Chapter 1

 

    She came awake slowly. Not a gentle slowness from a good nights sleep. But the sick, wretched slowness of the very old or very ill. Her mouth tasted like something had crawled inside and died during the night, after first giving birth to a horde of starving rats. Nasty, naked tailed beasts which were even now chewing their way through her head and belly. Her eyes were gummed shut with sleep and she clumsily tried to paw them PAW!? Her eyes snapped open and she lurched to her feet, only to fall over on her side, furry forelegs splayed out in front of her. Almost sick with terror she tried to scramble to her feet, calling for help. Her unfamiliar body betrayed her, and she fell back, twitching spasmodically as her wail of terror filled the air.

*RANMA! HELP ME RANMA!!!*

    Sayui reached for their take-out order and froze. "I didn't know you had a cat? Well, except for Shan Pu." She said looking at the young Amazon waiting a table across the room.

    "We don't." Cu Lon replied, placing some napkins in the bag along with the receipt. "That's a stray we found out back. We're just holding it until we have a chance to take it to the animal shelter."    

    "Oh, poor thing." Yuka frowned. "It sounds terrified.    Maybe I could take it home?"

    Cu Lon smiled at the two young girls. "That's very kind of you. Why don't you come back in a few days. If we haven't found the owner I'm sure you could give it a good home." Cu Lon continued smiling until the two girls left the restaurant. Swiftly she turned from the cash-register and went to the back.

"Mu Tsu! Where are you?"

"Right here old owww! Why did you do that?"

    Cu Lon loomed over the prostrate, blind-magician. "You idiot. She could be heard out front. I told you to keep that door shut."

"You also told me to bring more fish from the store room. How could I know she'd wake up. YOU said she'd be out until " he fell back, clutching his side.

    "Don't think." Cu Lon glared down at him. "It doesn't suit your talents." She pushed Mu Tsu inside the store-room and pulled the door shut behind them. Moving over to the small wire cage bolted into the corner she stood looking down at the small black cat writhing like a broken backed snake. The shrill, terrified cries had died to hoarse, panting whimpers. Cu Lon stared down at the small helpless creature.

"Why do we have to keep…"

"FOOL."

Mu Tsu dogged the half hearted swipe at his head.

    "We have to keep her eighteen days. Until the transformation has stabilized there is always a chance Shan Pu could return to her cursed state. Or worse."

"I meant, why keep her here?" Mu Tsu kept a wary eye on Cu Lon's staff. Why not just dump her at the animal shelter?"

"And if she were to escape?"

    "Where could she go? What could she do? She can't change back. Not with hot water at any rate. And no cat's going to be welcome at the Tendou's. She's a danger as long as she's here. When people find out Shan Pu's no longer cursed. And see . . .well hear THIS cat. And with Tendou Akane missing Even Saotome might figure it out. I think . . ."

    "I've warned you about thinking." Cu Lon faced Mu Tsu who, strangely, seemed to have no trouble seeing the Amazon matriarch even without his glasses. "At the proper time Tendou Akane will seem to die, very publicly and far from here. YOU do what you are told boy. Exactly WHAT you are told, WHEN you are told. Do so and I will let you have Shan Pu when I am finished with her. And with Saotome." Her eyes blazed and Mu Tsu shrank back from that barely leashed fire. "You will have what you want, or as much as I see fit to give you. Shan Pu to wife, and your curse removed. Defy me, fail me She glanced down at the crying cat. "There is room in that cage for two."

    Mu Tsu bowed submissively, his heavy bangs veiling the fleeting expression in his eyes. When he straightened he showed only the properly respectful visage of a dutiful young male of the Amazons. Following Cu Lon, he carefully shut the door, blocking the steadily weakening feline cries .

*oneesama . . .ranma . . .i'm scared . . .*

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"MU TSU! I thought I told you to FEED her."

Mu Tsu stood sulkily beside Cu Lon. "I've BEEN feeding her. Everyday. AND fresh water. It's not my fault if she's not eating."

