Ranma gently laid Miko on the roof; she seemed to have fainted from the
excitement.  He was surprised when he glanced down the side of the inn and
noticed the giant masked man go back inside without attempting to pursue
them.  _Maybe he's havin a bad day._

	He turned his attention back to the red-headed girl sprawled before him and
lightly tapped his finger onto her forehead.  "Yo, Miko.  You feelin Ok?"

	"Hn?"  Miko's eyes snapped open and she stared cross-eyed at the finger
poking her between the eyes.  Her whole body felt numb--most likely the
stress added to the soreness in her muscles, or something like that--but she
steady became fully aware of everything.

	Her face suddenly contorted in pain and she weakly doubled over in pain,
clutching her hands close and wishing they were numb again.  She whimpered
like a crying puppy, trying to force a sentence out of her mouth, but all
she could say was, "Ow."

	Ranma felt both angry with her and worried for her.  He blurted, "Why'd you
hafta go and do a stupid thing like that anyway--hittin Lon like that?!  You
coulda gotten hurt!"  Miko pushed her hands underneath her blouse and
nodded, tears almost escaping from her eyes.

	Ranma watched Miko squirm in pain and stormed his brain on what to do about
it; feeling more sure than ever that Akane wasn't going to suddenly
interrupt the crazy dream he was in and scold him for being with other
women, he went with his first idea and asked Miko to hold out her hands.
Miko hesitated, cringing at the idea of exposing her delicate skin for any
reason, but she forced herself to comply for he guardian and friend.  She
almost drew back when he reached out for them but mustered every ounce of
trust and courage to keep still.

	Miko was surprised when Ranma slipped his hands over her crooked, aching
fingers as smoothly as silk and began to slowly massage them, each stroke
only serving to relax her more until she was actually cooing with pleasure.
(CHEF'S NOTE: WHAT!?  I'll kill em!) (CUTE VOICE: Ooooh!  Shampoo need ask
husband do that next time.) (NOTE: You see why he's never done that before.)
Ranma smiled.  "Feeling better?"

	"Mmmmm.  Just don't stop."  Miko stretched out and let all of her muscles
relax (in a pose Nabiki would love to take a snapshot of Ranma-chan in).
"And please don't try to move me anymore.  Let's just stay right here for now."

	Ranma thought about it for a short while.  _Well, I guess if we don't
really have anyplace to go... and it's safer up here than on the ground._
He moved from her fingers and started rubbing her badly-bruised knuckles,
and Miko responded with a hushed moan of delight.  Ranma smiled.  "Ok."  _I
guess you deserve it._  He lowered his voice an octave: "And thanks for
helping out."

	Miko tried to giggle.

		

	Salon suddenly materialized in front of the Cursed Springs (near Miko's
bathing spring) in a human-shaped cloud of smoke.  Coughing voilently, she
threw her arms outward and quickly dispersed the poisonous vapors.  She
checked herself--her jumpsuit was slightly charred and her hair sizzled a
bit when touched.  _Liu-Sing is right.  I definitely SHOULD do something
about that spell._

	She looked out across the pools, then gazed up at the sky.  The sun had
already begun its journey toward the east, leaving mid-day behind, though it
would still be a while until sundown.  She scanned the area to make sure no
one was around, then sighed and dropped down into a lotus-style sitting
position.  From an unseen pocket in her suit, she produced a bag of
chestnuts to munch on while she concentrated on one sentence: "I'm here."

		

	"A bit more than you bargained for, eh, Old Friend."

	"...."  Doshin stared intensely at the dice on the table as if they would
suddenly change in his favor--or at least that's what he hoped.  He had
rolled the dice several times himself and come up with the same exact
pictures, so there was no mistaking the message he was being given.  Yet, he
still studied them from every angle possible.

	The dark-robed man stood by Doshin's side and looked at him with amusement,
his arm draped casually on his friend's shoulder--half-supporting and
half-mocking him.  The "Dark One"'s crow hopped around on the table and
turned his head in every conceivable direction trying to decipher the
dice--since its master hardly told it anything--yet it seemed as though the
bird was mocking him as well.

