The Legend of the Seven Densetsu no Shoujo
Chapter 2: The Jusenkyo

Written by: StarDrop (mandang@aol.com)

Disclaimer: None of these anime characters are mine! However,
the seven Densetsu no Shoujo are mine, so don't take 'em!

As the seven Densetsu no Shoujo traveled northwards, they reached a place that contained many pools of water with signs next to each of them. "Well, here's as good a place as any to stay for the night. The Ju-sen-kyo." Florence said, looking at the foremost sign with what she supposed was the name of the area they were staying at.

"Hey, look at this. 'The Spring of the Drowned Panda.' Ugh," Sophia said reading a sign that was posted by a pool of water.

"Here's one called the 'Spring of the Drowned Wild Duckling'," Florence said peering at the sign for another pool. All the signs were marked with ominous-looking skull and crossbones markings. "Are you sure this is a safe place to stay for the night?"

"Okay, I'm tired and I need food. We stop now or someone's gonna get a large lump on their head. . ." Amanda said as she dropped her backpack and began looking for some food.

And so the seven girls set up camp in a conveniently deserted cabin and slept at the Jusenkyo.

Early the next morning, Jess was walking around the pools, trying to count them. She stopped by one and looked in it. Suddenly, she felt something crawling up her arm. She looked down and saw a spider on her arm. Jess screamed and began slapping at it frantically. She began to teeter precariously at the edge of the "Spring of the Drowned Man" She began to fall. . . and suddenly, a hand came out of nowhere and jerked her from falling into the pool.

"What's goin' on Jess?!" The owner of the hand asked.

Jess looked up and saw Kim looking down at her. "A Spider." She said, holding it up by it's web.

Kim screamed and leapt backwards-right into the Spring of the Drowned Man. Kim came sputtering and dripping out of the pool and began swearing. Kim looked up and saw Florence, Sophia, Jess and Amanda staring at her. "What?!" she exclaimed. Kim blinked. <Does my voice sound odd? It sounds a bit deeper…> Kim thought. <What're they staring at?>

Sophia scrabbled in her bag and pulled out a compact and handed it solemnly to Kim. Kim flipped it open and screamed. Kim now had black hair, much longer than it had ever been, and it was tied at certain strategic points down the length of her back by white ties. But the change in hair color and length was not the problem. Kim was dripping wet, and cloth clings to a person's form when wet. The clothing clinging to Kim's form revealed one very disturbing fact: Kim was not a she anymore. She was a he.

"WHAT THE #!@$^%&@!*&#%@&$#$^%@*&$^%!?!" the three other girls waited, ignoring the stream of steady oaths as Kim stared at his reflection in the mirror.

Florence walked to the sign that said "Spring of the Drowned Man" and read what was underneath it. "The Legend of the Spring of the Drowned Man: Anyone who falls in this spring shall take on the attributes of a boy when splashed with cold water. If they were hit with warm water though. . ." Florence stopped and walked to a teapot that she was boiling water in for tea. She walked back and flung the hot water full onto Kim.

Kim shrieked and reeled back "THAT'S HOT WATER!" she screamed as the water covered her. She blinked as she realized her voice was normal again. She looked down and saw that she was a she again. She ran to Florence's feet and began bowing. "Thank You, THANK YOU!"

"You realize the second you get hit with cold water again, you turn male?" Florence asked as she pulled out a canteen filled with normal water and began filling the teapot with water again so she could try and make her tea again. "And it wasn't hot. I just put it to boil, it was barely warm."

Kim stared and she bit her lip. "SHIMATTA." She swore as she punched a nearby tree.

"KIM!" Sophia screeched. <Too late!>

A shower of water fell from above and splashed Kim who instantly turned male. Kim blinked, totally stunned. He turned to Sophia and asked in a dangerously quiet voice, "Why was there so much water up there?"

"I hung a bowls up there to maybe catch some water from early-morning rain or something. I didn't trust the water from the springs that were named after drowned stuff. I guess it got filled," Sophia said sheepishly, scuffing the ground with the toe of her shoe.

"ARUUGH!" Kim screamed as he reeled back and struck the tree again; it wasn't as if he had to worry about water falling on him anymore.

"What's going on? Who's they guy trying to beat up the tree?" Kat asked as she and Angelina appeared in the clearing

"Everyone, this is Kim-kun!" Amanda said, gesturing to Kim, who was glaring at Amanda for using the suffix '-kun' even though it was technically correct since he _was_ a he.

