Kijo woke up in the guide's hut. He sat up quickly, and put a hand to his
forehead. He looked down at himself, and saw that he was normal. He looked
up to see Ryoga sitting next to a kettle. He was sitting uncomfortably,
looking very guilty. "Ryoga?" he asked softly. Ryoga looked at him
nervously.
"Yes?" He said, scratching the back of his neck.
"Toss a glass of cold water on me. Now," Kijo ordered.
Ryoga hesitated, then grabbed a glass and splashed him.
Kijo closed his eyes, counted to 10 to relax himself, then looked down. He
was human. But, if he was human, and cursed, that could only mean... His
eyes widened in realization. He tore open his shirt. Sure enough he had
fallen into the spring of drowned girl. He, now she, closed her shirt
slowly. At least I'm still human. There are probably much worse springs I
could have fallen into.
She ran this thought through her head a few times before running out of the
hut, screaming. "I'MNOTAGIRLI'MNOTAGIRLI'MNOTAGIRLI'MNOTAGIRLI'M........"
"Kijo!" Ryoga shouted, chasing after her and grabbing her shoulders. "Calm
down!"
Kijo looked like a frightened animal in the jaws of some monstrous beast.
Her eyes darted rapidly, looking for escape.
"Kijo! Look at me! It's okay! Everything's okay!"
Kijo's eyes loss the primal look, and she took several deep breaths.
"Y-y-you're right. I-I-I-I'm okay. It's not s-s-so bad. H-hot water changes
me b-back, r-r-right?" she asked, her smile and voice wavering.
"Yes. It does," Ryoga said quietly.
"No problem then" Kijo said slowly, gaining control of herself.
Ryoga spoke softly, "I'm sorry, Kijo. It's all my fault... If I had just
controlled myself...." Kijo placed her hand on Ryoga's shoulder.
"It's... it's OK. You just were shocked that your cure was gone. I might
have done something similar...."
Ryoga looked slightly relieved to hear this, but still felt at blame. "I'll
try to make it up to you, I swear."
Kijo smiled softly. "Thank you." She then started walking back to the hut.
"Well, the cure's gone, so we should go now. I'd like to change back,
first."
Ryoga absent-mindedly handed her the kettle, and said slowly, "You know, I'
ve been thinking, if I can't get rid of my curse, I could get a better one.
Being a pig really sucks, and there are some other forms that would be a lot
better."
Kijo stared at him, the smiled. "You're right. Well, you've got a lot of
choices. Which one do you want?"
Ryoga shook his head. "I'm not sure yet. Maybe a large animal, like a
tiger... Naw, that would be a hassle. Perhaps a wolf. Or a hawk."
Kijo and Ryoga discussed many different choices, from cats( to scare Ranma)
to garden slugs(Kijo's suggestion, answered by a glare from Ryoga). Ryoga
was really warming up to the cat idea. "Ranma would be terrified of me!
Imagine, he wouldn't be able to get near me!" He laughed for a while at the
concept.
Kijo suggested, "You could go for the spring of drowned girl. That way, you'
d stay human."
Ryoga stopped laughing and scowled. "I'd rather be a cat."
"Just think about it for a while. Come on."
Two hours later, Ryoga stood by the spring Kijo had fallen in. "Well, at
least I won't be a pig anymore." He took a deep breath, and was about to
jump in, when, "WAIT! Sir! Don't! I recognize you! You already have curse of
pig, no?" the guide called, running up to them. Ryoga waved his arms to keep
from falling into the spring, and lost the battle with gravity. The spring
came closer, his eyes widened as the guide's warning went through his head.
He cried out in terror.....
"Geez man, you think I'd just LET you fall in if it wasn't safe?" Kijo
asked, his hand firmly holding onto the back of Ryoga's shirt. He pulled him
up and shook his head. "Don't you have more faith in me?"
Ryoga took a deep breath and laughed. "Heh, sorry."
"Right. Anyway, what were you saying?" Kijo asked, turning to the guide.
"Don't you know what happen when already-cursed person fall into spring?"
Kijo and Ryoga shook their heads.
"You're cursed forms mix!" The guide said in exasperation.
"Oh, MY GOD!" Ryoga cried, immediately envisioning a half-pig, half-girl,
causing people to flee in terror. "Why didn't you TELL me?" he yelled,
grabbing the guide's shirt.
