.o0o. .o0o.

Ranma glumly sat with his back against the cherry tree watching the changing colors of the evening sky as the sun set. The green leaves and the pink blossoms made a gentle contrast with the glowing reds and blues of the dimly illuminated clouds.

He sighed to himself again as he tossed another pebble in the Tendou koi pond a few meters in front of him. "She loves him. So what do I do now?" He muttered to himself. He looked up at the dimly lit bedroom window on the second floor. He could barely hear the muted giggling but it was enough to lacerate his heart further even if he couldn't hear the words.

Ranma started as another pebble skittered across the surface of the pond. It wasn't one he had tossed. A gentle hand on his shoulder held him firmly in place before he could respond in defense.

"Peace Ranma, I mean you and yours no harm," softly spoke a deep calming voice just beside and above him.

Despite the soothing words, Ranma tensed and prepared for battle as he glanced behind himself. But he relaxed as he looked into the calm black eyes of the man who moved to settle before him onto one of the large rocks that ringed the koi pond.

The man paused before speaking again, obviously allowing Ranma a chance to study him. Ranma frowned at the black skin, skin so dark that it truly deserved the word ebony. He was dressed in black spandex shorts with a black sports tank top that left most of the chest and back bare. Unsurprisingly, the dark hair was a mass of dense tight curls in a conservative 'Afro'. His frame was average yet well built and the large white wings were a surprise yet it was the face that really held Ranma's attention. It was handsome without being pretty and radiated good will. Even the few battle scars on the left cheek did not change that.

"Yo . . . you . . . you're an . . ."

"An angel, yes Ranma, I'm an angel. In fact, I'm one of those classes of angels known as a battle angel. It's my job to actually get in there and fight evil up close and personal." He grinned and continued, "Sometimes it's not all fighting though. Sometimes it's something fun like recruiting another hero for the good side, like now."

Ranma looked into those twinkling, cheerful and oh so serious eyes and did the only thing he could think of: he fainted.

The clink of teacups aroused him from his slumber. "Wow!" thought Ranma to himself, "What a weird dream." His jaw dropped into his lap as he sat up and noticed Kasumi serving tea to the ebony angel.

She smiled warmly at Ranma and asked, "Oh, you're awake! Would you like some tea also Ranma?"

Ranma nodded and shakily accepted the cup of tea. "Ahh . . . hh . . ." he sputtered before giving up and sipping the tea.

"Malcolm," smiled the Angel. "My name is Malcolm and I am here to offer you a position as 'hero' in the heavenly armed forces."

""Oh my, that is so nice. Isn't it Ranma?" gushed Kasumi.

"Great, just great," sighed Ranma. "I knew the kami were screwing with my life. At least they're becoming more open about it."

Malcolm's quiet guffaw brought Ranma's attention back to him. Regaining his composure, Malcolm explained. "Ranma, my boss is the Supreme Being. He has allowed me to make you an offer that will eventually make you immune to anything that minor or near mythological beings such as kami or demons may attempt to do to you."

Ranma began to knead his temples and murmur to himself, "It's a dream, just a screwy dream. That's all."

Malcolm's cheery grin faded into a sad smile. "Sorry, Ranma; it's all real, including the conflict and the need." Before Ranma could protest again, Malcolm asked, "Ranma, what is the primary duty of a martial artist?"

"To defend the weak," Ranma replied.

"Is that it? No qualifiers such as 'defend the weak when it's convenient' or 'only when it's easy'?" The angel asked.

Ranma's jaw clenched as he struggled not to reply. He'd had enough dealings with Nabiki to know when he was being setup or manipulated. He could see this one coming a mile away.

Ranma hesitated then carefully answered, "Defending someone who is evil, who is the cause of the conflict is not right. Defending someone who refuses your help is merely another form of oppression as it robs them of their right to choose. Making an empty gesture of defiance like a suicide maneuver in a hopeless and meaningless battle is a waste of a chance to correct the wrong." He glared at Malcolm. "Yes there are qualifiers but in the end the answer is also just that simple: defend the weak."

Malcolm's sad smile transformed into a satisfied one. "Well answered, Ranma, well answered. Your answer demonstrates that you do know the true depths of honor."

Before either Kasumi or Ranma could interrupt or reply, the dusky Angel continued. "Ranma, there are a billion good, innocent people who will die needless, painful and untimely deaths if you do choose not to accept this task." He held up a hand to forestall Ranma's angry retort. "Yeah, I know, 'why you?' Why won't God just make other arrangements?" He paused again and softly added, "HE has made other arrangements Ranma. You."

"I'm trapped aren't I?" Ranma sibilantly whispered.

"Where?" softly responded Kasumi. At Ranma's look of surprise, she continued. "Which is the trap Ranma? Is it the life you now live or the chance to escape it with honor? Which situation is the trap Ranma?"

Ranma's gaze wandered up to the now darkened window. He asked, "You know don't you, Kasumi?"

She nodded, "Yes Ranma. I know. It isn't honorable, but she is my sister and it is her choice; a choice that we must both abide by no matter how distasteful it is."

Ranma nodded in understanding and then turned to the Angel. "Tell me more. What do I have to do? How do I change? Does this mean I'm going to become like you now?"

Malcolm held up his hand to forestall further questions as he laughed; a soft booming sound that was oddly comforting in the deepening twilight. "Let's enjoy our tea and I'll tell you all that I can." As Kasumi arose, Malcolm added, "Miss Tendou, I don't mind if you witness this." He turned to Ranma and raised an eyebrow, "as long as that's ok with Ranma that is."

Ranma smiled for the first time that evening, "I'd like it, please Kasumi?"

Kasumi beamed a smile at both men, "Let me get some more tea and a few cookies as well."

Both men relaxed and leaned back, eyes wandering the sky in peace. Kasumi soon returned and as she served fresh tea to them, the ebony Angel began to speak. "The first thing you need to know is that there is a price to be paid."

Kasumi beat Ranma to the question, "Price, Malcolm-san? You don't mean Ranma's soul do you? Oh dear, that wouldn't be right?"

Malcolm smiled warmly at her, "I agree. That wouldn't be right." He winced in remembered pain and continued in a softer voice. "No, not his soul; something else almost as important to him though." He looked at Ranma a few moments and continued. "It's different for every person. For me, it was my mortality."

Ranma's brow furrowed as he puzzled out that statement. Finally he gave it up and asked, "You're an angel, so that makes you immortal. I don't get what you mean."

Malcolm sipped his tea before answering. "Ranma, you aren't going to become an angel right away anymore than I did when I was given my chance to become a hero." He looked at Ranma a few moments before nodding to himself and continuing. "Ranma, not much is going to actually happen to you if you accept this task. All the powers and skills you gain will be earned, not gifts. Well, except for three items."

They both took second helpings of the cookies that Kasumi offered and Malcolm began again. "Ranma, the price that is asked of you is payment for your three gifts and the chance to use them." He gestured to himself, "Ranma, most people have to take the existence of angels, gods, demons and judgment as an article of faith. You on the other hand are having 'me' shoved down your throat. You have to pay for that privilege as well. Like I said before, the price is different for every person. For me it was my mortality. I couldn't have kids or grow old and die like others. I grew tired of my lonely life as the years became decades and then centuries."

"I don't understand Malcolm-san." Kasumi asked, "Isn't that the same now."

Malcolm smiled wanly, "Yes and no. I was still a man, but no longer mortal. I didn't belong anywhere. I wasn't part of any group or family. It was just me." His eyes closed with recalled pain. "It was just me until one night I cried to the heavens and begged for release." He smiled at the elder Tendou daughter, "and God merely said 'yes' when I finally got around to asking Him." He chuckled, "That's all it took. All I had to do was ask, to finally go home. I asked, then I suddenly found myself before judgment and next thing I know, I'm a battle angel with multitudes of brothers." A tear glimmered as he whispered, "Finally I belonged; finally I had a family."

"So what happens to me?" softly queried Ranma.

Malcolm reached behind himself and pulled out a crystalline sword with a silver sheath and pair of black leather bracers. Each bracer had a glittering gem whose shape approximated a flat cylinder about five centimeters across set nearly flush with and centered in its middle. As he handed the sword to Ranma he explained, "This sword is made of crystalline chi. It can serve as a focus, or lens if you will, for your own chi."

Ranma interrupted as he attempted to hand back the weapon. "No thanks, I don't need or use weapons."

Kasumi frowned, "Ranma, that's rude!"

"It's also suicidal and dumb," stated Malcolm. He clarified, "Ranma, some of your opponents are literally poison to the touch. In addition, other obstacles can only be destroyed with this weapon. Your fists and unaided chi blasts won't even scratch them. Ranma, for you to succeed in this task, you've got to ditch your ego and macho pride."

Ranma still hesitated until Kasumi softly asked, "Ranma, is your pride worth a billion lives? Will your ego demand that you try to do it your way at the risk of being unsuccessful?"

Ranma sighed and looped the sword sheath over his shoulder so that the sword hilt would be at his left shoulder. He sheathed the sword and then looked at the two bracers as he pulled them onto his arms. He noticed that the gems were set into the bracers in such a way that the flat base of each gem was firmly in contact with his skin. The right one was painful as flashes of polychromatic light sporadically danced across its surface. The left one looked opalescent. It seemed deep yet one still could not see beyond the surface. The color was hard to pin down, as it appeared to shift with the light.

Noticing Ranma's wince, Malcolm explained. "The right jewel is a Lens of Arisia. It is attuned to only you. It can kill another person who touches it without you wearing it. Right now it's not quite correctly tuned to you so it is a bit painful." As Ranma made to remove it Malcolm stopped him with a hand on his wrist. "Bear with it for a few moments Ranma, it's necessary." He grinned as Ranma reluctantly complied, "Take it like a man, fella," he added.

Ranma glared as Kasumi started to giggle at him. She blushed and waved her hand in front of herself by way of an apology.

"Ranma," Malcolm paused until he was sure that he had Ranma's attention again, "the Lens will allow you to understand and speak all languages whether spoken, unspoken or written. It has other dormant properties as well that you will have to uncover on your own." Pointing to the other bracer, "This large color shifting opal like gem is a travel stone. It will shift you to where you are next needed each time your present task is finished. Hopefully successfully, but even if you fail, it will still shift you onward until your overall assignment is completed. Afterwards you will have control over where it takes you, if you are allowed to keep it. But first, there will be some training."

"Training!" Grimaced Ranma, "Yeah, that's juuuussssttt what I need. Oh, yeah."

"You know," sighed Malcolm, "I'm really beginning to understand the price you have to pay a lot better now."

"What price?" quickly questioned the other two.

"Your manhood," was the quiet reply.

"No, no way, no how!" The other two said nothing as Ranma quickly removed the 'gifts', rose and retreated into the house, leaping directly into his second story window.

At the window, Ranma paused and watched the other two for long silent minutes as they softly talked together. Kasumi's delicate giggle interspersed with Malcolm's soft bass. He looked at the panda lying on the floor and a flash of anger swept him. Ranma snarled, "Honorless old . . ." Ranma paused. He picked up a photograph from off his dresser and slowly walked into the bathroom. He turned on the light, sat on the counter and closely studied the photo. It was a group photo of the entire 'Nerima wrecking crew'. Ranma face tightened in pain as he recalled the memories associated with each person. Few of the memories were happy, all involved conflict of some sort.

Ranma sat there for nearly an hour studying the photo and remembering. The first tear fell five minutes after he started. The last fell as he rose and made his way outside an hour before midnight. Somehow he was not surprised to find both Kasumi and Malcolm still sitting together by the pond and talking by the light of the full moon.

Ranma laid the photo in Kasumi's lap as he retrieved the sword and bracers and once again donned them. His only words to Malcolm were, "I accept."

Malcolm nodded and explained. "We had faith in you Ranma. I'm sorry about the price. But all great magic requires a price to be paid for its use. This is yours." He motioned to the pond; "All you have to do is float on your back in the koi pond with the sword resting across both bracers. The magic will take care of itself without harming you. Understand Ranma that this is permanent. Your 'natural' form will become female. It doesn't mean you have to marry a guy or anything else. What you choose to do is up to you."

