Despite that, it should at least let them know whether the hot water
would have any effect, and if so, what.  Reaching the two girls, she
quickly hoped into the air to avoid their rolling bodies and to get as
close as she could to them.  As they passed under her, she upended
the kettle.  The figures below her morphed, and for just a second, it
was two naked black haired girls below her.  Then, they were back to
being cat demons.

     The brief moment was enough however to finally break the
stalemate the two had ended up in. They broke apart and looked at
each other is shock.  Then their eyes narrowed and they glared at
each other.
     "So that's it, your trying to steal my body."
     "So that's it, your trying to steal my body."
     They glared at each other with loathing. For a second, it looked
like they were about to resume their interrupted battle.  Before that
could happen however, there was an interruption. 

     "Ahhhhhhh!" the cat girl with the tuft missing from her tail
suddenly stiffened, her back arcing in a bow.  The one with the white
patch on her cheek watched in shock as the other girl seemed to go
into some sort of fit.  The convulsions seemed to go on forever, but
really only lasted about five seconds.  The stubbed tailed girl finally
slumped, and slowly folded to the ground.  Behind her, the small
black pig gave a toothy smile, and blew on the tip of the sharp needle
his hoof had morphed into.
     "Get's them every time." He said with every indication of
satisfaction.  "Now we deal with you!" He glared up at the remaining
cat girl, who looked back at him in shock. 
     "Nani!  P-chan?  I don't understand?  You can talk!  How?" An
expression of complete befuddlement covered her face.
     An expression of startled surprise crossed the pig's face.  It was
quickly replaced by one of intense anger.  "Don't you dare call me
that!" He said in a voice that carried an amazing amount of threat,
for coming from such a small creature.  "You don't have the right! 
You haven't earned the right!"
     The standing cat girl backed up a few steps, her expression
going from befuddlement, to shock.  For a second she looked like a
little girl whose parent had yelled at her, and who didn't know why. 
Her expression turned quickly to one of anger.  Anger which
completely overrode any surprise a talking pig could cause.
     "How dare you!  I'm the one who saved you from your crashed
rocket!" 

     For a second the tall cat girl, and the short pig glared at each
other.  To Xian Pu's surprise, the small pig was the first to look
away.  When he spoke, it was in a sad tone.
     "Sorry girl.  My partner Felicity use to call me P-chan.  To hear
it from you . . .Let's just say it was a shock.  That body you're
wearing used to belong to Una Puma.  She was my partner's great,
great, aunt.  She was also a vicious mercenary, who tried to kill
someone I cared very much for.  She also threatened to serve me for
dinner if she ever got her hands on me.  We didn't get along very
well."
     His words seemed to remind the girl of her current situation. 
She looked down at her own body, and then at the one laying on the
ground.  "I'm cursed then?" She said in a stunned voice.  "But who
is that?  Did someone else fall in at the same time?" Her eyes
suddenly widened. "Not the pervert!" She looked around, and sighed
in relief when she spotted the figure of the fallen Musk warrior. 
     Xian Pu answered her.  "You fell into a spring of drowned twin
cat demons.  That one on the ground there is you as well."
     "What!?  You mean that one's a copy of me don't you?"
     Xian Pu shook her head.  "You are both the same person,
neither of you is copy, not if what I've heard of the stories is true. 
Or maybe you could say you are both copies."
     "That wrong!  I'm the original!" She turned to the pig.  "Why
else would you have knocked out the other one?"

     "I've got this one toots." The little pig said to Xian Pu. 
Turning back to the cat girl, he said.  "Luck of the draw I'm afraid. 
If you had been the closest, I'd have zapped you." Seeing the girls
expression, he quickly added.  "Now don't go getting upset.  I had a
good reason.  You two are exactly the same person.  Until you
diverge from each other you're going to be caught in some sort of
feedback loop.  I figured that if I put one of you out, then that would
give the one still standing a chance to diverge enough that you two
can start dealing with each other in a less violent way."
     "Deal with that fake!  Never!" 

     Before either the pig or Xian Pu could say anything, a sarcastic
voice came from behind them. "That's the way to go Akane!  Why
don't you yell a little louder!  I'm sure reality will move over if you
just howl loud enough!"

     Xian Pu turned to see that the brown haired boy from before
had walked up to join them.  He was looking at the cat girl in
disgust.  The cat girl for her part was looking at him with a great
deal of anger.  "Are you saying I should just go along with this crazy
idea?"
     "Oh no, of course not!" The brown haired boy said, his voice
dripping sarcasm.  "I think you should wait till this other one wakes
up!  Then, you and her can go back to tearing the hell out of the each
other, and everything else around here!" He made a wide sweeping
gesture.  Indicating the mounds of dirt and the deep gouges in the
earth the two cat girls had already churned up during their fight. 
"Or better still, you could use this!" He held up a sheathed sword. 
The one Nodoka had given him a little while earlier. Taking a firm
grip on the sheath he used his other hand to pull twenty six inches of
razor sharp blade free of it.  "Yes, this will do the trick.  You can
just cut her head off while she's helpless.  That should solve all your
problems."
     "What!?" The cat girl said, drawing back in shock.  "I couldn't
do that!"