	With a sigh, the "Dark One" retracted his arm and headed for the door.  "I
am sorry if I must cut our visit short like this, but I believe I am
expected elsewhere."

	"...."  Doshin was too engrossed in the four little cubes that he didn't
hear a word the other said.

	The "Dark One" held out an arm and the crow perched on it.  He called back,
"Do not give yourself a headache."  The crow started to laugh, then decided
that its current state of confusion would only make it feel stupid.

	He exitted the house without so much as a 'goodbye' and started across the
field with no more noise than last time.  The sun was now beginning its
descent behind the trees, and the sky was slowly being saturated with
violet, which would eventually become purple, then almost black with the
coming of night--his favorite time of day.

	He rubbed his chin when he noticed the man in the samurai robe talking to a
delirious shimmercat--a small one at that.  The man had his back turned, and
the shimmercat was definitely in no condition to sense his presence.  The
crow on his arm still looked fearfully at its natural predator, slowly
inching its way up its master's shoulder.

	Without understanding why, the "Dark One" felt a bit dizzy as he listened
to the man prattle on.

	"...and from behind the boulders stepped one of the largest green dragons
I've ever seen.  And being the kind-hearted dragon she was, she invited me
to tea, and looking up into her big, tearstreaked eyes, I just couldn't say
no.  But I felt a bit embarrassed since I had nothing to give her in
return...."  The cat yawned.

	The "Dark One" and the crow both shivered.

		

	Salon hummed a soft ballad as she meditated with her eyes closed,
occasionally popping a bit of chestnut into her mouth and savoring it for
several minutes before chewing.  She had waited so long for this day, and
now that it was finally here, she felt happy.

	She immediately jumped to her feet and dusted herself off before the
dark-robed man came into view, fading in from the dusky jungle like a ghost;
she couldn't help but grin.  He turned his head and said something to the
black bird on his shoulder and it flew off--it appeared to be bored anyway.

	He folded his arms and boomed, "This had better be important, witchwoman!
I am not in the habit of entertaining personal requests!"

	Salon stood calmly.  "Yet you came."

	The dark man said nothing and began to loose patience.  Salon stated, "You
should already know what I want from you."

	He started to turn away and said, "And how would I know what YOU want?"
Salon made a sour and disappointed face.

	His face brightened when he just remembered something.  "Ah.  I see.  It
has been so long since anyone was foolish enough to challenge me for THAT."

	Salon reached behind her back and produced a staff out of thin air; the
staff looked quite old but very sturdy and had a large, curled knob at the
end. (NOTE: Imagine Cologne's staff--because it is.) She held it as if ready
to attack and smirked, "If you really thought that all challenges would be
fruitless, then why did you ever make such a vow in the first place?"

	The dark man smiled at the wisdom of that remark.  "Very well.  I accept
your challenge."  He dramatically swept his arms into the air and the ground
began to rumble.  Salon looked up, a bit worried, as hundreds of bamboo
poles rose from the jungle and started swirling in the air.  She readied
herself for an assault, but all the poles stopped to hover directly over the
Cursed Springs, then embedded themselves all about the area.  He narrowed
his eyes.  "My rules, of course."

	She smiled and stuttered, "Of course."

	He sprang into the air and landed on one foot atop one of the poles.
"Since I am in light mood and I hold no malice toward you, I promise to go
easy."

	Salon gritted her teeth.  _Men!_  She would have to teach him not to
underestimate her--but something deep inside told her to be thankful.  She
pounced upon the nearest pole and took up a more agressive stance.

	Seeing that her opponent would not make a move until she did, she twirled
her staff over her head and yelled: "Fierce Hawk Talon"; with three quick
swipes of her staff, she sent three waves of slicing air at the dark man.
He caught the first two as if catching a ball, then jumped as the third
clipped the top off of the pole.  He sent both arcs spinning back in her
direction before landing on an adjacent pole.  Salon jumped high into the
air before the counterattack discintigrated her pole.

	As she descended with her foot extended, the dark man jumped back to
another pole and unleashed several long, spiked chains from his billowy
sleeves.  Salon batted them all aside easily with her staff, then landed
into a crude crouch atop the pole her opponent WAS on.  She immediately
launched herself at the dark man just as he released several FLAMING
shurikens in her direction; with her staff, she swatted away all but one,
which only grazed her right shoulder.  The man jumped high into the air and
Salon went sailing by.

