Authors notes: My gosh has it been a long time since the last update. I can only blame a severe lack of motivation on my part. Anyway, I'd like to proffer a large thank you to Fiery Ferret for looking over the story and catching a whole mess of errors.

Disclamer: I don't own Ranma ½ or any of the characters therein.

Chaining of a Curse

By: brindani

Chapter 3

Ukyo sighed, her figure slumped while her hands propped her head up to drearily watch the raindrops patter lightly against the sidewalk outside. Her eyes periodically shifted dully to the plain wooden table she had been sitting at for the past several hours.

'Why did all this have to happen? Why did I accept that stupid challenge? Why couldn't I leave it alone? Why…' Closing her eyes tightly, Ukyo tried to drive the incessant questions away.

Unknown to Ukyo, Cologne casually stood in the doorway with a small frown. As expected, she found the girl barely restraining tears. Resolving herself, the old woman jumped onto her staff and made her way over to the table.

"What's on your mind, dear?" Cologne asked, after giving up on the girl noticing her presence.

Ukyo's snapped her eyes open and drew a sharp breath as her head whipped around to face the elder Amazon matriarch.

"What! Oh… nothing… nothing… really," Ukyo mumbled, her tone lowering with each word. By the end, she turned her eyes away to avoid betraying her words further then the tremble in her voice already had.

"You're still blaming yourself for yesterday, aren't you?" Cologne asked.

Taking in a deep breath, Ukyo tightly squeezed her eyes together. "Yes, I lost control of my temper and… and everything is gone because of me… including Shampoo," Ukyo finished, several more tears making their way down her pale cheeks despite her attempts to wipe them away with her arm.

Cologne jumped off her staff onto the table. Her hand gently tilted the young woman's head up to meet her gaze. "Did you deliver that final attack?" Cologne's intense eyes captured Ukyo's own.

"No…"

"Did you push Shampoo into the attack?"

"No, but…"

"Then you are not guilty. The person responsible is there…" without wavering, Cologne's withered hand stretched to point unerringly towards Ukyo's old shop. Cologne lowered her voice as she continued. "…and I shall help you take revenge against him."

"You're right. Thank you Cologne," Ukyo said, brushing her arm across her face to wipe away the final trail of tears.

"Just call me Granny, child. It would make this old woman's heart feel much lighter in these dark times."

"Sure, Granny," Ukyo replied giving a little smile which Cologne returned.

Abruptly, Cologne's face took up a mischievous smile. "Now, what about this Ranma character? What are your feelings for him?"

"Well… he… um," Ukyo stuttered, not expecting this change of topic. She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about the pigtailed martial artist. When she first saw him, she wanted to carve him into small pieces and leave him for all the other rats out there, but now… she just wasn't sure. The intense relief she felt after learning that the dirty old panda was the one responsible for leaving her in tears along the side of the road and not Ranma had to mean something, but what?

"I see… you like the boy," Ukyo's attempt to hide her face only forced a small cackle from Cologne. "Ha, ha, ha! Don't worry young one, I won't embarrass you anymore... for the moment, anyway. Now, before we start your training, you need to get going before you're late."

"Huh?" Ukyo asked. The old woman seemed to keep her off balance with all these unexpected change of topics.

"To your old shop, of course."

"But why? We haven't done any training yet."

"Trust me child. The fresh air will do you good before we begin."

Ukyo still didn't understand, but stood up anyway trusting in the older woman's advice.

'Boy is it dreary today,' Ranma thought while walking casually along the fence as a light cascade of chilled rain drops landed softly around him. 'Why did Pops bring me here?' Ranma thought in frustration for the thousandth time that day, cursing his good for nothing father.

'On the other hand, it is kinda nice to have a place to stay and even have regular meals. It might even be alright except for one thing: Akane. Damn tomboy, turns her nose up whenever I walk into the same room.' Ranma shook his head, glowering at the mental image.

'The only good thing to happen recently was meetin' Ucchan again. At least she's willing to just accept me, curse an' all.' These thoughts kept circling around in his mind as they had since arriving in this new place. While he thought, Ranma's feet unconsciously carried his currently female body towards an old friend's okonomiyaki shop.

Several blocks further up the street, Ranma effortlessly flipped down from the fence onto the pavement and continued to walk in deep thought and oblivious to his surroundings until he found that his feet had stopped of their own accord. Looking around, Ranma found that he was standing in front of Ucchan's. Though surprised to find himself there, the problem was that the Ucchan's Okonomiyaki sign was missing, replaced by a bold new sign: Crepe King's Fantastic Crepes, coming soon to this location.

"What's goin' on here?" Ranma asked, bewildered by the unexpected change.

"Why, I'm opening a new restaurant here. I've been told that the location is perfect to start my chain of Crepe King's Fantastic Crepes," replied a smug voice from his left.

"Who are you? Where is Ukyo?" Ranma demanded, unconsciously shifting into an neutral stance, his fists facing a man wearing a chef's hat carrying a several pans, in one arm.

