Chapter 7.

The next morning, Harry woke up to cheerful chattering in Chinese emanating from the dining area of the house. He dressed, stretched, and stumbled out of the guest room, making his way to the kitchen table. Ranma and Ku Lon were both there and dressed in fine silks; Ranma in red and Ku Lon in yellow. The old lady was busy tying bright blue ribbons around Ranma's biceps, calves, thighs, forearms, and ponytail. Ku Lon already had similar red ribbons tied around her arms and hair, although he couldn't tell if anything was tied around her legs. That was partly because she wore flowing robes, and party because she was balanced on the on the tip of her staff, concealing her legs under her garments.

Harry noticed that Xian Pu was similarly attired in white silks and bedecked with purple ribbons. Xian Pu had woven a purple ribbon into her braid. Mu Tsu was attired as normal: he simply served breakfast, putting bread, fruit, and juice on the table as the women fussed about the knots and mobility.

"What," Harry asked as he sat down with Mu Tsu, "is going on with the ribbons?"

Xian Pu piped up, "Is festival! We gets chance beat up Ranma!" She giggled. "Is too too fun!"

"So you have to get dressed up do to that?" Harry shook his head.

Ku Lon snorted. "Forgive her. Her English is terrible."

Ranma whispered conspiratorially to Harry, "so is her Japanese."

Xian Pu stuck out her tongue; Ku Lon just rolled her eyes and tied the last ribbon around Ranma's arm with a bit more force than necessary, eliciting grumbles from Ranma.

"Hush, child, you deserve far worse than that." Ku Lon turned back to Harry. "What she means is, when ever an Amazon sister returns from extensive travels abroad, the warrior women have an opportunity to test her strength, as well as give the warrior to a chance show her new skills before the entire village."

"So what are the ribbons for?" Harry asked.

"The ribbons are targets for attack and defense." Ranma said. "It's a simple game of keep away. I have to take their ribbons while keeping mine intact."

"Oh, so like flag football? They just have to rip the ribbons off?" Harry asked.

"Except a whole lot more violent. This is an anything goes brawl. It is easier just to knock the person out so that you can undo the knots at your leisure."

"How many people do you have to fight?"

Ranma smiled. "Every female in the village."

Harry's eyes widened. "Sequentially, I hope?"

"Nope! At the same time." Ranma smiled. "This is gonna be great!"


Harry was a bit at a loss when he followed the women out of the house after breakfast. Nearly one hundred and fifty women, all carrying various degrees of weaponry, were assembled in the main square of the village. The most common form of weaponry was a dull bashing instrument; however, Harry noted that many of the women carried swords, bo staffs, bladed spears, or bows, along with some other unidentified instruments of war. Men milled about on all sides; Harry saw flashes of silver and gold rapidly changing hands.

"What are they doing?" Harry pointed to the largest cluster of men that seemed particularly active.

Ranma laughed. "They're betting. This sort of even doesn't happen often, so it's an excuse for all sorts for behavior."

"What are they betting on?"

"How long I last before I get taken down." Ranma seemed rather amused by the prospect.

"So, if I wanted to make money, what way should I bet?"

"'Gainst hundred fifty so Amazons?" Ranma scratched her chin. "For me to win."


Ranma split off from the party shortly afterwards, followed by Xian Pu. Ku Lon, however, guided Harry to a log and beckoned him to sit. She told him she would be back shortly; as the village elder, it was her duty to start the ceremony, but she wouldn't be participating unless Ranma had no more opponents to fight.

Harry sat and watched as Ku Lon bounced her way out to the middle of the circle, balancing on the end of her staff the whole time. She raised her voice: Harry couldn't tell what she said, but the mood suddenly became much more serious. Ranma bowed once to Ku Lon, then once time in the four cardinal directions. She was the only one wearing red; the rest of the women wore bright but light colors. The women assembled all bowed one time before hoisting their weapons and taking up ready stances. Ranma, weaponless, simple stood in her relaxed posture that Harry recognized from all the training he did with her.

Ku Lon raised her hand and bounced out of the circle. She dropped her hand, the signal for the "festival" to begin. The Amazons let out a throaty cry and spread out, creating a large circle around Ranma, who stood in the same relaxed posture. The archers in the group fire the first shots, attacking from all angles. At the same time, the first row of Amazons rushed in, hoping to capitalize on the openings the arrows might create.