    Cu Lon lay a hand lightly on Mu Tsu's shoulder. Almost instantly he went white and collapsed to the floor under the influence of Cu Lon's touch.    "If she dies, Shan Pu also dies. And if Shan Pu dies . . .," Cu Lon turned a basilisk gaze on the spasming boy. "you will pray for the mercy of hellfire."

    "I would NEVER" Mu Tsu forced words past a constricted throat "NEVER endanger my beloved Shan Pu. I would die for her."

    Cu Lon tapped a release point and Mu Tsu shuddered in relief.    "I'm not interested in your death boy, or your life. I wouldn't let a dog piss on you if you were on fire, so don't whine about how you'd die for Shan Pu." Her staff blurred and Mu Tsu's head snapped back in a spray of blood as Cu Lon neatly smashed his nose. "If she" Cu Lon pointed at the cat lying in a pool of it's own urine. "doesn't eat something in the next hour I'm going to feed YOU to her, a piece at a time."

    Mu Tsu blanched, then rallied a bit.   "I'm doing the best that I can. All I can do is pour food and water through the wire. YOU wanted the cage built without a door."

"Idiot. If there was a door she would get out. "

YOU'VE done it, so how hard can it be?"

    Mu Tsu flushed angrily, thinking of all the times a small white duck and been thrown in a cage. He smiled slyly as an idea came to him suddenly.    "I am only a man." He began, unctuously. "I beg for the matriarch's instruction. What must I do?"

    Cu Lon stared expressionlessly until his smile drained away like dirty bath water. Satisfied that he remembered his place , she briefly considered breaking something. Radius, ulna, spine. Recalling how loudly Mu Tsu whimpered she decided a good nights sleep was more important than the fleeting pleasure of bending him around the edges.. 

    "There is more of her humanity left than I realized. Enough to over-ride her cat instincts." Cu Lon stared at the filthy matted cat. "I may have to use the shiatsu to erase her memory." Cu Lon thought for a moment. "Prepare a beef broth, lace it with these herbs." She pulled some packets off the shelf. "The odor will stimulate her appetite. Hopefully she will eat and I will not have to use the shiatsu."

"Why not just erase her mind now? Why wait?"

"The techniques I have used are very powerful . . . and unstable. The slightest change could disrupt the balance and undo all that I have done. With fatal results."

"But why don't you? "

    Cu Lon was beginning to understand why Shan Pu so often hit Mu Tsu. It was not the insolence of a man-child questioning an elder; the questions were not unreasonable. It was his manner; sly obsequiousness and a cringing falsely- respectful manner that made her want to take a bath. She resisted the urge to send him to his ancestors. That would be needlessly cruel to the dead. Plus he, or at least his family, had powerful connections with the central government. And their power was a useful counter to Zhu, and others. So Mu Tsu would live for now. And perhaps she could divert him from her true intentions.

"What do you think I have done to Shan Pu and the Tendou girl?"

"Huh?" Mu Tsu's mask slipped slightly at the unexpected question. It was quickly replaced, again presenting the world a bland harmlessness.

Cu Lon affected not to see, but inwardly was pleased at the sign Mu Tsu could be knocked off his center.
"Uhhh, well you took Shan Pu's curse and put it in Akane."

"Wrong . . .boy." Mu Tsu flinched at the appellation and Cu Lon smiled inwardly. Perhaps she couldn't kill him, yet . . .but he could still provide hours of amusement. "Jusenkyo curses are permanent and fatal."

"Huh? What do you mean permanent? You just took away Shan Pu's curse. And what about the spring_of_drowned_man or . . .FATAL!!!" Mu Tsu's head snapped around so fast Cu Lon thought she felt a breeze. "What do you mean . . .fatal? You mean fatal as in fated? Or fatal as . . .uhhh that is, fatal could mean lots of different . . ."

"I mean dead, deceased, gone-to-your-ancestors." Cu Lon smiled sweetly. "Understand?"

"What? How?" Mu Tsu was doing a frantic self- examination, looking for signs of his impending demise. "I feel fine! I look alright. Do I look alright to you?"

"Relax boy. You're safe---for now."

Mu Tsu slumped in relief.

"You've got some time yet. Perhaps a year or two. More if you're careful."

