A What if Story Titled:

Springs of Horror!

I don't own Pet Shop of Horrors or Ranma 1/2

-o-0-o-

Jusenkyo? It's in China? I sure as heck don't recall entering into this contest, besides, doesn't this sound like some place the Count would love to go Leon Orcot wonders as he skims through the letter that was addressed to him. It seems that he just won the grand prize from some shop draw called Wise Mystics and Cursed Relics.

In the envelop were two flight tickets to some city in the Qinghai Province in China. It seems that it's an all expense trip too. The blond cop muses as he reads the bottom paragraph once more. With a frown on his face, Leon stops before a very familiar patch of stairs that lead down to Count D's pet shop.

The blond cop stuffs the letter and the envelop into his back jean's pocket before walking down the stairs that will bring him to the entrance door that's slightly below street level. "Big Bro!" Cries Chris Orcot as the younger Orcot spots Leon coming in out of the street.

"Hey Chris." The elder Orcot says with a smile on his face as he greets his younger brother. "Welcome Detective, you're right on time for tea." The acting owner of the shop says, a Chinese man who's been mistaken for a woman on more then one occasion.

"Ouch!" Leon exclaims and looks down to find T-chan biting down on his left ankle. As his other foot comes to kick the small shaggy looking beast with horns, Tetsu lets go of the cop's ankle and manages to evade the kick. With a dirty look being sent at Leon, Tetsu makes it to the couch before the blond human and settles down next to Chris.

Leon returns the totetsu's dirty look as well as mutter mild curses under his breathe, very much aware of his younger brother's presence. "Now, now, Detective. You should be use to that by now." Count D says once the bidanshi man with one golden eye and one purple eye lies down a tray of tea before taking a seat on the chair opposite of the couch where T-chan and Chris were sitting.

Leon suppresses the urge to roll his eyes as he takes a seat on the couch, next to the goat looking meat eating Tetsu while Chris is busy talking about what happened today while he was busy at work. As Leon sits down onto the couch, D asks, "What's that in your back pocket?"

"Just two tickets to some place in China." The blond cop answers as Leon tries to think of how Count D knew what's in his jeans when he's pretty sure that the Count has been in front of him the whole time. A slight glance down at T-chan makes him briefly wonder if the goat told the Count about what's in his jean's pocket before dismissing it since T-chan is just an animal . . . right?

The blond detective moves slightly so that he can grab the items from his back pocket. As Leon passes the letter and the envelop that contains the tickets, Chris asks, "We're going to China?"

Leon pauses as he reaches for a teacup filled with tea. The elder Orcot didn't know what to say as the blond looks into his younger brother's excited face. "Err . . ." Leon manages to get out before the Count puts words in his mouth.

"Of course we're going! Although both of these are adult so I'll buy a child's ticket." D says cheerfully. "Who says you're coming?!" Leon shouts at the current manager of the pet shop. "Well, can you speak and read Chinese?" D shouts back.

"There's at it again." Pon-chan says as she rests onto the armrest of the couch. "Just ignore them, like we usually do when they get like this." T-chan says as the horned man crosses his arms over his slightly bare chest. "I just don't get why they have to fight is all." Chris tells his two friend.

While the two adults get into a shouting match and it's not long before Leon matches out of the pet shop, totally forgetting to say bye to his younger brother. As the animals in the front of the shop as well as Chris watch, Count D mutter under his breathe about pig headed Americans cops as the Count begins to clean up the stuff that was thrown around during the fight between Leon and himself.

- - -

What was that? Count D wonders as a slight tingling sensation subsides as they enter into the air port. D pauses slightly and looks around subtlety looking for the source of his sensation but can't seem to locate it.

The bidanshi looking D catches up to the Orcot brothers who had stopped in front of a line up leading up to a desk. "What's going on over there?" Chris asks and Leon replies, "Looks like they're trying to arrest that guy. Must have jumped the gate."

Count D nods absently as his thoughts circle around what could have caused the sensation from before and what it could mean.

- - -

"Welcome young sirs to Jusenkyo. What brings you this too, too a cursed place?" Says the short man in a dark green uniform wearing a green hat with a star on the front of it. "My blond friend here won an all expense trip to this fine valley." Count D tells their guide as they arrive at the man's hut.

"What's he saying, Count?" Leon asks as the blond detective looks from Count D to the short man in green and then finally to the field of ponds where some bamboo poles are set around the springs as a thin mist hangs around the place.

