Sasami came down the stairs, her sister following close
behind.  They had been staying at the Masaki house (at its new
location near the shrine thanks to their crash landing) for a week
now and this was the first time she had gotten Aeka out of their
room.  She had been brooding and refusing visitors, lamenting the
loss of her spacecraft, while just about everyone else was
concerned for her.  The whole thing was very hard on Sasami, even
with that nice lady Nodaka's help.  The new recipes she was
learning, added with Ranma's culinary acrobatics, made it almost
bearable, but she still hated to see her sister suffer.

Chapter 4: A Warm Shack on a Cold Day

        Sasami only listened to Ryoko and Aeka bicker with half
and ear, wondering where everyone was.  Both Ranma and Tenchi
had been in the living room when she had gone to get Aeka.  Then
she spotted the egg that Ryoko held and went over to hold it
herself, despite her sister's protests.  "So are you married Ryoko?
Who's the father?"
        Who indeed, Ryoko wondered.  Who should she say that
would create the most fun?  She remembered how hostile Aeka had
treated Ranma on her ship, but Tenchi was treated with something
approaching courtesy.  Her question was answered when she saw
Tenchi walk in from the corner of her eye.  He was so much more
fun to tease than Ranma was anyway.  She whispered to Sasami.
        "Tenchi's the father!" the little girl shouted in surprise.
        End result: Tenchi rubbing his cheek in confusion where
Aeka had slapped him.
        "What had that been about?" asked Ranma who had run
into Aeka into the hall and received a slap for his trouble.
        "I'm not sure," Tenchi replied, wondering if the whole
world had just gone crazy since nothing seemed to make sense
anymore.  Curses, demons, alien princesses, it was all a little too
much to deal with.  He wondered what was next.
        "Whatever, I just came to get you for practice.  We haven't
had the chance to spar since I got back from China."

        Aeka was looking over the wreckage of her spaceship when
a soft hand landed on her shoulder and a woman's voice said,
"Whatever is the matter Princess Aeka?"
        Aeka spun around in some surprise to find a middle aged
woman who bore a strong resemblance to Lady Funaho, Yosho's
mother, only she had her black hair in a bun and wore a elegant
kimono.  This had to be Nodaka, Ranma's mother and if she
guessed correctly, another descendant of Yosho.  The thought of
which made her look back on her ruined spaceship and sigh.
        "You've come all this way to find someone who may be
gone, only to become stranded here.  Is that right?"  Nodaka asked
gently, having gleaned most of her facts from that delightful girl
Sasami.  A few weeks ago Nodaka might have trouble believing in
visiting aliens who she may be distantly related to, but after seeing
her son change into a woman before her eyes, well that made it
easy to believe in anything.  At least some good had come of that.
        Aeka only nodded and sighed again.
        Nodaka didn't see an alien before her. All she saw was a
young woman who was far from home and in need of comforting.
Slowly she pulled Aeka into a gentle, motherly embrace.  The girl
resisted at first, but then melted into her arms.  That was when the
tears began to flow as Aeka clung to Nodaka as if her life
depended on it.  Nodaka said nothing, only continuing to hold the
young woman close and making soothing sounds.  She could tell
that Aeka had a lot of pride and a single word could make her
conscious of what she was doing and then embarrassed.  Like her
own Ranma, she would never admit the need to cry but he had that
need regardless.
        Once the storm of weeping had passed, Nodaka gave Aeka
a handkerchief to dry her eyes.  Before Aeka could start to make
excuses for the way she acted, Nodaka said, "My father is the
keeper of the shrine here and knows more about the legends than
anyone.  He may have some clue to your brother's current
whereabouts."
        "But the boy Tenchi said that he died a long time ago."
        "We humans are not so long lived as you Jurai.  I still have
a hard time believing that your little sister could be old enough to
be my great-great-grandmother.  He probably left before that
became too apparent and people naturally assumed that he died.  It
may lead you down a long, seven-hundred-year-old trail, but at
least it will be a start.  Come now, I'll walk with you to the shrine
where my father is helping Tenchi and my son with their training.
On the way you can tell me of Jurai.  I'm sure that it is a beautiful
place."
        Aeka smiled a bit and let Nodaka led the way.  She was so
much like Funaho that Aeka didn't seem so far away from home
anymore.

