*Since lots of people seem to have problems finding
it...*

*Warning: contrived coincidences will appear at almost
random*

Seven Omiai's in One Day

"Okay," Urd said. "First I 'rewarded' those three, did
you know that one of them is half-demon? Wait of
course you knew, you probably read the file. Anyway,
then I kissed the next one just to keep h..uh...her
from asking anymore questions. Then came that other
girl I decided to help out a little with sexuality
issues..."
"Oh my," Belldandy said, blushing red. Skuld and
Keiichi stared at Urd, blinking.
"And then I met Kodachi at the bar and got drunk," Urd
said. "Actually...she's half-demon too...strange that
there would be two unrelated half-demons in the same
place. Then again, with all the mortal powers
there..."
"You made out with six different people," Keiichi
said, interrupting her. "In one day?"
"And you didn't know they were the people you were
looking for?" Skuld asked, she really didn't know any
longer whether she could continue to be amused or
embarrassed about her sister.
"Well, I didn't have time for any REAL fun," Urd said,
producing a series of differing reactions from the
other three. Belldandy blushed deeper, Keiichi
twitched and Skuld looked green. "I had work to do
after all. Hmmm, nice bunch though, I could definitely
stand to be around them for a while. Kinda glad it
worked out that way."
"Hmmm," Belldandy said, calming herself down. "Sounds
like quite a lot of coincidences. Meeting them all
like that and deciding you like them before you knew
who they were."
"Yeah, weird, huh?" Urd said, still concentrating on
the main problem. As such she completely missed the
implication of the Ultimate Force being at work.
"How did you 'help' the one girl?" Skuld asked. Urd
turned to her and blinked, looking confused.
"The one with sexuality issues," Keiichi said.
"Ohhh! Her," Urd said, then she waved her hand a
little dismissively. "Gave her one of my kisses with a
tiny spell on it."
"URD!" Belldandy gasped indignantly.
"Oh it was just a little spell," Urd said. "It's just
meant to release a little of what she's been
repressing." She paused a moment and considered. "The
effect WILL be stronger proportional to how repressed
she is or was and how much she tries to continue to
repress anything. And it'll reach its peak by sunset
and be worn off before sunrise. Ten to one she barely
notices anything beyond a couple of extra-vivid
daydreams. How repressed and stubborn could she
possibly be?"

*******

"I promise, she said," Akane muttered irritably. "No
magic, right." She had apparently forgotten that the
exact wording of said promise.
This day was not turning out to be a good day. She
sighed and tried not to catch sight of anybody while
waiting for the next boring instructor. The lessons
were proving to be quite adaquate distractions.
"Hey, Akane," somebody said. Caught a little off guard
in her ruminitions, Akane's habit took over and she
turned around to look towards the voice. Instantly she
saw Ranma looking at her with a rather concerned look
on his face. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Akane said dreamily. "Why do you ask?"
"You just look a little annoyed or something," Ranma
said.
"Oh, I'm just a little distracted is all," Akane said.
"Maybe...longing a little."
"Hey, maybe I can do something to help, you know?"
Ranma asked.
"Oh just get over here and kiss me already," Akane
said, still speaking as if half in a dream and very
happy.
"All right," Ranma said and then, in front of everyone
her handsome fiancee swooped her up kissed her
passionately. Holding her in his rough, strong, yet
gentle hands....
"Akane, you're scaring me," Ranma's voice said out of
nowhere. 
Akane blinked and suddenly realized she was staring at
Ranma, who was still in his desk, with a rather blank,
almost drooling, expression.
"AARRRGGG!!" Akane roared and pulled her eyes away
from Ranma. "I'M NOT DOING ANYTHING!"
"Okay," Ranma said wondering if he could inch away
from Akane a little further. She was really acting
unstable today. If she found out about that woman
yesterday he was in real trouble.
Ukyou walked back in from going to the restroom, just
missing that display, and sat down in her customary
spot. Strangely enough she seemed just as distracted
as Akane about something. She sighed and turned to
where Akane was investigating the ceiling tiles.
"Akane can I talk to you alone for a moment?" Ukyou
asked.
"I'm not sure now is such a good time, Ukyou," Akane
said, still looking at the tiles and trying NOT to
imagine what Ukyou looked like.
"We got eight minutes yet," Ukyou said. "This won't
take long, and it's important. And I can't talk to him
about it..."
"Hey, what's wrong with me?" Ranma asked, Ukyou
produced a rather embarrassed look and turned back to
Akane.
"Err...fine," Akane said reluctantly. "What do you
need to talk about?"
"Not here," Ukyou said, wondering why Akane wasn't
looking at anyone. "Just...umm...let's go somewhere
more private." Akane twitched, or maybe shivered.
"Err...lead the way," Akane said glancing around. 