"Where'd you find him? Kim-_KUN_?! Has Kim met him yet?" Kat asked.

Jess hid her mouth behind her hand as she began laughing silently. "Oh, she's met Kim-kun before. . ." Jess drawled.

"You don't mind if I borrow this, right Floe?" Sophia asked as she took Florence's teapot from it's place above the fire. It had just begun to warm up.

Florence shrugged, "Sure, why not? It's just for my tea water."

Sophia smiled and poured the water onto Kim-kun who instantly turned female and calmed down.

Kat and Angelina stared, their eyes wide as they assimilated the information that had just been hurled at them. They were both disturbed, frightened and. . . curious.

Jess and Amanda grinned at each other. <This 'adventure' has gotten a LOT more interesting!> Amanda thought. "Kim-chan?" Amanda asked as she sidled next to Kim-chan, her hands clasped indolently behind her back.

Kim-chan glared at Amanda and wrung out her hair. "What?"

Jess slipped behind Amanda and dropped a water bottle in her hands. Kim saw this move and tried to duck away, but she was too late and was doused. "AAAUUURGH!" Kim-kun roared as Amanda and Jess fled off into the depths of the Jusenkyo.

"_NOW_ you've done it," Jess muttered irately. "We're lost in the middle of the Jusenkyo with NO idea where the food is!"

"My fault?! You gave me the water!" Amanda said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a green bandanna and tied it around her hair to pull her hair back from her face. Now that her hair was out of her face, she was able to see and could climb a nearby tree to see if she could see the campsite.

"Yeah, but did I throw it on Kim?!" Jess called up to Amanda who was a quarter of the way up the tree.

"Grrrr. . ."

"Grrrr. . ." the two glared at each other, sparks flying before they turned their backs to each other with identical sniffs of indignation.

"Humph," Amanda grunted to herself as she continued to climb up. She glanced down quickly as she heard something rustling in the undergrowth a few feet away from Jess and herself. Hopefully it was Sophia or Florence to order them back to the camp. That was not the case. With a deafening roar, a youma flew out of the bushes, claws flashing, red eyes blazing.

"OHMIGOD OHMIGOD!" Amanda screamed as she leapt from her perch on the tree as a swipe from the youma's claws shattered the trunk of the tree.

"What do I do what do I do?!" Jess screeched.

"Your weapon!" Amanda shouted back as she landed with an "Oof!" and immediately rolled away as the youma tried to take her head off.

Jess grabbed the huge zanbatou sword from where she had laid it on the ground. Planting her feet firmly, she swung the huge sword down onto the youma. The sword landed with an ear-shattering crash right on the youma's head. "Take that! And that! And that you stupid monster!" Jess growled as she repeatedly slammed the zanbatou down on the youma's head. Amanda stared as the youma was slammed further and further down into the hole Jess was creating.

"Ano, Jess, uh, you can stop now," Amanda said, raising a finger to try and stop Jess.

"Not until the adrenaline's gone!" Jess declared as she continued smashing the zanbatou down on the youma. With a final bone-shattering blow, Jess stopped and dropped her zanbatou off to the side and sat down where she had been standing.

Amanda timidly walked towards Jess as the youma began to disintegrate into nothing. "Remind me to never scare the crap out of you, 'kay Jess?" she said as she plopped down next to Jess and looked down at the five-foot crater at Jess' feet where the youma had been just moments before.

Jess nodded and crawled to one of the pools of water and reached both her hands down to splash water down on her face to cool herself off after the 'battle'. Amanda widened her eyes; "NOO!" she screamed and leapt forward to grab Jess' arms. She missed and Jess splashed water onto her face while Amanda, unable to stop her momentum, flew right into the pool of water, splashing the rest of Jess.

It was not Amanda who crawled out of the pool of water. It was a little black pig wearing Amanda's green bandanna around its neck. The little black pig shook itself off and stomped over to the another small black pig that was sitting dazedly at the edge of the pool. The pig with the green bandanna reached behind it and yanked out its mallet and slammed it down on the other pig.

