DISCLAIMER: I disclaim that Ranma and co. belong to me. :)

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“Ranma?!?!”

Ukyo and Akane stared at their erstwhile companion. The red-haired girl had, somehow, been replaced by the Jiyan prince. They simply couldn’t believe it. He avoided their eyes and shook his head, sending drops of water flying.

The jinni smiled and said, “My, this is interesting. It is rare indeed to see a human with a curse.” He reached out and flipped open the door to an iron cage and deposited his prisoners inside. “I shall consider it over supper.”

In one lightning-quick move, he closed his fingers around his pretty helper.

Her eyes grew wide. “Nooo, my lord! You need me...” The prisoners winced as they heard the sound of her neck being snapped.

“What a stupid girl.” The jinni frowned. “If I continued to use her as bait, soon humans would get wise to the trap and avoid this area. I do not need you any longer, little houri. Especially now since I have enough food to fill my belly for a while.”

Ranma, Akane and Ukyo watched in horror as the jinni calmly twisted off the girl’s limbs and dropped them into the huge pot, one by one.

“That’s disgusting!” Ranma gripped the bars angrily. Even if he had been angry with the girl, no one deserved *that* fate. “That guy’s really going to eat her!”

The jinni left the cauldron to boil and walked away to the back of the cave, leaving the trio alone to stare at the boiling cauldron.

Akane rounded on Ranma. “Okay, what’s going on here?” Her gaze switched to Ukyo. Then she swung back to Ranma.

“So, I was traveling with a girl and a guy. But...” She pointed at Ukyo, who flinched slightly. “...*you’re* the girl, and...” Her accusing finger swung back to Ranma, who gave her a cornered look. “...*you’re* the guy...Not the other way around...” She began to massage her temples. “What on earth is going on here? Where’s Ranko?”

“I thought at first that the jinni conjured you up by magic, sugar,” Ukyo eyed Ranma thoughtfully. “But I’ve heard of Jusenkyou. You have fallen in a cursed spring, no?”

“And why are *you* dressed as a boy, for crying out loud?” Ranma wanted to know.

Akane glared at them. Both of them seemed happy to ignore their own deceptions and turn the focus on the other.

“Look! I’ll ask the questions around here, since both of you have been lying to me totally. At least, Ukyo is still Ukyo...”She stopped. “Your name IS Ukyo, right?”

The prince...princess? nodded.

“Ok...YOU.” Akane pointed at Ranma. “Explain how Ranko disappeared and you’re here when I thought you were dead or imprisoned.”

“Stop jabbin’ that finger at me, princess,” Before he broke it. Ranma scowled. “I didn’t lie to you, exactly. Ukyo here showed up before I could tell you. Genma and I were training at the oasis of Jusenkyou. It’s got these tiny individual springs. They’re all cursed, and I fell into the spring of drowned girl. That means that when cold water hits me, I become a girl. Hot water changes me back.” He shuddered. “Genma wasn’t very happy when he got back to the city.”

Ukyo was nodding. “So you somehow turned into a girl during the fight at the palace, and that’s why they couldn’t find you.”

Akane was incredulous. “You actually believe this silly story?” she asked.

“I’ve heard the legend of the cursed springs.” The pony-tailed girl was sadly examining the shredded remains of her tunic. “Besides, he owes me a fight, so I can’t say I’m unhappy to find two birds in one journey. I’m inclined to believe him.”

“Well, I’m not!” Akane huffed. Of all the ridiculous things to come up with! But then what was the truth?

“And what about you, Ukyo? What’s your story?” Ranma had given up on convincing Akane. The girl was surprisingly stubborn for a highborn female. He started to pace their cage, examining it for weaknesses, looking for a way out.

“I didn’t lie to you folks, either. My father is the king of Cantos, and Tarou did kill my husband, not my wife as you thought. But you see, I don’t...care about that.” Ukyo moved to look out through the bars. “Tsubasa was a nightmare, and I only agreed to the marriage out of my sense of duty.” She took a deep breath. “I want...I want revenge against Tarou because he...forced me on my...wedding night...after...killing...” She’d never spoken of this to anyone before, and she was horrified to find her voice breaking.

“Oh, Ukyo.” A wave of compassion washed through Akane and she went forward and hugged Ukyo from behind. “I’m so sorry. I wish we’d killed him when we had the chance.”

“No!” Ukyo turned to face them. “It’s better this way. It leaves him for me!”

“Much as I hate to interrupt the male-bashing...” Ranma tested an iron bar. “...I’d like to ask you ladies to see if you can find any cracks in this cage.”

Besides, he didn’t really blame Tarou, Ranma thought with a hidden smirk. He imagined Ukyo as a bride, waiting on her wedding bed for her groom. Any red-blooded male would take advantage of the opportunity.

He allowed himself to imagine Akane on their hypothetical wedding night. She’d be sitting on an enormous bed, her head properly covered by a veil...He shook his head. First things first.

The trio hit and kicked every corner of the cage. Ukyo even used her spatula on the bars, but it was hopeless. They were truly trapped.

“You won’t get out that way.”

“Huh? Who said that?” Ranma searched for the source of the voice.

“I’m here, sonny, behind this glass ball.”

“Look!” Akane pointed.

“Aagh! It’s a ghoul!” Ranma goggled at the wizened little creature peering at them through the bars of another iron cage.

Whap! The end of a large stick hit him on the head.

“Treat your elders with respect, sonny!” The creature, it looked like a really old woman, pulled her stick upright and studied the three of them. “I’ve been listening to your sob stories. I think we can help each other.”

“You can help us escape, honored elder?” Akane thought the old woman looked as trapped as they were. “How did you get here?”