*******

After following Ukyou, and bumping into a few things
on the way by virtue of not watching where she was
going, Akane reached the girl's restroom with her
friend and rival.
"Akane," Ukyou said hesitantly. "Could you look at
me?"
"Not a good idea," Akane said.
"Oh please," Ukyou said. "I don't look THAT bad do I?"
"What?" Akane snapped, surprised and whipped about to
look at Ukyou. "What do you mean look bad? You look
great."
"Yeah," Ukyou said. "I'm cute, but do I look like a
cute guy, or a cute girl?"
"You're very beautiful, Ukyou," Akane said with a
smirk. "Any boy would be a fool to not recognize your
beauty."
"Oh Akane, thank you," Ukyou said. "But really how can
you be sure, you're not a boy." Akane reached out with
a smile to grab the convenient bucket of nannichuan
water next to her.
"Well," Akane-otoko said rakishly. "I can give you
some proof." He leaned in and kissed the surprised
Ukyou passionately slowly guiding her down to the
floor and thankful that he thought to lock the door on
the way in.
"Oh, Akane-kun," Ukyou gasped. "Make me a woman!"
"My pleasure, Ucchan," Akane said, smirking roguishly
as he...
"Akane...why are you looking at me like?" Ukyou's
voice asked. 
Akane blinked and shook out her head, quickly coming
back to reality. 
Again.
"What...I mean," Akane stuttered. "ARRRGGG!!! I told
you this was a bad idea!" Then she was running out of
the room.
"Err..." Ukyou said. "What was that about?"

*******

"What's wrong with you today?" Yuka asked as Akane
came back into the room looking out of breath. Akane
didn't look at her as she felt her way back to her
desk.
"Nothing," Akane said. "Nothing's wrong." 
Behind her a very confused looking Ukyou came in and
sat down. Then finally the teacher walked in. Akane
breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look forward
to the lecture space. She almost choked for a moment.
~Oh no,~ Akane thought. ~I forgot about her?"
"Good morning class," the adult form Hinako said
cooly. "I'll begin class in a moment, but
first...Tendo-san, can I see you in my office for a
moment." Hinako-sensei produced a riding crop out of
nowhere...

*******

Shampoo paced about her room anxiously. She didn't
know what to think about the events yesterday
afternoon.
That woman had felt her up and then had KISSED her. In
a village where woman outnumbered men five to one this
wasn't exactly unheard of, especially when they shared
a husband with a third (or fourth, or, rarely, fifth)
woman. Still Shampoo hadn't quite expected her to
enjoy the sensation so thoroughly.
That fact had opened some...interesting possibilities
however. For one thing, she was beginning to work
herself toward being tolerant of the idea of sharing
Ranma, though it rankled that warrior such as herself
would have to share. On the other hand...
Shampoo glanced to the two gallon plastic tub that she
sometimes carried her drinking water in when she went
to go train. Cologne didn't even know she had that. At
least Shampoo didn't think she knew. Certainly Ryouga,
Ranma and Mousse didn't know, or they'd be clamoring
over each other to get it.
The tub and its contents were her ace in the hole. It
was plenty of water to cure Ranma, his father, Ryouga
and even Mousse. Shampoo was planning to present it as
a surprise gift when her husband finally accepted her.
Barring that, she could always use it as a bribe for
all four of the males.
One way or another, Shampoo was beginning to think
that maybe it was time to use that water. She frowned
and tapped her feet. This was going to take a little
bit of thinking.
She snapped up the sealed tub and a wad of yen to buy
some sport drink on her way out. Then she tramped
downstairs, obstensibly to enjoy her day off.
"Shampoo going to train," she called out on her way
through the main room.
"Wait Shampoo," Mousse said. "I'll go with you to
he...owww! What was that for you withered old monkey?"
Cologne whacked Mousse a second time.
"Shampoo has the day off," Cologne said. "You do not,
Mr. Part-Time, now get to work." She ignored the
grumbling boy as she turned to regard where her
granddaughter had vanished. Shampoo was hiding
something from her, she only hoped it wouldn't be
anything too bad.