        When they reached the shrine, Aeka was surprised to see
the two boys moving in an intricate dance to the music of wood
striking wood as their bokens met, under the gaze of their
grandfather.  It was a dance that she knew all too well from her
younger days when she watched her half-brother Yosho practice.
        "The swordplay routines of Jurai!" she shouted and so
shocked she was that she stumbled and fell badly before Nodaka
could catch her.  Aeka tried to stand up again, but the pain was too
much.  Nodaka used a handkerchief to make a makeshift bandage
and bound the wound.
"I'm afraid that you have a nasty sprain and will have to
stay off your feet for the rest of the day.  We better get you back to
the house so I can get that cleaned out and get some antiseptic on
it."
        "But . . ." Aeka protested weakly.
        "They'll be time to ask my father about your brother later,"
Nodaka told her in a kind yet stern voice that allowed for no
arguments.  "Ranma!" she shouted for her son, who with Tenchi
had stopped their sparring at Aeka's yell and now looked down in
concern.
        "Yea mom?"
        "I need you to carry Miss Aeka back to the house.  I'm not
as strong as I used to be and besides I have to get lunch ready."
        Ranma was a little confused.  He knew from their own
sparring sessions that his mother was nearly as strong as he was
and could carry Aeka on her back without any problem.  He was
about to protest when he mother gave him 'The Look'.  Nodaka
could never be accused of a being a strict disciplinarian since she
never actually punished Ranma, but he knew that going against her
wishes meant training sessions more bizarre and difficult than
anything his father had ever imagined.  Ranma had learned the
hard way that going against his mother's wishes was a sure way to
be covered in bruises.
        "No, I'm fine . ." Aeka started to protest, but yelled out in
pain when she tried to stand.  Ranma winced in sympathy, no
stranger to pain himself.
        "No you have to stay off that foot if you're ever going to get
better," Nodaka insisted, "And sitting on the damp ground isn't
good for your health.  The sooner we get you someplace warm and
dry the better.  Not to worry, my son can be relied upon, most of
the time anyway."
        Ranma gulped nervously, partial from his mother's implied
threat and partially from what he was about to do.  Tenchi decided
that he wouldn't want to be in his cousin's shoes either way.  Not
that Aeka was bad looking, far from it actually, but neither cousin
could help being nervous around girls, especially ones that had
slapped you less than a half-hour ago.  While Tenchi often resented
the attention Ranma received at school, there were times when he
was actually thankful he wasn't the cousin everyone noticed.
        Ranma was thankful that Aeka couldn't see his faint blush
as his mother helped her onto his back.  He didn't want her
thinking that he was some kind of pervert.  It only reminded him of
the times when he had given Ukyo piggyback rides and the reason
why he had stopped.  While Ranma had no problem carrying a girl
on his back, it was a whole other matter when she started to
become a woman.  So caught up in his thoughts that he missed the
faint blush that colored Aeka's cheeks.
        Nodaka told her son, "Now you take your time getting back
to the house and be careful not to jostle Miss Aeka.  I'll start ahead
and have lunch ready for you when you get there."
        Nodaka left them down the shrine steps while Tenchi's
grandfather called him back to sword practice, leaving Ranma and
Aeka alone.
        "I guess that we should start back now," Ranma said after a
moment or two had passed.
        "Yes, I guess that we should," Aeka replied.
        "Well, make sure you have a firm grip on my waist.  I don't
want you to fall and hurt yourself more.  These steps can be
dangerous."
        Aeka blushed, partially from the embarrassment of being
reminded of her own clumsiness (though she doubted that Ranma
had done so intentionally) and partially from the feel of rock hard
muscles under her hands and her body pressed against his.  The
jostling from going down the stairs made her blush even more.
This was something that was going to be very hard to get used to.