Ranma nodded in understanding even though he wasn't quite sure. He said, "Well, here goes, I guess once I change, I'll have no family and nobody will ever see me again."

"Not true Ranma" corrected Malcolm. "I may have mislead you inadvertently. The tasks you have before you may not be on this planet or even this reality. You may spend five, ten or even fifty years wandering the universe before your assignment is complete, but when it is complete, you will return here. But you will have only been gone a day for each year you traveled and you will not age meanwhile either. While you will not have your family with you when you are working, when you are done, they will be here waiting."

"You mean I'm not going to become an angel like you?" asked Ranma.

"Maybe, eventually; first you have a mortal life to lead just like everyone else. You just have a few specific tasks to take care of first. Then you become a freelance hero or whatever you want. When you eventually die, you go to judgment and well, after that, it's up to the big boss," grinned Malcolm. He added, "Think of yourself as a trainee angel. You have the responsibility but not the power."

Ranma grimaced at the explanation but just before he stepped into the water, Kasumi pulled him to her and softly kissed him, a lingering almost sensual kiss on the lips. She smiled into his dumbstruck face and said, "That was for luck, an apology for my sisters and in thanks that I had a chance to meet you. Good luck Ranma."

Ranma hesitated only a moment before entering the water. She paused a moment to adjust her clothing after the transformation before taking the position Malcolm had requested. At first nothing happened, then Malcolm softly said, "Ranma, the final step is to infuse the sword and bracers with your ki. Be sure Ranma, there is no turning back once you do this."

Floating on her back, Ranma turned a slight but questioning grin toward Kasumi. She merely smiled; the decision was Ranma's not hers Kasumi seemed to say without words.

Ranma closed her eyes and then she began to manifest her brilliant blue battle aura. It grew, held steady and then seemed to flow into the sword from both gems simultaneously. When it met in the middle of the sword, it seemed to back-flash from Ranma into the water of the koi pond. The entire pond became a luminescent pool of swirling color, mostly blue.

Kasumi and Malcolm watched Ranma as she changed. Her eyes were still closed so she wasn't aware of the changes, but the other two saw her form lengthen until she was a centimeter taller than her old male form. Her hair changed to a lighter blonder red and it refashioned itself into a short pageboy style. Despite her growth in height, her bust shrank giving her a leaner appearance. Trim, but very feminine still.

The light display in the Lens on her right forearm grew stronger and less painful as she changed. When her physical and magical transformation was complete, she vanished in a flare of opalescent light. There was only a slight whisper of sound as the water rushed to fill the hole her body made when it disappeared.

Kasumi looked at the still glowing pond water as a pair of tears made their way down her cheeks. Malcolm took her in his arms and enveloped them both in his wings as she started to weep onto his shoulder.

It took only a few moments for her to regain her composure, but before she could apologize for breaking down, Malcolm offered a broad smile and gestured to the glowing pond. "Ranma left a gift for some of his friends. Until the next setting sun, this pond is Nanniichuan, spring of drowned boy." He kissed her gently on the forehead; "Have fun with it Kasumi. Remember what we talked about while waiting for Ranma; take charge of your life," he advised and then shimmered out of sight.

Kasumi thought about it for a few moments before a grin slowly spread over her face. Shortly after that, now softly humming to herself, she went to bed.

Ranma thumped onto the flower filled meadow after suddenly appearing about two meters above the ground. Quickly rousing herself she looked around but saw nobody and nothing familiar. Sheathing her sword, she decided to explore when she felt a presence behind her.

Ranma spun around assuming a defensive position. Well, she tried to, but her new body configuration caused her to trip herself to land sprawling at Malcolm's feet.

Malcolm grinned and held out a hand to the young girl.

Snarling, she slapped it away, shakily stood on her own and demanded, "Just what the hell did you do to me anyway? Man, I'm staggering like a klutz."

Malcolm winced at her wording but answered, "Your new girl body changed so that it is a blend of both your old forms." He gestured to the meadow and surrounding trees and explained. "You'll have about a month here to get acclimatized to your new body and start investigating the new abilities that come with your gifts." He grinned and rubbed his hands together gleefully. "Guess who gets to be your new sensei during this time?"

"Do I gotta? Can't I just get to the real stuff?"

Malcolm shook his head and explained, "Your traveling stone has limits Ranma. It has a minimum and a maximum. It can only work once a month and it will work at least once a year whether you want it to or not while you are on assignment." He looked speculatively at the girl wondering how to get her to moving . . . he snickered to himself as he held his hands out and approached her.

Ranma became uneasy as she watched Malcolm approach her with his arms outspread. She jumped straight up as he surged toward her. She snarled at him, "I ain't that way you pervert."

He chuckled as he followed her and began tickling her.

She gasped and fled, defenses forgotten. The training was underway.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

Kasumi had a happy smile as she cheerfully made breakfast. Nabiki noticed that she set out three extra plates. "Kasumi, are we expecting guests?" she asked

"Oh yes, I invited the Amazons and Ukyou to eat with us."

Nabiki counted the extra places, "Should I get another place setting out then?"

Kasumi smiled her thanks, "No, that's ok, Nabiki. Since Ranma won't be eating with us, there are enough settings now."

"You know something about Ranma?" Nabiki's eyes hardened, "Spill it, Kasumi." She demanded.

"No, you'll just have to wait like all the others."

Nabiki sighed; she never won against Kasumi.

Soon the Tendou's and their guests: the Saotome parents, the three Amazons and Ukyou settled down for a seemingly companionable breakfast. Kasumi absently dodged all the demands from everybody to know why she had summoned the other fiancées other than to state that she knew what happened to Ranma and would tell them all after breakfast.

The table was cleared and everybody waited expectantly for Kasumi to speak. Kasumi smiled to herself as she watched the clouds. As Cologne's patience finally came to an end and she rose to her feet to leave, Kasumi softly spoke. "Ranma's gone. He locked himself in his girl form and left to defend another people in a land far away."

"Why did he leave, who did he leave with and where did he go?" snapped Cologne forestalling the others from speaking.

Kasumi pointed to her sister Akane who was holding her pet pig. "Ranma left because he found that Akane was being unfaithful with Ryouga even while pretending to not know about his curse."

Kasumi glared at them both, "Congratulations Akane. You got rid of the 'pervert'. And you Ryouga; know in your heart forever that Ranma will always be honorable while the stench of your dishonor will never leave the minds of those that have had the displeasure of knowing you. Even if you do marry Akane, I will never acknowledge you as part of this family."

Cologne sighed, "I figured as much. Ryouga swore to ruin Ranma's happiness. It looks as if he succeeded." She smiled sardonically, "Wouldn't it be poetic if Ryouga was only faking his love for Akane in order to hurt Ranma."

Akane's face blanched and she looked at the pig in her arms. He was frantically shaking his head 'no', but the seed had been planted nonetheless.

Nabiki prompted, "Well that takes care of the 'why', now tell us the rest."

Kasumi smiled and answered, "Ranma left with an angel named Malcolm and they didn't tell me the name of the world they went to. All I know is that Ranma will be gone between five and fifty years."

Cologne sat down. She shook her head as distant memories rose to trouble her. "Dear, could you please describe this angel?"

"He appeared to be of African descent, had large white wings and a couple of scars in the shape of an 'X' on his left cheek."

Cologne sighed and announced, "I've met Malcolm before when I was a girl. She's telling the truth. That's the only way she could know him."

"That's not all," added Kasumi. Seeing she had their attention she spoke, "Ranma and Malcolm left a farewell gift for some of us." She paused and sipped her tea before continuing. "I have some Nanniichuan, spring of drowned boy water for those who want it." She grinned a Nabiki like grin, "For a price, that is."

Nabiki was not the only one to facefault, hers was merely the most painful.

Genma attempted to bluster, Akane demanded, Auntie required and Nabiki sulked. Oh, yeah, Mousse was begging the TV set in the corner for the water. Everyone else quietly left, Soun rapidly as he had no desire at all to confront either his old friend or his daughters.

Nabiki called for attention, "I will be handling all negations," she announced.

"Oh, does that you mean you know where it's hidden?" asked Kasumi. She smiled at her mercenary sister. "Just because we are sisters and so close, I'll give you a deal Nabiki. You can have all rights to it for only a half million yen to be paid within the hour."

Nabiki facefaulted again. Kasumi wasn't supposed to do this to her. This was her gig.

Mousse whispered, "A half million yen. It must be real, but I can't afford that."

Kasumi smiled and answered, "The angel said it was real. Unfortunately he also said that the water would lose its magic at sundown. The effects are, of course, permanent, just like regular Jusenkyo water." She paused and then added, "the price per person for the location of this gift is 100,000 yen, cash today no later than an hour before sundown. She frowned at Akane and her frantically pleading pig, "NO credit either, especially not for the panda or the pig."

She stretched and then sighed in pleasure. "Ah Nabiki, I see why you do this. It can be so invigorating. Oh my, I guess I better begin cleaning up the breakfast dishes." Which she then proceeded to do, obliviously ignoring the stares of family, Amazons and Saotomes alike.

It had been three weeks of nearly non-stop training. Ranma smirked to herself as she stalked her sensei. She was almost as strong now as her male form was at his best and even faster than her original female form had ever been.

Malcolm had given her copies of her fathers 'forbidden techniques' scrolls and a few Amazon ones as well. Her Lens enabled her to easily read the latter despite them being in Chinese. She had nearly mastered them all and was starting to use them on her mentor after he had told her that she wouldn't be able to hurt him with them. She was determined to prove him wrong.

She paid careful attention to her surroundings, especially overhead. She prided herself that the Saotome School was a midair combat school, yet Malcolm with his wings had demonstrated that her school was not really quite as aerial as she had believed.

As she passed a debris covered black boulder, it suddenly attacked her. Before she could get her defenses in place she was once again rolling on the ground trying to stifle her laughter. As Malcolm finally let up on his tickling she was able to focus on his appearance. She noticed that the backside of his wings were coated with dark mud and filthy with twigs and pebbles. He had been that boulder that she had ignored and passed! He had been out there in plain sight all this time covered only by his dirty wings. That . . . that dirty bird! She sighed; she had lost, again. "Alright you birdbrain, you win this round. I'll go start supper for us since I lost."

Malcolm grinned to himself, she was getting to be a pretty good cook, and especially with all the practice she'd been getting since arriving here.

.o0o. .o0o. Late afternoon at the Tendou home . . .

Kasumi looked over Mousse's and Ryouga's offerings. She finished counting them and confirmed that each had the proper amount. She raised a quizzical eyebrow at each of them. "I'm curious, how did you manage to get the money?"

Mousse grinned, "It turns out that Cologne was holding back some of my pay for my mother. When she saw how much I wanted this, she released it to me."

Ryouga nervously shuffled his feet but said nothing. However, his repeated glances at Nabiki gave his secret away.

"Nabiki," chuckled Kasumi, "you didn't take advantage of him did you?"

Nabiki sighed; somehow she wasn't really surprised that Kasumi would find out. "Well, yes and no. I offered him a loan, but I made Akane put up half the amount from her savings." Seeing the amused expression on Kasumi's face she grimaced and continued, "I couldn't let my little sister marry a pig, now could I?"

At that, Kasumi carefully put the two folded bundles of yen notes in her dress pocket and buttoned the pocket closed. She then turned to the last couple, "Auntie and uncle Saotome, have you decided yet?"

"Kasumi dear, we're guests. It's not polite to charge us for such things," remonstrated Nodoka.

"Auntie, normally I would agree. But uncle Saotome long ago ceased to be a guest and has been nothing but a burden." She stiffened her resolve. "You do have a choice here. You can pay the fee, or continue to sleep with a panda."