*******

There was one good thing about her assignment though.
The cover story was VERY easy to make without lying.
Judging by what she had seen in the file she had
finally read, the bounds of plausibility in this
neighborhood had been stretched beyond all
conceptions. 
Urd figured she could tell them that she was the space
pirate daughter of a prime goddess here to marry the
boy that she had watched grow up through most of his
life after being imprisoned by his grandfather for
attacking their home planet.
"Naww..." Urd said as she knocked on the door. "Who
would believe that."

*******

Ryoko sneezed.

*******

"Hello, can I help you?" Kasumi said as she opened the
door. The person on the other side, a tall, tanned
gaijin woman with interesting taste in clothes
backpedaled a couple of steps in surprise. "Oh my, did
I startle you?"
"Errr, this is the Tendo Dojo, right?" the woman
asked.
"Why, yes it is," Kasumi said, blinking in confusion
at the woman and her behavior.
"I think I need to speak to a Soun Tendo and a Genma
Saotome..." Urd said, trying to decide if this was
Bell playing a joke or just a really strange
coincidence. Kasumi blinked.
"Oh, certainly," she said, sounding vaguely cautious
now. "Please, come right in."
"Thanks," Urd said, looking at Kasumi curiously.
"Father," Kasumi called out. "You and Saotome-san have
visitors!"
"What is that Kasumi?" Soun asked as Kasumi led Urd
into the tea room. As usual the two men were playing
shogi.
"I shall prepare some tea," Kasumi said. "Do try to be
polite."
"Is there something wrong with my daughter?" Soun
asked, noting Urd's confused look as Kasumi walked out
of the room.
"She's almost the spitting image of my sister," Urd
said faintly. "Voice, personality...everything."
"You mean there are two such women in the world?"
Genma asked, blinking.
"Errr, back to business," Urd said turning back
around.
"What business is that?" Soun asked.
"Well, I find myself in a rather confusing and
difficult situation," Urd said. "And this is just the
first place I have to stop by."
"What kind of confusing situation would that be?" Soun
asked.
"My father has an...interesting sense of humor," Urd
said. "I get the feeling he's trying to make a point
with this."
"Excuse me," Genma said. "Who is your father?"
"I'm sorry," Urd said, dodging the question. "I forgot
to introduce myself. I'm Urd Wodendottir." 
It wasn't nearly an accurate name, the Norns were all
three older than Odin. In fact, they had advised him
on his original rise to power, but it was a much more
obscure name than, say, "Godsdottir."
"Wodendottir," Soun said. "Is that a name you are
familiar with?"
"Not I Tendo," Genma said. Then they turned to look at
Urd. "You wouldn't be..."
"I AM engaged to your children," Urd interrupted.
"Yes." Genma and Soun irked then stood up roaring in
Urd's face.
"HOW did THAT happen?" they both roared.
"Well, let's see," Urd said calmly. "First there was
this man that was a little lacking in money so he sold
my father this wedding contract with one Ranma
Saotome." 
It was true, the man had swore that he'd burn the
thing in offering if he had a stroke of good luck, and
he had. 
"And then this other guy from some side branch of the
Picolette family tossed his off on us after hearing
about the contract with another branch getting
nullified." 
Also true, though the exact words as he destroyed the
paper had been "let God sort it out." 
Urd produced the documents in question, however, as
she spoke. There were notations to the effect that
they had been sold to the Wodendottir family.
"Well," Soun said. "I'm sorry to say that I can't
provide you a husband. I only have daughters."
"Not a problem, it actually makes it easier," Urd
said. Suddenly they were speaking to a well-built,
rougishly handsome gaijin man, and the feminine robes
had become something just as stylish, but more suiting
a male. "My family knows a lot about magic, and
well...two bodies...two identities...two marriages. If
it were just a matter of you two, this would be
comparatively easy."
Meanwhile, Genma had toned out as wheels started
rolling in his head.
"Bu...bu...bu..." Soun sputtered as Urd returned to
her natural form.
"Now, this was just a polite visit to inform you of
the situation," Urd said as Kasumi brought in tea.
"Here's the tea," Kasumi said.
"Oh, thanks, Belldandy," Urd said, she twitched. "I'm
sorry...Kasumi...you just look so much like my
sister."
"Yes, I heard," Kasumi says. "Do you really mean to
marry one of us?"
"Well," Urd said, feeling uncomfortable at the idea of
any sort of relationship with the Belldandy lookalike.
"Not you! I mean...that just would be...weird..."
"Oh," Kasumi said, obviously relieved. "I suppose
marrying someone exactly like your sister would
be...odd." Genma and Soun were still incapacitated in
differing manners.
"You could say that," Urd said drinking her tea down
quickly. ~Must get away and beat head clear of that
image.~ "Now, I have to go find the other people I
have business with and then find a way to sort out
this mess." ~Better to say it that way, if I say flat
out I mean to marry all of them...bwuhaha...yadda
yadda yadda. Well...they'd probably toss me out of the
place.~
"Oh, what other people?" Kasumi asked.
"Umm, Ukyou Kuonji, Ryouga Hibiki, Kodachi Kuno
and..." Urd thought for a moment. "Someone named
Shampoo."
"Oh dear," Kasumi said. "You're engaged to all of
them?"
"I said this was a mess," Urd said, getting a little
more comfortable now that she was leaving the
building. Well, next time she would be prepared for
that and wouldn't let it get to her.
"You're not staying to meet my sisters or Ranma?"
Kasumi asked.
"I'll be by later," Urd said upon leaving the
building.