Harry couldn't follow what happened, but to his eye it appeared that the four or five Amazons rushing Ranma tripped and ran into each other, knocking themselves out cold. Ranma didn't appear to move at all. The remaining Amazons surged as a mass, and Harry lost sight of the red silk clad Ranma.

Ku Lon cackled.

"What just happened? How did she avoid that?"

"Most of these girls don't stand a chance. The ones up front are cannon fodder, little more than an attempt to slow Ranma down or maybe get in a lucky shot." She pointed to a rapidly growing pile of unconscious women that were dragged out of the melee by compatriots. "Ranma's too fast for them. She moves faster than the untrained eye can see. With a slight misdirection, she forced the women to attack each other, and it looks like she never moved."

Harry said nothing.

The festival continued unabated. Flashes of red would appear randomly with in the mass of women before disappearing, each time accompanied by yet another unconscious warrior.

Ku Lon cleared her throat. "There is a third theory of why Ranma is locked, but we do not discuss that around her."

"Oh, why's that?"

"She becomes… irrational and violent."

Harry blanched at the thought. "Oh."

Ku Lon nodded. "The theory that we Elders hold to be true is that Jusenkyo is more than a training ground – it is a testing ground. It is designed to be the hardest testing ground in the world. The pools choose the curse, and you have no control over that."

Her statement was punctuated by the loud thump of a body hitting the ground not far away. A rather stocky Amazon had been flung clear of the circle, clearly unconscious and bereft of her ribbons.

"The pools choose the curse that is… most appropriate for the person. We cannot know their rationale behind the choice, but it is often the curse that would be hardest for the bearer to accept. However, acceptance of the curse is perhaps the most crucial part of the training, because there can be no progress without acceptance."

Ku Lon pointed a finger at the flash of red that appeared briefly on the outside of the rapidly thinning numbers of women. "Ranma has never accepted that a new person was born sixteen years ago. That person is no longer Ranma, male heir to a martial arts legacy, but rather Ranma, half man, half woman, and a person of so much more potential. That person is as much a woman as I am, even if only part of the time." Ku Lon chewed her lip thoughtfully before continuing.

"Ranma has had an interesting and troubling past. Interesting, but cursed, both from the pools and in love. Cursed to always have a challenging life, never to be normal. Cursed to always strive to be the best, regardless of the sacrifice. She is the queen of unrequited love. Her own love for her departed fiancée, and the unrequited love of suitors of both sexes. It is not her ki that is frozen, but rather her own capacity to love, her capacity to accept her curses and overcome them. She struggles against a destiny from which she cannot escape."

Harry frowned. "Destiny? I really don't like that word. I've had a lot of bad experiences with it myself."

"As do many great people."

"If by 'great people' you mean 'unlucky sods,' then yeah, I would agree with you. Destiny can be changed, you know."

"Only so much. The harder you fight against it, more it attempts to force you to your path, and the worse the backlash."

Harry said nothing for a while, preferring to concentrate on the fight. Nearly half of the women were now unconscious. When he finally did speak again, he chose a different tact. "So, why do you tell me this?"

"She needs help finding love. She has not found it in sixteen years. I believed at one point she was close to acceptance, but the death of her fiancée destroyed the progress she had made."

Harry asked, "you got a pen on you?"

Ku Lon was startled. "A what?"

"A pen."

"Why?"

"So I can sign my will. Your request is a death wish."

Ku Lon smiled at that. "At least you have a sense of humor. You will need one. Let me ask you a few questions."

Harry glowered. "Okay."

"Is she your friend?"

"Of course."

"Is she attractive?"

"Except for the fact that Ranma could tear my balls off and feed them to me through my rectum, very much so."

"Would you want to see her happy?"

"Not if meant breaking her."

Ku Lon harrumphed. "I would have never suspected a mage of questioning the magical power of love."

Harry shook his head. "Never. It's the strongest magic, but also the most unpredictable, and certainly the hardest to manipulate." He pointed to the direction of the Jusenkyo valley. "I can feel it from here, Ku Lon. It's like… like a gentle caress, inviting me in. It's seductive and manipulative. That is not the magic of love. That's something else, something far more sinister."