	She started falling toward one of the pools, but she reached out and
grabbed a pole and spun herself around, then catapulted herself into the
air.  The two met and quickly exchanged a flurry of punches before landing
two poles away from each other.

	Salon was starting to breathe heavily, but the dark-robed man showed no
signs of stress whatsoever.  He folded his arms and said, "You are good.  I
commend you."

	Salon growled, having taken several hits in the exchange of blows, "Just
shut up and fight!"

	The dark man smiles slyly and scolded, "Temper, temper."  He jumped high
into the air again.  Salon followed.

	After quickly creating a forcefield of air to protect the springs below, He
yelled: "Midnight Storm" and "Flying Dragon Ascension Defeat!" (NOTE: Which
in Japanese is the Hiryu Shoten-ha.)

		

	Ranma was lazily lying beside Miko, his hands clasped behind his head; he
just got through explaining just how rediculous his life had become. (NOTE:
Which entails a summary of the first two-and-a-half seasons of the anime,
which I shall casually avoid.)  Miko, upon being tired and sore, was now
confused.

	Ranma tried to draw his explanation to a conclusion.  "And now it's like
almost all my problems have something to do with that stupid curse.  I still
don't know why Pop wanted to train there when neither one of us knew a word
of Chinese."

	Miko looked doubly confused.  "But you speak perfect Chinese--well, almost."

	"Really?"  _I've been speaking in Chinese?  Now how'd that happen...._

	Miko tried to process all the infomation he gave her with little success,
so she just tried to stab at anything.  "I know some of those pools have
curses... but I've never heard of a 'spring of drowned girl' before."

	Ranma's eyes widened.  "You know about...."

	They both stared in surprise as they witnessed a large, dark cloud appear
in the distance, under which formed some kind of localized whirlwind.  After
several seconds, it died down and Ranma started getting a BAD feeling about it.

	Miko had reserved enough energy to sit up.  "What was that?!"  In her
weakened state, she lost her balance and started to tumble forward.

	Ranma quickly grabbed her and sprang off the roof.  "We better check it out."

	Miko held onto him a little tighter.  "If you think we should?"

		

	The shimmercat's ears perked up when she heard the disturbance.  She shook
away the last remnance of sleep and stared at the samurai snoring beside
her.  _Some guard he is!_

	She needed to wake him up.  She pushed against his shoulder several times
with her paw, but he didn't seem to feel it.  She tried nudging against his
face, but he didn't seem to care.  She extended her claws on that foot and
looked at them thoughtfully, then shook her head.  _There's got to be an
easier way._ 

		

	Liu-Sing knew it was foolish, but he wouldn't learn anything by playing it
safe.  After the cyclone died down, her crawled up to the cliff's edge and
peered over.  The sky was dark in the area and it was raining steadily,
although about a hundred paces back, the sky was mostly clear.

	He looked down and saw a figure in a pitch-black robe that appeared to
twinkle with starlight.  Ahead of his staggered a purple-haired,
tiger-striped woman, who could be no other than Salon.  The robed man looked
as though he was about to finish her off when the twins arrived.

		

	"Shampoo?"  The first thing Ranma-chan noticed was the purple-haired girl
in the jumpsuit looking as if she'd just been in a major battle--well, ok,
the first thing she noticed was that it was raining, which explained Miko's
sudden growth spirt, but the purple-haired girl was a shock.  She dropped
Miko rather painfully on her rear--well, just about any part of her body
would be painful now.

	Ranma snapped into a battleready pose when she noticed the dark-robed man
standing beside her, his arms outstretched, each with a wickedly-curved
blade protruding from the forearm.  The man seemed to snap out of a daze
when he saw her.

	Ranma's eyes widened a bit.  _Mousse?  Can't be.  Even Mousse doesn't look
that spooky._  "Hey, it's not right to beat up on a girl like that."

	The dark man's face brightened, most of the shadows leaving his face.  "Ah!
I was told you would be here, Ranma Saotome, although I was a bit skeptical.
It seems as though you will cause quite a lot of trouble for one of my
masters in the future."