*******

"Okay," Urd tapped her foot. "Ukyou Kuonji, still in
school...Ryouga Hibiki...don't know where he
is...Kodachi Kuno," a grin spread across Urd's face.
"I'm saving her for tonight...and that just leaves
the..." Urd looked up at the Nekohanten sign and took
a deep breath before striding into the restaurant.
"Amazons."
"Yes," Mousse said irritably and then continued in
slow Japanese for the obvious Westerner. "May I help
you?"
"Actually," Urd said. "I was looking for a girl named
Shampoo."
"She's out for the moment," Cologne said, sensing the
power of the woman in her building. ~She's more
powerful than son-in-law, more powerful than
me...quite a bit more. And her chi...is not quite like
chi.~ "May I help you?"
"You're her great-grandmother, right?" Urd asked.
"Cologne I believe."
"That is me," Cologne said cautiously. "How might I
help you?"
"Well," Urd said sitting down and lounging
comfortably. "I believe that I'm engaged to her."
"WHAT!!!!" Mousse demanded. Urd looked at him funny
for a moment.
"What's he complaining about?" Urd asked. "Assuming he
ever got her to look at him more than sideways he'd
get two girls instead of one."
"Mousse has objections to sharing," Cologne said. "He
is very Japanese that way. And you seem to know an
awful lot about his situation and our ways. Perhaps
you could tell me who you are and how you came to be
engaged to my daughter?"
"My name is Urd Wodendottir," Urd said. Cologne's
eyebrow arched a little. "And as to how I came by this
engagement. Well, my father made a deal with her
mother."
Urd suddenly produced an intricately engraved scroll
case sealed shut to be almost seemless. Cologne gasped
on seeing that.
"The Raven's Message Case," Cologne gasped. "That
artifact was lost long ago in a battle with demons
from hell."
"I don't really understand, why," Urd said. "All it
does is refuse to open until the person the message
inside is meant for tries to open. It's not the most
impressive magic I've seen."
"No, that is true," Cologne said. ~A sorceress, I see,
that would explain the power, perhaps.~ "I was merely
impressed that you had it."
"I don't know the exact wording on the message
inside," Urd said, handing the scroll case over to
Cologne. "It might not open for you."
Cologne nodded in understanding and examined the
canister for a moment before finding a small chink on
one end. Before she could do more than notice that,
the chink had grown to a straight line crack and
continued through until the scroll case split open.
"It appears the author did include my name on the
message," Cologne said. She looked to Urd again and
examined her. ~There is a touch of demon about her,
that must be what is different, she is a descendant of
demons, maybe a close descendant. But she doesn't feel
as threatening as most half-demons do. In fact, not
threatening at all, more...comfortable. Curious.~
"Guess so," Urd said. She began to stand up. "Well, if
you'll excuse me, I have other people I must see."
"You are not planning to remain and meet my
granddaughter?" Cologne asked, confused.
"I met her once already," Urd said with a smirk. "I
didn't know who she was at the time, though, nice
girl. In all the right ways." Urd smirked as Mousse
blanched and sputtered trying to come up with a
response. "Anyway, I still have to talk to three
people, I have to get all the notices out before I
work out how to fix the problems."
"Before you leave," Cologne said. "You have no
problems with marrying my granddaughter?"
"To tell you the truth," Urd said. "I'm obligated to
marry about six people, that's the mess. So I'll have
to see what I can work out. Anyway, you're tribe just
might gain a powerful ally if this works out.