Genma suddenly surged forward and begin to bow and beg, promising anything she wanted. "Please Kasumi; you MUST let me get cured. I don't have the money. But I'm good for it. On my honor I promise. I promise that you'll never be disappointed. I swear that I'll force my good for nothing son to marry you just as soon as he shows up. I promise . . ."

"Ok"

"What!" yelled out Mousse and Ryouga.

Genma was dancing about while Nodoka smiled contentedly, at least until Kasumi explained.

Kasumi pulled out a legal document that she'd had an attorney prepare earlier in the day in anticipation of this outcome. "This is a contract to be signed by both you auntie and uncle Saotome. It acknowledges that as of today, all promises made by either of you on Ranma's behalf are void and your responsibility only. It also assigns me parental responsibility henceforth. In other words, from now on, Ranma is my child, not yours."

"I cannot sign this travesty," snarled Nodoka as Genma hurriedly started signing.

"Why not?" challenged Kasumi. "How is it any different that the seppuku agreement you once accepted from Ranma and Genma? For the sake of a piece of paper, you abandoned Ranma to the care of Genma."

Nodoka puzzled over the document. "I don't understand this. According to you, Ranma is stuck as a girl and won't be back for years, maybe decades. This paper is meaningless in that case."

Kasumi slowly stroked the table, pushing a bit of spilt tea around. "Yes, that is true." She looked up and met the older woman's eyes. "I am pretty sure that I won't get the money from you. Yet it wouldn't be honorable to just give the Nanniichuan to Genma, not after Mousse and Ryouga have paid. So I'll take Ranma from you instead. It finally clears up the engagement mess. It restores the Tendou honor by uniting Ranma into our family in the only possible means now available and it strips Genma of any semblance of honor in this matter. Beyond that, it's just a piece of paper."

Nodoka sighed and signed.

Kasumi carefully put the document away after having the others witness it for her.

Kasumi gestured the cursed ones to follow her to the porch. "Ok, if you three would just line up on the lawn so that all of you have an equal chance to get to the location where the water is, then I'll tell you."

Both her sisters flanked Kasumi as she prepared to tell everyone where the Nanniichuan was located. Seeing she had their attention, she pointed behind them, "It's the koi pond," she snickered.

"Wait!" screeched Nabiki as she moved to interpose her body between them and the pond, "there is a charge for swimming in MY koi pond."

Unfortunately, they weren't listening. Even worse, she took a dive into the water with them as they stampeded with her in tow.

Kasumi collapsed beside Nodoka as shock seized her system. Nodoka only shook her head and calmly poured tea for herself and Kasumi. Both watched as four copies of Ranma, one wearing a dress, engaged in a brief but frenetic water war.

Cologne joined them an hour later. "What a mess."

Nodoka cocked an eyebrow.

"When Mousse arrived in Ranma form, Shampoo glomped onto him," confided Cologne. "Shampoo was all ready to take him to bed and he was more than willing." Cologne shivered in memory of near disaster. "Fortunately they were both a bit eager, slipped on the floor and spilt a pot of tea on themselves. Needless to say, Shampoo was not happy. On the down side, he escaped from her."

"I caught him and almost wish I hadn't." Cologne sniffed, "Mousse is now arguing that with Ranma locked in girl form and gone as well, Shampoo must marry him if she ever wants to go home. He even stumped me when he pointed out that with his new curse, I get the new bloodline that I so wanted as well as Shampoo seemingly to have conquered her reluctant husband." She sighed, "I think he's going to finally win." She paused and added, "He really seems to like his cursed form. It's almost funny to watch him standing around looking at the world like he's never seen it before. In truth, with the eyesight of his birth form, he may not have seen it."

Kasumi smiled a bit somberly as well. "Oh my, Ryouga is having problems as well. A little bit ago, Akane reflexively called him a baka and malleted him before she remembered that it was just his new cursed form. She's out looking for him now. She's not sure how far she knocked him. Nabiki on the other hand, well I don't know. I haven't seen her since she got out of the furo and locked herself in her room. I'm not sure how dad is taking this either."

Nodoka grinned, "Well, at least my news isn't so terrible. Genma loves his new body, especially the hair." She snickered and continued, "Genma tried to go to the bar to celebrate. He got carded and sent home again. On his way, he was attacked by somebody named Kuno, but he trounced him, came home and went to sleep." She shivered. "But I feel like I am committing incest even to think of sleeping with Genma at all now."

The three watched the light of the setting sun glance off the still waters of the pond. As the light faded, they all noticed the wisps of glowing blue smoke that swirled from the pond and dissipated into the evening sky.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

"Yyiiipppe!" Screamed Nabiki as she was woken from a sound sleep and ejected from her bedroom window. She retained enough of her childhood skills to enable her to splash down in the koi pond gracefully. But splash down she did. He, though, stood up sputtering to confront his attacker. "Dad! What the hell is the meaning of this?"

Sure enough, Soun was standing there, a fierce expression on his face, his arms crossed in expectation, his stance ready. "I'm ashamed of you boy, to think that the heir to the Tendou school of Anything Goes Martial Arts could be caught so unawares. It's obvious to me that I've sadly neglected your training. I shall immediately correct that error my SON. Starting today, you will spend all day training. Perhaps my friend Genma will help as well."

Panic edging his voice, Nabiki protested. "Bu . . . but Akane is your heir, not me. I have to go to school so I can graduate and go to college and get a good job and make lots of . . ."

Soun's roar cut him off. "NO! No, you are my son, my heir. Akane disgraced her fiancé and is no longer suitable as an heir. Now we train."

As Soun moved into an offensive stance, Nabiki tried another tact. "How do you expect me to become a sensei if I can't even graduate from high school or college. Who in their right mind will choose to train under an ignorant teacher? And why would I want to take over this dojo?" She gestured to it, "It's in disrepair and has neither a reputation nor any students."

Soun's face turned beet red, "I agree that my first thought concerning school was hasty, a modern sensei must have a degree. But the Tendou school must continue. It is a matter of family honor. And you WILL learn and carry on this school; painfully if necessary."

Nabiki had time for one brief 'eep' before his training began in earnest. It was still an hour before dawn.

Kasumi sat on the porch sipping her morning tea and watched all of this with wondering eyes, eyes that eventually crinkled with amusement. Unseen by all, Akane slipped back upstairs, a single tear sliding down her face.

Nabiki staggered to the table two hours later, beat and beaten. He dully looked at the double helping of food on the table before him. Frowning, he glanced at his older sister who only smiled back. He started to eat and suddenly was overwhelmed with hunger. Quickly finishing what was set before him, he started on seconds. When nearly done, he paused and with a thoughtful look nodded in understanding. He looked up at Kasumi again and remarked, "So that is why Ranma had such a big appetite."

This time Kasumi grinned, "Yes, and you'd better hurry with your bath if you want to get to school on time."

Nabiki glumly glanced down at his tattered pajamas. "What am I going to wear to school though?"

Kasumi frowned, puzzled. "What's wrong with your school uniform?"

"But if I change, I'll be a boy in a dress." protested Nabiki.

"No, you'll be boyish Nabiki in a dress, and Nabiki is still a girl even when she's a boy. Isn't she?" asked Kasumi.

"No, THIS Nabiki is my son, not my daughter," asserted Soun.

Nabiki and Kasumi cast speculative glances at Soun and decided to let the matter drop. This was a man who they remembered but hadn't seen since their mother died.

Akane followed Ryouga as they walked along. A tear occasionally dripped down her face. "I can't believe that daddy wants Nabiki to be his heir now." She sniffled a few more times and continued, "It's all that pervert's fault."

Ryouga paused; he nervously scratched his head and hesitantly said, "Ah, Akane, I don't think this is the way to school after all."

Akane stopped and finally took a good look at her surroundings. They were on a game trail in the middle of an old growth forest, a forest of massive trees that towered nearly a hundred meters into the air on average.

With a frustrated sigh she walked forward to the clearing she sensed just ahead. Once there she realized that they were at the edge of a sharp cliff that towered several hundred meters above a meadow below them. The meadow was a colorful blanket of flowers and was edged with a well-separated scattering of mostly younger trees. A small creek ran along one side of the meadow.

Ryouga squinted at the figure they could see below them. It was a young girl performing a martial arts kata with amazing grace and astounding speed. "Who's that?" he asked. "Is it Ranma?"

Akane studied the girl for a few moments. "No, she's too tall and thin. Her hair is the wrong color and too short as well."

Ryouga nodded and commented as he led the way down another game trail. "She's pretty good though."

Akane nodded, "Yeah, not as good as us, but she's good. Anyway, from what I heard, Ranma ran away with this black guy with wings. We see him and we find Ranma."

"Black guy with wings?" Ryouga stumbled to a stop. "I forgot about that. He was there sitting under the trees. I thought he was just a statue or something."

Akane looked up at him, righteous fire in her eyes, "Then that girl must be Ranma! Let's go get . . . her." She paused as she took in the Furinkan school grounds. "Oh, Ryouga; how in the world do you manage to do that?" She sighed discouragedly

"Ahh jeez Malcolm, we've been here a month already. When do I get to go where there are some people and some action?" complained Ranma.

Malcolm shrugged, "Don't know Ranma. I kind of thought you'd have left a couple of days ago myself. You've sort of reached a plateau on your training for now. But I guess there must be something else needed." He frowned at his student. "You've sure been grumpy this morning. Feeling aright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "Stomach is just a little upset is all. Probably just need a bit of exercise to work it out." With that said she launched a flying kick at his head.

He parried and then used his wings to propel himself into a back-flip a hundred meters away from her. Well, that was his intention. He was a bit dismayed to find her waiting for him. He tried to use his wings to hover out of her reach, but she launched herself into the air and landed on his head. Which she then proceeded to pound at high speed.

Malcolm suddenly snapped his wings forward explosively even as he folded himself into an airborne backwards roll so that his feet met her face as she was sucked into the vacuum formed by his wings. Before she could regain her grasp on him, he completed his roll and his clenched together fists slammed into her stomach driving her into the ground below them.

"Ohhh," she moaned as she extracted herself from the slight crater she found herself in. As she took stock of herself, she suddenly froze.

Malcolm was hovering in the air just out of her reach. He was preparing to defend himself against a chi attack since that was the normal part of their routine at this point. When she didn't get up, he dropped to the ground and knelt beside her. "Something wrong Ranma?"

Ranma turned wide frightened eyes to him. "I'm bleeding. I must have busted something inside," she said as she gestured to her bloodstained shorts.

This time Malcolm froze. In the far distance there was a flash of lightning. Oddly enough, the thunder sounded like distant laughter. Finally he turned his face to heaven and whispered, "This ain't funny Lord."

Malcolm took a deep breath, he really wished a demon or something would show up about now, but, "Ranma, it's ok. This is normal."

"NORMAL!"

His Afro now pointing straight back, Malcolm calmly replied. "Yes, Ranma, this is normal . . . for a girl."

"Bu . . . but . . . I'm . . ."

"Ranma, how long have you been a girl?" He asked.

Ranma paused and gathered a bit of control before responding. "Well, I got cursed about ten months ago I guess. But I try not to stay a girl if I can help it; at least until now."

The ebony Angel nodded his head in understanding. "That's probably why this is new to you. It takes place once a month and you must not have stayed a girl long enough for a complete cycle to happen."

"Cycle?"

"Yes Ranma, a menstrual cycle." Seeing the blank look on the girl's face, Malcolm asked, "Do the words, 'period', 'womb', 'ova' or 'vagina' mean anything to you?"

"Hunh?"

Hearing the distant booming thunder again, Malcolm reluctantly chuckled to himself in a whisper that Ranma couldn't hear, "Ok, I guess it is kind of funny after all."

"Trust me Ranma; everything is going to be ok." With that he gently scooped the girl up in his arms and flew with her to their camp. "The first thing we need to do is get you cleaned up." He handed her a robe and a couple of large towels. "Here, go bath in the stream. By the time you get back, I'll have a warm bath ready for you and I'll tell you what's happening to your body."

