Tenchi and Ranma, Together Forever!?
                        Chapter twelve.
                     China Girls part three
                          Homecomings

     Tenchi and Ranma do appear in this chapter, for those who may be
wondering.




     A fan fiction based on the works of Rumiko Takahashi,
     Creator of Ranma 1/2, and, Masaki Kajishima, who is the
         creator of Tenchi Muyo.

     Hitoshi Okuda, is the artist and creator of the Tenchi Manga.

     MIB characters are the property of Malibu comics.

     I have no rights to these characters.  Which should come as no
     surprise to anyone.

     Perfume is the creation of Wade Tritschler, and is used here
     with his kind permission.
     Perfume made her first appearance in "Most Unusual of Friends"
     which, along with many other fine stories can be found here,
http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/attenborough/249/index.htm



     What's going on?
     This is an alternative universe story.
     Ranma was trapped as a girl from her first dip in the Nanniichuan.

     What happened in the last China Girls chapter. Akane, Ukyou, and
Nodoka started for home, leaving the cursed springs behind. Nodoka has
informally adopted both Ukyou and Xian Pu. In Ukyou's case, at her,
now his, insistence, as a son.
     Shampoo's cousin Perfume made a conquest in the form of
Prince{ss} Herb-chan, but unfortunately for her, that young lady now
believes she's been betrayed by the amorous Amazon, and has vowed
vengeance.
     The three Amazons, Cologne, Shampoo, and Perfume, have started
their journey to Japan, intent on finding the reborn Xian Pu, and
enlisting her aid in destroying the demon Ryouko.

Previous chapters can be found at;

http://tannim.freehosting.net/Tenchi_Ranma_Together_Forever/TRTF.ht
ml

T.H. Tiger
schell@interlog.com
January 27, 2001
*****************************************************

     Jusenkyo, the pools of sorrows, also known as the valley of mists,
all too often lived up to the latter name. So, on those rare occasions when
the sky was clear, and the stars shone down in displays never seen near
city lights, the guide like to sit on his front step and smoke a pipe while
admiring the heavens.
     He was engaged in this activity when he noticed that the stars were
vanishing, and then reappearing, as something very large, very black and
very silent moved across the sky, heading for the opposite side of the
valley. The guide's only reaction to this was to remove his pipe, blow a
fragrant puff of smoke in the direction of the strange heavenly object,
and then replace the pipe stem between his teeth.
     Shortly after he first noted the star-occluding object, noises began
to float through the still mountain air from the direction it had been
traveling. The sound of shovels, equipment and the quite murmurs of
men traveled easily through the still mountain air to the place where he
was sitting. Still, the guide gave no indication of worry, or even of
curiosity.
     Only when quiet crunching footsteps sounded in the darkness just
beyond the light shed by his house did he remove his pipe from his
mouth, tap out the remains of his tobacco onto his front stoop, and look
expectantly out into the darkness.
     "Evening, Gee," a man dressed all in black said in flawless
Chinese, as he stepped out of the darkness into the faint light shed from
the door to the guide's home.
     "I bid you welcome, Kay. How _ is _ it _ hanging. . .good buddy,"
the guide answered, switching to strained English halfway through his
greeting. "May I ask, who is your companion?" he asked, reverting to his
native tongue.
     The granite-faced man cracked what his friends would call a smile,
and what others might have called a geological fault, and introduced the
young black man beside him to the guide, and vice-a-versa. "Gee, Jay.
Jay, Gee."
     "Welcome to Jusenkyo, Jay. Please don't drink the water."

************************************

     In a hollow of vitrified earth a black mass huddled, its outer
surface displaying a dark so complete that it seemed to possess a depth
that went on forever. The stars were brilliant in the night sky, as was the
moon, but not a single gleam reflected back from that inky darkness.
     Slowly, hesitantly, a section of that eye-defying blackness peeled
away from the main mass and extended. It was long, with a flat broad
surface that displayed a serrated profile along the trailing edge. The
segment lifted, silhouetting it against the night sky, revealing a
resemblance to a bat's wing, albeit of a size no bat had ever aspired to. A
second segment peeled free, and extended to the opposite side, making a
pair. Hesitantly, a long snake like appendage lifted, topped by a head
that any reader of heroic myth or fantasy would recognize in a heart-
beat.
     The dragon, for that indeed was what it was, slowly twisted its
head, first to take in its wings, and then turning to look down the length
of its body. Its eyes scanned down a row of short, stubby spikes that ran
down its spine and continued down the upper ridge of a long flexible tail.
The tail lifted waving back and forth in the air, and for awhile the dragon
surveyed the appendage. Despite the intensity of its gaze, the dragon's
obsidian eyes gave little indication as to what was passing through its
mind. Pulling its inspection away from the tail, the dragon again
contemplated its wings, waving them in the air, furling them so they lay
flat along its back, and opening them again to their full expanse.

     At last it made a noise. Speaking in a rasping, high-pitched voice,
the dragon spoke. "I have been reborn. I have assumed my birthright.
The blood of my ancestor has called, and my cursed body has answered .
. ." The dragon paused, and for the first time emotion showed on its face
as concern twisted the set of its brow-ridges. Hesitantly, the snake-like
neck dipped, even as the dragon reared up on its hind legs. Down its
head swooped, to peer between its hindquarters. For a minute it held this
rather perverse position, and then its head jerked upright, and it roared to
the heaven in anger.
     "Curse you Amazon!" the dragon screamed. "You rob me even of
this ascension! Was it not enough that you stole the manhood from my
mortal body? Now you have stolen it from my true body! You will pay,
and pay dearly!"
     In the dragon's mind, an image floated up of an Amazon warrior of
surpassing fairness, her long brown hair hanging down, veiling the
mounds that lay bare beneath those tresses. For a second, the image was
soft, and her expression tender, but then it changed, and the eyes, which
had reflected tenderness and love, now showed contempt and derision.
     Again the dragon howled to the heavens. "What a fool I was to
listen to your honeyed words!! Betrayer! Seducer! You will pay! You
praised my tender flesh, said that you could not resist. Well, when next
we meet, it is I who will do the eating, and I do not think you will take
pleasure in it. I long to hear your cries for mercy as you slide down my
gullet so I may ignore them."
     The dragon's head swung right and left, and as it did, she spoke.
"Where are you? I can taste you, feel you, and soon I will find you. .
.there!" she exclaimed, her eyes locking in a southerly direction. "I have
you now, and soon, very soon, I will dine on your flesh, oh, my
betrayer."
     The dragon snapped her wings out to their full extension, and beat
downward with a powerful stroke, catching air and lifting her body into
the sky, neck outstretched, head pointed unerringly toward her target.
Then slowly, her body rotated from the horizontal to the vertical, until
her head was pointed downward, and she plowed into the soft loamy soil
of the forest that surrounded her hatching ground.
     The dragon pulled her head free of the dirt, and spat out a mouth-
full of forest litter.  "Very well!" she exclaimed, drawing her tattered
pride along with her wings around her. "First I learn how to fly. Then, I
visit retribution on the Jezebel."