It's early morning, so early that the sun was just climbing into the sky. The group was rousted out of bed by Count D, who been agitated since they arrived at the air port in the USA. Chris rubs his eyes, clearly still sleepy despite the fact that the boy fell back to sleep during the ride to the valley.

"What's that over there?" Chris asks, pointing to a sparrow coming down out of the sky. "I believe that's a house sparrow." D says after giving the bird a passing glance.

"Ah, you're about to see why this place is cursed." The guide says on noticing where most of their attention is. "How so?" Count D asks, he's getting some highly unusual vibes just from looking at the pools of water.

"Just watch." The short man says and before Leon could demand to be informed about what they're talking about, they watch as a large rock hits the pool next to where the house sparrow is standing.

The water hits the bird as the bird tries to fly away. "HOLY SHIT!" Leon exclaims as the bird transforms into a rabbit. "Was it a magic trick? Like when a magician pulls a rabbit out of his hat?" Asks Chris who's now fully awake.

"That is Spring of Drowned Rabbit. A very tragic story about a rabbit who drown in spring. Now whatever touches water of spring is cursed to transform into a rabbit." The guide says, he manages to translate what the guide says for Chris and Leon's benefit.

Count D's a bit too busy trying to wrap his mind around what this occurrence could mean for his family's quest for vengeance. So as Leon walks towards the springs, D's too lost in thought to notice until Leon's in the mist of the springs and the guide was shouting out warnings in very bad English.

Count D manages to get the back of Chris's shirt to keep the boy from going out to his brother, his heart beating faster then normal as he waits for Leon to either land in a pool or to be hit by some water from a spring.

Leon snorts at the thought that these springs were magical in nature so he decided to head to the spot to see if he can locate a trap door or something along those lines. The blond detective pauses among the springs, holding onto a bamboo pole to keep his balance on the uneven ground.

"Leon, Get Back Here Right NOW!" Leon hears D shout at him, ordering him away from the pools. "Why should I? It's not like these springs are actually cursed, it's just a hoax to scare away visitors!" The blond calls out and adds, "I'll provide it once I get over there!"

"Bro! Maybe you should listen to Count D just this once!" Leon's younger brother calls out, Count D's grip on the back of the shirt. "Don't worry! I'll be fine!" Leon shouts back, letting go of the bamboo pole as he cuffs his around his mouth to make sure he's heard.

As Leon turns away from the group next to the hut to study the bits of land between the pools of water. As the blond tries to plot his way to the spot where he believes the house sparrow disappeared and the rabbit was released.

As Leon moves from the spot, his right foot lands in some wet grass and as Leon tries to keep his balance, he trips over a branch that's slightly sticking out of a pool. Leon falls into a spring back first.

As Leon makes it to the surface of the pool, he's privately surprised at how deep the pool was. Leon pulls himself up out of the pool; he can't help but notice that something wasn't right . . .

Count D raises an eyebrow as he studies the beast that Leon transformed into. "Young sir fall into Spring of Drown Winged Lion. Tragic story of a statue of a winged lion that fall from the sky over ninety years ago. Now whatever falls in spring become a winged lion." The guide says, D can't help but notice that the short man knew his business.

"Is there any cure?" D asks as the golden lion with honey gold wings begins to shout out curses before Leon the lion takes to the air. It seems that Leon's cloths have been ripped apart due to the transformation.

"Hot water reverses curse while cold water activates it." The guide tells him, D doesn't know what to feel about that.

"Hum, Count? Since when could Leon fly?" Chris asks as the young boy watches the flying lion circling over head. ". . ." Count D stares down at his young charge, not sure how to answer that. "Well, that spring gave him a pair of wings." D finally says and Chris narrows his eyes a bit to see if he could spot them.

"I see them! It's kind of hard to make them out since the sun isn't totally out." Chris says and D sighs slightly, not wanting to have to explain why Leon still looks human to Chris.

As they watch the panicking lion flying over head, D begins to smile softly as thoughts of adding Leon to his pet shop begin to take root within his mind. After all, cold water is a lot more common then hot water, making it difficult for Leon to continue to lead the life he's had up to this point.

And I get a rare creature as well. D muses as his discolored eyes stay fixed on the flying lion. My, he makes a handsome specimen. D adds as an after thought.

-o-0-o-

Hope you enjoyed this one-shot! Leave a review if you have any future suggestions that you'd like to see or if you want a sequel to this one.