Ranma looked at the towels, looked up at him and hesitantly smiled when she saw his confident grin. As she left for the stream, he hurriedly stoked up the faint fire, fanning it with his huge wings, then filled and placed all their kettles on it. He then set the large barrel that they used as a tub on rocks at the edge of the fire also and partially filled it with cold water as well.

Malcolm looked about himself for a moment before disappearing into another reality. He was gone less than ten minutes; still that was too long as he returned with the needed supplies to find Ranma frantically looking for him.

She tried a stuttering explanation but he placed a finger on her lips and said, "It's ok, Ranma, I know about it. Get in the tub and I'll explain."

She disrobed while he added additional hot water to the tub to make it comfortable.

With his help, she climbed in and slowly began to relax as she soaked in the hot water.

Malcolm handed her a few tablets with a glass of water. "Here, I've heard that these work pretty well for pain and cramps."

Ranma well remembered their next conversation for the rest of her life. Every time she fainted, she got water up her nose and regained her senses sputtering and gasping for air. But Malcolm explained it all. Then he showed her the panties and other stuff that she needed to wear and use and he explained why.

She went to bed early that night and for the first time in a long time, she cried herself to sleep. She finally accepted that she was a girl and she mourned her lost manhood.

Ryouga glanced upwards as he was drenched with cold water. He sighed, his curse may be different, but he was still a water magnet. He sighed and thought to himself, 'at least it's a lot better than it used to be'. Bad move, it got worse.

"Akane Tendou and Ranma Saotome! You are late for class and just standing outside, you must be delinquents. You must be punished," so said Ms. Hinako as she drained their chi. Well she drained Ryouga anyway. Akane had dodged behind him and was only slightly tired. Noticing this, the teacher smiled slightly and added, "Akane, pick up Ranma and bring him to class."

An hour later during the break between classes, Akane got some hot water and splashed Ryouga with it to wake him up. Class was slightly delayed as Ms. Hinako was called to the office. Ryouga staggered to his feet and took a seat in the back of the room hoping to escape Ms. Hinako's attention.

Meanwhile just outside the school.

"Listen you young pup, I'm the truant officer. A boy fitting your description was reported absent by this school so get in there now before I run you in for defying authority."

Genma hesitantly backed away into the school administration offices. Before he could even start to plan his escape, a certain chi draining teacher noticed him and took (in her mind at least) appropriate action.

The voluptuous young looking teacher smiled at the envious truant officer as he carried the paper-cutout that was once Genma Saotome in son form into her classroom for her.

An hour later as soon as the lunch bell sounded and everyone else in the class had left, Akane and Ryouga approached the sleeping Genma-Ranma. Quietly so as not to wake him, they carried him to the window and tossed him into the breeze. The slight wind wafted him into the upper branches of a tree where he lodged, snoring still.

Ms. Hinako was taking a final check of the grounds to make sure that all the students were back in their classroom after lunch when she heard a high pitched scream approaching her.

She nervously grabbed a 50 yen coin and prepared for action if needed.

She saw a young Chinese girl, humm, Shampoo that was it, approaching at a dead run closely chased by . . . Ranma? Angered at his lechery, she quickly drained him and had one of his friends lug him into class.

Akane looked at Ryouga sitting in the back row. She checked to see that there was still a Ranma sleeping in the tree outside the school window. In front of the school, she saw a wet Ranma in a girl's dress being chased by Kuno. She looked at 'Ranma' stuffed into the chair in front of her. Her head hurt. She laid her head on her desk for just a few moments.

"Akane Tendou, buckets, hall, now!"

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

Nabiki was fuming. It had been funny to see Kuno attack Ranma. It wasn't so humorous to be the one attacked though. On the positive side, Ranma's reputation was taking a nosedive with the 'verified' rumors that he was officially a cowardly cross-dresser now that a lot of the school had seen her running from Kuno in her cursed form while wearing a dress.

She edged out of the girls' bathroom. Kuno was still stalking the halls looking for 'Ranma'. For now she was safe in her birth form. She had had the curse less than a day and already she absolutely hated it, especially the water magnet part. 'Humm, better start carrying a thermos,' she thought to herself.

She grimaced as she thought about the most recent experience. She now had first hand experience with the most important reason why Ranma refused to ever wear panties. Tight, form-fitting panties just did not go well with certain features of the male body she had painfully discovered. She recalled the shock on her associates' faces when she had changed and then immediately seemed to grope her, ah, himself. Actually he was just trying to get a little slack in the panties.

Her associates were working damage control for her; but only after she had promised to give them the whole story after school. She was not looking forward to that.

She sighed again and looked outside as she waited for the last class to end. She idly noticed Kodachi bounding across the schoolyard; a 'Ranma' captured in her ribbon.

"Alright, Malcolm," grinned Ranma. "This time I'm going to kick your butt all the way back to heaven."

She paused as she noticed the opal in her left bracer start to glow. Puzzled, she studied it for a moment before she looked up to the Ebony Angel for an explanation. Just before a flash of white light blinded her, she saw his wide grin as he waved 'bye-bye' to her.

Ranma yelped her surprise as she plummeted to earth. Once again she had appeared in her new location about two meters above the ground. She looked around her. It seemed to be Japan by the road signs she saw. The road had a few houses and it was somewhat mountainous; this was definitely a rural area. She shrugged her shoulders and began to walk down the road.

Several hours later Ranma paused, irritated. Ok, she was here. Now what she supposed to do on this world? Maybe she'd just go home. Humm, what was that?

"Masaki shrine" read Ranma aloud as she studied the sign before her. She wondered what she could do there. The name had caught her eye because she recalled it was one of the few shrines that her old man had carefully avoided. Avoided by a large spatial margin, a fact that had impressed her at the time.

Ranma continued onward toward the Shinto shrine that the markers indicated was just around the next hill. As she crested the hill, she paused and took in the pleasant sight of a comfortable home nestled next to a deep sub-alpine lake. The scene was set off by the majestic tree growing on one side of the view and the rising tiers of steps that led to the shrine itself on the top of the hill in the background.

"Hey girl, fancy meeting you here."

"Eep," yelped Ranma as she involuntarily jumped a meter into the air. She rapidly recovered though and hit the ground in a defensive stance facing her attacker. A moment's glare and she lightly smacked his shoulder with her open hand. "Baka! Don't scare me like that."

Malcolm only grinned back at her. He pointed to the distant shrine at the top of the hill. "Race ya there," he challenged and then took off with sure flaps of his powerful wings before she could respond.

"No fair, I can't fly." Frustrated, Ranma picked up a rock and chucked it at him. It bounced off his head but he ignored it. Even worse, he lazily flipped onto his back and continued to flap his wings like he was doing a backstroke while he put his thumb to his nose and blew a raspberry at her.

Furious, Ranma raced down the driveway around the lake and up the stairs. Needless to say, despite her speed, she was still a distant second.

Panting, she entered the shrine to find her friend calmly sipping tea with an elderly man that she assumed was the shrine priest. She gathered the tatters of her dignity together and respectfully bowed to him.

"Ranma," began Malcolm, "I'd like to introduce you to an old friend of mine from several centuries ago. This is Katsuhito Masaki; he is the shrine priest here."

"Centuries?" She stared at the older man a moment, "Nah, can't be. He's old looking but not that old looking."

Katsuhito grinned, "Thank you dear. May I say in return that you really look . . . ah, young too."

Ranma noticed Malcolm's slight smile. It puzzled her that both men seemed to expect something of her. She shrugged and answered, "Yeah, whatever."

Malcolm sighed and patted the cushion next to himself to suggest to his charge that she sit down.

Ranma glared at him and sat midway down the table equidistant from both men.

"So," Katsuhito began, "to what do I owe a visit from one of the heavenly warriors?"

Malcolm massaged the bridge of his nose momentarily before answering. He pointed at Ranma, "She's got a sword but doesn't know how to use it. I'd like to ask you to teach her."

"Hey, I can too use it. I just don't like doing it. Besides, what can an old man like that teach me?" She huffed, "Probably keel over and croak if he ever got any real exercise."

The priest cocked an eyebrow at the angel; "She's got a real attitude problem there."

"Tell me about it." He paused, and then added by way of explanation. "Can't really blame her. She was born a guy and was abusively trained to be a world class hand to hand martial artist. She basically doesn't know any better. I have hopes that that is one of the things you can also teach her." He grinned, "IF you can get her attention."

Katsuhito smiled slightly, "I think that perhaps I can do that slight thing." He reached behind him and grabbed two bokken from a cabinet. He tossed one to Ranma and softly spoke to her. "This old man challenges you for the insult you have given my skill. If you win, I'll concede that you were correct. When I win though, you will agree to become my student until released."

"IF you win, not that that is very likely," she retorted. Ranma made as if to toss the bokken back at him. "I don't use weapons."

Katsuhito held his hand up to forestall her. "Keep it; you may change your mind after we get started."

Ranma paused; she looked over at Malcolm who solemnly nodded. She shrugged, handed Malcolm her sword and slipped the bokken into the sheath instead.

The three of them made their way out to the rather large stone paved courtyard adjacent to the shrine building. Katsuhito assumed a negligent stance, bokken held down while Ranma looked equally unconcerned with her hands loosely at her sides.

Malcolm held the crystalline sword in guard position between them. Catching the eye of each in turn, he nodded then slashed the sword downward as he boomed, "Begin."

Four seconds later Ranma glared at the old man as she rose to her feet. Each hand was rubbing a rear cheek where he had slapped her once on each side with the flat of the blade before he knocked her off her feet with a leg sweep. His moves had been almost too fast for her to see.

Before she could say a word, he apologized. "I'm sorry my dear. I'm so used to dealing with experienced martial artists; I didn't realize you weren't ready. That one doesn't count. Shall we try again?"

Glaring at him, she nodded. This time she took a defensive stance. She was not going to underestimate him again.

Again Malcolm called it. Ranma was instantly dodging. Every time she thought she had him, he wasn't there. Growing ever more frustrated, she finally snapped into a series of back flips to gain some distance. Seeing him charge her, she hurriedly fired a chi blast at him that he deftly flicked aside with his bokken.

He grinned and innocently asked her, "Perhaps this frail old man should go a little slower?"

If glares were laser beams, he would have been deep-fried on the spot. Malcolm moved between them and once again gave the signal to start.

This time Ranma pulled out her bokken and the two of them began to spar. Katsuhito's quiet smile became a bit softer as he led the angry girl into the first of a series of sword kata.

Ranma quietly collapsed into a softly snoring heap on the ground three hours later, her bokken still clenched in her hands. Katsuhito gently pried it out of her hands as Malcolm cradled her in his arms.

He carried her into the shrine office as Katsuhito led the way to a small cot in the back room. Malcolm laid her on the cot and gently covered her up with a blanket.

He followed the priest into the main room. "Think you can do something with her?" He asked.

The elderly priest grinned. "She's got incredible potential and a spirit that won't give up. Of course I can do something with her. I assume you want me to teach her those Jurian secret sword techniques that I'm sworn to teach only to family members?"

Malcolm innocently cocked an eyebrow at him. "You have a problem with that?"

"No, not really; the laws have always acknowledged that there are exceptions when dealing with heavenly forces." Katsuhito paused and observed, "She is a heavenly force isn't she."

Malcolm snickered and said, "Oh, yeah. She's definitely all of that."

Malcolm smiled widely at Katsuhito and held out his hand. As they clasped hands, the Ebony Angel covered their clasped hands with his other hand and asked. "Take care of her old friend. She's got a hard journey ahead of her and she's just starting. I'm counting on you to help her make it."

Katsuhito released the handshake; "I'll give it my best." He assured the battle angel.

Malcolm slowly walked outside. He looked into the late afternoon sky and shrugged. "Duty calls," he said and vanished.

Kodachi attempted to wake her love. He snored on. She leaned in to kiss him when her delicate nose was assailed; apparently her love was overdue for a bath. She smiled to herself as a naughty idea occurred to her. She quickly stripped him, disrobed herself and carried her love into the oversize furo with her.