***********************************************

     "KACHOO," Perfume sneezed, not quite getting the tissue in her
hand up in time, much to the distress of several nearby Japanese
travelers. Their distress could not begin to match that of the Amazon
enforcer, however. Her eyes were red and watery, her nose was running
non-stop, and her head felt like it was twice its normal size.
     Her cousin, Shampoo, looked on in concern. Perfume had been
sneezing almost since they had disembarked from the plane. Up till then
she'd been happy and excited, a fact that had resulted in several
stewardesses suffering pinched bottoms, and the man sitting across the
aisle from her getting his face slapped several times by outraged women
who were passing by on the way to the facilities.
     But when they had left the climate controlled and filtered air of the
airplane, her natural-born sensitivity had reacted violently to the new
allergens in the air. She'd been in her current state ever since. The girls'
great-grandmother had gone off to get some hot water so she could brew
up a restorative analgesic-tea. That had been ten minutes ago, and
Shampoo was starting to get a bit worried. Perfume was looking worse
and worse. Even now she could only stay on her feet with the support of
her purple-haired cousin.
     People who only knew Shampoo from her outward persona would
have been very surprised at the look of genuine concern and caring on
her face. Shampoo was very conscious of her status in the village. She
lived her life accordingly, and she very seldom let her Amazon-warrior
demeanor drop. Faced with a very sick cousin, however, she'd
abandoned her normally aloof attitude, and for this moment was nothing
more than a young girl, concerned for her best friend, and feeling more
then a little bit helpless in the process. Where the hell was her Great-
grandmother?
     A sudden commotion on the other side of the airport arrival-
terminus caught Shampoo's attention. Setting one of Perfume's hands on
the back of a nearby bench, she hopped several feet up in the air to see if
it was help on the way.  Shampoo breathed a sigh of relief when she
spotted her great-grandmother moving toward them, leaving a wake of
outraged travelers behind her as she cleared the way with the rather
indiscriminate use of her staff, from the top of which a kettle hung. A
few seconds later she joined them.
     Producing a mug from somewhere within her capacious robes,
Cologne poured Perfume a cup of pungent brew, which the brown-haired
girl raised to her mouth with reluctance and then swallowed down with a
grimace. Long experience had taught Perfume to get her great-
grandmother's remedies down as fast as possible, refusing to take them
not being an option.  As was almost always the case with one of
Cologne's brews, however, her symptoms began to abate quickly.
     "Ahh, that feels better," Perfume said in relief five minutes later,
after giving her nose one more good blow. "These Japanese girls are so
shameless, soaking themselves in scent like that."
     Shampoo, relieved at her cousin's recovery, gave a smirk, and
resumed their customary banter. "What you really mean, you pervert, is
that your nose won't let you get close enough to them to cop a feel. Are
you sure it was really an allergy, and not withdrawal symptoms?"
     Perfume returned Shampoo's smirk, but before she could make a
comeback remark, her eyes tracked sideways, and her smirk became
lecherous. "Oh, my, double your pleasure," she murmured.
     Shampoo twisted her head to stare in the direction Perfume was
looking, and spied a pair of dark-haired twins, clad in baggy, travel-worn
shirts and pants, one of them holding a cage in which a small black piglet
was sulking. Their clothes were very loose and concealing, but the
village enforcer was a past mistress of seeing things other people wanted
to keep hidden, and it was obvious from her expression that she found
what the two girls were concealing very interesting indeed.  Perfume
started to drift toward the twins, the fingers on her hands bent into a
grasping position, and a cheerful leer on her face.
     The amorous enforcer was brought up short by her great-
grandmother's staff, however, the end of which delivered a light rap to
the top of her head. Perfume's exclamation of pain drew the attention of
the twins she had been targeting, and they began to turn their heads in
the Amazon's direction. As they pivoted, their eyes passed over each
other's faces, and they both started, and clasped a hand to their upper
lips. Together they rushed off into the crowd.
     Perfume turned to Shampoo, an expression of doubt and surprise
on her face. "Was it just me, or did those girls have whiskers?"
     "Enough foolishness," Cologne snapped out. "We've wasted
sufficient time already. I want to be at the Saotome woman's house when
she gets there."
     "I thought we were going to the house of Akane Tendo?" Shampoo
said in surprise. "Was that not the address the Guide's daughter gave
us."
     "It was," Cologne agreed, as she headed toward the exit, "but I
questioned the customs men back at the airport in China. Their records
contained the home addresses for the Akane girl's companions. Going by
age and sex, the one who bears the hero, Xian Pu, within her is one
Saotome Nodoka. It is to her house we go."


     In another part of the airport Saotome Nodoka sat quietly on a
bench while her son waited for their bags to show up on the luggage
carousel. After only two days, Nodoka had quite successfully managed
to drive the fact that Ukyou had been born a girl deep into the back of
her mind. The memory of the son she had lost still pained her, but she
had to face facts. Ranma had died in China. She would grieve for him
always, but life must go on. Ukyou was now her son. And he was a very
good one. Attentive to his mother, and attractive to the ladies.
     Just how attractive was currently being demonstrated by several
young ladies who were casting covert glances in the direction of the tall
handsome boy. Nodoka sighed in contentment, and amused herself with
imagining which of the young girls would produce the nicest
grandchildren.
     *Are we there yet?* a tremulous voice in Nodoka's head suddenly
asked.
     Nodoka felt a stab of guilt. In her daydreams about Ukyou, she'd
completely forgotten the other child she had adopted in China. About to
speak she paused and reached into her bag and pulled out a cheap
cellular phone, recently purchased for her by her attentive and thoughtful
son. Bringing it up to her face, she asked, "Yes, Ranko, we're here. Are
you feeling better, dear?"
     Inside Nodoka's head, or more specifically, inside the virtual
reality generated by the wood-textured hair piece Nodoka was wearing,
Ranko carefully looked into the small ice-cold mountain pool in front of
her. With a visible sigh of relief, she noted they were no longer inside
the metal canister that had carried them higher than the highest
mountain. Traveling in something that was supported by nothing more
then a pair of flimsy looking wings, which didn't even deserve the name
in her opinion, being entirely lacking in feathers, was foolish beyond
belief. In her view anyway.
     "Thank my ancestors," the former Amazon Xian Pu said fervently.
"How can you trust yourself to such a device, Nod . . . mother?"
     "I never really thought about it, dear," Nodoka said into her
cellular phone. As she spoke, she tried to minimize her mouth
movements, while keeping her voice clear. Agent P, that strange little
pig from space, had informed her that with practice she would be able to
communicate with the world inside the diadem without the need for any
outward vocalization. At the moment however, the prop-phone kept the
people nearby from thinking her deranged.
     Ranko, relieved at having rejoined terra firma, was noticing the
many people surrounding her new mother. They seemed to be
numberless. "So many people," she said in amazement, and not a little
trepidation. There were more people standing within her sight then she
had met in her entire life. How could she ever learn all their names?
     "We'll be home soon, dear," Nodoka said gently, picking up on
Ranko's distress. She was realizing that the former Amazon, out of her
own time and place, was beginning to suffer culture shock of
monumental proportions, and offered her something to latch onto. "As
soon as your brother gets our luggage, we'll head there."
     Nodoka managed to infuse the concept of a warm cozy refuge from
the world into her voice, and Ranko felt her spirits lifting. This world
might be strange, and she might be in a bizarre situation, but she was not
alone. She had a new mother, one who was closer to her then any other
person had ever been, which was not hard, considering they shared a
body and mind. She had a brother, who, despite his strange desire to live
as an inferior boy when he could have been a girl, was pleasant and
interesting, not to mention handsome.
     Ranko spotted Ukyou in her pool as Nodoka's attention turned
back toward him. She noted with a bit of vexation that several girls were
making cow-eyes at him. She took in their appearance with disapproval.
Scrawny, hardly any muscle on them at all. Not like Unakane and
Annakane, or even her mother. Not suitable at all for the brother of an
Amazon maiden. She would have to make sure he did not make an
unsuitable match.
     It was Ranko's duty as Ukyou's sister to make sure the girl he
married was worthy. Men could be so dense at times, who knew what
sort of girl they might select if left to their own devices.
     Ranko had always envied the other girls in the village, who had
brothers to play matchmaker for. Now she had one of her own. She
looked forward to the pleasure she would have at finding and selecting a
suitable wife for him.