     The pig took over the conversation at this point, after directing
an approving look at the brown haired boy. "Why not?  She's a fake! 
You said so yourself.  What right does she have to live.  How dare
she have your body, your memories!  Best thing you could do is to
kill her before she starts demanding your rights.  She might even
claim you're the one who's the fake."
     "I am the real one!"
     "That's right.  So I guess you'd better take the boy up on his
offer.  Do her in now.  After all, it's not like she's a real person,
she's just a cheap fake the springs conjured up."
     "Are you crazy?  I can't kill her!"
     "Why not, you don't think she's going to agree that she's the
fake.  If Red here is right, she's got your memories, your body. 
She's thinks she's you." He shook his head.  "Nope, better to just kill
her and be done with it.  Give her the sword."  He told the brown
haired boy.  The boy held out the sword to the cat girl, a serious look
on his face.  Xian Pu realized what they were trying to do, but from
the look on the boys face, he was not altogether sure the cat girl
would reject the offer of the sword.  The relief on his face was
obvious when the cursed girl placed her hands behind her back, and
backed away from the proffered sword, shaking her head in denial.
     "No, I won't do that.  You can't make me do that."
     The pig spoke again, and this time his voice was soft and
soothing.  "It's alright girl, you don't have to do it.  Why don't you
go and get yourself cleaned up, and we'll talk with this other one.  I
can tell you that you got yourself a hell of a good looking body there,
if you'll just wash all that muck off of it.  No one ever accused the
Puma sisters of being short on looks, just on brains. With your mind
and Una's body, you're one hell of a package."

     Ukyou stiffened in reflexive shock, and for a brief second, a
recipe for pork Okinomiyaki ran through her head.  She wondered if
she could snatch the pig away before Akane went ballistic.
Her jaw dropped when none of this became necessary.
     Instead of going postal on the little black pig. Akane said,
"really, you think so?" Ukyou gapped as Akane shyly ducked her
head and dug a toe into the dirt.  What the hell was going on here? 
If any guy had said that to Akane, she would have pulverized him. 
Of course the one doing the complimenting really was a pig, instead
of just being one metaphorically, but still. 
     "For sure, now go wash up now.  Leave your sister to us."
     "Sister?" The cat girl said this word as if tasting the concept, a
look of surprise on her face. She gave them a weak smile.  "I guess
she is sort of a sister isn't she?" She walked off toward the nearby
stream, the angle of her head showing she was finally thinking,
rather then simply reacting.  Ukyou watched after with a feeling of
some relief.  She'd been afraid Akane had reverted fully to her angry
young girl mode, but it looked like she had been serious about
behaving better.
     
     Xian Pu waited till she was out of earshot, and then spoke in a
lowered voice just to make sure.  "That was well done elder.  But
what do we do with this other one?  She is going to be as hard to
convince as that one was."
     "The name is P, Agent P. 'You' can call me P-chan if you like. 
You're not bad, either of you.  You both have the making of good
cops.  As for this one, well, we wait till . . . What is her name
anyway," he asked the brown haired girl.
     "Akane, and I'm Ukyou."
     "All right, we give Una-Akane a chance to clean up.  Then."
He held up his spiked tipped hand, we give her a nice little nap, and
do the whole thing over again with Anna-Akane here."
     Xian Pu frowned.  "Una-Akane is not likely to take that well."
     "Can't be helped.  But one of the benefits of this method is that
it scrambles short term memory.  She won't remember anything
from the last thirty seconds before I stuck her.  Believe me, I know
what those bodies can do, and what it takes to put one of them down. 
It won't do her any lasting harm.  I wish we could do it some other
way, but it has to be done like this.  Like you told me, at the moment
they are duplicates of each other.  Mentally, as well as physically. 
What worked with one, will work with the other.  They are simply
too dangerous as they are.  I won't have them killing someone
accidentally while they quarrel.  We already know one method that
works, so I don't see any need with trying a different one.  Now,
back to your positions, and try to remember what you did last time,
and when."
     Xian Pu found herself responding once again to the aura of
command P-chan exuded, and along with the brown haired boy. 
Ukyou?  She started trying to remember the words and actions she
had spoken and used in the conversation with Anna-Akane.