The other pig swayed and dropped on its back, now _extremely_ dazed. The first pig shook its head and set the mallet in front of the sign and used it as a step stool. The first pig stepped up and used its front feet to brace itself against the bottom of the sign as it looked up at the sign to read it. "Spring of the Drowned Black Pig" the sign said. The first pig shook its head dejectedly and hopped off the mallet. The first pig looked around, then began dragging the mallet behind it.

It walked over to the second pig who was sitting up again staring down at the pool. As the first pig ambled by the second pig, the first pig smacked the second one to get it moving. The second pig blinked and picked up the zanbatou and began following the first pig.

The first pig looked back and did a double take at seeing the other black pig holding up the zanbatou that was probably twenty times its size. The first pig shook its head and continued on.

The two pigs thankfully made it to the campsite without getting completely lost again. The two pigs dropped their weapons and ran straight to a pot of water that was being heated over the fire.

"OOH! Look at the cute little pigs!" Sophia cried as she swept the one with the green bandanna into her arms. "I think I'll keep it and call it A-chan! And it has a little bandanna!" she began hugging the pig she had just dubbed 'A-chan', enthusiastically. 'A-chan' coughed and its face had begun to take a bluish tinge.

Kat looked at Sophia, appalled. "Sophia! You don't know where that thing's been!" She looked down at the pig that was trying to get around her. "On second thought though. . ." Kat swept up the second one and looked at it. "You're in an awful hurry to get to the pot. What's up with you? You wanna be food? I think I'll hold onto you for a while. You sort of remind me of Jess. . . I'll call you J-chan!" Kat patted the pig on the top of it's head.

Both pigs looked at each other, then glared at the two people holding them. They wiggled furiously out of Kat and Sophia's arms and ran towards where they had dropped their weapons in their haste to get to the hot water.

Kat and Sophia watched the pigs run off. They looked at each other and shrugged. "Hey, where's Manda and Jess?" Sophia asked.

"I dunno," Kat said as she leaned back against a rock and looked up at the sky. "They'll show up when they're hungry. Oh my- what's up with the pigs?!" she cried as she bolted up from where she was sitting.

The two pigs had tromped back into view, their weapons up and ready to do some major pounding. "That's Jess' zanbatou!" Kat said.

"And that's Manda's mallet! What's A-chan doing with it?!"

Kat and Sophia looked at each other as the possibility dawned on them. <No way!> They looked back just in time to see the zanbatou come flying from the side knocking them away from the boiling pot.

A-chan used her mallet to unhook the pot from its perch above the fire and tip some of the water onto J-chan. J-chan transformed back to Jess, exactly like she had been before she had fallen into the pool except for the fact that she was now wet. Jess dropped her zanbatou to return the favor to A-chan. Jessica splashed what was left of the water onto A-chan, who instantly transformed back to Amanda.

Both girls, now human, angrily turned to each other and began screaming at each other. "What the heck was that?!" Amanda sputtered angrily. "You reached into the spring!"

"You _jumped_ into the pool!" Jess shouted back.

"To stop you from doing one of the stupidest things in your life!"

"HA! You ended getting all of me and you doused! You call that smart?!"

"Would you like to explain?" Kat asked.

"And _YOU_!" Jess growled swinging towards Kat. "When I'm a pig, I do NOT look like me! My pig form does not look ANYTHING like me! I AM NOT A PIG!"

Kat blinked. ". . ."

Amanda swung to Sophia, "You tried to suffocate me! You tried to wring my poor neck! You tried to _kill_ me! And WHAT kind of name is 'A-chan'?!"

Sophia smiled innocently, "But you were so cuuuute!"

Amanda gaped at Sophia and smacked herself on the forehead with her palm in exasperation. "Aiyaa. . ." she moaned.

Just then Florence, Kim-chan and Angelina came out of the woods holding bundles of firewood. They stopped and looked at the four girls, two of which looked slightly damp and _very_ unhappy.

"Uh, something tells me something interesting happened. . ." Angelina said dropping her load of firewood next to the fire.

"Yeah, something interesting did happen, see?" Kat said as she reached for their water bucket and flung it on Amanda and Jess.

"NOOOOO!" Amanda and Jess screamed as they leapt back, but didn't make it. A-chan and J-chan stood where Amanda and Jess had been.

Kim, Florence and Angelina stood stock-still. It was Angelina who cracked first. She began smiling, then giggling, and then laughing until she was doubled over on the ground. Soon Kim was rolling on the ground laughing her head off as well. Florence blinked incredulously before she burst out laughing and had to wipe tears of mirth from her eyes.