     Ukyou gave a small shudder as a cold chill ran down his spine. He
glanced around looking for the source of the chill, and winced when he
spotted Nodoka looking at him with an expression of great approval. The
sight brought a sheen of sweat to his forehead, and he quickly glanced
away. With some relief he spotted their party's luggage. Snagging the
three backpacks from the luggage carousel, he easily hosted them into
the air and turned to head towards Nodoka. Behind him, two girls
exchanged whispers, and then broke into giggles. Ukyou blushed, and
hurried his steps slightly.
     Ukyou was finding being a boy for real, and not just pretend, to be
a lot more difficult then he had imagined. It was not passing as one that
was the difficulty. He'd been pretending for nearly ten years to be male,
and had mimicking the mannerisms down to a fine art. It was the
physical differences that were throwing him, and how he was reacting to
them.
     Since puberty Ukyou had been an expert flirt, able to talk smoothly
and easily to girls. An ability much envied by his classmates who had
been born male. Ukyou had taken great pleasure in his ease with the
girls, and had enjoyed teasing them with sweet-talk. He could reduce
most girls to flustered incoherence with almost no effort at all. He had
always felt a bit smug at how easy it was for him. Indeed, he often
experienced a warm glow at bringing color to a girl's cheeks, and a
sparkle to her eyes. Both things which he accomplished often and easily
     Well, it was no longer so easy. Every time an attractive girl came to
his attention, his body began to behave in a most disquieting way. Ways
he didn't even want to think about. He especially didn't want to think
about what it implied.
     Ukyou had never thought of himself as being interested in girls in
that way. Dressing and acting as a boy had simply been a self-induced
penance he had to serve until the day he visited vengeance on the
Saotome males. His flirting had been part of the image he projected to
reinforce the disguise. Because, after all, there were certain male
activities he could not engage in, no matter how skillful he was, so best
to excel in those he could, and avoid pissing contests wherever possible.
     Now, however, he was a boy for real, and he was discovering that
just maybe, he was not so superior to normal boys after all. Attentions
from an attractive girl brought heat to his cheeks, and an inclination to
stammering and incoherence that he'd never had before. And that was
only the more obvious indications of his new reactions. Thinking of
some of the other things his body did made him feel like a pervert. Not a
good thing when sharing company with someone like Annakane or her
twin, Unakane.
     Worse, his newly adopted mother, Nodoka, who could be
disquietingly observant at times, and totally oblivious at others, seemed
to greet these signs with every indication of approval. She seemed to
think them quite manly, and Ukyou had even caught her making sure
that the stewardesses on the plane paid close attention to him.
     A slight flush covered his face as he remembered how one
stewardess, blessed with very ample endowments, had spent a great deal
of time leaning over to offer him pillows and nuts. Fortunately for his
peace of mind, all the Stewardesses had become rather distant and surly
shortly into the flight, and had stopped their casual flirting.
     Una and Anna, fortunately, were so focused on their new Sensei
that they didn't seem to be picking up on things, despite their normally
paranoid reaction to the slightest sign of what they called perverted
behavior.
     The two Akanes and he were getting along much better than in the
early part of the trip. Despite that earlier rocky start, Ukyou was growing
rather fond of the two violent girls, who in unguarded moments could be
as appealing as a pair of kittens, with the cutest little smiles, and he
didn't want to return to the way things had been.
     As if thinking of the twins had summoned them, they hurried up to
Nodoka just as Ukyou reached her. Nodoka rose to her feet, and smiled
at them.
     "Well, that's it then, children. It's time to face your father, Una,
Anna." While talking, Nodoka pulled a handkerchief from the sleeve of
her kimono, and dampened it slightly on her mouth. Reaching forward,
she used it to remove a touch of white cream from Unakane's cheek.
"There you go, dear. You just had a little shaving cream on your face."
Ignoring Unakane's deep blush, she tucked the cloth back up her sleeve,
and said, "Shall we go then?" Nodoka turned, and began to walk toward
the exit, and the bus that would take them on the final leg of their
homeward journey.
     Ukyou trailed behind the three women, carrying his own and
Nodoka's bags, his mind still lost in thoughts about his new masculinity,
and how he was going to deal with it, or rather, whether he could deal
with it. Their party had not traveled far when Ukyou suddenly realized
that he was admiring the way the two Akanes' hips wiggled as they
walked. Mortified, he snatched his attention away, and tried to focus his
mind on other topics. Like why Unakane had shaving cream on her face,
and whether Ranma and his rat of a father were really dead.
     Ranma! Ukyou tried to summon up the anger and the rage that
name usually invoked, but it was a hollow anger. His heart just wasn't in
it anymore. Ranma was gone, and so was the girl he had betrayed. The
boy who was now Ukyou would have to get on with his new life.
     The party of four people, and one pig, exited the airport. Ukyou
looked up at the bright blue sky, and felt the warmth of the sun on his
face. It was going to be a beautiful day. A good day to start his new life.
Ukyou followed his Mother and his friends onto the bus. His last thought
before he boarded was that Ranma, wherever he was, alive or dead, in
heaven or hell, would just have to get along without Ukyou.

*****************************************

     Ranma ran through the forest, barely controlled panic apparent on
her face and in the desperate speed she was making. Every now and then
she'd look back over her shoulder and up into the forest canopy above
her, looking for the pursuers she knew were close on her tail. She'd
gained a bit of time by slipping out a back window, but she was under no
delusions as to whether her absence had been noted yet.
     She took another quick look back and upwards, judging that to be
the most likely direction to expect danger. While her attention was
momentarily distracted, a figure phased into solidity in front of her. The
sudden change in the air pressure was enough to alert Ranma to her
impending collision, but it only gave her enough time to twist her head
back around to the front. Just in time to plant her face between two soft,
but firm, mounds. "Murphle" was her intelligent response.
     "Why, Red. I never new you cared," Ryouko chortled, wrapping
her arms around Ranma's head, and holding the smaller girl firmly in
place. Ranma waved her arms wildly, but any verbal protests she might
have made were muffled by Ryouko's substantial assets. Ryouko let
Ranma struggle for a little while before taking hold of the back of her
shirt and lifting her up so her flushed face was level with her own.
     Ranma's eyes were slightly wild as she inhaled deeply. "I thought I
was going to die," she gasped.
     "Yea, but what a way to go," Ryouko snickered. "Now I believe
you have an appointment, Red," Ryouko said. Still carrying Ranma by
the back of her shirt, she started to levitate into the air.
     "Tenchi! Over here! Help!" Ranma yelled, as she squirmed in
Ryouko's grasp. Her panicked eyes focused on a point several feet
behind Ryouko.
     "Tenchi? Where? Where?" Ryouko asked eagerly, twisting her
head around to look behind herself for the love of her life. Eagerly she
peered into the shadows under the trees. But no brown-eyed dreamboat
was in sight. A frown appeared between her eyes, and then realization
caused them to narrow. "Why you little . . ." Ryouko said. She twisted
her head around to glare at Ranma. The former pirate's yell trailed off as
she took note that a broken off tree branch was now wearing Ranma's
shirt, and that there was no sign of the little redhead.
     "Ooohh, you *&#$)^%," she cursed, as she reduced the branch in
her hands to splinters. "You're not getting away that easy, Red!" she
yelled. So saying she sprang into the air, and headed for some altitude,
the better to spy out her quarry.
     "Hehe," Ranma laughed. Concealed behind a dense bush just a few
feet away, she watched Ryouko disappear into the forest canopy. "What
a maroon."
     "Snick!"
     "Got you!" Mihoshi cheered. Ranma looked down in dismay at the
glowing restraints that now connected her right wrist to the blond
detective's right wrist.
     How the heck did she manage to sneak up on me? Ranma thought
in shock. I didn't sense her at all.
     Ranma was not given time to speculate, as Mihoshi said cheerfully,
"I win, I win, this is such a fun game. I'm so happy Ryouko-san asked
me to play. Now all I have to do is get back to the house, and I get a
cookie from Sasami." Mihoshi took a step in the required direction, and
came to a sudden stop as Ranma was forced to walk backwards due to
having her restraint on the same wrist as Mihoshi.
     Under normal circumstances Ranma could have moved backwards
almost as well as she could have moved forward, which would have
meant that she could have easily kept pace with the clumsy Mihoshi, but
she had no desire to do so, and so stumbled as if she had trouble  keeping
pace with the Detective.
     "Oh dear. This will never do!" Mihoshi exclaimed, pulling a
deactivating tab out of her belt, and moving it toward the cuff around
Ranma's wrist. Ranma tensed, ready to flee the instant Mihoshi released
her.
     Then, at the last minute, Mihoshi hesitated. "Promise you won't
run when I take this off?" she asked Ranma.
     Ranma frowned, but said, "I promise. A second later she was free
of the cuffs, but not of her promise. But her Genma trained mind quickly
pointed out that she'd only promised to not run when Mihoshi took the
cuffs off. Now if she could only think of some means of escape that did
not involve running. . .
     "Let's go back to the house now," Mihoshi said, making no effort
to re-fasten the restraints to the proper wrists. "Oh, dear. What's the
matter, Ranma-chan?" Mihoshi asked in distress, as tears began to run
down Ranma's cheeks.
     "Oh, nothing," Ranma said in a tremulous voice. She sniffed
theatrically, and wiped her tears away with a grimy forearm. "I was just
thinking how disappointed poor Sasami is going to be."
     "Sasami? Disappointed? Oh, my. Oh, dear. Why?" Mihoshi asked
in distress.
     "She so wanted to make those special cookies for Tenchi, and I
promised I'd get . . ." Ranma quickly looked around for inspiration, and
spotted the tallest tree in the valley nearby. "Pine berries. Poor Sasami
had her heart set on making pineberry cookies for Tenchi." Ranma shook
her head in sorrow. "Tenchi really loves pineberry cookies too. He'll be
so disappointed."
     "Oh, how sad," soft-hearted Mihoshi said, tears running down her
own cheeks by now. "Can't we get some first before we go home?"
     "Wellllll," Ranma said, twisting her face into an expression of deep
thought. "I suppose there might be some at the top of that tree there," she
said, pointing toward the tall pine a few feet away. "I could go look. If
you don't mind waiting a while." Ranma did her level best to look
sincere, while wondering if Mihoshi was going to buy her act.
     Mihoshi didn't even hesitate, indeed, she pushed Ranma toward
the tree. "Oh please, go and get poor Sasami her nuts."
     Ranma disappeared up the tree in a flash, leaving Mihoshi behind
to stare up into the tangled web of branches above her.
     "Where is she!?" Ryouko demanded suddenly, appearing behind
Mihoshi by phasing through an old oak tree, causing the police officer to
give a little shriek. "I heard the little twerp's voice! Where is the little
. .
.?"
     Snick!