“My name is Cologne, child. I’ve been traveling, looking for my great-granddaughter. She ran away from home a year ago, and I had a dream telling me that it was time to search for her. Unfortunately, this jinni caught my companions and I off guard. I was saved till last. I fear my time will come soon.”

“More like she’s too tough and stringy to eat!” Ranma stood at a safe distance and smirked at the roof of the cage, his fingers laced behind his head.

“So how can we get out?” Ukyo asked hastily.

“See that?” The old woman pointed to something behind them. They turned to see. “See that green bottle in the far corner?” Something like that indeed propped against the far wall, amid rolls of silk and spilled bags of jewels no doubt taken from consumed travelers.

“The one with the funny markings on it?” The bottle Cologne was pointing at was made of opaque glass, with a long, slender neck and a fat base. It was corked shut.

“That’s the one.” Cologne’s voice grew urgent. “Listen carefully, children. I’ve been here many days and nights, and learned some things. You must know how King Solomon trapped many of the Djinn in bottles and locked the bottles with his seal.”

“Now that bottle,” she continued, “is the one that used to hold our blue friend. Somehow he broke out of it. However, the seal is still on the bottle. If he goes too near it, he will be sucked in. Since the bottle cannot be destroyed, he has kept it with him for fear someone will find it and try to put him back in it. And that...is what we must do.”

“Yeah, just ask politely, I suppose.” Ukyo propped her hands on her hips, wondering if Cologne’s senility was a symptom of being locked in the cave for so long. “Say, Mr. Jinni, would you like to go back to your itty-bitty living space, cos’ we all don’t want to be your dinner. Buh-bai!”

“We’ll have to trick him.” Cologne scowled in thought.

Ranma brightened. “Yeah! Maybe if we told him that we didn’t believe someone so large could fit into something so small, he’d get so mad he’d pop right in there...what?” The three women were looking at him contemptuously.

Ukyo shook her head. “That’s old news, sugar. Some fisherman did that already.”

Akane sniggered. “Yeah, Ranma, ever hear of Scheherazade?” Ranma gave her a blank look. She sighed. “Never mind. Look, I think the best way is...” She began to whisper.

Two days later, it was Ranma’s turn. The jinni approached their cage, his footsteps thundering in the cavern.

“Well, it is time for you to fulfill your life’s purpose,” he said. “ That is, to provide me nourishment. A plump little boy, before I enjoy the little girls.”

Plump? Me??? Ranma was incredibly insulted.

 The jinni opened the cage slightly, and inserted his hand so that it allowed no escape, his blue fingers grasping for Ranma.

Ukyo, who had spent the last couple of days sharpening the edge of her spatula against an iron bar, whipped it over her shoulder and slammed the edge with all her might against the jinni’s thumb.

“Aaaah!” The jinni, startled, pulled his hand back in reflex, leaving the door open just for a moment. But that was all the time the trio needed.

“Go for it!” Ranma, Akane and Ukyo dashed through the opening and dispersed, Ranma slightly slower than the others.

“Grrrr!” The jinni chased after Ranma, who laughed and slipped through his giant legs.

 “Ranma, look out!” Akane yelled in warning. Ranma glanced back to see that the jinni’s lower half had turned to smoke and that he was hovering in place.

“You cannot escape me, mortal. You are making a mistake to even try.” With those words, the jinni dove after Ranma, who turned and fled across the room, leaping and bouncing off giant chairs and furnishings.

“Quick, Akane!”

“I’m trying, Ukyo!”

Ukyo and Akane had reached the opposite end of the room and tilted the green bottle over. They strained at the cork, which gave way slowly, inch by excruciating inch.

“Yaagh!” Ranma barely missed being grabbed by the jinni as he jumped off yet another chair and landed, teetering, on the rim of the cauldron.

“Ow! Hot hot hot hot hot!” Ranma danced along the circumference, trying to avoid the jinni’s grasping hands.

“That’s the right way, boy,” the jinni laughed. “A little push, and all will be as it should be!”

“Dream on, you windbag!” Ranma leapt off the cauldron, hoping the two girls would hurry up. Why was he trusting two women anyway? You have no choice, his head replied.

“That’s it!” The cork came free with a pop and Akane and Ukyo began to roll the bottle across the floor.

Cologne watched it all with interest. If the children succeeded, she could continue her journey and find her great-granddaughter...

“This is ridiculous!” Running across the giant tabletop, everything in Ranma told him to stand and fight, but he knew that fighting a magical being was as impractical as trying to fight smoke. And he was running out of tabletop..

“Jump, Ranma!” Akane yelled.

“Khaitan...” Ranma reached the edge of the table and dove off. “Come and get me, you big lout!”

“Grrrrr....aaaaaargh!” The jinni followed Ranma over the edge of the table and swooped down. He stared at the two figures holding up the green bottle at the bottom that grew closer and closer...”Noooooooo...!”

There was an enormous sucking sound, as of air being pulled through a small hose, and then silence. Akane and Ukyo stared through the dark green glass at the angry, smoky swirls within.

“It worked.” Ranma sat up. He’d seen the bottle as he fell, and had speedily twisted in mid air to avoid it.

Akane and Ukyo gave whoops of laughter and hugged each other. Ranma began to dust himself off.

“Hey, you three. Don’t forget about me!” Cologne grinned down at them from her cage. I’ll live to see another sunset, it seems, she thought to herself. That boy...shows promise.

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Notes: Ok, this update was mainly due to y’all’s encouraging reviews. Completely. See, yes, I wasn’t lying about the ‘lifeblood’ bit. But I’ve got exams coming up, so the next update won’t be till next week....But please do review this....tell me what you thought.