Genma woke to the sound of feminine outrage; a sound he was too familiar with as a result of his master's training. His eyes grew as large as saucers at the wondrous sight before him. Hormones absent for over a decade momentarily reappeared before self-preservation kicked in.

Genma skillfully dodged Kodachi's ribbon, razor hoop, spiked club and . . . well, everything else as he grabbed a bathrobe and jumped out the window that one of her explosive balls had blown open. He bounced once on the grounds and then bounded over Mr. Green Turtle's pond to land on the wall and thence to freedom.

Mr. Green Turtle happened to have been looking up as Genma-blimp flashed overhead, his robe fluttering. Mr. Green Turtle also lost his lunch. It escaped while he was frozen in shock. Oh, the horror, the humanity.

Kuno had arrived home just in time to witness Genma's departure. He hurriedly moved to comfort his distraught sister; she was after all, family. "So the knave sought to ravish you, did he? No doubt he fled before my manly presence in your defense."

Shaking, Kodachi grasped her brother's shirt and sobbed out. "I thought it was Ranma; he even looked like Ranma. Oh, Tachi, what's wrong?" She begged for reassurance, "Am I finally losing it?"

Stunned by her use of his childhood nickname, he paused and then answered carefully. "Not so my twisted sister. 'Twas merely an error due to the poor lighting. Foresooth, I perceive that the scoundrel was none other than the foul sorcerer's father. No doubt the family resemblance deceived you.

Kodachi happily grasped the proffered straw and built a boat out of it with which to rescue her hopes. "Yes, that must have been so. Thanks Tachi, I'm . . . I'm NAKED you pervert."

Kuno decided to take a short nap while his sister got dressed.

Meanwhile the 'Ranmas' were each noticing a few anomalies.

Mousse-Ranma noticed that his hair was now almost the same length in both forms. He squinted into the mirror to see if he could see any other changes. Squinted?

Genma-Ranma transformed and quickly dressed in his new form fitting gi. 'Humm, it seemed to have gotten a bit smaller since I bought it this morning. Must have shrunk in the wash; and whose hair was that in the brush? Odd, wasn't my hair longer and thicker this morning too?'

Akane looked at Ryouga-Ranma. He was waiting to change just as soon as a certain fat somebody got out of the bathroom. Something was different about him though. She studied her lover as they sat together on her bed. He was rather nervous under her scrutiny and grinned disarmingly as he scratched the back of his head.

"That's it!" She said suddenly. "Your cursed form no longer has a pigtail and DOES have fangs." She sighed having solved the mystery. "That's what was different. I'm glad it's nothing serious."

Nabiki figuratively dragged her weary butt into the house. The meeting with her lady associates had not gone particularly pleasantly. Two of them wanted dates. Her 'friends' had pointed out that she could now do the 'beefcake' photos that Ranma had always rejected. All demanded her cooperation in exchange for their support. What the hell was she going to do now? Wasn't she supposed to run the organization instead of it running her?

As she wearily started down the hallway, she was suddenly drenched. He glared at the idiot responsible, his father. However, before the two of them could even begin to express themselves, Kasumi intervened with a question.

"Nabiki, what happened to your hair? Last night and this morning when you transformed, you had Ranma's trademark pigtail. Now your hair is still in your favorite girl style." She paused and then continued, "Your face is a little bit more feminine now too. That's so odd. I wonder what's causing that."

Soun of course panicked. "Nabiki, henceforth, you will remain in male form."

Nabiki felt an uncharacteristic flash of anger. He popped his knuckles, "Pop, maybe we should discuss this during training. I'll meet you in the dojo after I change my clothes." With that he deftly moved past his idiot father and upstairs.

"Oh, my."

Soun stared up the stairs perplexed. Somehow that didn't go right. He saw his best friend coming down the stairs and decided to ask for help. At least he assumed it was his best friend. The gi was a bit tight and already a little gray despite being new. "Genma old friend; you've successfully trained a son. Maybe you could give me some pointers with my son Nabiki."

Genma-Ranma grinned, "Not a problem Soun; I'm an expert there. I'll be glad to help you whip Nabiki into a first rate heir."

The two martial artist friends made their way into the dojo, discussing possible strategies to make up for lost time in Nabiki's training regime.

Nabiki shortly arrived at the dojo dressed in some of Ranma's old clothing. He glared at the two masters of the Anything Goes School as they confidently approached him.

His father started it off. "Son, maybe I was a bit hasty. Go to school as a girl. After all it is a girlish thing to do. But other than that, we think it's best that you remain in your presently manly form. That will enable you to train more and build up your strength as well."

Genma took over. "It's a shame that this didn't happen earlier. Why think of the years of training opportunity that were wasted." He paused and then nodded confidently. "We'll have to take a few shortcuts. You might be a little old for some of the traditional training methods but I think your father and I can adapt them to suit you." He clapped Soun on the shoulder. "I have an idea for teaching an unbeatable technique. We'll probably have to use tigers instead of . . ."

Nabiki noticed a couple of things. His knuckles hurt. There was a new Ranma shaped hole in the wall with an unconscious Genma-Ranma lying on the ground just beyond it. And his father was dancing a jig about how manly his 'son' was. Oh, yeah, he felt really, really good. Maybe there was something to this martial arts stuff after all.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ranma yawned widely as she woke in the early morning. Whoa, but she was sore. She stretched for a few moments and then went to look for Malcolm and breakfast. She cleaned up, worked out the kinks in her body and then started to explore. She quickly discovered that she was alone. Other than the main shrine office and a few smaller buildings, there were no other places that one could stay on the top of the hill.

She took some food from her backpack and used the small stove that was apparently used for tea in the shrine office to prepare a quick but large breakfast. As dawn was coming up, she had an unexpected guest.

Sasami rubbed her sleepy eyes as she trudged downstairs to begin the day. She stopped in surprise to see Katsuhito already up and sipping tea. He smiled at her and said, "Good morning, Sasami. I needed to let you know that we will have another guest for a few months or so. She is to be a student of mine and I suspect she may have a hearty appetite."

Sasami smiled warmly in return, "Oh, thank you, Grandfather. Another friend will be so much fun."

Katsuhito grinned as he stood up and then used a mop to gently topple Ryouko off her sleeping perch, the top of one of the main ceiling beams of the main room.

The cyan-haired alien girl rolled over in the air several times before she hit the floor face first. Blearily opening her eyes, her head wobbled as she attempted to re-boot her brain. She mumbled, "I . . . I fell out of bed?" Finally she saw Katsuhito's smiling face. The mop in his hand and the wide grin was a dead give away as to why she fell out of bed for the first time.

"Yosho? What the hell did you do that for?" She screamed as she floated up to look him level in the eyes while remaining largely horizontal herself.

"I have a chore for you," he calmly replied.

"CHORE . . . why should I do . . ." she paused when he raised his hand.

"I assume you do want breakfast today?" Seeing her puzzled nod, Katsuhito continued, "YOU are not going to have breakfast until our guest arrives." Seeing her confusion, he grinned, "Your chore is to fetch her from my office. She's a cute redhead and your ticket to breakfast."

Ryouko snarled as she phased out and teleported to the shrine office.

She phased into existence just behind a redheaded girl. Smirking, she attempted to grab the girl by surprise but she seemed to vanish almost immediately. It was only momentary as the redhead immediately reappeared with her fist in Ryouko's stomach. The fight was on and over with almost immediately.

Ryouko took to the air, created her energy sword and swung. Ranma dodged and pulled her own sword and attempted to parry. Ryouko expected her sword to slice the other one into pieces, Ranma was hoping to live a bit longer. What happened was the crystal sword absorbed the energy blade and started to drain Ryouko as well until she released her connection to the energy blade.

Ryouko wobbled before crashing back to earth barely conscious. Ranma's crystal sword was glowing brightly and the girl looked as if the sword was swinging her. "Help, what the hell do I do with the energy now?" She yelped. That problem resolved itself when the sword released an intense beam of energy at the lake below just as Ryouko was beginning to regain her footing.

The discharge and resultant thunderclap blew both girls off their feet. Ranma unfortunately slammed headfirst into the side of the building.

Ryouko stared at the huge gout of water and steam rising skyward from the half-emptied lake for several long minutes before she leaned over and picked up Ranma in her arms. She teleported them both to the Masaki front room. It was no particular surprise to find that all the other residents were awake now and very vocal in wondering what had happened.

When Ryouko appeared, everybody just sighed as if her mere appearance explained everything. Ryouko snarled, "Don't look at me like that!" She pointed to the redhead after unceremoniously dumping her at Katsuhito's feet, "She's the one who nearly blew up the lake."

"So did you two get along ok?" chuckled Katsuhito mischievously.

Ryouko only snarled at him, "Here she is. Now where is my damn breakfast?"

Sasami cheerfully called from the kitchen, "It will be ready in about a half hour, so you have time for a quick bath."

"Who is she?" asked Ayeka.

Katsuhito smiled and answered, "She's my new student in Jurian sword techniques. Tenchi, meet your new sparing partner. Her name is Ranma." He paused and squinted at Ranma before asking Ryouko, "Where is her sword?"

Ryouko sighed and pointed in the general direction of the shrine, "I left it on the ground. I tried to pick it up but it 'bit' me so I left it there." She frowned at her former captor and asked, "What the hell did she do to me? That damned sword of hers absorbed my energy blade and nearly drained me dry before I shielded myself."

"Really, humm, that is most unexpected," mused Katsuhito. He grinned at the fuming former Space Pirate, "Interested in becoming one of her sparring partners too?" He asked.

Ryouko snarled instead of answering and then headed off to the baths. Ayeka picked up Ranma with only a little awkwardness and carried her into the bath with her. Anyone who could annoy Ryouko like that was already half a friend as far as she was concerned.

Nabiki stumbled to the breakfast table, tired, beaten and famished. He noticed that Genma-Ranma, his father, Akane and Ryouga were already seated. Surprisingly, Kasumi still did not serve the food. Puzzled, Nabiki looked around and noticed three extra plates again.

He looked up at his elder sister, "Amazons?"

"Yes Nabiki," she responded. "I think that we may have a problem. I hope there isn't one but Cologne is the one most likely to have that answer."

"If only you were a fighter," sighed Cologne as she and the other two Amazons entered and seated themselves. "Kasumi, you would have eventually made a great matriarch you know."

Kasumi's smile blossomed nova bright. "Thank you Elder. But I think you underestimate my place in my own society. I will become a formidable Japanese Matriarch in time."

Cologne shrugged, "Perhaps. Now what is the problem you wanted my help with?"

Kasumi casually tossed a glass of cold water into Ryouga's face so that he changed into Ryouga-Ranma. She pointed at him, then her brother, Mousse-Ranma and Genma-Ranma in turn. "When they were first cursed, they were all identical. Now they seem to be changing, changing in different ways. Is it something we should be worried about?"

Cologne stood up and walked around each of the Ranma copies in turn as she carefully studied them. Finally she sighed and murmured, "So the rumors from the Musk were true."

Seeing the uncomprehending looks on everybody else's faces she began to explain. "Magic is usually considered as an element of chaos and therefore has no rules. However, that is not exactly true, it has been somewhat quantified in something called magicstatics." She paused as she considered how to make the needed comparisons. Nodding to herself she continued, "It has an analogy to elementary physics, specifically electrostatics."

She glanced around again, as expected both Nabiki and Shampoo seemed to be following along so far, but everyone else was lost. Well, except Kasumi and that was surprising in itself. Especially when Kasumi asked; "Oh, magic attracts magic? But how does that apply here?"

Cologne grinned widely at her before answering. "That's not quite correct, dear. In the same way that opposite electrical charges attract each other, unlike magic attracts unlike magic. Or in this case, unlike curses attract unlike curses. That's one of the reasons so many cursed individuals are in this one neighborhood and why most of them also have several different curses."