     The startled Mihoshi had spun in place to face Ryouko, and
somehow, the restraints that were still attached to her right wrist, swung
out and hooked around Ryouko's left wrist. The former pirate looked
down in shocked surprise at the multi-phasic restraint.
     "What the hell did you do that for!?" Ryouko demanded. She tried
to tug herself free, and then phase through the cuff, which reacted by
sending a massive charge of electricity through her body.
     Ryouko stood dazed for a second, her face covered in soot, then
she gave a scream, and reached out to strangle Mihoshi.
     "Are you all right, Ryouko-san?" Tenchi asked in a concerned
voice as he stepped out of the trees surrounding Mihoshi and Ryouko.
     The hands that had been reaching forward to strangle Mihoshi
were suddenly tucked behind her back, as was Mihoshi, who was still
connected to Ryouko's left wrist.  "I'm just fine, Tenchi," Ryouko
gushed. "I'll have Red back to the house in no time at all, just give me
another few minutes."
     Tenchi was only listening to Ryouko with half an ear. He was bit
distracted by the way Mihoshi was being jerked around as Ryouko tried
to keep her hands out of sight. "Are you alright, Mihoshi?" he finally
asked, leaning over to try and peer around Ryouko.
     "Ah, well, not really," a flustered Mihoshi said, wisps of blond hair
floating in front of her face. She tried to brush them out of the way, and
pulled her hand, and Ryouko's into view. Ryouko blushed in
embarrassment.
     "I can explain, Tenchi. It was like this . . ."
     "That's all right, Ryouko. I understand," said Tenchi, who really
didn't, but who was finally learning that sometimes it was wiser to
pretend he did. He really, really didn't want to know why Mihoshi and
Ryouko were handcuffed together. Certain pictures from his father's
collection floated up from his memory, and he blushed nearly as red as
Ryouko. "I'll just go over this way to look for Ranma," he said, gesturing
in a vague way that took in about half the valley.
     "Oh! Ranma! She's up the tree there," Mihoshi said, pointing up
above her. "She picking pine-berries for you."
     "Pine-berries?" Tenchi said in an incredulous voice, while Ryouko
slapped her right hand to her forehead in disgust.
     "Oh dear, was it suppose to be a surprise?" Mihoshi said worriedly.

*****************************************

     Herb held her wings rigid, extending them to the maximum.
Stretching her neck and tail out as well, she focused her chi, and slowly
rose into the air. At first her body wavered from side to side, and back
and forth, but slowly as she became more accustomed to its quirks she
stabilized and began to move forward. The motion imparted lift to her
body, and she began to rise, soon gaining enough height to clear the trees
at the end of the clearing caused by her transformation.
     Herb felt smug pleasure. She should have thought of this right at
the beginning, before she'd taste-tested the forest floor a half dozen
times. She'd always been able to use her chi for limited flight, now with
a body designed for it, she was finding it easy to maintain. Careful not to
throw off her precarious equilibrium, she swung her head from side to
side, searching for that undefinable sense of rightness that would tell her
where the betrayer was. A shiver ran down her spine, and her body
orientated in line with the direction her head was facing.
     "Now, I have you, Perfume," Herb gloated as she picked up speed
and headed toward her prey. "Soon my vengeance will be complete.
Nothing can save you now."

***************************************

     "Eh," Kay murmured, breaking off his conversation with the
Jusenkyo Guide as a beeping sound emanated from his jacket. Flipping
open the innocent looking cell phone he extracted from his jacket, he
said, "Kay here."
     A voice at the other end quickly imparted the pertinent data, and
Kay's eyebrows creased in worry. Ending the conversation with, "We're
on it!" He slipped the communicator back in his pocket, and looked
around for his partner.
     Jay was sitting a few feet away, his eyes focused on Plum, who
was cooking some food. Plum currently looked her true age, but when
Jay had first laid appreciative eyes on her, she'd been in her mature
body. The change brought on by an application of hot water had been a
real eye-opener for the rookie agent. It has also been rather embarrassing
considering the conversation he'd been having with her at the moment
her father had poured hot water over her.
     "Let's go, Slick. We got us a Draken on its way toward Japan."
     Jay looked blank for a second, and then his eyes widened with
shock as he mentally reviewed what he knew of that species. "Man, it
figures! Where else is a two mile long lizard going to head? How the hell
are we going to stop something like that?"
     Jay was thinking on what he'd read about the Draken. An elder
race, one adapted to life in space. They were the source of the Galaxy-
wide legend of dragons, and could grow to enormous sizes.
     "The problem may not be as serious as that," the Guide said. "I
believe that if the stories are true I know this particular Draken. If I am
right, you are dealing with an infant."
     "A little baby?" Jay asked, his confidence swelling at this news.
"Well, lets go kick some lizard ass then,"
     "Not as easy as that, Slick," Jay said in a warning tone. "Draken
have no government. Each adult is an individual onto itself. If we blew a
mature one out of the sky, none of the others would give a damn. But if
this really is an infant, that's different. Draken don't have children
often,
and when they do, the whole race looks out for them. We do anything
other then handle him with kid-gloves, and the earth will be charcoal."
     Jay's expression fell. "Oh crap, not again. Just once I'd like a nice
simple, straightforward assignment. Is that too much to ask? Why are we
always the ones that get the hard ones?"

***********************************

     "Would you two hurry up!" Ukyou frowned back at Annakane
and Unakane, who were hanging back, a look of great reluctance on
their faces.
     "Well I'm"
     "sorry"
     "if we're'
     "too slow for"
     "you,"
     "but you don't have"
     "to face your family."
     "What do you think"
     "they are going to think of"
     "having two"
     "daughters and sisters"
     "all of a sudden."
     Ukyou groaned, and held his palm to his head.  The two
Akanes had been getting much better, but they still tended to
crosstalk in moments of stress.  It could be very distracting if they
were on either side of you. At the moment, both girls were 'very'
stressed. They had been fine at the airport, where the crush and
hurry to get all the details taken care of had occupied their minds,
but now they were on the last leg of their journey, and with nothing
to do but think about the upcoming homecoming.

