"Kyo-kun. A letter came in the mail for you," said Shigure.

"Where from?"

"China, apparently. I can't read a word of it," said Shigure.

Kyo perked up.

He took the post card that had a picture of Jusenkyo and started reading. He knew basic Chinese, but he was getting better. He still had to use a dictionary though.

"Xian Pu! I wonder why she's coming from the mainland."

"Xian Pu?"

"My friend from China. She lives with her great grandmother Kon Lon. According to this she has some business to take care of in Japan... EH?!"

"Kyo-kun?"

"What the hell? Why'd she do something as stupid as giving that to an outsider? I can get why she's be pissed, but she should have double checked first!"

Kyo immediately went to the phone and called a number. It was an overseas one, so he would have to pay Shigure back for the extra fee.

Shigure heard Kyo speaking in an older version of Chinese, and from the sound of it something had happened to his friend.

When he hung up, Kyo looked more than mildly irritated.

"Crap... Shigure, tell that damn Rat and Tohru I'm going to have to take a leave of absence for a few days, possibly a week."

"Why?"

"Xian Pu has never been out of her village except to train with her grandmother, and apparently she started something she has to finish. The problem is she can barely speak Japanese, since I mostly used Chinese while I was there. She's going to need a translator and possibly someone who can clear up this mess without involving the cops. And I know Kon Lon-sensei would be pissed if her great granddaughter was arrested for a misunderstanding."

In modern day society, it would be hard for someone from a simple background to understand something as severe as Amazon law. Shampoo had crossed the borders solely to kill a Japanese citizen, and if not handled carefully could get her into some seriously hot water. Kon Lon had told Kyo what happened and asked him to at least clear up this mess before Xian Pu got into trouble because she could barely speak Japanese.

"Eh? Kiyone had to take a leave of absence?" asked Tohru. Yuki was clearly pleased by this, but none of the other students shared his clear enthusiasm.

"Apparently one of her family members had some business to take care of, but couldn't afford a translator. The teachers cleared it as long as she was only gone for a week," said Hana.

"I hope everything's alright," said Tohru.

"Who cares what that tramp does!" said one of the diehard members of the Yuki-fanclub.

Kiyone lived to piss them off, and she did so by being too close to Yuki-sama and brushing up against him all the time.

She didn't actually like Yuki, but she did it to annoy him.

"Xian Pu, what were you thinking, issuing that without double checking to see if they were cursed!" chastised Kiyone.

Xian Pu pouted.

"She embarrassed me in front of the entire village, and that panda of hers ate most of the prize!"

"That's still... wait, a panda eating human food?"

Kiyone stopped and put her hands on Xian Pu's shoulders.

"Was the Guide there by any chance?"

By guide she meant the villager who generally directed those that fell in to the Amazon village once he explained about the springs.

"Now that you mention it, he did hightail it out of there with the girl and panda before I had a chance to follow through."

"Xian Pu, did it ever occur to you that maybe the girl who beat you was a GUY who fell into the same spring I did?"

Xian Pu looked embarrassed that she hadn't thought of that. Then she perked up.

"If it was a guy, then the kiss still applies. If not, then by law I have to kill her," said Xian Pu.

"Which was why I agreed to act as mediator to clear this up. Either way you know what's going to happen when you get home."

Xian Pu made a face. Great Grandmother had warned her that by issuing the kiss she was going to suffer through a Jusenkyo curse as punishment, whether or not she succeeded. She had acted rashly and they would have to do some serious damage control after this. There was a reason why the Kiss of Death wasn't issued much anymore unless the outsider had seriously insulted the village or the one issuing it.

"So where exactly is this girl anyway?"

"Nerima."

Now it was Kiyone's turn to make the face.

"Oh kami, I've heard of that place. Furiken High's principal is supposed to be a complete nut job and his children are worse, not to mention the fact it's right next to Tomobiki! Still, it is one of the few districts that has more than a few martial arts schools."