"Oh, you mean like Ryouga has both a direction curse and a Jusenkyo curse," said Nabiki.

"And Ranma had that hair curse too," added Akane.

"Duck boy still blind as bat. Even if not duck anymore," snarled Shampoo.

"But then you mean that something different is happening because we have so many people with the same curse?" asked Kasumi.

"Precisely," acknowledged Cologne. "But instead of repelling each other as similar charges or poles do in electrostatics; identical curses change each other. The Musk use this magicstatic effect when they dip strong animals like lions and wolves into the Nyanniichuan to make wives for themselves. Normally the attributes of the animals would be suppressed by the curse magic, but because the Musk have so many wives with the same curse, the curses interact and change each other. The only avenue of change is to pull some major attributes of the original form into the cursed form, which is what the Musk are after."

She shrugged in a dismissing manner and added, "For the most part, the Amazons have ignored this aspect as identical curses in our village were very rare." She sighed as she looked around at the four versions of Ranma before her and then explained, "In short, it means that the longer you four are around each other, the more your curses will change to make you resemble your original form." She snickered, "You could say that it could end up as a form of a cure for the males at least."

Cologne pointed at Mousse, "Your eyesight is still good, but no longer perfect. Remain here longer near the other Ranma curses and you will once again end up blind as a bat." She gestured to the others; "The rest of you have already experienced some changes. Ryouga the least as he started out as the most similar to Ranma, but Genma's cursed form will continue to grow balder, fatter and older while Nabiki's male form will slowly become more effeminate looking the longer your identical curses are exposed to each other."

"But grandmother," interjected Shampoo, "This not make sense. If wives of Musk change fast as this, then would revert back to animal before have baby."

"Very good Shampoo," Cologne said as she smiled at her heir. "The difference is that the Musk lock the curses. That changes the rate at which they change. Here the modifications become more rapidly apparent each time one of them changes forms again."

Mousse-Ranma stood up. He hesitantly looked at Shampoo, then glazed longingly around at his surroundings, obviously savoring the experience of being able to see clearly. His shoulders slumped as he studied the disdain for him in his love's eyes. Perhaps he was truly seeing clearly for the first time. He bowed and said, "Shampoo, Elder, I must take my leave of you. I am overdue to see my mother." He left without a backward glance.

"Grandmother! You must stop Mousse. He no can tell village what happen."

"Not my business, child. That's between you and him. He has the right to return home."

Shampoo looked in disbelief at her grandmother. She felt abandoned at that moment. Shampoo quickly ran after Mousse calling his name.

"For his sake, I hope she doesn't find him," whispered Kasumi.

Cologne sadly nodded.

Meanwhile, Soun had quickly found and packed backpacks for both Genma and Ryouga. "Here you go. Have a good trip," he said as he ushered the two men to the door. He added as he attempted to close the door, "I'm sure you understand this is necessary to ensure that my SON inherits the school."

"Daddy!" yelled Akane. "Ryouga is my fiancée. You can't kick him out!"

Soun stood there flustered. He glanced at Nabiki almost hungrily before turning a disdainful glare at Ryouga. His demon head soared as he roared, "Yes I can. HE is the one who disgraced you and this house. I want him out!"

"Then I'm going too," snarled Akane. Neither of them noticed that Genma had panicked and fled when the demon head had appeared. Ryouga was merely frozen in shock.

Soun's demon head subsided as he studied his youngest daughter. With a grimace, he agreed. "As you wish Akane. You are welcome back, he is not." Soun then turned and closed the door of his room behind him as he tried to shut out this latest hurt.

Akane's aura flared in anger, "How dare he do that to me. HOW DARE HE!"

"Oh shut up princess," hissed Nabiki as he poured the hot tea over himself. "Grow up; the world doesn't revolve about you. I'm getting tired of your tantrums. Guess what, the rest of us have feelings too."

"You, you . . . you bitch!" snarled Akane as she swung a fist at Nabiki.

Using reflexes only recently reawakened, Nabiki ducked and transformed the attack into a throw, propelling the fuming girl into the pond. Akane sat in the water looking at her sisters in disbelief. Seeing them both calmly studying her, she finally got a glimmer of an idea that they were not happy with her. She rose, went to her room and packed her backpack. Soon she and Ryouga were walking down the street, facing the rising sun. He was leading, as she could not see for the tears dripping. They were not in school that day, nor for many more that followed.

Nodoka stood and bowed slightly to Kasumi. "I will go and find Genma. Please let me know when Soun has regained his senses."

"Nodoka."

The elder woman turned with a slight frown at the familiar use of her name, but before she could remonstrate, Kasumi continued, not even bothering to rise to face Nodoka.

"Nodoka, my father HAS regained his senses. Finally he has a purpose again and neither Nabiki or I will permit you or your husband to interfere with his dreams no matter how crazy they may seem to be to you." Kasumi then dismissed the elder woman with a slight nod of her head as she turned to Nabiki.

Fuming, the Saotome matron fumbled with coverings of her katana. But no matter how long she prolonged the fumbling; neither Kasumi nor Nabiki paid her any mind. Finally she sighed in resignation and left the house.

Nabiki mulled over Kasumi's words even as she watched her sister study her. Finally she spoke, "I'm stuck doing this aren't I?" She asked.

Kasumi cocked her head noncommittally, "I'm sure you could find a way to resist. The question is whether you are willing to pay the price."

"Daddy?"

"Yes, he's the price. Even if it's misguided, daddy is back." Kasumi shuddered and added, "I'm afraid that if he looses this new dream, he'll join mama soon."

Nabiki sighed in defeat as she dished up breakfast. She, Kasumi and Cologne ate in companionable silence.

After breakfast, Nabiki headed for the bath while Cologne helped Kasumi clear the table. As Cologne was about to leave, Kasumi stopped her with a question. "Elder, if you would, please tell me about the time you met Malcolm."

Cologne paused in thought; she poured herself another cup of tea as she studied the young woman before her. "I've never told anyone else, but perhaps it is time." She gestured for Kasumi to sit with her and then began the story. "It was almost 290 years ago, a week after my sixteenth birthday. He came, a glorious ebony angel." She snickered, "I thought he was one of the Phoenix people and attacked him. He put me down without harm in ten seconds flat. I tried to give him the kiss of marriage but all I got was a gentle booming chuckle for my efforts."

She smiled wanly, "He then explained that I was chosen to be a 'heroine'; needless to say, I was all excited until I heard the price. It was more than I was willing to give up. I know he was disappointed but he only smiled at me, wished me a long happy life and left."

Kasumi sat there expectantly, sipping her tea but not saying a word.

Cologne sighed, "He said that I would have to cease being an Amazon. Over the centuries, I've wondered if I made the right choice. I decided then that I would prove that an Amazon could be a heroine too. As a result, I've done a lot of good for my people and the peoples around our village, but still I wonder."

As Nabiki was preparing to go school, Cologne stopped her. "Nabiki, you can still learn martial arts and live your own life. This was the lesson that Ranma was struggling to learn. I'm sure you won't have near his difficulty in seeing it." With that she smiled at both the Tendou daughters and added, "Farewell. It's been mostly fun, but it's time I also returned to the village. With Ranma gone, there is no real reason to stay anymore."

Kasumi bowed low to the diminutive Elder as she left their home.

Nabiki picked up her school bag, made sure the two thermos of hot water were there and left for school after giving Kasumi a quick hug.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

.o0o. .o0o.

Ryouga wandered along the path through the trees, Akane holding his hand and trailing just slightly behind him, sniffling occasionally as she murmured, "This is all Ranma's fault," every dozen steps or so.

They paused as they watched the cyan-haired girl fly past just above the treetops; they grinned at each other when they heard her yell, "Ranma, I'll get you for that!" They cracked their knuckles in unison and started off at a trot in the direction the girl had been flying. At the first turn in the path, they stepped into a monsoon and Akane only barely saved herself from tripping into the knee deep stream she was suddenly standing in by making a desperate grab onto Ryouga's arm.

She futilely wiped the rain out of her eyes as she looked at the dimly seen surroundings that were obscured by the driving rain. She sighed in resignation and muttered, "Oh, Ryouga, this was really cute the first couple of times. But it's becoming really irritating anymore."

Ranma smiled. It had been a very interesting month so far. Katsuhito would not allow her to use anything except her crystal sword or a bokken in her training, though she still warmed up with her school's kata. She'd also creamed Tenchi in their morning sparring matches. Katsuhito had promptly increased Tenchi's training significantly yet he also had not gone easy on her either. Most afternoons they sparred until she could no longer continue either from fatigue or because she was unconscious.

Katsuhito though, had said that this morning's battle would be different. She grinned impishly at Ryouko when she noticed her standing with Katsuhito and Tenchi, "Hey fly girl. What brings you here? Wanta watch as I wipe the yard with your lover boy this morning, again?" She smirked at the spiky haired alien.

Ryouko snarled. Both she and Ayeka had been banned from watching the morning sparring matches after interfering the first time they'd witnessed it. The memory was not pleasant as she recalled it.

It was the next morning, just after Ranma's arrival. Ranma had just knocked Tenchi out with a bokken strike to the head when Ryouko and Ayeka had attacked her in a misguided effort to 'save' Tenchi, not realizing it was only sparing practice.

Almost caught by surprise, Ranma had decked Ayeka and spun kicked Ryouko to get some distance from them. When the two alien women had powered up, Ranma had dropped the bokken and pulled out her crystal sword, a broad grin across her face.

Ranma's hand-to-hand skills had enabled her to dodge their attacks even as her sword was able to absorb any energy blasts that it intercepted. Apparently Ranma's only previous experience with the energy absorption and storage capabilities of her crystal sword had given her a slight clue as to how it worked. When the sword was finally glowing brightly, Ranma had maneuvered her opponents so that they were together momentarily. It had been enough. The return blast from the sword caught them both flatfooted and blown them through the trees and brush surrounding them before rendering them both senseless. It had been fortunate that both of them had their shields up otherwise they might have been hurt more.

She grimaced at the final memory, worse of all; she had awoken only moments later to see Ranma's self-satisfied smirk as she said. "Yeesh, you guys are a matching pair for Tenchi. You all suck," she had snickered.

Ayeka had taken it in stride once she learned that it was training. She'd apologized and she and Ranma had gotten along well since then. Or so it seemed. Katsuhito had asked Ayeka to take Ranma in hand and teach her how to act a bit more femininely. Ryouko was sure that she saw a small secret smile on Ayeka's face every once in a while when one of her feminine 'training' techniques got to Ranma.

Ryouko shook her head and cleared out these recent memories so she could focus on the task at hand. Revenge on Ranma, with Katsuhito's help even!

Nabiki grinned in satisfaction to herself as she walked into the house after school. The morning meeting with her associates had gone very well. She'd been doused once, but after he'd blackened that girl's eye, the other's had gotten the message that her curse was off limits. One girl had tried blackmail until reminded of the information that Nabiki had on her. Ten minutes, that was all it had taken to get her associates back in line. She'd announced that she was going to be spending a bit less time on this line of work and had offered higher cuts to her associates if they picked up the slack. Their answering grins erased the last of the tension between them.

Nabiki paused at the door and on impulse silently made her way around to the back door. She peered into the house and spotted her father, hiding near the front door, bucket in hand waiting for her. She smiled slightly and carefully made her way upstairs unseen.

A few moments later, after changing twice, a gi clad Nabiki made his way downstairs, a bucket of cold water in hand. Spotting Kasumi, Nabiki held a finger to his lips in signal to his sister to not say anything as he made his way toward where their father waited in ambush.

"Yipe!" yelped Soun as the sudden bath of cold water startled him.

Nabiki held his arm across his face and declaimed, "Oh the shame, that my own father, once a martial artist, could be caught so unawares. It must be advancing age," he snickered to the older man's discomfort.

Nabiki grinned impishly, "Well, I guess I'll go warm up and start a kata until a real martial artist sensei shows up." With that he trotted into the dojo, his father soon joined him and with renewed interest, they began reviving the Tendou school together.