     "Well . . . well . . .well, finally stopped avoiding us, eh,
Tendo?" a mocking voice drawled from the alley they were just
about to pass.
     Both Akanes stopped their forward motion, and their eyes took
on a decided frosty expression as twelve boys slouched out of the
alley. The leader and apparent spokesman set their fashion style,
what there was of it.  Like him, they all wore their school jackets
undone exposing soiled tee-shirts underneath. Their collars were
turned up to frame their faces, and they wore their greasy hair
combed forward over their eyes.
     While there were individual divergences, they could have
passed for just about any gang of school yard toughs. One which
most schools were blessed with at least one of. Though blessed was
not a word usually associated with this sort of lower life form.
     "Do we know you?" Unakane and Annakane asked in chilly
tones.
     The leader's studied insolence and detachment suffered
slightly when he noticed that there were, in fact, two Akane Tendos,
but he didn't let his surprise faze him for long, or render him polite.
"Not yet, babe. Or should I say, babes? But in a little while you're
going to get to know us really well," he said with a leer.
     "What the hell do you want?" Ukyou asked with some heat.
He'd never cared for bullies, and this was a particularly repellent
example of the breed.
     "Don't you know?" the leader asked mockingly. "Your
girlfriends there have a little challenge going." He leered at both
Akanes, as he said, "They promised to 'entertain' anyone who can
beat them in a fight."
     "I hardly find that likely, young man," Nodoka said, her voice
icily polite. Indeed, so chilly was the attitude of their party, it was a
wonder that ice was not forming.
     "You stay out of this, old lady, unless you have a yen for some
young stuff. I'm sure a few of my friends would be glad to oblige
while they wait for their turn with the tough girls." The eleven boys
behind him gave nasty chuckles, and did their best to look like
genuine scum, instead of the faux type.
     Ukyou's spatula slipped into his hand, and Nodoka's thumb
lifted her sword enough out of the sheath to insure a clean draw, but
before either of them could make any further move, the Akanes
stepped out in front, and said, "Let us handle this."
     Ukyou looked at them with worry. The anger radiating from
them was almost visible. While Ukyou didn't really care all that
much what happened to the twelve boys, he was a bit concerned
about what would happen to Una and Anna if they smeared them all
over the ground. "Maybe it would be better if I took care of this,"
Ukyou said in a tentative voice.
     "I said, I'd take care of it," both girls replied in tones that
brooked no argument.
     "But not by actually laying a finger on them," a softly spoken,
but iron firm, voice said from the vicinity of Anna's chest. This
voice did what Ukyou would have said was impossible; it cut
through the rage surrounding Una and Anna.
     "What, I can't touch them?" Annakane said.
     "Not that I'd want to, of course," Unakane chimed in.
     "How?" they both said.
     "Up to you," their Sensei replied. "Just send them packing
without actually touching them."
     "Hey, are we going to take all day here?" the leader of the
thugs said with malice in his voice.  P's voice had been pitched too
low to reach his ears, and to his rather unobservant, and ego
blinded, eyes, it appeared that the group facing him was paralyzed
with fear of him and his gang.
     Unakane and Annakane exchanged glances, and Unakane
nodded toward a street sign on the other side of Annakane.
Annakane nodded back, and shifted Agent P so that he was cradled
in her right arm, and then reached out with her left hand to take hold
of the street sign. Una reached over her shoulder and slipped her
iron fighting sticks free of their harness. Handling the four pound
rods like they weighed next to nothing, she twirled them in her
hands a few times before lifting her forearms to the vertical and
positioning the fighting sticks so that they lay on top of her
forearms.
     The gang facing her fell into what they fondly thought of as
impressive fighting stances and which the group facing them
thought of as anything but. Nodoka gave a slight smile as a voice in
her head laughed out loud at the sight.
     "Well, it's about time, I thought . . ." The leader started to say,
and then broke off goggled-eyed as Annakane gave a grunt, and
plucked the street sign she'd been holding out of the ground,
complete with the two hundred pound concrete cylinder that had
been anchoring it.
     Anna swung the pole in her hand sideways, right into her twins
braced and reinforced arms. The concrete cylinder shattered on
impact, and Unakane took half a step backward as she absorbed the
blow. Annakane let the now bare metal pole clatter to the ground,
and extracted one of her own fighting sticks. She gave the boys in
front of her a mocking grin, and let the anger in her eyes flower.
"Shall we dance?" she purred.
     Their was a wet splattering sound, and moisture appeared on
the groins of three of the boys facing them. All the boys, including
the leader, had pale sick faces as the realization of just how badly
they had overstepped themselves struck home.
     Nodoka shouldered her way past the two Akanes, and looked
at the boys in contempt. "I'm afraid my charges cannot play any
longer. Please let us by."
     Stiffly, not taking their eyes off of the twins, the boys shuffled
back into the alley they had emerged from with such confidence
mere minutes before.
     "Shall we go then?" Nodoka asked. Not waiting for an answer,
she stepped into the street, walking around a large damp spot on the
sidewalk, and then back up onto the pedestrian way.

     "Anna, Una, I do not wish to be presumptuous, but could you
explain?" Nodoka asked the girls once they were well clear of the
gang.
     Both girls looked embarrassed, but also resigned. As
Annakane was still holding P, she began the explanation. "I started
about five months ago. This--"
     "Total Jerk!" Unakane interjected, earning her a dirty look
from her twin. She subsided, and waved for Annakane to continue.
     "This 'Total Jerk', Kuno Tatewaki, gets up during public
speaking, and announced that anyone who wishes to date me, must
first defeat me in combat."
     "And the other boys took him seriously," Nodoka said in
shock.
     Inside Nodoka's mind, Ranko asked, *What's wrong with
that? How else is a girl suppose to know if a boy really likes her?*
     Nodoka blinked, and then said. "I'll explain later, Ranko, for
now let Anna continue her story."
     Both the twins and Ukyou were well use to Ranko and
Nodoka's conversations, so Annakane picked up her story without
pause. "Kuno was the best fighter in the school, next to me, of
course."
     "Of course," Ukyou said in a teasing tone, which the twins
ignored.
     "So no one even thought about simply asking me out, and
some of the more idiotic of the boys took it as a challenge. I don't
even think they wanted to date me that much. They only wanted to
prove how tough they were. Of course, I flattened them, but that
only made it worse. It became an obsession with the boys. If you
didn't join in the morning attacks--"
     "Morning attacks?" Nodoka asked.
     "That's how it ended up working. At school, anyway. The
boys would all gather in the yard, and when I showed up, they'd all
attack. Pretty soon, if you weren't part of the morning fight, you
weren't anyone. All the boys got pressured into joining in. That
made all the girls mad. It was as if the boys would rather get beaten
by me, then date one of them. And even if they didn't believe I was
luring the boys away, they were still mad because I was hurting
them. I couldn't win. The only thing the boys at school wanted to
do was attack me, and girls would have nothing to do with me. Even
my best friends turned their backs on me."
     The last sentence was said with profound hurt, and Ukyou's
heart went out to her. "That's awful. Didn't anyone stick by you?"
     "Only my sister, not that she let it show, but I could tell." Both
Annakane and Unakane shared a grin as they remembered some of
the ways Nabiki had extracted vengeance for the pain the school put
her little sister through.
     "But I take it matters did not end there?" Nodoka asked.
     "No," Annakane said with a grimace, "Word got around about
the unbeatable girl fighter at Furinken, and people started traveling
from other schools just to fight me. Even adults got into the act.
Fortunately, by the time the really good fighters started showing up,
I'd eaten the suber-soba, and they were no real challenge, but that
made it even worse."
     "Suber-soba?" Ukyou asked in puzzlement.
     Both Annakane and her twin blushed slightly. "It was this
magical food my dad's master acquired. I ate it by mistake, and it
gave me super-strength."
     Everyone's eyebrows twitched up at that. "I was wondering
about that, both Ukyou and Agent P said at the same time.
     "But even with that advantage, people kept challenging us, and
meanwhile, that stupid speech of Kuno's got more and more twisted
as it got passed on. Some of the challengers think that if they can
beat me I'll become their slave for life. Others, like those idiots
back there, that I'll simply let them do what they want if they can
manage to defeat me."
     "It got so every time we left the house someone would
challenge us," Unakane added.
     "And even if we stayed home, they showed up and challenged
the dojo."
     "And of course, because of honor, we had to accept the
challenge."
     "Damn," was all Ukyou could think to say. After another
minute, he said, "I'm sorry."
     Both Akanes looked at him in surprise, and asked, "For what?"
     "I never realized what you had to put up with. If the jerks back
there were an example, it's a miracle that you're not even more
homicidal than you are. I don't think I'd have listened to P-chan's
instructions in your shoes. So I'm sorry for how badly I thought of
you on the way to China."
     Both girls looked at him for moment, and then at each other.
Their mouths twitched, then an eyebrow, and finally they burst into
laughter. Sobering up after a second, they considered trying to
explain why the regular run of the mill challengers were minor pests
compared to what they had living in their own home. They each
gave a minuscule shake of their head. Happosai could not be
explained, he could only be experienced, and Ukyou would be
doing that experiencing soon enough.
     While this had been going on, Ukyou had been looking on in
annoyance. He had hardly expected his apology to draw such
derision.  Annakane spotted this, and said, "We're sorry, Ukyou.
We weren't laughing at you. But you haven't even begun to learn
what we've had to put up with. Those boys weren't even worthy of
the name challenger."
     "But now we have a real challenge ahead of us," Unakane said
with a grimace.
     "Explaining to Daddy what's happened to his little girl,"
Annakane concluded, rolling her eyes at the prospect of her father's
likely reaction.
     Agent P, who was riding comfortably in Annakane's arms,
smiled up at her and Unakane. "Bite the bullets, babes.  Sooner or
later you have to face him.  Best to get it over and done with.  Just
be glad you don't have to do it as . . ." A big drop of rain splashed
down on his head.  "Shit, me and my big mouth," he muttered, as
the arms holding him suddenly became furry.
     Ranko grimaced as she tightened her oversized clothing as best
she could.  She exchanged looks with Ukyou. The two of them
heaved a mutual sigh, and walked back to the two soggy cat-girls,
each taking an arm of one of the feline females.  "Come on, you
two, the pig is right," Ukyou said. She and Xian Pu started to drag
the two reluctant girls toward their destination.  The two Akanes let
themselves be dragged along, but the look on their furry faces
showed that all things considered, they'd rather be going back to
China.