    "Gaaaaa!" Relief fled like a virgin from a political convention. "Tell me! Wh . . .what's . . .I mean how? Why is the curse fatal?"

"Think boy."

Mu Tsu didn't even react to the gibe.

    "Why do you think they're called the CURSED springs?" Cu Lon went on without waiting for an answer. "Everything has a price. You gain on one hand." She held up her left hand, palm open. "And you loose on the other." She slowly closed her right hand into a fist, as if crushing something. "From Jusenkyo you gain abilities strength, stealth. . . flight." Cu Lon speared Mu Tsu with a glance. "You lose . . .life, spirit, chi. Call it what you will. Each time you change to or from your cursed form it drains you. Little by little the change steals your life. Until, finally it's all gone there's nothing left but death and the curse."

    "B . . .but I feel fine." Mu Tsu brightened suddenly at a thought. "That means Saotome will die too. OH happy day. He doesn't know. His curse will kill him and I need do nothing." In his happiness Mu Tsu grabbed the matriarch in his arms and swung her around in a little happy-dance. A liberal application of staff-to-cranium brought him to his senses.

"Don't be premature. Son-in-law will out-live you easily."

"You said the curse was fatal!" Mu Tsu whined.

"Why isn't Saotome's curse fatal. He should die too. I want him to die. It's not faiiiir."

    "The greater the distance of the cursed form from humanity, the greater the drain on your chi. You change from a large male idiot to a small stupid duck. Shan Pu from a large human girl to a small feline. The difference is great. Larger in your case as a fowl is further removed from human than is a cat. Son-in-law is still human. In fact since his forms represent yin and yang it might even extend his life a little. And then there are idiots like that Taro boy. He's spending his chi like water. The only thing that's saved him is that he was cursed very young. There is more of a balance in his case than if he'd been cursed as an adult. Still, I expect he can't last more than three or four more years. Five at the most."

"NO! I can't die. I have to live. It's not fair. Saotome should die. Shan Pu! Why should I die? I know. The spring of drowned man. I'll leave for . . . Ooooow!"

"Quit whining."

Mu Tsu rubbed his ear resentfully but wisely kept quiet.

"Cursing yourself AGAIN is like putting makeup on a corpse. Spring of drowned man would just add ANOTHER curse. Draining you even faster. Your original curse would remain, only hidden. The curse CAN-NOT-BE- REMOVED!" Cu Lon grabbed Mu Tsu by the ears and wrenched his head around to face her. "Do you understand?"

"NO! I don't. You removed Shan Pu's curse. Gave it to. . ."

"I did NOT remove her curse."

Mu Tsu could only blink and point dumbly to the small dirty cat that was Tendou Akane.
"I did not. . .COULD not remove Shan Pu's curse."

The matriarch smiles slightly. " I could not remove the curse . . .but I could give her the Tendou's humanity."

"I . . .I don't understand."

"There is no reason you should. The technique uses fox-spirit magic. I replaced Shan Pu's 'poisoned' chi with the Tendou girls clean chi. And when I pushed IN the clean chi the poisoned chi naturally flowed OUT and into Tendou Akane . . .with the results you see." Cu Lon nodded slightly at the cramped wire cage and its terrified occupant.

"If you had this cure all along why didn't you use it sooner?"

"It is NOT a cure."

"But . . ."

"It is not a cure. It is . . .retribution."

"Huh?"

"You say that a lot boy. I suggest you try improving your vocabulary."

Mu Tsu flushed angrily but Cu Lon's look forestalled any retort.

"What are the High Crimes against The People?"

Mu Tsu looked blankly at Cu Lon.   "Come boy . . .of all people YOU should be familiar with the High Crimes."
Mu Tsu blanched. She couldn't know . . .could she?

"Wha . . .what do you mean. Of all people I should know?"

"Your mother was a judge. I should think you would have learned at least a LITTLE about the law."

Dizzy with relief Mu Tsu could only stutter incoherently.

"The High Crimes are . . ." Cu Lon enumerated.

"Treason, assassination by poison or magic and rape."

"What does that have to do with remov . . .uhhh . . .with fixing the curse."