        "Um . . . weren't you a boy just a minute ago?" Aeka said as
tactfully as she could, moving her grip off of a suddenly ample
chest, a blush coloring her cheeks.  The light rain had come from
nowhere.  Aeka's worries of being soaked and catching a cold
vanished when the person who carried her suddenly changed.  He
had become at least an inch shorter and hair changing to a bright
red, though the enlarged chest had definitely been the most
shocking alteration.
        Ranma paused, really embarrassed, as he adjusted his grip
on the princess.  He didn't want to drop her because of the
differences of his cursed form.  "Look, its sort of a long story, but
I'm really I guy.  The house is still a little way off and the rate we
have to go at we'll be drenched through before we get there.
There's a storage shed nearby though that should keep us dry until
the rain lets up."
        Seeing the way that Aeka was shivering, Ranma built a fire
before going back outside to let her dry herself off in private.  Even
though it was cold outside the storage shed, his mom had made it
pretty clear that he was to take care of Aeka.  Besides, he didn't
want her to think he was a pervert or nothing.
        When he heard her shrill scream, he rushed in without a
thought to her modesty, and was a little surprised when she clung
to him in fear.  "Something . . ," she mumbled, "something
attacked me."
        Ranma looked around for the source of the danger, only to
see a little rabbit-like animal poke its head out from behind a box.
Ryo-oki let out an apologetic meow that startled Ranma so much
that tightened his grip on Aeka.  "It's only Ryo-oki," he managed to
say after he had said to himself over and over 'it’s not a cat.  It’s
not a cat.'
        Aeka breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Scared me half to
death, naughty thing."
        It was then that she realized that she was holding Ranma so
close that she was using the redhead's breasts to rest her head.
Ranma seemed to realize how close they were at the same moment
and they quickly let go of each other, turning their backs so the
other wouldn't see the blush on their cheeks.
        "I guess I should be going outside," Ranma said reluctantly.
        "Outside?" Aeka said with a smile, "But there's no need,
we're both girls after all."
        "Hey, I'm a . . ." Ranma started to shout and then realized
who he was shouting at and lowered his voice.  "I'm a guy."
        Aeka chuckled.  "You do owe me an explanation about that
and it doesn't look like the rain is going to let up for a little while
yet."
        Ranma didn't put up a fight because it was cold, but once
he sat down, he turned to face the fire and keep his eyes there to
remove the temptation of staring at her and embarrassing himself.
        "Well, I'm the heir to the Saotome School of Anything
Goes Martial Arts.  I mean no one ever asked me if I wanted it, but
besides a few problems here and there it’s been great.  It started out
more as playing than anything else and it’s still fun for me, most of
the time anyway.  My pops wanted me to be the best martial artist
ever and trained me as hard as mom would let him, but he died."
        "Oh I'm so sorry," Aeka said, not knowing the story to turn
this way nor knowing that Ranma's father was in fact deceased.
        "It's okay, I mean he's been gone for over six years now and
he sacrificed his life to save mom and me.  Anyway, he made his
friend promise that if anything ever happened to him that he'd take
up the task of training me.  My pop left Mr. Tendo, his friend, all
sorts of plans of what he wanted to do.  The big thing he always
wanted was to take me on a training journey through China, but
mom wouldn't let him since she refused to be separated from me
for that long.  It became Tendo-sensei's dream to carry on this trip
and he's been wearing my mom's resistance down ever since he
took up my training.
        "Finally, she agreed and let us go to China for this past
summer.  A lot of things happened while we were there, mostly
bad, but the reason for the way I look now is a place called
Jusenkyo, which is an old training ground filled with cursed
springs.  Something or someone drowned in each spring and
whoever falls into one takes the form of whatever drowned there.  I
fell into the spring of drowned girl, so now when I get splashed
with cold water I become a girl.  Hot water turns me back into a
man."
        "How horrible!  Is there any cure?"
        "We asked the Guide, but he didn't know of any.  I'm not
giving up hope though.  I mean if demons, magical swords, and
aliens are all real that there's a chance that there's a cure out there
somewhere."