Ranma was trying to glare at the elderly priest but her look was so woebegone that it was all he could do not to chuckle.

"Do I gotta?" She plaintively asked.

Katsuhito nodded as he replied, "You did agree to be my student and comply with the lessons you were given."

"But that was just about the sword stuff, wasn't it?"

He shook his head, "No Ranma. The sword lessons might be the most important part to you, but they aren't the lessons you need the most however. You ARE a girl from now on. I know you aren't going to be a traditional girl, with your origins that would be impossible. But here you have four radically different role models to learn from. Washu may be over twenty thousand years old, but she's still a girl at heart. She can teach you the value of knowledge as well. Her daughter Ryouko has a mischievous spirit that is equal to yours and exceeded only by Sasami's. But she's a warrior maid like yourself and can teach you a lot about being a woman if only through her errors if nothing else. From Sasami you can learn something about the girlhood that you missed. And last but certainly not least, my sister Ayeka can teach you the more traditional roles and ideals associated with being a lady.

"Yeah ok if you say so, but why do I gotta wear a dress, and why now? You didn't make a big deal about it before. Well, other than not allowing me any new clothes that weren't feminine these past couple of months." mumbled Ranma.

"I haven't said anything about it earlier because I wanted you to get to know the other girls first. Learning how to wear a dress and becoming comfortable with it is something you need to do if you are going to accept what they have to teach you. You wear a gi to learn martial arts, a swimming suit to learn to swim, so you will wear a dress whenever you are not otherwise training in martial arts here." He paused and added with a slightly lecherous smile, "Besides, you look so good in a dress."

Ranma sputtered and stormed off. But she paused at the top of the stairs just before leaving the shrine area and grinned at him. "Ya do have that right." She thumbed her nose at him and remarked, "And a perverted old man like you can't do anything about it except look."

.o0o. .o0o. Saotome home . . .

Genma looked into the mirror. He sighed as he noticed that while he still had a lot of hair; it wasn't long and had definitely receded significantly. Plus he had bulked up a lot. Fortunately it wasn't fat; he just looked like a thirty year old mix of himself and his son's forms.

He shivered as Nodoka leaned in and kissed him. He grinned, with the changes that had happened in his life recently, this was probably the best of all.

.o0o. .o0o. Masaki shrine . . .

Ranma sat at the table and engaged in an impromptu food-feed-fight with Ryouko. The alien girl had taken to the speed training with gusto. Or maybe it was the extra food she hoped to get. Anyway they both enjoyed the game much to the dismay of the other people. Or so it seemed, but Ranma had noticed the slight smiles on nearly every face at times though.

Ranma would have been hesitant to admit it, but she considered Ryouko a friend. Their sparring matches were exhilarating and the constant series of practical jokes they played on each other often resulted in Washu having to make major repairs to the home.

Ayeka was frequently called on to be a referee for them and often got caught up in the hilarity. Several times she had pulled one of her own practical jokes on one or the other of the other two jokers and usually managed to cast the blame on one of them as well at first.

It was not uncommon for Ryouko to tag along with Ayeka when she took Ranma out for feminine training such has shopping or maybe a concert or play. Well, maybe not a play, not after what happened at the first one. The new theater was expected to be ready pretty soon. It was the victim of a rather impromptu improvised re-enactment of the last fight scene. Ryouko and Ranma had gotten more into the play than either realized, or maybe it was another practical joke. Ayeka wasn't sure.

Tenchi and Sasami often spent hours in Washu's lab together with her just watching the live 'soap' opera that was Ranma's life at the Masaki shrine. Other times however, the three of them just spent hours together helping Tenchi make sense of the events that had happened to him on Juria almost two years ago.

He'd won a throne and then attempted to walk away from it. It looked like it was coming back to haunt him giving credence to the old saying that no good deed ever goes unpunished. He'd saved an empire and it looked as if they weren't going to let him be forgotten or let him do what he wished.

.o0o. .o0o. Nerima . . .

Mousse sighed as he made his way home. He paused as he heard Shampoo calling him. Not wanting to talk to her just now while he was confused, he turned off the path home and dodged over a large wall only to land in a large pond. Chuckling to himself; glad that being a water magnet now was only inconvenient since he loved his new cursed form, he cursed his robes as he began to struggle to shore in the neck deep water.

Suddenly sensing danger, Mousse paused and looked behind him only to see two floating bumps about 10 cm apart. When they blinked, he realized he was in a staring contest with a huge alligator.

Attracted by the noise of fight in her back yard, Kodachi decided to investigate. "Perhaps," she thought to herself, "Mr. Green Turtle is due for an impromptu snack." She just loved it when thieves came to visit; her pet so enjoyed having them over too.

She was shocked to find her pet with a training potty jammed down his throat and on the verge of expiring. She made a running leap and bounced on his stomach in an improvised Heimlich maneuver and was relieved to see her pet expel the furniture and lie gasping on the shore.

Kodachi ignored her pet though after she had noticed her love lying half-naked on the edge of the pond. Quickly gathering 'her Ranma-sama' up in her arms she easily carried him into her boudoir.

Though her 'love' was half-delirious from his battle due to fatigue and a few bruises about the head and shoulders, that did not stop her from claiming him for herself. Mousse fully aroused at the moment of his climax and screamed (she thought it was with ardor) when he noticed who had claimed his virginity. Only moments later and he was gone out the window, clothed in robes he'd pulled from somewhere.

Kodachi sighed with happiness. "Oh her love had so much energy," she thought to herself. She paused, and wondered it she'd actually told him where the bathroom was. He apparently really needed to go in a hurry, or maybe it was a bath he wanted. After all he had been mumbling about getting a shampoo. She smiled to herself languidly, a bath together, what a good idea.

.o0o. .o0o. Masaki shrine . . .

Ryouko sobbed drunkenly. Her Tenchi was gone. Claimed by a fleet of Imperial treeships that demanded he take up his duty, a demand that an older Tenchi could no longer deny. He'd been also forced to choose two wives, both to fulfill another duty but to also protect himself and those that he loved.

Ryouko hadn't been one of them. Tenchi had surprised everybody by choosing Sasami and Washu.

Looking back, Ryouko could see how it had happened. Secretive Washu had revealed her inner most heart when she'd taken over the care of Tenchi's young cousin. More than anything, Washu had apparently wanted to be a mother, to have a young child to love and try to recover from the loss of her first two children; a son stolen when she was a teen and then Ryouko stolen away later herself. Washu had never had a chance to raise either child.

Sasami was not really a surprise in retrospect either. When they'd first learned of Tsunami's existence, even then Tenchi and Sasami had been attracted to each other despite the youth of both.

Tenchi had chosen the two most powerful girls he knew to help him rule an empire. It certainly helped that they also loved each other as well.

Soft arms wrapped themselves about her and pulled her into a warm hug. "Hurts don't it?" Ranma affirmed.

"What the hell do you know about it?" mumbled Ryouko angrily.

"Been there, done that, have the scars on the heart to prove that you can survive it," was the redhead's surprising reply.

Ryouko hiccupped and then pulled the other girl into an embrace and broke down completely. Somebody understood. Somebody loved her. She wasn't alone.

Ranma looked a bit haggard. It had been a long week, she'd ignored training and both her and Ayeka had spent time together with Ryouko.

Ayeka had been a wreck too, but she'd been partially expecting it even though she'd hoped that it was only a school girl crush on Sasami's part. She at least had other family but the only other family that Ryouko could claim had been the one to win Tenchi's heart instead of her.

The feeling of betrayal that Ryouko felt because of her mother Washu, was something she was trying to cope with. It didn't help, or maybe it did, that Ryouko could feel her mother's happiness through her part of the link that tied her with her mother and Ryou-ou-ki.

Ranma concentrated on holding both her friends Ryouko and Ayeka close as they struggled with this devastation of their hopes and dreams. Slowly she pulled them back from despair and got them to living again.

The three girls were sitting together on a bench just watching the autumn leaves fall. All three started a bit when Malcolm strode into view, Katsuhito pacing at his side.

Ranma sprang up and embraced the ebony angel. "Malcolm, it's been almost a year. Where have you been?"

Malcolm pointed up and replied, "Duty called little one." He sighed and said, "It's almost time for you to move on to your next assignment. I wanted to make sure you had a chance to say goodbye first."

Ranma suddenly turned back to her friends Ayeka and Ryouko, turning so swiftly that her full skirt swirled out and almost flashed her panties. "Oh no, oh, Ryouko and Ayeka, I don't want to leave you, oh no."

She looked into Malcolm's eyes and noticed that one of her bracers was just starting to flicker with a pearl-like glow. She muttered, "I have to go don't I?" At his nod, she abruptly hugged both the other girls and said what she'd never said before. "I love you both. I hope I'll be allowed to visit again. Please remember me because I'll never forget you two."

The other two hugged her close, both confused at what was happening. They looked blankly at each other as Ranma shimmered out of sight even as they held her.

Malcolm turned to Katsuhito and thanked him, "You and the girls did a wonderful job, Katsuhito. Thank you." He left a few moments later.

Katsuhito sat between the girls and explained about Ranma. They missed her, but were glad she'd become their friend.

Mousse lazily watched the waves break over the bow of the ship. Midnight tomorrow would see him back in China with only a week of land travel until he was home again. He absently scratched at the bandage around his head. Last night Shampoo had surprised him at the Cat-Café just as he was packing up his gear. She'd used a sword and he'd barely dodged it. She'd laid his scalp open with the hilt though. Only the fact that the backstroke of her second attempted strike had taken out one of the fire sprinklers had saved him. He'd been lying there dazed on the floor when she'd suddenly become a cat amid a spray of fire protection water.

Mousse finally understood. Shampoo didn't want Ranma's body; she wanted Ranma, not him. Right now he was an obstacle to her plans, and obstacles were for killing. Now if only he could get rid of that weird nightmare concerning Kodachi.

Ranma scowled at Malcolm as she dusted herself off. Upon arriving, she'd taken a tumble onto the dusty garish landscape. She looked about, trying to puzzle where on earth she could be. Her eyes stopped when she noticed the pair of smaller moons just above the horizon, her brow wrinkled in thought a moment before she commented. "Malcolm, where are we? I'm pretty sure it's not earth."

"Yeah, you've guessed that right," he replied with one of his wide grins.

"Jeez, I wish I'd had time to put on some of my 'fighting' clothes," Ranma complained. "This dress may be cute and all that, but it sucks if I'm going to get into a fight."

Malcolm just grinned at her admiringly for a moment; long enough for a frustrated expression to appear on her face before he responded. "For the battle you have to fight on this planet, you are in the proper attire."

"Aw crap, this isn't another training mission like the last one is it? I mean I spent a year learning how to fight with a sword and act like a girl, but I sure didn't save anybody like you said I would have too."

"That's where you are wrong, Ranma," said Malcolm as he sat on the bank of a small stream. He patted the purple grass next to him and motioned for the girl to sit.

Ranma looked about, speculatively eyeing the dark foliage, Except for the predominance of purples and blues; it looked a lot like any other lightly wooded meadow. She sighed as she folded her dress beneath her and sat next to the angel, leaning onto his shoulder. Why she took that position, she couldn't have said. Maybe because he was the only link she had to home just now.

He put an arm about her and softly said in a somber bass voice, "Ranma, yesterday you were instrumental in saving the lives of nearly one hundred and fifty million people."

Ranma turned her head sharply to look into his somber eyes, "Nah, ya gotta be kidding me. All I did yesterday was baby-sit Ryouko."

The ebony angel's face split into a broad happy grin, "Yes, and because you convinced her that she was somebody worthwhile, she was loved and had friends, she'd didn't go on a suicidal rampage and kill all those people. Because of the year you spent training with her, you were somebody she respected intensely. You reached her when nobody else could. You made the difference." He hugged her closer with one hand and ruffled her hair with the other. "You did good Ranma."