"True. Jusenkyo is not the place of love, but the place of harsh lessons. It is not an easy mistress. I believe that before the springs will release the lock placed upon her, she will have to accept who she is and what she is. She denies everything about herself except her love of the Art. Single minded devotion to the Art is commendable, but the purpose of the Art two fold - development of the person in addition to the development of technique."

"I don't think I can help you."

Ku Lon shrugged. "I didn't even tell you what I wanted."

"No, but I can guess. You want me to try and date Ranma."

"That would be silly. How did you phrase it? Oh yes, I believe it was, 'tear your balls off and feed them to you through your rectum.' Very appropriate image."

"Thanks." Harry smiled wryly.

"No, young mage. I would ask you to teach Ranma how to love again."

"Sorry, Ku Lon, but I think I used up all my love a long time ago."

"All the more reason you might be exactly the right person for this particular quest."

Ku Lon shifted her stance upon her staff. The number of women fighting Ranma had dwindled to single digits. They were the best of the remaining fighters, but it was plain to see that they would not prevail. "Looks like I might have to go in a bit sooner than expected." She smiled. "Ranma truly is one of the best warriors I have ever seen. I just wish she wasn't quite so single minded in her focus." With a nod to Harry, she made her way towards the center of the square.


The last Amazon hit the ground. Ranma stood in the center, panting heavily with a few cuts and tears in her clothing, but still had every ribbon in place. Ranma watched Ku Lon warily as she slowly bounced her way past the previous fighters and balanced on her staff only a few meters away from her. Without a word the two disappeared, only to re-appear a fraction of a second later, having exchanged places. Ranma landed in a crouch, idly twirling one red ribbon around her finger.

"You've gotten slower, old bat."

Ku Lon narrowed her eyes as she felt her hair flowing freely in the wind. "Or you've gotten faster, Ranma."

"Could be. Ready for round two?"

Again the combatants disappeared. This time, however, Ranma came crashing down to the earth, creating an impact crater in the ground. Ku Lon stood on the rim, carefully tying her hair back with a blue ribbon.

Ranma leaped out of the crater and smirked. "That hurt a bit, ya know."

"Damn! It was supposed to hurt a lot!"

The two grinned wickedly at each other. This is going to be very entertaining.


Ranma grimaced as she blocked yet another blow from Ku Lon's staff with her forearm in order to slide a kick in through her guard. Unfortunately, the old hag had anticipated the blow and shifted to the side, allowing Ranma only to score a glancing blow off her rib cage and leaving off balance with her guard open. She got clobbered by a mean left hook as a result, whipping her head around and nearly dislocating her jaw. She used the momentum to spin her body and sweep Ku Lon's staff out from under her, catching the old woman in the air. A savage palm strike to the chest was blocked, but the force behind the blow was still enough to cause the elder to slide to a rest many meters away.

Ku Lon had two ribbons left to Ranma's one.

At this rate the old bat was going to win. Ranma was the more tired of the two due to all the previous fighting. Sure, she was able to take down the Amazon women, but it took a lot of power, speed, and ki to be able to do so and still be in decent shape to fight Ku Lon. In a war of attrition, she'd lose. She'd been channeling her ki much longer than Ku Lon and just didn't have the reserves left for a long battle.

Ki.

Wait a second. Ranma's focus turned inward as her body went into auto pilot for the next exchange. She almost got creamed as a result, and was forced to leap away before Ku Lon could close again, creating some distance.

Ki. She'd lose in a pure battle of Ki at this point, but magic…

With a grin she tapped her forearm bracer where her wand was stored. Concentrating on Ku Lon's staff, she opened her hand and muttered, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

Ku Lon squawked as her staff suddenly shot into the air with her still attached. Ranma used the opportunity to land a square kick to the stomach, pulling free one of the two ribbons remaining on the old woman's legs as she knocked Ku Lon to the ground. Her staff remained in mid air, suspended above the ground by about 10 feet.

Ku Lon slowly got to her feet, clearly shaken by the blow. "Clever! Is that what you've been learning from your mage friend?"

"Yeah. That, and this!" Ranma yelled out, "Kachu Tenshin Amaguri Ken Revised - Stupify!" She launched into her signature move, hands moving faster than the speed of sound to deliver nearly one thousand punches in the space of a second. However, this time she wasn't trying to punch - she pointed her index fingers at Ku Lon and attempted to force as much magic out of her fingertips as possible in the form of a simple stun spell.