For some moments the crackling of burning wood was the
only sound.
        "If we take one of the pans here and use it to heat some rain
water you could use it to change back into a man," Aeka said
tentatively, "If you want to, that is."
        "Are you sure you wouldn't mind?"
        When Aeka shook her head, Ranma realized that he had
been staring at her again, and rushed to heat some rainwater to
cover what he had been doing.  Soon he had the pan over the fire
and asked her, "So what's your story?  I understand that you're
looking for Yosho, but why?"
        "Seven hundred years ago Ryoko attacked Jurai and my
brother Yosho went off to fight her.  When he came back I was to
be his bride, but he never returned.  Here on Earth you might think
it odd to marry your brother, but on Jurai its not.  Even though my
parents arranged the marriage, I was happy about it.  To think that I
will never share these feelings with my brother . . ."  And then
Aeka began to cry in slow, choking sobs as dredging up the
memories brought up a new wave of despair.
        If Ranma had one weakness that broke through him
completely it was to see a girl cry.  He still remembered a time
when he and Ukyo had been little and she had scraped her knees.
He had served her lunch in bed and luckily that cheered her up.
But then he knew Ukyo and how to cheer her up. His mother he
knew how to cheer up, even Kasumi was she was occasionally sad.
But he barely knew Aeka, how could he reassure her?  What would
his mom do in a situation like this?  Compliments, he seemed to
remember her saying, that one should always compliment a lady.
It was one of the few manners she'd successfully drummed into his
head after seeing her boy was more prone to insults than anything
else.  Unfortunately, he tended to forget the times when
compliments had actually gotten him into trouble instead of out of
it.
        "I can't understand that your parents would have to arrange
a marriage for you."
        "Huh?" Aeka replied, confused, looking up at him as tears
glistened on her cheeks.
        Jeez, this isn't working, Ranma-chan thought, gotta think of
something, even though he knew that he wasn't good at this sort of
thing.  "What I mean there must have been plenty of guys that
wanted to marry you back on Jurai."
        "Well, as a princess of Jurai anyone I married would have
the chance to become emperor so . . ."  Aeka had forgotten her
earlier sadness in puzzlement.  Ranma was obviously trying to say
something, but what it was she had no idea.
        "Argh!  That's not what I meant," Ranma-chan cried,
pulling at his hair in frustration,  "What I mean is that guys would
line up to marry you even if you weren't a princess."
        Aeka was honestly confused to where this was all going,
but was smiling slightly to see the red haired girl so flustered.  She
had only known Ranma for a short while, but had the sense that he
wasn't very good with words.  So unlike the men who had tried to
court her after Yosho had left.  "What exactly do you mean
Ranma? Why would they do that?"
        Ranma dropped his hands heavily into his lap, accidentally
upsetting the pan and spilling the hot water on himself.  Aeka
watched on fascinated as Ranma began to chance, but Ranma
himself was too worked up to even notice.  "Because you're pretty
all right!  Any guy would have to be blind not to see that you're
really cute!   You could marry any guy you want!"
        Ranma suddenly realized that he had been shouting and
exactly what he had been shouting, and immediately turned away
from her embarrassed again.  Why am I always embarrassing
myself in front of her, Ranma thought, she must think I'm some
kind of idiot.
        There were some moments of silence, which Aeka broke by
saying, "It isn't that easy for me.  As a princess I have many
obligations and that includes marrying one of royal blood."
        "That shouldn't be too hard," Ranma said, not really
thinking what he was saying, still wondering how he could act like
such a fool.  "I mean Yosho has been on Earth for seven hundred
years.  Even if he still isn't around he must have some descendants
by now and they'd all be of royal blood, right?  Far as I know, me
and Tenchi are directly descended from Yosho, so technically you
could marry one of us."
        Is he proposing what I think he is? Aeka thought in
surprise, Ranma didn't seem the type to be so bold, yet he had
found her pretty and while she'd been complimented before, never
had it sounded so honest.  And it had been a long time since she
could open up to someone like this other than Sasami, who despite
her years still seemed too young to understand most things.  Aeka
was more than a little surprised that she could be so honest with
someone who she had just met, yet he had done the same with her.
Like her, Ranma had lost someone close to him.  Like her,
he had a nearly impossible quest before him, that of finding a cure
to his curse and her of finding her lost brother.  Like her, he was a
member of the Jurai royal family, however distant.  Like her, he
had many obligations that weighed him down.
        Ranma continued on, oblivious to how Aeka had taken
what he had said, "Sounds like the rain has let up.  I should carry
you back home now before my mother gets worried."
        She nodded, still deep in thought, and Ranma put out the
fire and let her climb onto his back.  Perhaps being stranded wasn't
as bad as she first thought.

        "What is that?" Aeka asked as she saw a great tree standing
proud in the middle of a small lake.
        "Oh, that's the holy tree of the Masaki shrine.  Tenchi's
grandfather was always telling me to keep away from it, so I spent
a lot of my childhood there, climbing in its branches.  I'm not sure
what's supposed to be so special about it, but there's no other tree
like it around here and I always felt safe there, like the tree itself
could protect me from harm.  Do you want to see it?"
        "But your mother  . . ."
        "We're late as it is anyway, a few more minutes won't
matter."
        "Alright then."
        There were tears in Aeka's eyes as she got down from
Ranma's back and felt the rough bark of the tree.  "This is Funaho."
        "Funaho?"
        "My brother's spaceship.  Don't you remember there was a
tree like this on my spaceship?  The tree is the brain of the ship, the
heart of the ship."
        "This turns into a spaceship?" Ranma said dubiously.
        "No," she replied sadly, "Not anymore at least.  This one's
taken root and after space trees find soil they never fly again.  But
this means that my brother is still alive, since Funaho is also."
        Then she turned to face Ranma and said, "I'm sorry for the
way I've acted recently.  I've been unkind to you and your family,
though you have taken us in and cared for us.  I believe this
belongs to your cousin," she said, handing Ranma Yosho's sword,
"I'd like you to give it back to him for me.  You and Tenchi are
related by blood to the Jurai royal family and I am entrusting the
both of you to care for my sister and myself until my brother can
be found."
        Ranma only nodded as he took the sword.
        "Ranma there you are!" Tenchi shouted as he emerged in
the clearing where the tree stood, "Where have you been?"
        "Aeka!" Sasami shouted, standing by Tenchi's side, "Lunch
is ready and Auntie Saotome is very worried."
        "I'm sorry Sasami," Ranma told the little girl, "It's all my
fault.  We got in the rain and lost track of time I guess."
        "Okay," after all she didn't feel that she could get mad at
Ranma, he was always so nice to her.  And it was so cool that he
could change into a girl with cold water.  She wished that she
could change into something neat like that, like a giant bear or a
spaceship.  "But let's get back to the house now, lunch should be
getting cold."
        They all agreed and headed back.