The chef put a free finger to his chin as if in deep thought for a moment before his mouth split into a wide grin. "Oh, you must mean the previous owner of this establishment. She accepted my challenge and lost, so this…" he said happily while gesturing back to the restaurant, "…is all mine."

Ranma eyes widened as he franticly scanned the area, and quickly locked onto the crumbled building across the street.

"What did you do to her?" Ranma demanded, his head slowly turned back to the chef, his gaze lashing out with a vengeful glare.

"I didn't do anything to the poor girl," the cook replied, casually glancing at what had attracted the apparent redhead's attention. "Someone took my masterful final attack for her, too bad for them."

"Who?" Ranma asked, unconsciously releasing the breath he had held. His muscles relaxed slightly, relieved that at least Ukyo was alright, but still curious as to who had taken the blow for her.

"Oh let me think… I believe I overheard the old shriveled woman calling her Shampoo, a very odd name don't you think?" The Crape King said, shrugging his shoulders as if it really didn't matter to him.

"Shampoo? What happened to her?" 'Why would Shampoo take a blow for Ukyo? Didn't she threaten Ukyo's life a couple of days ago?'

"Unfortunately the girl didn't make it." There was a hint of regret flavoring the cook's voice, it remained well hidden.

"What?" Ranma exclaimed, coming out of his reverie and straight into an aggressive stance. He didn't have any love for Shampoo, but a true martial artist never ever killed. The person before him had just proclaimed himself a murderer.

Seeing the palpable red corona suddenly surround the petite young woman, the Crepe King allowed his utensils to fall forgotten to the side while dropping into a defensive stance. The silence lasted only a moment before Ranma bounded high into the air, his foot aimed straight at the crepe-making chef.

The Crepe King scoffed before making his own leap. He almost chuckled to himself at the irony. He would step off the whelp's head just as he had with that Ukyo girl. The sneer didn't last long as the leg he led with was sharply jerked from beneath him. The Crepe King suddenly found himself plowing straight into the ground.

Landing heavily, his hand taking the brunt of the impact, the Crepe King managed a desperate roll to the left, barely missing a blow to his back from an incoming axe kick. After two more rolls, the chef did a handspring back to his feet. He found his hard won reprieve cut short as a flurry of jabs made sort work of his already battered defenses.

'Damn, without my cooking equipment, I can't keep up with this girl,' he thought, quickly diving out of the way of another side kick to his head.

'He's good,' Ranma thought as he watched his opponent who, despite being disoriented, attempted to counter his punch with a front kick to his stomach. 'But I'm better.' Ranma finished by twisting to the side of the kick before dropping low, easily sweeping the legs out from under his opponent. Continuing to spin around, Ranma tensed to pounce, only stopping when a small spatula thudded into the ground in between the two battling opponents.

"Ran-chan!" Ranma looked around, startled to find Ukyo in her casual garb running down the road towards him. She stopped mere inches from his face, giving him a defiant glare "He. Is. Mine." Ukyo finished pulling back several feet.

Ranma was a little disconcerted by the piercing gaze. "But he killed, Ukyo." Ranma stopped for a moment before continuing. "What's goin' on? I come here ta' find rubble all over the place and some sign made by this demented guy sayin' he took your shop." Ranma pointed back towards the old Ucchan's only to find that the man had disappeared. "Damn, he got away."

"It's true, he beat me yesterday with my shop at stake," Ukyo said, her face quickly shifting from anger to depression.

Ranma noticed Ukyo's eyes, usually lit with determination, dull before turning away. He wouldn't stand for this. "Don't worry Ucchan, I'll get him for you." Ranma said, popping his knuckles absently.

"No!" Once again, Ranma found Ukyo's face directly in front of his. "I will defeat him," Ukyo said standing straight, her voice simmering with resolve.

Hesitantly, Ranma nodded his head. If he knew anything, he knew honor. He could see that Ukyo's honor was on the line, but… the image of her lying below what remained of the totaled building across the street stayed frozen in his mind.

"We better get you changed back to a guy." Ukyo said as she noticed the rain begin to peter out.

Ranma shrugged his shoulders. Even when he did change back, he was always splashed soon afterwards. Besides, this form seemed more comfortable recently.

"Sure, whatever."

"Ok, let's get going, Sugar," Ukyo said, taking his hand in hers while walking back the way she came. By the end of the street she hastily let go of Ranma's hand, a rosy hue rushing across her cheeks, leaving Ranma to trail behind her.

Ukyo stopped in front of the Cat Café, lightly knocking on the door.

"Come in child."

"Yes, granny," Ukyo replied, confusing Ranma.

"Granny?" he asked, turning his puzzled gaze to Ukyo.

"Yes, that's what she wants me to call her ever since she's adopted me into the Amazon tribe." Seeing Ranma's eyebrows lower in further confusion, she continued. "I'll explain everything later, okay?"

"Okay," He hesitantly replied, letting the matter drop for now.