"Hey man, chill, he didn't know you were gonna go jump in a spring. 'Sides,
your okay, right?" Kijo said, leaning against a bamboo pole. Ryoga let the
guide's shirt go, and sighed.
"Yeah," he agreed, "you're right."
Kijo snapped his fingers. "Well, let's go then!"
Ryoga nodded, shouldered his pack, and started walking in the wrong
direction. "Ryoga," Kijo called. Ryoga turned around, looking curious. Kijo
pulled a length of string from his pocket. Ryoga sighed.
After they were a few miles from the Jusenkyo, Kijo said, "You know, I don't
have any idea where to go now."
Ryoga groaned.
Ranma was thinking. Thinking deeply. *That Kijo guy.... he's weird. He's
practically the only guy who's come here without wanting to kill or marry
anyone. And, he managed to become friends with P-chan. How? That guy's
impossible! His grudge against me is really annoying. How did Kijo do it?
Not to mention he's good with his ki. How good? Hmm....*
Akane didn't notice his thoughtful mood. Well, she wasn't exactly someone
who takes care to pay attention to Ranma's every mood, and didn't think for
an instant that Ranma could BE thoughtful. So she took his lack of effort to
dodge the bike that landed on his head as an eagerness to see Shampoo,
rather than being too deep in thought to pay attention.
"Nihao! Ranma happy see Shampoo?"
"Uh. Yeah. Just great." Wrong choice of words, most likely because they
resulted in a mallet colliding with his head. "Ow! You uncute tomboy, whadja
do THAT for?" Akane stormed off. "Geez, I didn't even do anything," Ranma
grumbled. Just then he seemed to realize that a certain young amazon was
hugging him fiercely. "Shampoo? Do you think you could let go? I, um, need
to get home."
Shampoo let go and jumped up. "Shampoo come by later with ramen!" She then
biked off.
Ranma sighed. *Hopefully, she'll use the door.*
He promptly forgot all about it as he continued to walk towards the dojo on
the fence.
Kijo was flying through the air over Tokyo, Ryoga stuffed into his backpack.
Kijo was female, and Ryoga a pig, due to a short rain before he had started
flying. Kijo held a hand against her forehead, watching for Nerima. "Hey,
there it is! Now, let's get to my house," she shouted, and pointed. Just as
she was about to dive, she felt extremely weak. She grasped for her power
for a second before plummeting to the ground.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed,
accompanied by a, "BWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kijo tried to power
up her aura to slow them down, but didn't seem to be able to. *This is
seriously going to hurt....* she thought, just before she stuck the ground.
Ranma heard a sound, like screaming? And looked up. He barely managed to
jump out of the way as a girl with two large backpacks hit the street,
forming a crater. He heard agonized groans as the dust cleared, and was
amazed to see her crawling out of the hole, and collapse on the sidewalk.
She had bluish hair in a ponytail, a blue sleeveless shirt on, and green
Maoist pants. *Her clothes look familiar,* he thought.
She sat up and groaned. "What the hell happened?" she asked no one in
particular.
Ranma just leaned against the fence and watched, seeing as how she didn't
seem to be too badly hurt.
Kijo looked up and saw a whole crowd of people, every one dressed the same.
Then, one by one they disappeared, leaving a single Ranma watching them. She
was in too much pain to do much more than glare at him. She opened his mouth
to speak, but stopped when a slight wave a nausea swept over her. She looked
up at Ranma and stood up unsteadily. "I... I'm okay, really. Fine. Bye."
With that, she stumbled down the street straining under her massive load.
Ranma watched them go, then shook his head. "Weird," he muttered.
"WAKE UP, BOY!"
"GYAAH!!!"
Ranma jumped up and blinked quickly, before realizing that Genma's fist was
rapidly approaching his head. He dodged it, and responded with a roundhouse
kick to the head. Genma grabbed his foot and tossed him out the window.
Ranma grabbed a pair of clothing on the way out.
Akane groaned, and took off the mufflers. And the cotton wads. And the
earplugs. "Doesn't ANYTHING block them out?"
"AAAHHHHHH!!!"
Ryoga sat up immediately, noticing that the scream was higher pitched than
normal. He dashed into the room to see Kijo, in girl form, breathing
heavily. "It's OK, Ryoga. Just me." Ryoga blinked as the morning cobwebs
slowly faded out of his mind.
"Uh, right. I forgot."