Too-do-loo!" She twisted her hand and sashayed out the
door.
Cologne rolled open the scroll and almost face
faulted, despite being seated. It wasn't everyday you
got a letter from someone that began this one did.
"Dear Grandmother, how are things since I died? Things
up here are wonderful, I spar with the Valkyries
everyday. I'm going to try and get a spot with them
when the next tournament runs this year. The rest of
our family keeps asking me when I think you'll finally
be coming up to join us. Most of THEM are already
Valkyries...well...except Purfume...you just KNOW what
she's like, and..."
"You know," Cologne muttered as she continued reading
the ranting letter. "Letting Silk correspond with that
American girl was probably a bad idea." 
Still, as Cologne read on, a broad smile began to
stretch over her face. If this letter was the genuine
article, then that meant the bearing was much more
than a mere sorceress. And if she was willing to a
marriage, it would certainly make the tribe much more
powerful indeed.

*******

~Schools almost over,~ Akane thought happily. ~Almost
over.~ 
She was currently trying to get showered and dressed
after gym, without looking at anyone or raising any
more suspicion. She had adopted the habit of staring
at the floor by now. 
Gym had certainly been hell though. Just thinking
about the boys running through their gymnastics class.
Or the girls in those tight...
"Hey, Akane," somebody said next to her. Akane turned
to see Yuka, and a number of half-naked girls behind
her, holding a portion of chocolate pudding in it's
sealed plastic container. "I brought an extra pudding
today by accident, do you want it? That lunch actually
stuffed me for once."
"Sure Yuka," Akane said cheerfully. "It would be shame
to waste it after all." 
She reached to accept the pudding when suddenly Yuka
seemed to trip and the pudding container flew through
the air and landed on Akane's heading, virtually
exploding as a thick covering of chocolate covered her
naked body and quickly hardened.
"Oh no!" Yuka gasped. "She'll suffocate in there, we
have to help her out." She turned back to the other
girls in the locker room.
"Yeah," some girl said. "And it would be a shame to
waste all that chocolate too."
"Guys," Akane tried to say nervously from inside the
chocolate, though the sound seemed unable to reach
outside the chocolate statues. "What are you doing?"
Then the girls started swarming over her chocolate
encased form and eating and licking, and.
"Ohhh, stop that," Akane gasped as fingers and tongues
quickly began to work they way to her flesh.
"Sss...ohh..."
"Hey, you've got to try her breasts," some girl said.
"Mmmm...Chocolate milk."
"Ahhh, honey covered cherries," somebody else said,
from quite a bit lower.
"Hey, I want a piece of her ass..."
"So are you going to take it or not?" Yuka asked,
getting nervous at the sudden pleasantly, smuggly
blank look that had just passed over Akane's face.
"Sure, Yuka," Akane said dreamily, eyes finally half
focused on her. "It would be a shame to waste it,
wouldn't it?"
"That's certainly right," Yuka said, placing the
pudding box in Akane's outstretched hand. "See later,
Akane." Then Yuka was walking away, not noticing the
vaguely disappointed look on Akane's face.
Thankfully for Akane, most people were gone when she
realized that she had just had a VERY weird sex-dream,
and then had actually hoped for it to happen in real
life. The response she gave was...vocal to say the
least.
"ARRRRRGGGGHHH!!" Akane roared, before attempting one
of Ranma's maneuvers and banging her head into the
lockers.
Then she devoured the pudding and headed out the door.