Moments later, they walked into the back kitchen, nearly running into a kettle dangling before Ranma on the end of a stick.

"How did you know I would need that?" Ranma asked now really confused.

"Call it a lucky guess if you like," Cologne replied with a hint of humor.

Shrugging his shoulders, he took the offered kettle and poured the contents over himself. After several seconds, he was once again male.

"Now son-in-law, I wanted to set a date for the wed—."

"Granny! You said you wouldn't talk about that again!" Ukyo exclaimed, shooting a furious glare at the old woman.

Chuckling, Cologne turned around before continuing, "Yes, yes, I also mentioned that I wouldn't for the moment."

"Huh?" Ranma asked, rapidly becoming even more bewildered as to what was going on.

"Oh don't worry about it, it's nothing really." Ukyo tried to reassure him though she was blushing furiously by this point.

Ranma frowned, 'I'm hearing that an awful lot lately.'

"What is that in your hair, young one?" Cologne inquired of Ranma when she finally took a good look at him.

"What? Somethin' in my hair?" Ranma asked as he casually combed his hair with his fingers.

"There," Cologne stated as she hopped onto her cane and pointed to a small section of red hair intermixed with Ranma's black.

"Yeah, I see it too. What is it?" Ukyo asked as she took a closer look at Ranma's hair herself.

For a moment, Cologne stood on her staff pondering the situation.

"I had hoped this wouldn't happen," she muttered under her breath.

"What is that, old ghoul?" Ranma asked as he became agitated as everyone was keeping him in the dark recently. He almost expected the sudden whack from a staff, but the slap coming from the other direction took him totally by surprise.

"Don't you dare call her that Ranma! She took me in when I lost that duel. If it wasn't for her I would have had no where to go," Ukyo said, glaring at the pigtailed boy.

'She used Ranma instead of Ran-chan,' Ranma thought. He didn't know how, but that hurt more then the slap itself.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, alright?" Ranma asked as he backed away from the two, his hands out in a placating manner.

Cologne settled for a small glare before replying. "Now, if you will remember your manners for more then a moment, I'll actually tell you what I'm talking about. You probably don't know this, but a Jusenkyo curse runs much deeper then just a change of forms whenever cold water happens to touch victim. The spirit of what downs in those springs remains trapped in them. When someone falls in, a piece of that sprit attaches itself to the victim. This spirit bonds with the victim. How great the bond depends on the spirit and the person that it occupies. This doesn't usually amount to much, but in some extreme instances the two can start to merge into one with the cursed form becoming permanent.

"WHAT?" Ranma shouted at this nerve-racking piece of news.

Her stare becoming intense, Cologne hopped closer to Ranma's face. "Tell me I'm wrong… Have you become much more comfortable with your cursed form recently? Almost coming to the point where you don't have a preference as to which you are in?"

"No! of course not!" Ranma denied, but his suddenly pale face told another story.

Frowning, Cologne hopped back to the pot she was using to cook before continuing. "This is a problem. The fact that part of your body is not changing after being doused with hot water means that the process is has already started."

"How do we stop it?" Ranma asked in a small voice. Ukyo didn't like this development much either. Ranma permanently becoming a girl was unacceptable.

Cologne remained silent for moment which began to grate on her spectators' nerves. "There is no known way to stop its completion." She said quietly.

Ranma's eyes went up in horror at this. "No…"

"Now don't get depressed; I only said that there was no known way. That doesn't mean that one doesn't exist. I have been known to create cures to things that were thought incurable before," She said sharply to break Ranma from his funk.

She appeared successful as Ranma did look at her with a simmer of hope hidden within his eyes.

"You can find a cure?"

"Perhaps, but you will have to do something for me in return." Ranma didn't like the way she said that. Ranma had quickly found that when people made deals he became part of the price. It may have happened once again if it weren't for the dirty look coming from behind his shoulder.

"What do you want ol… elder?" Ranma asked, just barely restraining himself from using the derisive name that fit the mummy so well.

Ignoring the youth's close slip, Cologne took a moment to ponder before she continued, "I will not be able to both find a cure while training Ukyo. I want you," Cologne punctuated her declaration by poking her stick into Ranma's chest, "to train Ukyo to defeat The Crepe King."

Ranma blinked in surprise; he didn't want Ucchan to get hurt, but if she went up against the Crepe King again without training… "Sure, I can handle that," Ranma said with enthusiasm, after all it was a much better deal then he had feared.

"In that case, you two may start immediately." Sensing what Cologne was trying to do, Ukyo frowned before blushing at the realization of what intense training would entail.

"Ok, granny, you got a deal," Ranma said, his typical cocky smile quickly fixing back in place.

End Chapter 3

Post author's notes: Again, sorry about the delay in getting this out. Chapter four shouldn't take nearly as long as a rough draft has already been created. The rest is up to motivation which typically hinges on reviews (hint hint) to show that others are interested in the story.

Thanks for reading,

brindani