http://clampfix.fanworks.net/guests/kurama01.txt </head><body><pre>Welcome to my insanity... Kurama 1/2 Chapter 1, Version 2 -by Kristin Huntsman- Kurama smiled as he looked across the waters. The day was sunny and bright, the sky a vivid blue mirrored in the waves. "Kurama-kun!" Botan called to him. "Hai?" he asked, turning around. "The ship's due to dock in two hours. We'll be in China before lunch!" Botan said excitedly, stepping up next to Kurama as he leaned on the railing. "Yeah, China," Kurama said, glancing around the deck to see if any of their other friends were in sight. "I've never been to China before," he said truthfully. <Though I have been to practically everywhere else,> he thought, spotting Yuusuke. He waved a hand, inviting him over to join them. Yuusuke waved back, and started to pick his way through the crowd. "What's up?" he asked as he arrived. "We're supposed to dock in two hours," Kurama answered. "Did Genkai say where we were staying?" "Nah," Yuusuke said. "I think that it's supposed to be a surprise." "Interesting that your mother is coming along on this trip, Kurama-kun," Botan said. "I thought she didn't know what you were." "Yeah, well, I ran out of good excuses to go off and train, so Genkai suggested that I pretend I was her student," Kurama said. "Somehow everyone else's families managed to get invited along on this trip, so it would have been rude to exclude her." This trip had been Genkai's idea, and since Genkai had given him a plausible excuse for his periodic disappearances, Kurama hadn't been able to object when Shiori got invited along. He and the others had had to be more cautious than usual, always remembering to use his human name when she was in earshot, not making references to the Reikai or the Ankoku Bujutsukai while she was around, and especially not any references to their powers and special techniques. It was hard, sometimes, but they all put up with it for Kurama's sake. Because he'd explained to them, that, while he _did_ want to tell Shiori the truth very badly at times, he knew that if he ever did, it would probably ruin his relationship with his mother. "Oh, there're Keiko and Yukina!" Botan said, running off. "Ja ne!" "Ja na!" Kurama called back. "Kurama," Yuusuke said quietly, a few minutes later, after looking around and making sure that no one was listening to them. "What's bothering you?" "It's just getting to me that I have to keep lying to my mother," Kurama answered softly. "The excuses for this trip, for the Ankoku Bujutsukai, for when I go off and train alone... everything." "Would you rather tell her the truth?" Yuusuke asked. "... I don't know," Kurama said. "In some ways, it would be so much easier, but it would also feel like taking the coward's way out. And I don't know how she'd react...." "You're the only one of us who really has a normal family life," Yuusuke said slowly. "I can see how you wouldn't want to lose it." "Yeah," Kurama said. "But it's only for another forty or so years, until she dies." "Kurama," Yuusuke said. "Something I don't understand is how much of you is human, and how much of you is youko. What do you mean 'only another forty years'?" "My attitude and my body may be human now," Kurama answered. "And I'll age and die as a normal human, but when I die, I'll revert to being a youko. And youkos are pretty near immortal...." "Shit," Yuusuke said, looking out over the waters. "I think I know you pretty well by now, and even if you could deal with living forever while you were pure youko, I doubt you could do it now. You're too human." "Yeah..." said Kurama, following his gaze. Somewhere back there was Japan. "Hn. You're both so predictable," a voice said from behind them, causing them both to turn around. "Just because YOU have no ties to the Ningenkai, Hiei, don't blame us," Yuusuke said evenly. "I choose to have no ties because it means that I won't have the worries and headaches that you both seem to enjoy giving yourselves," Hiei replied just as evenly. "Why are you here, again, Hiei?" Kurama asked him, leaning against the railing. Hiei glared at him. "You know that," he said. "Yukina? Us?" Kurama asked innocently. "And here I thought you had no ties." "Kurama..." Hiei said through gritted teeth. "He's easy to get to, if you know what buttons to push," Yuusuke commented as Hiei turned and flitted off, steadfastly ignoring them. "He doesn't like being reminded that he has vulnerabilites," Kurama said. "'The more things change, the more they stay the same'," Yuusuke quoted. He turned to look at Kurama. "You're worrying way too much. This trip'll do you good." "Maybe," Kurama answered. "But I just have a bad feeling about it. Like there's something that I should remember about Jusenkyuu..." The restaurant that they chose for lunch