*******

"Why aren't you looking at me?" Ranma asked.
"No reason," Akane said, blushing as she walked along.
"You've been acting weird all day," Ranma said.
"Nothing happened!!" Akane snapped desparately.
"Gee," Ranma said. "You sound like me whenever I get
glomped or something." Akane blushed deeper and
clenched her fists tight. She'd have to LOOK at him if
she wanted to him, and see those beautiful deep eyes
staring back into hers as if they were a whole
universe lonely and apart seeking the perfect match in
a great...
"Ahh, behold," Kuno said as he sprang out in front of
them. Akane's eyes twitched as Kuno ruined the first
tolerable fantasy she had had all day. "The beautiful
Akane must be growing free of the spell about her, for
she cannot bear to look at your foul visage,
Saotome..."
"DRY UP AND DIE!!!" Akane growled, launching forward
and sending Kuno into LEO. 
Ranma, frozen in mid sarcastic comment, sat there and
watched as Kuno dwindled to a shiny spot in the
distance. Akane huffed angrily, grumbling and then
blinked.
"I wonder why I didn't fantasize about him?" Akane
said to herself. The phrase broke Ranma out of his
rapt admiration of Kuno's flight. The idiot was going
to land Shinjuku in looked like.
"Huh?" Ranma said. "Fantasize about what?"
"About finally managing to send Kuno that far," Akane
said quickly. "Yeah. That's right."
"Errr, okay," Ranma said.