	Ranma sidestepped away from Miko so she wouldn't get in the way.  "And
howd'ya figure that?"

	He raised a hand.  "Wait.  Before I answer....  I can sense one of you two
has a certain wooden idol I am searching for.  Which one of you has it?"

	Ranma and Miko looked at each other, confused.  After a few minutes of
collective thought, Miko pulled out a small, wooden statue from her blouse
and asked, "Is this what you're talking about.  I was keeping it for my
guardian spirit."  Ranma glanced at the effigy of the goffy-looking bird.

	The dark one boomed, "That's the one."  He held out his hands and started
to produce a ball of ki energy almost as tall as he was.

		

	Salon leaned on her staff for support while she composed herself, wiping
away a small amount of blood that trickled from her nose.  _This is going to
be harder than I anticipated._

	She looked at the spot where the dark-robed man stood before he vanished.
She had no idea why he left; he had them all in the palm of his hand--so to
speak--but he seemed to reconsider ending their lives.  She shrugged--he
must have had his reasons.

	She turned in the opposite direction, where there was now a small clearing
of broken trees created when Miko's guardian spirit, the one she heard
called Ranma Saotome, had been thrown through them by the blast.  Salon was
suddenly grateful that he HAD gone easy on her.  The dark-robed man probably
left Miko's guardian for dead.  Her assessment of the situation wasn't much
different.

	But she checked anyway and found that Ranma Saotome was still breathing;
she was only minorly bruised and unconscious, but otherwise fine--truly
amazing.  Salon looked around to see if anyone was coming--the fight would
surely attract attention, so she'd best leave soon.

	She looked back down at Ranma and smiled as an idea came to mind.  Not only
was Ranma a creature of exceptional skill and endurance, but she was also a
creature of exceptional beauty.

		

	Reikiba yawned and stepped out of the jungle, disappointed when he found
that the big cat had left his company during his nap.  He immediately
noticed two forms, only hazy, dark splotches in front of the setting sun,
and they were rushing toward him at an unsteady pace.  He rested his bokken
on his shoulder and waited.

	Miko staggered into view; she was sweating, limping, and holding her arms
slightly away from her body.  Twilight was trotting from one side of her to
the other, looking up at her with the most worried face a tiger could have.

	Miko saw the samurai just standing there and stumbled in his direction
panting, "Please tell me Father is home!  I must see him right away!"

	Reikiba gently laid a hand on her shoulder to halt her progress.  "I'm
sorry.  I can't let you in the cabin yet.  I promised Mr. Lee."

	Twilight looked at the samurai's leg evilly and opened her mouth.  He
deserved it.  She tried to clamp down, but something about the samurai's
aura of innocence just wouldn't allow her to.

	Miko looked horrified.  "Daddy... won't let... ME... in?"  She started to
cry, trying not to visualize how angry he might have been with her for
storming out of the house earlier.

	Reikiba suddenly looked genuinely worried.  "Is something wrong?  Is there
something I can do to help?"

	Twilight opened her jaws even wider.  Aura or not, he was just too stupid
to allow to run around.

	The shimmercat drew back when Miko started glowing bright blue.  Her hands
moved in a flurry of motion and the samurai disappeared under a pile of laundry.

	Miko continued hobbling toward the house.  Twilight stared back and forth
in confusion.  The samurai peeped, "Was it something I said?"

	"Daddy!  Daddy!"  Miko stumbled to her knees a few times, but picked
herself up and kept going.  The cabin door flew open and a terrified Doshin
ran out.  "Daddy!  Why did that man...  why was...."

	Doshin hugged Miko tightly, and she just cried.  He patted her back.  "Calm
down, calm down."

	She shrieked, "I can't find Guardian Spirit!  He's gone!"

	Doshin winced and let his head fall.  He wordlessly led his hysterical
daughter into the house.

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

	Well that was aweful long.  Anyone have anything to say?  (CUTE VOICE: Shie
shen.) (OLD VOICE: Bye all.) (CHEF'S NOTE: Miko can rot in hell.) Ok.  See
you next time.