    "In cases of rape there is damage to the spirit that is far greater than any physical hurt. A technique was developed from the healing arts to replenish damaged or depleted chi. Since the offenders life is already forfeit it is only just that his life be used to benefit those he hurt. In cases of assassination the technique is used in a slightly different way. It was discovered it could revive the recently dead or even move souls from one body to another. As you know," Cu Lon's expression indicated she didn't care whether or not Mu Tsu knew. "the spirits of the dead remain earth bound for three days. During that time the sous could be reunited with the body. If the murdered ones body was too badly damaged or unrecoverable it is possible for their soul to be placed in the body of their murderer. Of course the killers soul has to be dealt with. In most cases the killers spirit is placed in the body of an animal, to suffer out his days as reason and humanity slowly slip away." Cu Lon's lids closed and she appeared to be looking at a distant memory. "Everything dies, nothing endures. And death in combat, in an open duel . . .far better to end cleanly with steel in your heart and iron in your spine. Not old, sick and useless. Not foully by poison or magic . . . She was very beautiful."

Mu Tsu started at the sadness in Cu Lon's voice. It never occurred to him that Cu Lon had feelings.

" . . . short tempered, quixotic, generous, maudlin, especially when she'd been drinking, selfish, spiteful . . .and my friend." Cu Lon glanced at the slack jawed Mu Tsu.

"Don't you believe I could have a friend?"

    Mu Tsu's jaw worked soundlessly as he tired to formulate an answer that wouldn't get him smacked.
I met Junko in a Shanghai bar while I was tending to some business for Mao . . .ummm for an official of the 'Peoples Republic'. She tried to steal my money. I broke her arm. She slashed open my belly." Cu Lon smiled in fond remembrance.

"Ahhh she was an artist with a blade. An ARTIST . . ." Cu Lon shook off the past and continued. "We became good friends. And she fit in well with The People. Until she ran afoul of a . . ." Cu Lon paused as painful memories flooded back. ". . .a jealous woman. Junko was very striking. Full of fire and passion. She attracted the man of . . .one who has no name. Junko and the man did what a strong woman and a beautiful man often do. The nameless one could have challenged Junko. A formal dual, even to the death would have been acceptable. Instead she put death- cup mushrooms in Jukno's beer. It took Junko two weeks to die. And by the time the nameless ones treachery was discovered it was too late for anything except justice. I performed the ritual myself. Moved the nameless one's soul, her spirit ,out of her body and placed it in a more . . .suitable place."

    Mu Tsu shivered at the venom in Cu Lon's voice. He'd watched her kill a bandit once . . with no more emotion than crushing a bug. But this . . .sixty years later and the hate was still sharp in Cu Lon's voice.

"I watched . . .watched as the light of reason left her eyes. Watched as a dumb animal suddenly became more . . .and less. I kept her in a cage. I kept her there and watched . . .day by day, hour by hour then, finally, minute by minute. I watched as her humanity slipped away like water from a cracked pitcher. Until nothing was left except a faint memory of what she once was. She remembered she'd once been something more. And then I . . .let her go. I carried the cage into the forest, opened the door and walked away. Perhaps she died quickly, under the talons of a hawk. Perhaps slowly, frantically . . .small, alone and terrified."

Mu Tsu shivered, terrified of Cu Lon. He'd always been a little afraid of her. Now he suddenly realized how badly he'd underestimated her.

"But you want to know what all this has to do with Jusenkyo, don't you."    Mu Tsu was almost too frightened to breath. Jerkily he nodded once.   

    "One day I watched Shan Pu change and suddenly thought of those two techniques, one for healing and one for something else and it occurred to me they could be used to correct a Jusenkyo curse. The curse could not be removed. But I could replace her poisoned chi with clean untainted chi. Remove her animal form, place it in another receptacle. That was the key. It was not enough to just cleanse her chi, for the animal taint would remain, slowly poisoning her again. I needed someone someone strong with an unusual purity of spirit. To provide fresh chi for Shan Pu and take on her animal form. There were several possibilities ,but using Tendou Akane also removed another problem." Cu Lon glared at Mu Tsu. "That is why we MUST keep her alive . . ."Cu Lon pointed at the sick looking cat laying on it's side. " alive for fifteen more days. The working is entirely unnatural. Her chi, Shan Pu's cursed form . . .they wish to return to their former state. This collar"Cu Lon pointed to a gleaming gold circlet, faintly visible under matted fur. "and the bracelet I placed on Shan Pu tie the chi in place. At this moment there is a great strain, like a rubber-band under too much tension. Tendou Akane's death would be like cutting the rubber-band. The two of them might just revert to their former states or the back lash could smash Shan Pu like a rotten fruit . . .or worse."