The result caught them both by surprise. Ku Lon was suddenly faced with a wall of marble sized stunners flying at her at the speed of sound. She desperately executed her own speed technique, trying to deflect as many as possible. Too many still got through, and though one in and of itself was inconsequential, the sum total of the stunners nearly knocked her cold. She fell to her knees, gasping for breath and desperately channeling ki through her body to try and counteract the draining effects of the stunners.

Ranma was forced to her knees for a different reason. The drain on her ki reserves, coupled with the sudden burst of magic, was much greater than she anticipated. She felt nauseous and feeble, gratefully taking a knee while struggling to keep from collapsing.

The two combatants stared at each other, neither able to stand.

Ku Lon chuckled, a dry, rasping chuckle that quickly spiraled into a cough. "Neat… trick, Ranma."

"Thanks. Just thought of it."

"First to stand wins the match?"

Ranma nodded. The two crouched on the ground gasping for breath. With her left hand, she pulled her wand out of her forearm guard and slowly transferred it to her right hand.

"Looks like I win this one, elder." She pointed the wand at Ku Lon. "Petrificus Totalus!" The blast was weak but did the job. Ku Lon gave a grunt and keeled over, locked in a kneeling position. Ranma felt completely drained, but at least now she could take her time recovering.

About fifteen minutes later Ranma was finally able to stand, although shakily. She wobbled over to where Ku Lon was still locked in a kneeling position and carefully untied the last remaining ribbon.

"Thanks." She bowed. "Great match. Best I've had in years." She undid the binding spell on Ku Lon and promptly fainted.


Harry staggered out of the village, squinting at the pale morning light, nursing the mother of all hangovers. The feast that followed that evening after Ranma's victory over Ku Lon was more of a Bacchanalian revival then Harry thought he had ever been witness to, because after his defeat of Voldemort he had been unconscious for weeks at a time and hadn't been able to take part in the celebrations. He desperately wanted some water; he felt like he had swallowed a bale of cotton, and his stomach was queasy as well. To make matters worse, he was nursing a black eye, because for some strange reason the women had thought an appropriate celebration of their own battle would be liquor-up the men and encourage them to have a little martial arts competition of their own.

Competition might have been the wrong word for it. It was more of a drunken bar fight that broke out after some of the men and got into the mead and the stronger drinks that the village produced. Surprisingly, Harry had felt that he had given as good as he had gotten. He quickly became apparent that most of the men actually didn't know how to fight. Harry himself had only been training for a while under Ranma, but managed to give the man who had gifted him with the shiner a nice blow to the kidneys. He'd be pissing blood for a week.

Harry, at least, and they've been able to get a little bit of sleep before being roused by the still drunken Ranma to leave the village early the next morning. She had put all their gear in her backpack and staggered out of the village, heading towards the remains of Mt. Phoenix. The two of them trudged in silence as the early morning, sleepy, tired, and feeling the effects of the night of carousing. Neither spoke. They simply walked, muttering silently under their breath as they stumbled, always heading down the valley and closer to their destination. They walked for nearly three hours before Ranma finally stopped and flopped down on the ground.

Ranma dug a water skin out of her bag, and chugged a good portion of its contents. "Oh man, I feel like shit." She said, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. She handed the skin to Harry, who eagerly gulped down the remainder.

"Still drunk?" Harry lowered himself down to the ground gingerly. His headache had gotten better, but he still felt like two cents worth of dog meat.

"Can't tell." Ranma reached into her bag in and pulled out a cloth wrapped bundle, slowly undoing the folds it. She pulled out a small loaf of crusty bread and broke it in two, handing half to Harry. "I think so. At any rate, I don't think we will make it to Mt. Phoenix tonight."

"Why the rush?" Harry took a bite of bread chewing slowly. He took another sip of water to help washed it down before saying, "we could have spent the day in the village. At least we would have had time to recuperate."

Ranma waved her hand dismissively. "Are you kidding me? In the state I'm in, one of the guys from the village would have challenged me to a fight. I would have been honor bound to accept it."

"So?" Harry took another bite of bread. "What would have been so bad about that? You would at least have gotten to sleep."

"Remember I told you about their wonky marriage laws?"

"Yeah?"