     The four girls passed the mouth of another dark alley.  Just
inside it, a large black and white shape drew back in shock.  His
presence was not noted, the group being too occupied, and far too
confident in themselves, to be peering down dark alleys.

     "Ranma!" Saotome Genma hissed in shock.  What was the boy
doing here?  And who the hell were those people with him?  Had
those two girls been furry? A voice floated back to him from the
rapidly receding group, causing him to jolt in shock and then to peer
around the corner after them.
     "Come on Ukyou!  At least give us a chance to find some hot
water."

     Ukyou!  It couldn't be.  But the boy with Ranma did have that
unique weapon strapped to his back.  Genma might not be that good
at remembering promises, but he never forgot a weapon.  What the
hell was going on here?  He was sure Ukyou had been a girl.  Of
course she had been.  Her father had claimed she was, and had
engaged her to Ranma on that basis.  Then the reference to hot
water hit home, and Genma gasped out,  "Jusenkyo!" That had to be
it.
     Oh lord, this was bad, very bad.  What had he done to cause
Kami-sama to punish him this way?  Ranma and Ukyou together,
and Ukyou had a boy curse.  He had to get Ranma away from her.
     Stealthily, or at least as stealthily as a giant Panda in suburban
Tokyo could be, Genma made his way after the girls.

************************************************

     "Nabiki, Kasumi!" Soun Tendo yelled out, his voice quivering
with excitement, and his red eyes dry for the first time in weeks.
     "What is it, Father?" Kasumi said from the kitchen.
     "Wonderful news, simply wonderful.  Where is your sister?  I
want you both to hear this."
     "I think she was going out to meet her friend, Tatewaki,
father."

************************************************

     "I see you're feeling much better, Kuno-baby," Nabiki
drawled, her eyes roaming over Kuno's body. Her smile turned
sardonic as she took note of the arm in a sling, the individual fingers
of the hand attached to that arm in their small casts, the light
walking cast on his leg, and the yellowish bruises on his face.
Despite appearances, Nabiki's words were only a little sarcastic.
Kuno was in truth looking much better.  The last time Nabiki had
seen him, he'd been in a hospital bed, with three of his four limbs in
traction.
     "Great or small, what matter is pain?  It is but the spice that
makes the joys of our lives that much sweeter.  I would suffer a
thousandfold this pain if I could but see one smile on the face of
your sister's glorious countenance."
     "Not much chance of that," Nabiki muttered under her breath.
     "What was that, Nabiki Tendo?"
     "Oh, I was just speculating on your chances of seeing Akane's
smile, Kuno-baby."
     Kuno frowned at Nabiki's familiarity, but let it pass.  It was
Natures way.  For a family as common as the Tendos  to have given
birth to one paragon was wonderful enough.  It was far too much to
expect them to have given the world two.  Besides, he had need of
Nabiki.  He leaned forward eagerly, and said, "Do you have news of
your sister's whereabouts?"
     Nabiki leaned back in her chair, a look of anticipation on her
face.  "Funny you should mention that," she said, as she reached for
a menu.

     Nabiki sighed in satisfaction, and put her bowl down on top of
the stack of dishware already in front of her.  "That was good,
Kuno-baby, not great mind you, but good."
     Kuno was fairly bursting with impatience, and he practically
lunged forward.  "Yes, yes.  I am pleased you liked it, but now,
what of your sister? Where is the fair Akane? What blessed land is
gifted with the sunshine of her presence?"
     "China," Nabiki said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.  "She
went on a trip with an old family friend. She should be somewhere
in the Northwestern area about now."
     Kuno stood, gave a quick nod, and rushed from the room as
fast as he could hobble on his walking cast.
     "Well, how rude," Nabiki said with a smirk.  A look of
speculation filled her eyes as she stared after the departing Kuno. "I
wonder if he's going to go to . . .Naa, not even Kuno would do that.
We're talking several hundred thousand square miles here.  It would
be like finding a needle in a haystack." Despite her words, she
frowned as she considered her departed meal ticket.  Kuno was a
strange one.  His obsession with her sister was almost clinical.  Who
knows what he would truly do.  She gave a shrug.  Oh well, what
did it matter?  Akane would be home in a week or so, and if Kuno
was in the wilds of China, so much the better for her little sister.

     A small distance away, Kuno Tatewaki paused outside a dark
alley.  "Suzuki!" he hissed harshly.
     "Yes, Master Kuno?" a voice answered from inside the alley.
     "Northwestern China.  Start the scan immediately."
     "As you command, Master Kuno." A small Log, with brown
Kanji on its face floated out of the interior of the alley, and blurred
into motion, rising high into the air at a extreme rate of climb.
     Kuno rubbed his hands together in glee, then winced as his
broken fingers protested the motion.  Looking up in the sky after the
rising Guardian, he gloated to himself.  "Soon, my wild barbarian
princess, we will be reunited, very soon indeed."

***********************************************

     Kasumi looked up as Nabiki walked in the door, kicking her
shoes off ,and shaking the rain off her head covering.  "Oh, good,
Nabiki, you're home.  Father has something he is very anxious to
tell us."
     "Father is always anxious.  What is it this time?" Nabiki said
in a bored tone of voice.
     "I don't know, but he seemed very excited."
     "So what else is new?" Nabiki said with a sigh.  She followed
Kasumi into the common room where her father was practically
bouncing up and down in his agitation.  "Hi, Daddy. What's up?"
     "Nabiki!  Good, you're here.  I have the most wonderful news.
Your sister is coming home."
     Nabiki and Kasumi exchanged looks, and Nabiki turned back
to her father.  "Well, that's very nice, Daddy, but to tell the truth it's
not really a news flash.  Akane's been gone for a week.  We all
know she's due back in another five days.  That's when her
suspension is over."
     Soun shook his head.  "No, she'll be home at any minute.
Saotome-san called me from the airport.  They are back early, but
that is not the best news." The smile on Soun's face looked like it
was in danger of splitting his face.
     "I'll bite," Nabiki said.  "What is the best news?"
     "Nodoka-san says she is bringing her son."
     Once again Kasumi and Nabiki exchanged looks, then turned
back to their father.  This time it was Kasumi who asked the
question.  "That is nice to hear, father, but why is it so wonderful?"

     The old lady next door to the Tendo's looked up as a loud
"Nani?" echoed through the neighborhood.  "Those Tendos, such
noisy people," she muttered to herself.

********************************

     Nabiki fingered the kimono she had put on, and wondered
why.  This Saotome kid had been with Akane for days now.  No
doubt he was as smitten with her as all the other jocks were.  Still, it
wasn't like Nabiki was beating them off with a club, and if he was
cute, and if he had managed to resist Akane's fatal attraction, and if
she had left him in one piece, it might pay to make a good
impression.