"Speaking of martial arts, how have you been doing with those books great grandmother recommended?"

"I think I have the basics down, but I'm still not sure about my fingering in that memory-loss technique."

"If we have some time I'll see if you need to adjust anything," said Xian Pu. She had mastered that much at least, and Kiyone was practically her sister/brother. She knew why it was so important to learn that particular sequence.

If her original curse ever got out, Kiyone would have to work quickly to erase the memories before the main house learned of it, or worse the press. Easier to learn how to erase memories than to deal with the hassle of that.

Xian Pu went into attack mode. The sooner she finished this, the sooner she could go home and her honor would be restored.

Kiyone sighed as the girl destroyed a wall. Xian Pu had little to no subtlety when she was after something.

"Ranma, I kill!"

The pig-tailed girl vanished, but Kiyone's ability to sense chi told her exactly where to find the one Xian Pu had been looking for.

"Xian Pu, calm down. Let's at least confirm that the girl really is one."

Xian Pu scowled. She wanted this over with already.

Kiyone looked at the other girl and asked "Do you have any hot water?"

The blue haired girl gave Kiyone an odd look, before handing her a kettle of hot water.

Kiyone opened up a wrecked locker, revealing the pig-tailed girl and promptly dumped half the kettle's contents on her...turning her into a guy.

She turned to Xian Pu smugly "I told you there was a chance it was a guy."

Xian Pu stuck her tongue out at him.

This Ranma guy winced.

"What is going on?" asked the blue girl.

"Xian Pu jumped the gun and didn't think that maybe the one who beat her during an annual contest in the village was a guy who fell into the same cursed springs I did and decided to do something that's rarely used anymore. Needless to say the Elders weren't happy about it."

"Wait...you're a..." started Ranma surprised.

Kiyone dumped the water, revealing his true form as Kyo.

"I happen to have another curse, but it's easier just sticking with the girl form to avoid the hassle. Look, is there anywhere we can clear this up without her getting arrested for destroying a wall?" asked Kyo simply.

"We can take this to my house," said the blue girl reluctantly.

Ranma's father didn't look happy about Xian Pu or "Kiyone" being there. Because of his other curse and the fact there would be four girls there, he didn't want to risk it. Unlike Ranma, Kyo was perfectly fine about turning into a female every once in a while.

However once they all had some tea Kiyone explained Amazon Law and why Xian Pu was there. Apparently it never occurred to her to check that the 'girl' that beat her was in fact a female. Considering they lived less than a day's walk from Jusenkyo and the guide had been with them at the time, she should have checked her facts first.

Still, the fact was that the Kiss of Death had been issued, and that Xian Pu had done it publicly. The fact she would be punished by being cursed once she returned home didn't help Ranma right now.

Which was when Kiyone came up with a temporary solution. Since this entire mess started because Ranma had beaten Xian Pu as a girl, then they would have an honor duel to see if Xian Pu had a chance to kill or not. At the very least it would prove Ranma was a superior fighter for the Elders enough that they might forgive Xian Pu's hotheadedness.

Though he did warn the other boy that if he did win, then there was a very high chance of Kon Lon showing up trying to add his genes to the Amazon bloodlines. There were very few martial artists able to beat someone of Xian Pu's level these days.

Kiyone even made sure to set up a wide-scope camera so Xian Pu could show the Elders she had judged the winner fairly.

Though the more she listened to this Genma idiot, the more she pitied Ranma.

After the fight, she gave Ranma her number...mostly just in case Kon Lon decided that he was worthy enough to marry Xian Pu. He would need the back up. Well that and Kiyone liked Ranma because he actually took martial arts seriously.

"So how did things go with your friend?" asked Shigure when he got back.

"Turned out to be a monumental misunderstanding. They had a second fight, this time with the agreement not to use the older customs on either side and she lost fairly. Hopefully that will be the end of it, though if not at least I'll be able to see the Elder again."