*******

"I wonder just what was in that letter anyway?" Urd
wondered. 
She was just realizing she probably should have
checked over the prospective Valkyrie's letter for
anything Urd didn't want out. Such as the fact that
this letter was written yesterday rather than ten
years ago, before she died.
"It can't be too bad," Urd assured herself. She merely
continued to lean against the building behind her and
waited for her next discussion to arrive. She wasn't
particularly interested in being avoided, however. And
to that effect she had placed an aura of
unnoticeablity around herself.
Urd hated being unnoticed.
"First that weird woman yesterday," Ukyou muttered as
she walked down the sidewalk. "Then Akane was acting
weird. It was almost like she was day dreaming about
something. Something's going on in this town. I can
smell it. The weirdness factor just jumped about
twenty points..."
"Well, you could say that," Urd said, letting the
spell around her drop with a sigh of release.
"YOU!!" Ukyou snapped, turning to look at Urd lounging
next to her door not three feet away from her. "Where
did YOU come from? I should pound for embarrassing me
like that yesterday! Half those people think I'm sort
of tomboy lesbian now!"
"Did you enjoy the kiss?" Urd asked. Ukyou's anger
seemed to trip over it's own feet as she blushed
brightly.
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Ukyou snapped. "I
mean...errr...NOOO!"
"Right," Urd said. "I understand perfectly. If it's
any consolation, I DID think you were a guy when I
kissed you?"
"So that means your not..." Ukyou's voice trailed off.
"Don't be so disappointed," Urd said. Ukyou started to
bridle again. "I go either way." And Ukyou flinched
again.
"Are you going to hang around out here much longer?"
Ukyou asked. "Because I'd rather not get a reputation
if I can help it."
"Actually," Urd said. "There's the matter of an
engagement to discuss, and then I have to find
somebody else."
"An engagement?" Ukyou repeated blinking.
A few minutes later Ukyou was staring at Urd with a
rather annoyed expression.
"You mean to tell me," Ukyou said. "That my father
engaged me to some girl after I renounced my
femininity and then stole the dowry and vanished into
the teeming millions of Japan. And you're the girl I'm
engaged too?"
"Actually," Urd said. "That family tracked your
records down and discovered that you were in fact
female and subsequently stuck my family with handling
it."
Again...it was all true. Urd was really beginning to
want to hurt most of the parents of her intendeds. Too
bad she wasn't allowed too.
"Well," Ukyou said. "Sorry to disappoint you, sugar. I
hope you have luck in your search for the perfect
man."
"Heh," Urd said. "Like I told Tendo and Saotome.
Gender doesn't matter." 
The man in front of Ukyou where the woman had been
almost sent her into one of the fantasies Akane had
been plagued with all day. She shook off the effect
and warily watched as Urd shifted back to her female
form.
"Besides," Urd said. "The law still says you're a
man."
"I've already got a...wait a minute," Ukyou said. "You
talked to Soun and Genma?"
"That's right, 'Sugar'," Urd said teasingly. "You
ain't the only one I'm obliged to. I'm just going
around telling everybody right now. After that I'll
see about fixing the mess."
"Err," Ukyou said. "Who else are you engaged to?"
"Ranma Saotome," Urd said, Ukyou rolled her eyes as if
that was a given. "You, Akane Tendo, Shampoo Daughter
of Silk, Ryouga Hibiki, and Kodachi Kuno." 
Ukyou had blanched upon hearing Shampoo's name, she
had gathered Akane would be there from the discussion
so far. Then Ryouga was added and she almost had a
coronary. By the time Kodachi was mentioned she almost
lost all higher brain function.
"Any favorites?" Ukyou asked faintly. Urd smirked and
pecked her on the lips.
"I'll take the lot of you if I can find a way," she
said. "But that's hard to imagine, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Ukyou said. "That is."

*******

"Wait," Akane said. "There's another fiancee and she
wants both me and Ranma?" The absurdity of it was
keeping her from imagining the situation.
"She is also engaged to Ukyou, Kodachi, Ryouga, and
Shampoo," Kasumi said. "She didn't particularly say
that she wanted to go through with anything, just that
she was willing if she could work her way through the
mess."
"Wait," Ranma said. "How is SHE engaged to four girls
and two guys?" Akane's eyes started to fade out, not
that anybody noticed in the face of bigger problems.
"Well, apparently she is capable of casting some
magic," Kasumi said. Akane blinked and looked to
Kasumi, thankful that her sisters didn't trigger any
sort of fantasies.
"Magic?" Akane asked. "Like changing into a guy?"
"Oh," Kasumi said. "Yes. She did that right in front
of us, without water like Ranma's curse."
"Was she tall," Akane asked dreamily. "White-haired,
dark, dark skin with a wonderful figure and dressed in
somewhat...risque clothes?"
"Uhh..." Kasumi said. "Yes. You've met her?" Ranma
looked to Akane and started to get scared again.
"Uh huh," Akane said dreamily. "And she wants to marry
ALL of us?"
"Akane," Kasumi said. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," Akane said. "I'm just a little tired is all.
And umm..." she fumbled for a moment. "I didn't shower
as well as I should have in gym. I think I'm going to
go soak for a while in the furo. A long while..."
"She has just been TOO weird today," Nabiki said,
watching Akane head upstairs with a rather strange
grin on her face.
"Wait a minute!" Ranma gasped. "I recognize that
description too! That's the lady that kissed the three
of us when we saved her!"
"Would you mind repeating that Saotome?" Nabiki asked.