     The front door chimes jingled as someone opened it, and
footsteps echoed around the corner.  Soun jumped to his feet, and
rushed out of the common room.  Nabiki found herself rushing after
him, eager to get a look at the potential fiancee.  She rounded the
corner, and plowed into her father's back.  He was rigid with terror,
and was staring down the hall at the people currently occupying it.
     Nabiki looked around her father. For an instant, facing into the
glare from the door, she couldn't make out the figures facing her.
One tall slim figure and one short, and obvious female one flanked
two tall people, who were very similar in build. That they were
female was even more obvious than with the short figure. They also
each possessed a head of hair that would have turned a country and
western singer green with envy. More subtle information was a bit
harder to pick out with her sun-blinded eyes, but with each passing
second the blurred figures became clearer. A sudden motion behind
one of the tall girls drew her attention, and she felt her hair stand on
end as she identified it as a tail.
     One of the tall females turned her face slightly, and Nabiki
swallowed as two eyes caught the light just so, and began to glow.
The two green, glowing orbs floated in the darkness of the person's
face, and seemed to try and draw Nabiki deep into their shining
depths. The final straw was when the other girl opened her mouth to
say something, and revealed a set of teeth that looked all too large
and sharp for Nabiki's, by now frayed, nerves.   Just as Nabiki had
rushed down the hall with no thought, she found herself rushing
right back the way she had come, her father right behind her. Her
only thought being to put as much space between herself and
whatever it was that was standing on their threshold.
     "Oh my.  What is the matter?" Kasumi asked twisting her head
to look down at Nabiki, who was huddled behind her, while their
father took up a defensive stance in front of them both.  She turned
to look in the direction they had fled from, but nothing was there.
Instead the faint sound of voices echoed down the hallway.
     "Me, why me?" a male voice asked.
     "Don't be a baka!  Because you're the closest thing to a
normal looking person here." Nabiki frowned, the second voice had
a curious duality to it, as if two people were speaking at the same
time.  Her puzzlement over the voice disappeared as suddenly this
incredibly hunky guy was shoved around the corner.  He scowled
back the way he had come, and then turned to them with an
embarrassed look on his face.  "I'm Ukyou Kuo . . .Saotome, sorry
about this."
     "Ooohh, he is cute." Nabiki heard herself saying, and blushed
slightly.  She needn't have worried.  The good looking boy was
otherwise occupied, and it was unlikely he had heard her.  Indeed,
he was lucky he could breath considering how tightly her father was
hugging him. Obviously her father had decided that what they had
seen down the hall was some sort of illusion, and was concentrating
on what he considered important. As for her, she was beginning to
get annoyed.  She could not have seen what she thought she had
seen. That meant someone was playing a joke, and she detested
being the butt of jokes.  She looked at the handsome boy, and
decided she needed to find out what was going on here, and
interrogating him might do that. Getting up close and learning all
his vital statistics had nothing to do with it of course.
     Nabiki pulled on her fathers arm.  "Come on daddy.  Let him
go before you strangle the poor guy." Soun complied.  He shoved
Ukyou out to arms length, and looked him up and down. Nabiki
duplicated the look, and she hummed in appreciation.  He was the
best looking thing she had seen since the blue-plate special at dinner
this afternoon.  She opened her mouth to ask him about his strange
companions, but was interrupted.
     The beaming look on Soun's face suddenly grew puzzled.  "I
thought Genma's son was name Ranma?" He asked.
     Nabiki spied a brief flare of anger on the boys face, rapidly
suppressed.  "I'm the other son." he said tightly.   Oh ho, a little
sibling rivalry here? Nabiki wondered to herself.
     "You baka, tell them." Once again that curious dual voice
spoke from around the corner. Nabiki frowned, there was something
about the phrasing of the words, a hint of underlying anger.  She
was sure she knew this person, but she couldn't remember hearing
such a strange voice before.
     The boy looked over his shoulder, and hissed,  "I'm getting to
it, give me a chance.  This isn't easy, you know." He turned back to
them, and looked at a loss for words.  Finally he said, "It's about
Akane."
     Soun's face fell, and tears starting running down his face.  He
grabbed the boy by the shirt and started to shake him.  "What about
Akane!? What happened to my baby girl!?"
     "Oh, for heaven sakes.  You baka, can't you do anything
right?" Despite her belief that there was a logical explanation,
Nabiki's eyes bulged out as two . . . cat-creatures walked around the
corner, both staring in displeasure at Ukyou.
     Soun had stopped shaking Ukyou, and was looking at the two
female felines, his mouth hanging open.  A small redhead ducked
under the arms of one of the cat-girls, and frowned up at them.
"Oh, very well done.  Do you enjoy frightening your family?" She
paused, and then spoke, to thin air.  "No!  I don't think that is
unfair, she should have thought.  That is her problem, she never
thinks."
     "What?  How dare you!" The two cat creatures roared in
harmony at the redhead, who didn't even blink at a display of fangs
that almost made Nabiki wet herself.
     "Belay that!" a gravely voice roared out.  A voice that would
have shaken dust from the rafters, if Kasumi had permitted such a
thing in her house.
     "Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed in shock. Startled, Nabiki twisted
around to look at her older sister, who was holding a hand up to her
mouth, and was quite pale. "Akane, is that you?" she asked faintly,
looking from one cat-girl to the other.
     The two felines looked at each other, and then back at Kasumi.
"I'm sorry, Kasumi. Yes." They both said at once.
     That was when Soun gave up the ghost, and fainted.  To her
shame, Nabiki felt her own legs grow weak as her mind started to
shut down. She fought off the wave of dizziness in time to hear the
two creatures who both claimed to be her little sister yell at Ukyou.
     "Now look what you've done!"
     "Me? What did I do? You're the ones that scared them
spitless."
     "You should have explained things quicker!"
     "It's not like you gave me a chance! And just how did you
think I'd be able to explain you two anyway!?"

     Ranko rolled her eyes, and headed back out front, to where she
had spotted a pond. A little water would revive Akane's father. She
frowned a bit in disapproval. Akane's sister was certainly rather
mannish, the way she'd gone all weak legged like that. The other
sister seemed rather mannish as well, but at least she seemed to
have a bit more courage then the short-haired one.
     Careful not to get the hem of Nodoka's kimono muddy, Ranko
knelt down beside the pool and dipped a large quantity of water out
with the container she found beside some freshly washed clothes.
As she did, several large fish scattered, and her eyes widened.
"What a good idea," she murmured. "How clever to keep dinner
fresh till you're ready for it." Really, these people had such clever
ideas. Even if they were all soft as butter.
     She was speculating on whether Akane's sister would mind if
she caught a few of the golden fish for dinner when a pair of
massive furry arms circled around her from behind, and yanked her
off her feet.

     Nabiki was just starting to get her bearings when a cry of
outrage echoed through the house. Followed by the sound of a
heavy impact that caused the floor under her feet to shudder
slightly. The two furry centerfolds and the handsome boy
exchanged startled looks, and took off for the front yard.
     Despite a certain amount of trepidation, Nabiki got to her feet
and followed after them. Her curiosity proving more compelling
than her fear. Especially as her fear was subsiding quickly. The two,
whatever they weres, had made no threatening gestures to anyone
but the small redhead, and as she had shown no worries, it seemed
logical to assume that their meow was bigger then their teeth.
     Nabiki resolutely ignored the fact that they claimed to be
Akane. Flexible as her mind could be, it was not yet ready to bend
that far.

     When Nabiki reached the back yard, her mind very nearly
went away again. It wasn't the cat-girls, she'd filed them away as
not to be worried about at the moment, no, it was the giant panda,
which was currently laying on it's back, apparently unconscious.
The large panda shaped indentation in the garden wall giving a clue
as to the reason for it's current state.
     The small redhead from before was happily prodding the
comatose Panda, while chattering away at the boy and the two
feline girls.
     "Look how fat he is. I can't believe it, he just came right into
the yard and attacked me. I've never had so much food do that in
my life. There's enough here to feed us all for a month if we smoke
the extra right away. I get the liver," she announced, as she
unsheathed a wicked looking katana.
     Before the red-head could start slicing and dicing, however, a
look of dismay crossed her face, and she protested to thin air. "What
do you mean I can't eat him? I caught him all by myself. . . What
does endangered have to do with it? Of course he's endangered, I'm
going to have his liver for dinner. . . You're joking. . . Really? . . . I
don't believe it. There use to be so many of them. . .  Well, alright,
if you say so, Mother." With an expression of disappointment, the
redhead sheathed the sword.
     Nabiki looked at the twin cat-girls and Ukyou. None of them
seemed to have found the fact that the redhead had just lost an
argument to herself at all strange. Suddenly the redhead's lack of
fear in regards to the two felines did not seem nearly as reassuring.
She took a step backward, suddenly thinking that it might not be a
bad idea to put some distance between herself and them.
     Her retreat stopped as something suddenly clicked in her mind.
"You, you're her," she said, pointing an accusing finger at the
redhead.
     For her part, the redhead looked at her in surprise, and asked.
"Her who?"
     "The redhead who's been wondering all over Japan with the
wandering panda. The one who escaped last night from the zoo."
     "I don't know what you're talking about. I was never at a zoo.
What is a zoo? . . .What? She thinks I'm an animal? . . . Oh. I see.
I'm sorry. You meant the panda escaped, not me. I have never seen
this panda before. I can't be the girl you mean."
     Nabiki blinked, and then endeavored to decipher the girl's
words in her mind. Having gotten the gist of it, she looked the
redhead up and down, letting her gaze settle on her large breasts.
"That seems a bit strange. How many short busty redheads are there
out there who attract panda attacks? Come clean. I'm not going to
turn you in."
     The redhead's face froze, and she looked at Nabiki through
slitted eyes. But before she could say anything. The two cat-girls
stepped forward.
     "Stop it,"
     "Nabiki,"
     "Ranko can't,"
     "be her."
     "She was,"
     "born in,"
     "China. And,"
     "has been,"
     "with us,"
     "ever since."
     "What . . .?" Nabiki said in a stunned tone. She stepped backwards,
away from the two looming cat-girls, and stumbled. She started to fall,
but before she could hit the ground, a pair of strong arms caught her
body, and lifted her back to her feet.
     "Would you two back off?!" the boy named Ukyou said forcefully
to the twins. While keeping one arm around Nabiki's shoulder in
support, he continued,. "She has no idea of what's going on, and you're
scaring her half to death."
     Under normal circumstances Nabiki would have objected in the
strongest terms to the possibility that she was scared, unless there was
money in it, but Ukyou's closeness was making her dizzy. And she had
no inclination whatsoever to argue with him. Not if it would make him
let her go.
     The cat-girls seemed to be of a different view. "You pervert! What
the hell do you think you're doing to my sister!?" the two chorused in
perfect harmony.
     "Belay that!" the same growly voice from before ordered, and to
Nabiki's amazement, it seemed to be coming from the small black pig
one of the girls was carrying. It was one more impossibility piled on all
the ones she'd already experienced, and she let herself lean back against
the strong arm of Ukyou. In a world that had suddenly sprouted six foot
tall cat-girls, insane redheads, and talking pigs, the normalcy of Ukyou's
male body was a decided comfort.
     "One of you really is my sister," Nabiki said in a dumbfounded
voice.
     "Actually, both of them are, sugar" Ukyou's husky voice said a few
inches from her ear, his breath warm on her neck. "But it's a long story,
and maybe it would be a bit easier to explain with some hot water."
     "Hot water?" Nabiki repeated, her mind heading toward shutdown
once again.
     "Mother says that's a good idea," the little redhead said, speaking
to Ukyou, pointedly not looking at Nabiki. Ukyou began to help Nabiki
toward the house, and she'd have been more then happy to let him, until
the redhead snorted, and muttered under her breath, "Mannish,"
     Nabiki wasn't exactly sure what the girl meant, but the tone of her
voice made it clear it wasn't complimentary. Freeing herself from
Ukyou's arm, she smiled up at him, and said. "That's alright, I can make
it from here." She was pleased to see him blush as she gave him the full
impact of her best wide-eyed look.
     She walked into the house by his side, followed by the redhead,
who seemed to be having another argument with herself, and the two
cat-girls.