They both went to the furo, and Kijo paused in front of a mirror. She stared
at the image in front of her, before she finally managed to tear her gaze
away and quickly sat down to begin scrubbing. "It's only me, it's only me,
it's only me..." she repeated to herself. Ryoga looked at her oddly, then
shook his head.
At lunchtime, Kijo lay on his back, relaxing in the sun. Ryoga sat next to
him, eyes closed. It was one of those moments when you feel that everything
is perfect, despite the fact that you're just helping yourself get skin
cancer. But who really thinks of that when they're in such a calm mindset?
Kijo idly watched Kuno go flying through the air via Akane' foot. *She's
pretty strong, not often you see a kick like that...* Of course, it was
often you saw a kick like that in Nerima, but he just moved here, give him a
break.
He also saw Ranma follow him shortly after. *That girl's got a temper...* He
appeared to be holding an okonamiyaki in his hands. He looked over to where
Kuno had landed and saw him handing money to Nabiki, and receiving photos
for it. *Pretty fast recovery rate. Wonder what he's buying pictures of?*
He looked over his other shoulder, his eyelids half closed during his lazy
observation. His eyes snapped open and he sat up straight as an arrow at the
sight of the little man carrying a large sack over his shoulder and being
chased by a crowd of girls. "Whatta haul! Whatta haul!"
Kijo saw the panties Happosai was twirling on his fingertips and didn't have
much trouble guessing what was in the bag. He didn't want to confront him,
but still... His dilemma became a moot point, however, when Happosai caught
sight of him.
The pervert stopped abruptly, and leveled a gaze at Kijo. He pointed his
finger and started to say something, but just then the girls caught up with
him. Kijo let out a breath at the sight of the old man getting beaten
savagely by the high-school girls.
"Not someone I want to cross..." he muttered as he placed a book over his
face.
"Hm?" Ryoga idly asked.
"Nuthin'"
"Ah."
They both went back to vegetating.
*It's such a beautiful day,* thought Kijo, *that nothing could spoil it....*
of course, not being a long-term resident of Nerima, he was bound to have
thoughts like that. He moved the book on his face to a more relaxed
position, sighed.... and let out a whoosh of air so fast that the book was
blown off his face. This was caused by a certain victim of Akane to land
square on his stomach.
"You! The one who misdirected me when I was searching for my loves! You must
be atoned for your insolence!"
"HAACK! HACKK! HAAAAACKKK!"
"You dare cough in my face? Tell me your name, insolent wretch!"
"WHEEEEEEZE!!"
"But is it not customary to give one's own name first? Very well, I am the
Rising Star of the Ken-"
"I'm trying to sleep here, ya overstuffed blowhard. Take your stick
somewhere else," Ryoga yawned.
"-do world, also known as the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!" He raised his
bokan in the air as a crack of lightning punctuated his words. "Tatewaki
Kuno, age 17. And your name, scum?"
"Wheeeeeze, gasp gasp gasp gasp gasp haaaack...."
"You dare mock Tatewaki Kuno? You shall pay dea-"
"SHUT UP ALREADY!!!" Ryoga screamed.
"And who might you be? But, is it not customary to give one's-"
"I heard you the first time! I'm Ryoga Hibiki."
"Such a short title, fitting, no doubt..."
"No, I'm trying to sleep and you're giving me a headache."
"What? You MOCK Tatew-"
"BUG OFF!!!" Ryoga yelled.
"You will address me as sempai. And stop interu-"
"Just GET OUT OF HERE!"
"Such insolence must be ato-"
"STOP SAYING THAT!!! Oh, and you're standing on his stomach."
"Eh? Who?"
"HHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!" Kijo exclaimed.
"Oh, you." Kuno stepped off Kijo and held his bokan high. "Now! Which of you
curs wish to face justice first?"
"Cough cough...."
"Okay, I'll deal with you," Ryoga said and stood up. Kuno smirked and swung
his bokan in an overhead arc as he stepped forward slightly. Ryoga dodged it
and punted Kuno out of the school grounds.
"Whatta moron.," he grumbled as the bell rang. "C'mon Kijo."
"Wheeze......"
After school was over, Kijo and Ryoga walked out of the building, Kijo
rubbing his stomach. "Man, it still hurts," he said, wincing.
He turned and noticed Ryoga had wandered off. He looked around quickly, then
ran to the gates. "I swear, he couldn't find his was out of a room with one
door..."