*******

Urd stepped into the house hesitantly and glanced
about looking for any sign of residents. This was the
only line she really had on Ryouga at the moment.
Granted she could find him through Yggdrasil, but she
really wanted to avoid popping out of a TV next to him
with this news.
Then she felt it, a small tear in the dimensional
fabric that indicated one of a number of types of
teleportation. Suddenly Urd shared the house with two
other people.
The first was a red-haired (dyed red, the original
color seemed to be black) woman about thirty-five with
rather cute looking yellow horns sticking out of her
forehead. She stood about five foot ten. Her blood red
eyes blinked innocently several times as she looked
around the room and fiddled with the sword at her
side. Over her chain mail armor was an incongrous
t-shirt from the Ruruoni Kenshin cartoon. Her skin was
a dark tan that stretched the limits of Japanese skin
tone.
The man stood about the same height and only a little
broader than the woman. His hair was black and red
tiger striped, and his cat like eyes sat over a flat
nose and a mouth with sharp canines. He was dressed
more practically in rather well worn travelling
attire. Quite similar to his son actually.
Almost as soon as they appeared in the world, both
inacted illusions of totally humanity. Their inhuman
features quickly easing away.
"Are we in the right place this time, Jiro?" the woman
asked. "And what's that tingling feeling I'm getting."
"I think we're home, Aki, yeah," the man said
nervously. "As for the tingling feeling, she's
standing behind you."
"Oro?" the woman said curiously, slowly turning about
and then backpedalling quickly. "A GODDESS!?!
But..but...we're the good guys...aren't we?"
"Hmmm," Urd said. "His parents are both half-demon.
Let's see, you look like you're half-oni, and he looks
like he's half-rakshasha. Am I right? That explains
why he looks so human, and the lost problem. He must
have inherited two conflicting ways of sensing the
world around him. You know...I really should read the
case file over again."
"Excuse me," the woman said, getting a little backbone
suddenly. "Are you talking about our son?"
"Well," Urd said. "Yes, as a matter of fact I am."
"Listen, Goddess," the man said. "We don't work with
Hell, damn it we've even been getting chased half-way
across the universe collecting random assorted pieces
of magical junk for you people. Don't take anything
out on our son just because..." Urd rose a hand to
forestall him. Both half-demons gulped.
"He's not in any trouble," Urd said. "On the contrary,
I like him."
"Huh?" Aki asked, blinking.
"Put simply," Urd said. "I'm here to formally announce
my intention to marry your son."
"What?" Jiro asked. "A goddess wants to marry our
son?"
"Well," Urd said. "Him and five other people. Assuming
he agrees of course." At that the Long-Lost Hibikis
fainted.

*******

Getting the details straight to the Hibikis had taken
a little while, so, here she was, night falling behind
her, as she strode up to the Kuno mansion.
"May I help you?" the voice on the intercom, some sort
of servant.
"I'm hear to speak to Kodachi Kuno or her parents,"
Urd said.
"Her father's at the school and her mother's been
missing for ages," the servant said.
"How about her?" Kodachi asked.
"She's not seeing anyone today," the woman said.
"Just tell her that it turns out she's one of the
people I was looking for," Urd said. "If she remembers
last night, she'll know what that means."
"I shall deliver the message," the servant said
hesitantly. Urd rolled her eyes impatiently and
commenced waiting. It was a few minutes before Kodachi
appeared at the gate herself.
"*I* am one of your betrotheds?" Kodachi said
curiously.
"Turns out," Urd said smirking. "Oh, and my sister
says that nothing happened last night."
"Yes," Kodachi said. "I'd come to that conclusion
myself, but I wasn't...you're honor rides on marrying
ME? and...who else?"
"Well," Urd said with a smirk. "Why don't we talk
about that inside."~Besides, I don't want you blurting
out the full story, what you know of it, to everybody
just yet.~
"Of course," Kodachi said. "It seems we have much more
to discuss than I previously assumed. And this is the
wrong place to discuss such matters." She pushed a
button and opened the gates.
"Nice spread you have here, Dachi," Urd said as she
walked in.
"My thanks, Urd-san," Kodachi said cautiously,
calculatingly. "Perhaps we can even remedy yesterdays
lack."
"Hmmm," Urd said. "You think like I do."


=====
"Caffeinated Kender?  What's that, a berserk spell?" - 
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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