was crowded, a sure sign of good food. Once they were all seated, and had relayed their orders to the waitress, a young woman with long black hair, Hiei began to relax a little. Something about this trip was making him uneasy, and it wasn't the fact that he had to try and appear 'normal'. He still wasn't sure exactly WHY he'd felt that he had to come for this trip. He'd wanted to see Yukina again, yes, but it wasn't simply because of that. He trusted Kuwabara to take care of his sister, and wasn't really concerned about her well-being. The reason he'd come was... what? For the training? Possibly. To see his friends? More probably. But there was something else, too. He didn't know what it was, but the closest he could come to describing it was that it felt like something that was important to his future. <Hn. Destiny,> he thought. <I don't believe in destiny.> He let his glance wander around the restaurant, slightly surprised as a large panda entered through the front door, followed by a young woman in a karate gi. <Odd,> he thought, as they deposited their backpacks on the floor and were seated. <But then, the Ningenkai never has made much sense to me.> The girl's bright red hair caught at his eye, involuntarily reminding him of Kurama. He turned to see his friend looking at him, an amused look on his face as he also saw the girl and panda. <Baka,> Hiei thought to himself. Their food arrived then, and they ate quickly, not wanting to miss the bus that Genkai had chartered to take them to this special training ground of hers. As they left the restaurant, Hiei heard a loud crash behind them. He turned around to see a beautiful lavender-haired girl walk through the wall and attack the red-headed girl and panda that sat at the table before her. <None of my business,> he thought, turning around and walking on. Genkai stepped off the bus and breathed in the fresh air. She had little patience with buses herself, but realized that at least half of her guests on this trip would never have been able to stand the hike to the training grounds. <Not their faults,> she thought to herself. <Not everyone was meant to be a martial artist.> "Excuse me," someone asked her. She turned around to see a dark-haired young man standing behind her, holding a map and scratching his head, looking bewildered. "Do you know which way it is to Japan?" "Japan?" she asked. <He must have an awful sense of direction,> she thought. <We're in China!> "That way," she said, pointing back the way they'd come. "The bus is going back to Hong Kong, you can probably get a ship to Japan from there." "Thank you," he said, walking off. "You're going the wrong way!" she called out. "Huh?" he asked, looking around. "Oh, I guess I am. Thanks!" Genkai sighed as she watched him turn around and walk off, this time in the right direction. "Baasan," Yuusuke said. "Where's this secret training ground you wanted us to see?" "Just over that hill," she said. "After we practice for today, I've arranged lodgings for us with my old friend Cologne at a nearby village. When we get there," she said sternly, looking at everyone in the party, "I don't want anyone to get into fights. If you're challenged, turn them down. The village has some... odd... customs, and I don't want any of you getting into trouble. Understood?" "Hai!" everyone answered in varying degrees of sureness. Genkai sighed as she started walking, hoping that they would keep their promises. The last thing she needed was for any of her guests to get into trouble during their stay in the Village of the Amazons. <Wow!> Kuwabara thought as they reached the apex of the hill. For as far as the eye could see, there stretched an array of pools of water, springs, he assumed, all with bamboo poles of different heights jutting out of them. <This is a great training ground!> He could already see how it would challenge the martial artist: having to watch your balance, manipulate your landings, avoid your opponent's attacks, and manage to knock the other guy into a spring at the same time would be difficult. "Isn't it beautiful, Kazuma-san?" Yukina asked from his side. "Hai, Yukina-san!" he replied enthusiastically. "Kazu, are you going to stay here all day, or practice?" Shizuru asked him. "Your friends are already ready." "Huh?" he asked. "Come on, Kuwabara!" Yuusuke yelled from the edge of the nearest pool. "Hai!" he yelled back, running to catch up with them. "Guys, my mother's watching, and she has no clue what I am. Can we practice without special techniques or weapons, just this once?" Kurama asked them in a low tone as Kuwabara caught up to them. "Fine by me," Yuusuke said, stretching. "Hn," Hiei replied, looking away. He dropped his sword on the ground next to his cloak. "Whatever." "Sure," Kuwabara replied. "All right, then - pair off," Genkai instructed them. "Yuusuke and - Shuuichi. Hiei and Kuwabara." Kurama smiled as she caught herself in time and remembered his human name. The four of them lept up onto the poles, Kuwabara somewhat less surely than the other three. He and Hiei ended up further in than Kurama and Yuusuke. "Go, Yuusuke!" Atsuko cheered from the sidelines. "Aw, cut it out, Ma!" he said. "Begin!" Genkai instructed. Yuusuke and Kurama looked at each other for a second before moving. They'd never practiced against each other before, but they'd seen each other fight often enough that they knew each other's moves by heart. They sprang into the air at the same moment, knowing that this wasn't a serious fight, but that that didn't give them an excuse for slacking off. As their paths crossed in midair, Yuusuke threw a punch at Kurama's chin, which he easily blocked, returning with a chop to Yuusuke's neck that was equally easily blocked. They smiled at each other as they landed on two separate poles; this was going to be fun. The two of them jumped again, putting more force into their moves as Kurama managed a mid-air spinning kick and Yuusuke countered with a series of rapid blows. They were totally oblivious to their audience now, and their moves started to increase in speed and effort as they fought, neither managing to seriously injure the other. "Genkai-san, do all of your students learn to fight this violently?" Shiori asked, indicating the mid-air battle. "And this well?" "Not all," Genkai replied, her eyes not leaving the two. "But most. Your son's talent is none of my doing, though; it was all his own effort. He's not like Yuusuke, whose head I had to beat martial arts through." Hiei smiled grimly; with most of the audience watching Yuusuke and Kurama, he and Kuwabara were free to fight more easily. "Ready, idiot?" he asked. "Ready to die, jerk?" Kuwabara asked him back. They lept towards each other, reduced to fisticuffs in mid-air without their weapons. They were neither of them the more versatile martial artists that Yuusuke and Kurama were, being instead infinitely more skilled with blades in their hands. But their empty hands could do a lot of damage, too. <He's not balancing very well,> Hiei noticed as Kuwabara landed. <I have that over him. He should be easy to knock down.> Kurama paused for a second on the pole. He and Yuusuke were too evenly matched. Not in power level, neccessarily, but in martial skills. There was no way that either of them was going to find an opening. But still... he jumped again, seeking the slightest fault in Yuusuke's technique. Suddenly, he found it, as a loud splash from where Kuwabara and Hiei were practicing distracted Yuusuke. His kick sent Yuusuke flying into one of the pools, but Yuusuke managed to hit him with enough force that he flew backwards. There was something that he should remember about Jusenkyuu - what was it? he thought in the last split-second before the back of his head connected with the bamboo pole and he fell into the pond below, unconcious. <Hn,> Hiei thought, surveying the area around him. He was the only one left standing on a pole. <I win.> But he wasn't watching for the sudden shift of the pole as it started to fall over, and so fell into the pond it stood in as it crashed to the ground with a thunderous noise. Yuusuke struggled to the surface of the pool with some difficulty. As he surfaced, he opened his eyes and blinked. His vision was odd. It was like it was split in two. His side vision was sharper than it had ever been, but ahead of him, there was just a gray fog. He shook his head, trying to see if his sight would clear, but it didn't. "Yuusuke?" Keiko asked in disbelief, looking down at him. <Wait a minute - down?> he thought. She reached down and took him up in her arms. <What's happened to me?> he thought and tried to ask, but it only came out as a sort of warbled, bird-like noise. <Bird?!> "You're a bird, Yuusuke!" Keiko said in shock. "A falcon!" A little ways away, Yukina and Shizuru watched as a small brown bunny struggled out of the pool Kuwabara had fallen into. It examined itself in alarm, then glared furiously at a small black cat that was sitting nearby. <:KONOYARO!!!:> it yelled in whatever language rabbits speak. "Kazuma-san..." Yukina said, picking him up. "Kazu..." Shizuru said softly. They slowly walked back to where the others were, trailed by the damp cat, which looked a little startled, but not upset. Never upset. "Shuuichi!" Shiori said, looking at the pool he had fallen into, where he still hadn't surfaced. <Kurama!