"W . . .worse?"

    "There are many things worse than death boy . . .much worse. In fifteen days the change will be permanent. Shan Pu will be fully human and Tendou Akane will be forever locked in a cats body. Her mind will not last long after that, a few months at best. But for fifteen more days she MUST live. After that . . ." Cu Lon made a gesture as if tossing away something.

"I'll start making the broth at once, elder Cu Lon."   Mu Tsu said very quietly.

    Cu Lon gave a slight nod of assent and watched as Mu Tsu scuttled out of the room. Mu Tsu's new humility wouldn't last long. But for a while Mu Tsu could be trusted, or at least not as much mis-trusted.   "I would not have done this if my need were not great." Cu Lon looked down at the small figure in the cage. "Shan Pu is the last of my blood and I love her very much. I could not let that . . .man . . .take her." One wrinkled hand reached out with uncharacteristic hesitancy and brushed inky fur through the wire mesh. "I promise that I will do what I can for your sisters and your father. And for Ranma."

 

Cats have no tears.

    She'd never thought about that before. Never thought about a lot of things. Life, death . . .love. Even after all that had happened since Ranma had come. Even after Mt. Phoenix she hadn't thought much about death. Maybe because Ranma was always there . . .just in time. Maybe because something was always happening; too much happening too fast. Another crisis started before the last was quite finished. But now it was finished. No last minute rescues. You couldn't rescue someone if you didn't know they were in trouble.

Cats have no tears.

 
    She remembered going to the airport. Everyone was there to see her off. Even Ranma had been nice for once. Well, almost nice. She'd been so excited. Going to America, Hawaii. All expenses paid. She'd just settled in her seat when one of the flight attendants spilled a drink in her lap. Then in the bathroom, cleaning her dress . . .a sting, like an insect bite. Waking . . .here.

Cats have no tears.

She wished she could cry.   She wished . . .

    She stared dully at the blood slimed wire mesh. There were still damp patches where she'd tried to claw her way out, slicing her skin and smearing the cage with her blood. Her mind drifted . . .the blood dulled metal brought back a memory. Sitting on her father lap as he showed her how to examine a sword.

    "No, sweetheart. Not with your bare hand. You have to use rice paper or wear gloves to handle the sword. It's bad for the steel to touch it with your bare hand."

    "That's silly, daddy. Swords are used to kill ronin and bandits and dragons and . . ." She hacked at imaginary bandits with her imaginary sword. "How can just TOUCHING a sword hurt it?"

    "Touching is bad. Blood is worse. If you don't clean your blade right away blood can rust it to nothing. And worst of all . . ."

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"Eating now I see."

    The cat didn't even look up from the bowl. Mu Tsu looked sourly at the small animal greedily buried in the food it had previously ignored. And after he'd gone to all the trouble of making a beef broth. Well, best not to waste it. With a malicious smile Mu Tsu poured the still hot broth over the cat. His smile slipped when the cat didn't even pause in her eating. With a disgusted snort he turned and left the store-room.

    Hearing the door click shut the small cat padded over to one corner of the cage. The corner farthest from the light. The corner most in shadow.    "And worst of all . . ." Tendou Soun had told his young daughter. " . . .is the damage from a thrust to the stomach."   Carefully she chose her spot, where only a single bolt held the corner in place. Clenching her stomach muscles she opened her mouth . . .

    "Acid from the stomach," Tendou Soun instructed his heir. "can ruin the finest steel in just a few minutes." The pop and hiss of dissolving metal was loud to cat sensitive hearing.

Cats have no tears.  

Predators never cry.