She absently knocked his hand away from her hair with one hand as she asked. "What's going to happen to her now?"

Malcolm grinned at her before replying. "It's hard to say for sure, but the heavenly scuttlebutt is that both she and Ayeka are going to end up married to Katsuhito."

"What! Both of those cute girls and that old man together? Yuck, that sounds awful. Well sorta, I mean he's really a neat man but, aw man."

Malcolm only smiled wider as he responded. "Actually, it's kind of poetic justice in a way. Katsuhito promised Ayeka he'd marry her over 700 years ago, but he left her to chase down Ryouko. The two girls have been enemies for years, so it only makes sense that they'd marry the same man so that they could continue to fight."

Ranma slapped one hand to her face as the other lightly whapped his chest. "Please tell me you are joking. Those two girls hate each other. Don't they?"

Malcolm smoothed Ranma's hair as he gently replied, "Ayeka and Ryouko hate each other just as much as you hate either of them."

"Oh"

Malcolm stood and helped Ranma to her feet. "Ranma, I think that you've learned that the most important battles are those fought in the heart. You helped Ryouko win her battle. But there is more for you to learn. In the coming year you will learn the difference between honor and integrity. Your teacher will be a man named Retief." He stepped back and just before he shimmered out of sight he added, "Learn, have fun and above all, just be yourself. Be well."

.o0o. .o0o.

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.o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Ranma strolled through the embassy grounds, her form automatically gaining her entrance. Humans were few in this part of the galaxy, young beautiful girls like herself almost nonexistent. She sighed as she wondered what she would end up doing this time.

"Oof!" she grunted as she rounded a corner and crashed into a tall well built man in his late twenties.

His hands on her shoulders steadied her momentarily, "My apologies, I was careless," the rich baritone offered, "My name is Retief, Jamie Retief, deputy undersecretary for cultural surveys here at the embassy."

"Ranma, Miss Ranma Saotome," she replied as he released her.

"Forgive me for saying this, but . . . you're new here aren't you?"

She giggled, "If that was a pick-up line, it was old several millennium ago."

He smiled broadly, "That was why I apologized, I was actually asking for the information but then again, may I offer you some refreshment?" he said as he offered his elbow.

"Such a gentleman," she grinned but took his arm. It had taken a year but Ayeka had managed to drill some manners into Ranma. "Yes, I am new not only to this planet but this time era as well."

He arched an eyebrow at her and she lifted one back at him. They grinned, friends already. Ranma decided to answer the implied question, "I'm from the distant past, but part of my training as a battle angel trainee requires that I stay on this planet and study events for the next year. I am supposed to learn something but I'm not sure what. Normally I figure it all out at the last minute."

"Humm, Angel, yes that I can see and confirm," Jamie drawled, as he ran an obviously approving glance over her form.

"Baka," she responded as she lightly slapped his arm. "I'm not permitted any romantic entanglements so back off," she warned, her year at the Masaki shrine had changed her responses to this situation. She was female and knew it now even if she wasn't all that happy about it.

He grinned and steered her into the embassy cafeteria. He handed her a tray and took one for himself. As they filled their trays for an early mid afternoon lunch he remarked, "Normally, one would discount such a claim. But I know that there hasn't been a ship land on this planet for over a month and the human population is small enough that newcomers are commented on almost immediately. That suggests your arrival is already unusual. Then too, something about you suggests restrained power." He paused and added, "Actually something like that would be completely in character for this particular planet."

He paused as he paid for their meal, surprised that she had managed to load her tray with almost twice what he had chosen and his meal was not a light one. He led them as they made their way to a somewhat private table on one side of the room. As he seated her, he remarked, "Do you believe in magic?" At her questioning look he continued, "Things happen on this planet that seem to have no other explanation than magic."

"I'm familiar with magic," Ranma cautiously admitted. "Actually, I've recently began a study of it as a variation on energy forms." This time Retief was the one with a questioning expression. She expanded, "All living creatures show some form of life energy, that seems redundant I know; but the energy from an environment saturated with life permeates everything. That energy can be used to shape the world around us if one has the skill. Martial artists call that energy chi but some call it magic; both are used differently but the primal source for both is the same."

"Most succinctly put," he observed dryly.

She blushed, "I had a year's worth of training under one of the most brilliant women in the universe." She absently rubbed her head and added, "Washu-chan was most insistent on me learning stuff."

Retief was a bit surprised to notice that Ranma's plates were clean. He'd barely noticed that she was eating. He absently stabbed his plate for the last piece of his steak. Puzzled he glanced down wondering where it had gone. Maybe he'd eaten it and not noticed?

As they made their way out, he asked "Ranma, can you do anything others would consider magic?"

She grinned at him and then faded from sight. Her merry bell like laugh echoed around him at his startled face. He swept his arms out as if searching for her only to notice her watching him a few moments later. She was at the end of the walkway demurely sitting on a bench, a broad smile on her face.

Before he reached her, a green skinned hominoid form bounded over the wall, stopping a few meters from Ranma. The redhead studied the being with interest noting how it had faintly elfish features such as silvery hair and pointed ears. Of course the fact that there were three eyes and no nose not to mention that the joints of the legs were reversed and the arms reached almost to the backward pointing knees really blew the elf picture out of sight.

Retief reached her and explained, "This is one of the local sentient species on this planet. He is a . . ." Retief paused and quickly placed himself between Ranma and the being as it began to warp.

"Quickly, leave now Ranma," he directed as he explained, "he's become a were-creature. They are very dangerous."

Ranma stepped around Retief and watched as the native gained another pair of limbs between the others. This made him vaguely centaur like though only about two meters tall and long. The hands grew massive claws and the mouth broadened, looking large enough to hold the girl's entire head.

"Humm, from the energy flows and appearance, it looks somewhat like a Jusenkyo curse," she observed stepping closer.

As the beast sprang toward her, she casually back-handed it while dodging its attacks. Retief stared at the creature now trying to pull itself upright from the wall it was almost imbedded in and then looked over toward the slight maiden who had to be out weighed by at least a factor of 5 to 1. That was when he realized her hands were faintly growing, in fact her whole body had a faint aura about it but the hands had an extra glow to them.

"Oh, wow, he heals up really fast huh?" exclaimed Ranma as she noticed that the being was almost completely healed from the impact on the wall.

Retief reached out to put a hand on the girl but some instinct restrained him. He replied, "Yes, because of the transformation, an apparently magical one, he now has great strength, speed and accelerated healing. Unfortunately he also seems to be blessed with bloodlust and a desire to dine on us."

"Sweet!" exclaimed the girl. It was all he could do not to face fault. "That means I can really pound on him without worrying too much about really hurting him, well, permanently I mean."

About that time the creature and Ranma charged each other. Retief and the embassy security guards who had arrived as the battle started could make out few details.

It resolved into the redhead holding the badly beaten were-creature up by the throat and smacking it lightly (sort of) across the face as she demanded, "Hey, wake up. I went easy on you. Come on, I want to play some more. Stupid healing don't matter if the idiot won't wake up."

She turned to the guards who took a step back in nervous unison. She tossed the beast toward them as it began to revert and complained, "Here, you can have him. What a disappointment."

"How did you do that?" Retief asked.

"Humm, oh, well I've been studying martial arts since I could walk. I am one of the best you will ever find. Part of that is that I have also developed a lot of control over my ki or spiritual energy."

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Magnum cleared his throat and demanded, "Miss, do you have any idea of the diplomatic problems you have caused. That honorable being you assaulted was no less than the junior ecological attaché of the recognized planetary government. They are demanding that we turn you over for formal punishment."

He added knowledgeably, "I think that involves forcing the penitent to swim a river." He paused and added, "I think the river flows out of an acid hot spring if I recall." He shrugged, "Well, no help for it. Do you have a swim suit? I think perhaps the embassy could assist you that far at least."

The ambassador stormed into the room, "Young lady!" he barked in a high falsetto, "What is your name, present your identification immediately. Are you even authorized to be on this planet?"

Ranma shrugged and slipped her small purse off her belt. She remembered that Malcolm had handed it to her before he'd left so maybe he'd added something for her. She thumbed through the contents before pulling out a square of unfamiliar shiny plastic. "What's this?"

The ambassador froze at the sight of the passport. The neon gold color was specific to CDT diplomatic passports. Retief gently pulled the document out of her hands and inserted it into the reader.

Magnum hissed in distress as he stammered, "A Vatican diplomatic passport counter-stamped by the CDT certifying one Ranma Saotome as ambassador-at-large, oh my."

"So," drawled Retief, "Ambassador Sudge, what is the punishment for someone who invades another embassy and attacks an ambassador-at-large?"

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Minister Browny glared at his aid before summoning a cave-imp to clean up the mess. "Here," he gestured as he held out a bag filled with golden Liters to his aid. "Take these coins to the Orcs at Wegotlots and have them put the money in my vault."

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

Ranma looked up at Retief and asked with disbelief, "They call the coins liters? Where did that name come from?'

Jamie smiled and confided, "You notice how each coin has an imprint of a dragon on one side and what appears to be a pile of something indistinguishable on the other?" Seeing her nod in understanding, he continued, "The dragons eat rock as a part of their normal diet and metabolize the lighter elements. Heavy metals such as gold collect in their gut and are expelled periodically. Long ago the dragons noticed that other folk would collect the gold from the dragon litter boxes. As a joke and in exchange for allowing the Orcs the right to collect the; ah, 'litter', they convinced the Orcs to create these coins and imbue them with magic that makes them hard to modify." He paused and added, "I think the name for the coins originally had two 't's in it.

.o0o. .o0o. .o0o.

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Heart heavy and uncertain, Ranma was in a quandary as to what to do. That was until she noticed the faint glimmer of light just starting to come from her 'travel stone'. Then she desperately wrapped her arms around Jamie, pulled his face to hers and kissed him, putting her whole heart into it until she vanished in a soft shower of lights and a soft 'plop' of displaced air, leaving a dumbstruck Retief. He swore to himself afterwards that he had heard the words "I love you" echo softly.

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.o0o. .o0o.

Tenchi (done)

Retief – difference between honor & integrity, attracted to James as part of experience, also realizes that being human does not equate to being superior to everybody else. Introduced to magic as a life style. [slight HP parody]

Oh, My Goddess, year learning about 'good' warriors and the active roles that females can play (Norns). Learns that chaos does not mean evil and sometimes order is not good.

Tarzan, another male role model for father, learns 'anthropomorphic' concepts. Appreciation for nature and her creatures.

Sackett, acceptance of life and duty. Teaches early clan head some of hand to hand fighting methods. Impacts whole family line, improves weapons skills

Phantom, family honor, another male role model. Learns that civilization is more a matter of spirit and culture than level of technology.

Xanth, is reshaped into man but comes to understand that that is not 'him' anymore, (magic fades once leaves)

Conan, year of barbarian, first 'true' love (prep'd by Retief, Sacketts, Tarzan & Phantom). Learns that love doesn't always conquer, sometimes duty must come first.

Slayers, learns that nature of magic is chaos, control of mouth taught by Lena

Foundation, sentient robots, visits overcrowded earth, realizes how close to surface barbarism is as sheer number of folk make them turn on each other despite gender etc.

Hobbit, healing for last mental scars when she meets dwarves and elves.

Kanzi (Ringworld series, but on world near Kanzi), tests cat-fist training, makes these aliens much more cautious about earth folk. Sensei for elite fighters that can take on Kanzi one-on-one. ('hell-fire' tattoo her students try to give her too)

Lensman, confused with Clarrisa sometimes because of redhair and lens. Learns possibilities of lens and value of mental power (education etc.)

Telzy, female role model, could be twin in attitude. Sassy, more pisonics

Darkover – more pisonics/magic

Gramarye – psi-magic training, lens involved too

Pern, becomes limited second stage 'lensman' while dealing with dragons, learns to teleport. Not very good at telepathy but perception great.

After this point, story becomes Angel Trainee: the Return

.o0o. .o0o.