A-chan and J-chan glared at the three girls who were laughing helplessly on the ground. J-chan glanced at A-chan and then pointed to A-chan's mallet. A-chan narrowed her eyes and gave a sharp nod. A-chan grabbed her mallet in her mouth and charged at the three girls then slammed the mallet down on all three of them.

A-chan glared at the three girls who were now lying prone on the ground with numerous large lumps on their heads and were twitching slightly after having had their senses knocked out of them. Satisfied, A-chan turned back to wait with J-chan by a kettle that was warming some water.

Kat decided to take a walk and look around the Jusenkyo because she most likely wouldn't see it again. She was walking around the springs, when one sign caught her eye. "The Spring of the Drowned Cat," Kat read. <Ugh, how awful! The poor cat!> She leaned over the edge and peered into the clear, crystalline water.

As she was staring into the shimmering surface of the water, there was a snuffling noise behind her. She turned around and saw a tiny bear cub. "How cute!" Kat squealed as she began petting the bear.

As she was admiring the little bear cub, she heard an ominous snort in front of her. <Uh oh.> Kat looked up slowly and came face to face with a large black bear.

Kat gulped. <Maybe if I just stay still it'll leave me alone. . .> she thought as she pushed the bear cub as far away from her as she could without make any too sudden movements. The mother bear in front of her growled and began charging her. Kat let out one terrified scream as she leapt to her feet to run. In her haste, she tripped- right into the Spring of the Drowned Cat.

The bear skidded and stopped inches from the edge of the pool and looked down into the rippling water for its quarry. The only thing in the pool was a yowling gray cat struggling to get onto firm ground. The bear blinked twice before turning around and leaving the area with her cub.

The cat was able to scramble up the side of the embankment. She shook herself off and swatted at a tuft of grass angrily. The cat trudged back to the campsite, dripping wet. Upon reaching the campsite, she was thoroughly pleased to find a teakettle hanging over the fire with steam pouring out of the spout. She bounded over to the kettle and through some maneuvering got the water to splash over her. Instantly, she was Kat again.

Kat looked down at herself and sighed resignedly, realizing that she didn't have a second change of clothes. She sat closer to the fire to try and get dry. As she was sitting there, staring into the fire, she decided to keep the fact that she had fallen into a spring to herself. She didn't want to admit that she could be as stupid as Jess and Amanda to have fallen into a spring.

While she was thinking about what she should do now that she would turn into a cat whenever she was splashed with cold water, she heard someone walking through the trees towards her. Kat scrambled to her feet and rushed to hide behind some trees so that she wouldn't have to explain her wet clothes. Seconds later. . .

"WHO STOLE MY TEA WATER?! MANDA! JESS? KIM! Did you guys do something stupid again?! I WANT MY TEA!" Florence shouted as she stormed away holding her empty teakettle, looking for answers from Amanda, Jess or Kim.

Kat bit her lip and stayed behind the tree a while before coming out into the clearing. <This is going to be harder than I thought. . .>

A half-hour later, the girls had decided they had better get the heck out of there before anybody else turned into something else. Kat opened the book and began to read: "After spending the night and morning at the Jusenkyo, fou-uh, three of the Densetsu no Shoujo had fallen into three springs of the Jusenkyo, cursing themselves." Kat gulped as she saw the words '_four_ of the Densetsu no Shoujo'. She still didn't want to admit she had fallen into a spring.

"The continued their journey north," she continued reading. "Towards the Land of the Shifting Buildings." She stopped and shut the book, not wanting anybody to see the portion of text about four, not three, girls falling into cursed springs. "I guess north's where we're still headed. Well, at least we have a name for the place now."

Everyone nodded as they packed up and were again on their way. As they left the Jusenkyo area, Angelina happened to glance at the sign of one spring, "The Spring of the drowned Yeti-riding-a-Bull-holding-a-Crane-and-Eel." She widened her eyes as she sped up, not wanting to think about what _that_ would look like.

-End Chapter 2-

Write me, tell me what you think! Mandang@aol.com

Mini dictionary for Chapter 2:

Anime characters mentioned in Chapter 2: None! Unless you count that youma from Sailor Moon. . .

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And so, the story gets ever stranger. And the Land of the Shifting Buildings? Where's that? Find out in Chapter 3!

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