Nerima was a short train ride away, which meant if Kon Lon did decide to pursue Ranma as Xian Pu's husband, he would be able to visit every weekend. Besides, he had hit it off with the other martial artist and Ranma seemed really happy to have made a friend who loved the art as much as he did...and wasn't batshit crazy.

Kyo could commiserate. Some of his cousins (cough Kagura cough) were just plain nuts.

He had a sudden chill, as if something troublesome was about to arrive. Kagura surely must have heard he was back by now, and living in the same house as an unrelated female... Kyo shivered.

Time to map out his escape routes just in case.

Kyo felt the ground shake and knew it had to be...her.

He finished his breakfast as fast as he dared and immediately tried to slip out the back door before Tohru opened the front. Shigure, the jerk, held the back of his shirt in his hand.

The second Kagura saw him, she went into her usual berserker mode.

This time though, Kyo had no intention of being turned into a punching bag for the boar-headed girl. He either dodged her punches or blocked them.

Kagura had a look of open surprise on her face, and Kyo took the opportunity to run like hell.

"Damn Kagura. Why the hell does she always cling to me like that when she knows I don't like it?" muttered Kyo. Just because she knew about what that looked like didn't mean she was the best person to marry him. He didn't even like her that way!

Seeing a stream through the forest, Kyo splashed himself and turned into Kiyone.

Until that boar-headed idiot cooled off, she wasn't going anywhere near that house. Fortunately she didn't mind sleeping in the woods.

Kagura was looking for Kyo. It wasn't unusual for him to spend hours out in the woods, but she wanted to see him again.

What she found shocked her pretty good.

There was a girl who looked like Kyo might have as a woman punching so fast that she couldn't see anything, and then moving on to kicks. And after five minutes she moved on to running around with a boulder that had to be three times her weight and as tall as she was! The thing that shocked her was that she did it with just a coil of rope and didn't seem to care that she was running around with something so big and heavy!

Even she couldn't lift something that big! Let alone drag it for as long as this girl was.

When the girl took a break and took a long pull of a water bottle she had kept a safe distance away...then she looked straight at Kagura.

The girl took that as a chance to find out who this odd girl was...and to see if she had any advice to get as strong as she was. She hated it when other guys tried to pick her up...it was even worse when the only ones she could hug were family.

"Who are you and what are you doing on Sohma family lands?"

The girl winced, before she said "My name is Kiyone Xia-long, and Kyo-kun recommended this spot for some good training. He said it was unlikely anyone would particularly care so long as I didn't cause trouble."

Shigure wasn't likely to care unless something illegal happened or there was an accident.

"How are you able to do that? Pull the boulder so easily I mean?"

"I'm an honorary member of the Amazon tribe in China. This is nothing compared to some of the things the village leader Kon Lon put me through while I lived there. Besides...this is the only area I've found where I can do this sort of intensive training without someone bothering me about it or treating me like a side show," said Kiyone making a face.

She had tried to find a spot to do strength training similar to what she did in China, but to her dismay the only thing she could find that would work was on the land Shigure lived on. So she picked a spot far enough from the house that they wouldn't hear the training, but close enough that she could get help in a hurry.

"Amazons?"

Kiyone grinned, hearing that interest in Kagura's voice and seizing on a chance to get the girl to leave her male side alone finally.

"Tell ya what, if you want to learn about Amazons and some of the tricks they use to get strong enough to beat up the guys you have to leave Kyo alone for a full week. And by leave him alone I mean not treating him like your forced husband and start treating him like you would a friend. He's actually spoken of you, you know and he's somewhat afraid of you."

Kagura looked downcast.

"He is?"

"He's always afraid you're going to throw boulders at him or something. He might tolerate being around you more if you didn't try to force your feelings on him or try so hard around him," said Kiyone. Inwardly she hoped 'Please let this work!'

Kagura, to her relief, seemed to take that bit of advice to heart. Kiyone only hoped she got it through her thick head that Kyo would rather have her as a friend than as a wife.

It would make dealing with the girl so much easier for everyone.