> Genkai thought, racing towards it, diving in. She wasn't worried for herself; whatever this pool changed her into, she'd lived enough years that she could live her remaining few as an animal quite easily. But he was going to drown if she didn't get to him soon. She felt her body tingle as the curse of the spring affected it, but ignored it, searching. She reached out blindly, and felt an arm. She grabbed ahold of it, and swam towards the surface. As she surfaced, she laid the young man down on the ground and started pumping water out of his lungs - he wasn't breathing. She was lucky; he began breathing again on her third try. Everyone watched as he rolled over onto his side and began to cough the water out of his lungs on her own. Relieved, Genkai brushed a strand of hair out of her face. Something about her hand caught her attention, though. She looked at it carefully. No wrinkles. No liver spots. The skin was smooth. Trembling, she looked at Kurama. His form was smaller now, and she saw definite signs of breasts beneath the shirt. <Masaka,> she thought to herself. "The Spring of the Drowned Girl..." she said out loud. Shiori fainted. "Kaasan, wake up," Kurama said, holding Shiori's head in his - in her lap. "I know you can't be out for that much longer." "Here, Kurama-kun," Shizuru said, handing her a cup of water. "It's not from any of those springs, is it?" she asked her, frowning. "No, it's bottled," she answered. "Good," Kurama said, tipping the water slowly so that it wet Shiori's lips. She opened them wider, and Kurama poured a little water into her mouth. "She's coming around," she informed everyone. Shiori moaned and opened her eyes. "I had the most horrible dream," she said. She paused as she looked at the serious faces around her. "It wasn't a dream, was it?" she asked. "Iie, Kaasan," Kurama said. "It's real." "Oh, God!" she said, starting to cry. "I'm so sorry, Shuuichi!" "Don't be, Kaasan," she said softly. Everyone looked at her. "I finally remembered what kept bothering me about coming to Jusenkyuu." Kurama stood up and walked over to where a tea kettle was heating on a fire. She grabbed it and poured a little of the hot water inside over herself. Everyone stared as Kurama resumed his male shape. He laughed softly. "The curses are activated by cold water and reversed by hot," he told them. "Shuuichi..." Shiori whispered. "This might cause problems." "Can you accept me like this, Kaasan?" he asked her. "Of course I can!" she said. "You're my only child! I meant with school, and the rest of your life." Kurama shrugged. "It can't be helped now, Kaasan," he said philosophically. "Kura - ah, Shuuichi-kun," Keiko said. "Will this work on all the curses?" "Hai, Keiko-chan," Kurama answered. "Though I think, for Yuusuke's modesty, you might want to get some clothes out of his pack first." "Hai!" she said, hugging Yuusuke in her excitement. He let out a muffled squawk. "Gomen ne, Yuusuke," she apologized, walking off towards where their packs were lying on the ground. "Chotto matte, kudasai, Keiko-chan!" Yukina said, walking after her, still carrying Kuwabara. Kurama noticed a desolate-looking Hiei sitting on the ground, and picked up the cat. "Come on," he said. "Let's see if we can find some clothing to fit you, since your stuff is at the bottom of the pond." The cat swiped a paw at him, and he ducked back. "Be nice, or you stay a cat," he warned. "I'm sure that there's probably some nice Chinese girl in the village we're staying at tonight who'd like a new pet." The cat glared at him, then settled aloofly in the crook of his arm. Kurama smiled, and followed the two girls. Author's Ramblings: Okay, characters and stiuations are "borrowed" from Togashi Yoshihiro's _Yuu*Yuu*Hakusho_ and Rumiko Takahashi's _Ranma 1/2_. Mostly the former. The events in this supposedly take place very shortly after Ranma and Genma got cursed (yes, and Ryouga too), and sometime soon after the Ankoku Bujutsukai. This story was inspired by the facts that Kurama is VERY bishounen, and a red-head most of the time, and Ranma is a gender-switcher, and a red-head some of the time. So I couldn't resist writing a story where Kurama fell into Nannichuan. Besides, the title fit so well... Several mistakes in the first version of this chapter were pointed out and and explained to me by John Blankenship, to whom I give much credit and many thanks in helping me to fix this story. I also have to thank Danyaw Chen, Sionna Klassen, Roger Morse, and Roy Rim, for being my first set of proofreaders, as well as Glenn Kristiansen, who introduced me to the wonderful hobby known as "anime", and to Aaron Arce, for letting me slowly work my way through his seemingly endless tape collection. (including all episodes of YYH and the first movie... <big happy smile>) Anyhow, if you liked it, or if you didn't, write to me and tell me why or why not, because I've been kind of short on criticisms of Kurama 1/2... </pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>