Ryoga noticed that he had wandered away from Kijo again. Just as he was
about to punch something, he heard someone softly say, "Excuse me..."
Ryoga blinked at looked at the girl in front of him. "Eh?"
She had bright blue hair that went past her waist, and a decorated silk
outfit. She had two swords strapped on her back. "Would this happen to be
Nerima?" she asked. Ryoga nodded. The girl sighed in relief. "Have you ever
heard of a man with very good ki ability? His initials are K.K."
Ryoga blinked again. "You mean Kijo?"
She looked thoughtful. "I don't know his full name, but..."
Just then Kijo came around the corner. "Where is he?" he muttered. "Always
wandering off... Oh there you are!" he cried, seeing Ryoga. "I was
looking.... f... for... yooouuu......" he trailed off when he noticed the
girl. She saw him and immediately marched towards him.
"Found you!" she exclaimed. "You think you can run off that easily? You made
me look like an idiot!"
"Ah ha heh, I um...." Kijo nervously stuttered.
"Don't you even DARE think of running away again," she said firmly.
"I, uh, well, eer..."
"Excuse me?" Akane asked.
Kijo turned and saw her and Ranma looking at him curiously.
"Who's your friend?" Akane asked.
The girl glared at Kijo. "I'm his fiancee."
"Fiancee?" Ranma, Akane, and Ryoga exclaimed. Why do I get this feeling of
D�j� vu...? Ranma thought.
"Well" Kijo began, "you see, it started when I was traveling through
China..."
~~ Flashback ~~
Kijo hiked up the hill, sweating and breathing heavily. "Food.... Need....
food....." he gasped, just before he crested the hill. The village that lay
before him, in the sunrise, looked more beautiful than any other he had ever
seen. This was mostly due to his fatigue, thirst, and hunger.
"Woohoo!" he yelled and dashed down the hill. Arriving at the gate, he
called out, "Can someone spare some food and water!?!?!"
His response was, "<Get out of my way, male! I have important business to
attend to!>" He blinked at the purple haired beauty who glared at him,
carrying a slew of weapons with her.
"<Uh, heh heh, of course,>" he nervously said and stood WELL out of her way.
She ran off into the valley with a backwards glare at Kijo. "Jeez, touchy! I
don't even want to know what her... business was," he muttered, shivering.
He walked through the gate, calling out, "Can anyone spare some food?" Then,
"<Food and drink, please?>"
He saw a group of people about to take down a large log suspended by ropes,
and ran over. "<Excuse! Food and drink, please?>" he asked desperately.
Suddenly, he was on the receiving end of several glares from a group of
young women.
"<Who are you? How did you get in?>"
"<Uh, I walk,>" he replied.
"<You just walked in? Nonsense! No one can sneak in here!>" A blue haired
girl snapped, walking towards him.
"<Well, that girl and her panda did...>" another woman argued.
"<Oh shut up! You! I challenge you!>" she cried, pointing at Kijo.
Kijo's eyes darted around nervously. "<I no want fight, only food!>"
"<Silence! Prepare to fight!>" With that, the girl charged him, pulling a
sword off of her back.
Kijo dodged the forward thrust, and dropped his pack. "<I win, give food,
yes>?" He asked hopefully.
"<Fight!>" she replied. Kijo sighed and tried to power up what strength he
had left. Finally, a faint aura appeared around him. As he dodged another
sword thrust, he came in close and attempted to calm the girl down, but she
pulled off her other sword and slashed his side.
He cried out in pain and jumped backwards. Gotta get rid of those! He
thought and powered up a different aura.
The girl crossed both swords in front of her, forming a defense while she
caught her breath. She was about to attack again when Kijo shot forward and
formed a large red orb of ki in his hand. He swung it at the blades, and it
melted the metal quickly. The girl stared as the top halves fell to the
ground. She dropped the useless weapons and glared at him, assuming an
unarmed combat stance.
*Better end this quickly,* Kijo thought. He drew in more power as the girl
closed in, and made his move when she got close. She punched at him, and he
grunted as her fist smashed into his chest. He took the opportunity to draw
his glowing fist back and punch the girl in the forehead. Not too hard, he
didn't really want to hurt someone. The other women watching saw her entire
head blink bluish before she fell to the ground, unconscious.
Kijo fell to his knees. His fatigue, hunger, thirst, and the energy he had
thoroughly exhausted him. "<F-food... please...>" he moaned, then passed
out.
__________________________________________________
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