"After yesterday's battle, if I had fought someone in my current state, I probably would have lost. If I have lost, by Amazon law I would have been forced to marry." Ranma picked up a small stone and tossed it down the hill. "I'm sure Ku Lon did her damnedest to make sure I was really inebriated last night. I think she probably slipped something into my drink, because that old hag wants to see me hitched."

Harry swallowed the chunk of bread he was chewing. "Why?"

"She has these crazy notions about what it would take to finally lift this lock on my curse." She stood back up and shouldered her pack.

"But why would you have to marry someone if you lost?"

Ranma shrugged. "Amazon tradition. If someone of the opposite sex is an outsider and you challenge them to a fight, if you lose, you have to marry the winner. It's their way of recruiting outside talent. That's how Xian Pu ended up as my fiancée." Ranma extended a hand to Harry, offering to help him to his feet.

"Yeah, but it is not like you ended up going through with it. You didn't marry her." Harry grabbed her hand and reluctantly stood.

"It wasn't from lack of trying. Trust me. The only reason we aren't hitched now is because I'm stuck as a woman. Believe me, if Xian Pu could, she would take me as her husband in a heart beat."

"Even though she's already married?"

"The Amazons are a polyandrous society. Women can have more than one husband."

"Ew."

Ranma grinned. "Not if you're the woman."

The two set off down the hill. In the distance, Harry could make out the mist rising of the Jusenkyo valley where the cursed springs were located. The tug of the magic was disorientating.

"What would be the consequence of just refusing to marry?" Harry asked.

"Besides being ostracized from the village?" Ranma gave a rueful shake of her head. "They would hunt me down to the ends of the earth, and either forced me to get married or try to kill me."

"But didn't you just prove that that you could beat the entire village? I mean, you were moving too fast for me to see what happened, but I was damn impressed. I've never seen anything like that."

Ranma laughed, genuine amusement apparent in her voice. "Thanks. I forgot you aren't used to such displays. We weren't trying to hurt each other. If they were trying to kill me, though, it would be a different story." The earlier amusement fading as she looked at her hands. "Be glad you've never been chased by a determined Amazon. It's either you, or them. I'd have no choice but to defend myself."

Ranma looked back to the village in the distance, watching the smoke from the cooking fires lazily drifting towards the horizon. "Eventually, they would either kill me or I'd have to wipe out the entire village to end the matter. Trust me - it's much easier to leave this way."

"Come on. We've got a while to go tonight, and I know where we can stop for rest." She trudged down the hill, not looking back as the village receded into the distance.


Ranma led them down the hill, swinging to the west and away from the center of Jusenkyo. The tug of the magic became less as they angled away from the valley center. But its presence was a constant reminder almost like a buzz in the back of his head whispering softly to Harry., Seducing and asking him to come.

"What it be faster to cut through the valley?" Asked Harry.

"Yeah," said Ranma, "but it's best to avoid using it if at all possible - we'll take a long road."

Conversation died and they continued to march silently for another couple hours. The forest grew up around them and Harry quickly lost track of which direction they were heading. Ranma stopped one more time for a quick break and a bite to eat before pushing on setting a fast pace that Harry was sure to feel in the morning.

Around dusk Ranma suddenly slowed and held up her hand. "We're getting close."

"To where?" Harry stepped beside Ranma.

"If are lucky, some old friends of mine are in the neighborhood and a be willing to put us up for the night."

A voice boomed from the shadow of the trees, "Who dares to enters the land of the Musk?" A ring of weapon clad warriors wearing a variety of animal skins stepped forward from the trees encircling the pair. Harry couldn't tell what it was about them but something about their appearance was unsettling. The fact that they were armed to the teeth and probably did nothing to assure Harry, either.

"They look real friendly."

"Trust me," Ranma whispered, "and let me do all the talking."


Sorry for not updating for a while, but life has been hectic (and illness hasn't helped) and I make no promises with this story. Also, be advised, that if book seven comes out and she kills off Harry, this story will be effectively dead in the water unless I can think of some creative way of magically reviving Harry. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I don't know when I'll write more, but after getting a cpu upgrade it might make it a bit better. Again, read, review, pass the word, what ever. I am still enjoying this story, and feel like I've gotten my muse back (just a bit, anyway.)

I'm currently fleshing out a story for a Ranma/Naruto cross that could be quite fun. I don't know if I should put this story on hold to write that, concentrate on the Ranma/Naruto fic, or do both at once.

Decisions, decisions.