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

     "So that's what we did." Ukyou said to Nodoka.  "And just like
with Una-Akane, Anna-Akane came around in the same way,
they're still pretty wary of each other, but they seem to be at least
trying to get along.  I don't pretend to understand why that pig can
get through to them, however.  Maybe it's because he's not human? 
Or maybe because he's so small?  Whatever it is, I'm glad he could. 
     "That seems very cruel.  What this Agent P did to them.  Is he
really an Alien?"
     "As far as I know.  I'm no expert, but I can't think of any other
explanation for him.  Xian Pu is sure he's some sort of magician or
spirit guardian.  That is she thinks that now.  She dumped some hot
water over him.  He read her the riot act for that, but he didn't
change. As for Akane, I agree with you.  I think it was cruel, but I
couldn't think of anything else, and you know how strong she is.  I
was afraid if the two of them didn't settle down they could cause
some real harm.  You saw what she almost did to that boy.  It was
only luck she didn't kill him. Akane's new bodies have some pretty
impressive natural weapons, I hate to think what would have
happened if that Agent P hadn't calmed them down.""
     "What about that boy?  Where is he now?"
     "Locked up in Plum's hut.  When he was just coming around
he started talking about Prince Herb coming with everyone.  Plum
tells me Prince Herb is the son of a local ruler that lives outside the
communist net.  Seems they have an arraignment with the
government.  You don't bother us, and we won't bother you.  They
must be pretty dangerous if they can get the PRC to accept an
arraignment like that.  Plum tells me her father has warned her
about this Prince Herb.  She's suppose to make herself scarce, and to
make sure he does not see her if he comes here.  She didn't say
outright, but I get the impression that Prince Herb and his men are
not great respecters of women.  I can believe it.  When that boy woke
all the way up and saw Xian Pu, he didn't even hesitate, he made a
grab for her with no warning at all.  Pu flattened him." Ukyou's
voice held admiration.  "Akane was right, she's faster then anyone
I've ever seen.  I meant that guy was quick, I didn't even see him
move, and she still took him out."
     "Oh dear," Nodoka said, glancing over where both Akanes
were sitting.  Listening while Agent P filled them in on the former
history of their cursed forms.  From the expression on their faces, it
did not make good listening.  "We had best be gone then before this
Prince Herb gets here.  I don't want Akane to go on another
rampage.  We've already caused enough damage." 
     "My thoughts exactly."
     "Will Plum be safe?"
     "She should be.  She says she knows the mountains well
enough that she can hide out there while she waits for her dad to get
back."
     Agent P who had finished his talk with the Akanes,  left them
quietly talking to each other, and wondered over to Ukyou and
Nodoka.  "So, you're Xian Pu's other half."
     Nodoka looked at the small pig uncertainly, but despite her
doubts, she owed him a debt of honor.  So she spoke with respect to
him.  "That is correct.  I understand from Ukyou that I own you a
debt of gratitude.  You managed to bring Akane . . . and Akane
under control.  Something I have been unsuccessful in doing."
     "Don't mention it.  I've had lots of practice.  They were a lot
easier then the originals to deal with, believe me.  I wanted to ask
you a question.  Is it true that you have no memory at all of the time
you spend as Xian Pu?"
     "Yes.  I wake as if no time has passed at all.  I don't even
dream."
     "That no good, no good at all.  That could be a big liability.  If
this Prince Herb catches up with us that could be very dangerous.  It
would be very bad if you were to change in the middle of the conflict. 
Neither you or Xian Pu would have any idea of the situation."
     "I've thought of the same thing myself, but what am I to do
about it.  Notes or any other form of communication between us
would be useless in that circumstances.  It might be best if I turn
control of my body over to Xian Pu.  Accidental dousing with hot
water is much less likely then cold.  It is my carelessness that caused
the situation, it is my duty to do what ever is necessary to fix it."
     "That is an option of course, but it has it's downside.  For one
thing, this Prince Herb is well aware of the curses.  He could come
prepared with hot water.  I have something else I'd like to try first."
He held up a stylized tiara that looked like it had been carved from
some fine pale wood. 
     "What is it?" She asked.
     "I won't go into the details, but basically it's a device for
making a recording of a person's mind.   It was not designed for this,
but I believe it can be use to allow both you and Xian Pu to remain
self aware while the other is in charge of your mutual body.  Now I
can't force you to wear it, but . . ."
     P got no further, Nodoka reached out and took the wooden tiara
from him.  She lifted it up and placed it on her head, being careful to
work the bands on either side carefully under her hair.  "Oh," she
said in surprise.  "It moved."
     "Yes, it will adjust itself to fit you, or Xian Pu." 
     "How long must I wear it?"
     "Always, it need to be in constant contact to work. It will take a
day or so to make a complete recording, after that, if it works like I
hope, you and Xian Pu will be aware of what is going on while
trapped in the others body.  Of course Xian Pu will need to spend a
full day in control of your shared body so that the device can make a
recording of her mind as well.  So, when do we leave?"
     "Are you coming with us?" Nodoka asked in surprise.
     Agent P shrugged.  "Got no where else to go, and from what
the girls have told me, this planet is not the safest place for someone
who looks like me.  I figure the three of you are so unusual, that no
one is going to look twice at a pet pig, even if he behaves strange
from time to time."
     "Then it is best we be off then," Nodoka said firmly.

     Overhead, a small single engine plane passed by.  But no one
payed any attention to it.  They had far more important things to do
then to stare at something that had nothing to do with them.



Well, that concludes the preliminaries, join us next section as the
consequences begin, and Nodoka and the girls head back to Japan. 

With several interested parties hot on their trail.