     A few seconds after they entered the house, the panda, forgotten in
the confusion, rolled over onto his belly and got to his feet. Genma
started moving after the others, a look of determination on his face. He
didn't know what the boy was up to. Maybe his curse had driven him
crazy. Whatever it was, he was going to put an end to it now. The boy
had gotten lucky, using such a basic move on him. It had taken him by
surprise, he'd been expecting something more complicated then a simple
elbow to the guts and a shoulder toss. Well, next time he'd be ready for
whatever the boy tossed his way. Ranma had one big fault, he was
cocky, and after that easy victory, he'd be even worse then usual. That
would be his downfall.

*************************************

     Ranma gave a smirk as she slipped in the back door of the house.
Nobody was going to think of looking for her here. She could relax and
take it easy while they knocked themselves out scrambling through the
forest. Dang, she was clever.
     Ranma really didn't expect to get away forever. If she really
wanted to escape, she'd have to leave the valley, and never come back,
and she been through that already, it wasn't going to happen. Sooner or
later she'd have to do it, but she intended to register her disapproval
thoroughly before she did.
     A faint aroma of tickled her nose. A delicious smell, that made her
stomach growl in response. Saliva pooled in her mouth. She hadn't eaten
since breakfast, and that was a whole five hours before. She was
starving. Ranma glided through the rooms between her and the kitchen,
and looked in through the door. On the table was a plate of cookies,
under a glass cover and piled at least three inches high. Drool leaking
from the corner of her mouth, she pounced on the seductive object, both
hands reaching out for the prize.
     Her leap turned into a frantic about face retreat as with a crackle of
energy, a shield of force sprang up around her. She planted herself face-
first into the screen, and slid down it to the floor. The pantry door
opened in front of her, and Ayeka emerged, followed by a grinning
Sasami and Ryo-oh-ki, who was dragging a carrot almost as big as she
was.
     "Traitor," Ranma hissed at the oblivious little cabbit. With a sigh
of resignation, she sat up. A smile suddenly lit her face as she
remembered the bait, and she reached up and snagged a large cookie out
from under the cover which she tossed into her mouth whole. A second
later she spat the thing out in disgust.
     Sasami smirked at her while saying, "What's the matter was there
something wrong with my 'pinenut cookies, big-sister Ranma?" Behind
Sasami, Ayeka twitched the cover off of another plate of cookies, and
selected one, which she proceeded to eat with every sign of enjoyment.
     Ranma slumped, conceding defeat with her posture. Bowing her
head, which hid her anticipatory smile, she held up her hands, arms close
together, and said, "You got me. Lets get this over with, copper." There
was a hum, and then a click as something warm and vibrating settled
around Ranma's wrists. She looked up, startled to see herself secured
with a pair of Mihoshi's wrist restraints. These particular restraints
possessing a lead, the other end of which was in Ayeka's hand.
     "Just in case you are not being quite as sincere as you seem, Miss,"
Ayeka said, not quite succeeding in keeping a smirk off her face. "Now,
if we are quite done with this nonsense, I believe you have school
uniforms to try on, Miss Saotome."

******************************************

     Nabiki had thought it couldn't get any weirder. That was when the
two cat-girls had poured hot water over their heads. She was now sitting
across the table from two Akanes. Sitting next to them was the former
redhead, who apparently was the wife of her father's old friend Saotome
Genma, Nodoka, who had come to visit them just a few weeks before.
The pig was still a pig however. And the boy was still a boy. Nabiki
directed a rather wan smile across the table at Ukyou, who gave her a
thumbs up. Which earned him an elbow in the gut from one of the
Akanes. A gentle one, however, as he only gasped slightly.
     Next to Nabiki, her father sat, tears streaming down his face. "Oh
my poor baby . . .babies," he wailed.
     "Please, Daddy. It's not that bad," the two said together. They
exchanged looks, and then the one on the left carried on the conversation
solo. "I know it's strange, but we're not hurt."
     "But which one of you is really Akane?" Soun wailed.
     "We both are!" the Akane on the left said firmly. "One of us isn't a
copy. I was split into two. Each of us is just as much Akane as the
other."
     "Did it hurt very much?" Soun asked in a quavering voice.
     "No. It felt a bit strange, but at first I didn't even know it had
happened."
     Nodoka spoke up. "I'm very sorry, Soun. This is all my fault. I
should have kept better watch. I failed in my responsibility to you."
     "Eh, what? Oh no, don't think that. I know how hard it is to keep
track of my girls."
      Nabiki snorted in derision at this comment. As if he'd ever really
tried.
     Soun made a visible effort to bring himself under control. "After
all, there is no real harm done," he said, giving a slightly hysterical
laugh. While everyone looked at him incredulously, he went on. "Akane
is back, and twice the girl she used to be, and best of all, you've brought
back your son."

     Listening outside the room Genma decided the time had come to
take action. From the murmur of voices everyone was just on the other
side of the wall. He raised his arms up in a threatening gesture, puffed
his body up as large as he could, and curled his lips back from his teeth,
baring them in a ferocious snarl. The plan was simple. He'd burst into
the room, let out a roar, and while everyone was stunned by his sudden
appearance, he'd grab Ranma and clear out.

     Everyone around the table was staring at Soun in suspicion and
worry. There was something about the way his eyes were shining that
seemed to indicate that he was not yet in control of his faculties. Nodoka
spoke up after a moment of silence, and asked, "I'm glad you are happy,
Soun. But why are you so happy to see my son?"

     Whatever answer Soun might have made would have to wait,
because at that moment there was a hideous roar, and the giant black and
white form of the panda burst through the wall.
     A shove from Ukyou send Nabiki sprawling backward behind him,
while Annakane and Unakane jumped on to the top of the table placing
themselves between the panda and Soun and Kasumi. All of them were
moving in slow motion compared to Nodoka, however. There was a
distinctive ringing 'shing' as fine crafted steel was drawn from its
sheath, and her sword came around and up, to end with the point a scant
inch in front of the panda's nose.
     For a second the panda looked cross-eyed at the object in front of
him, and then his eyes followed the length of steel down to its wielder.
     A second later he was laying flat on his back, playing with an old
tire that had materialized out of nowhere, a sign in his paw declaring,
*I'm just a harmless Panda.*
     Nodoka took in this rather amazing display through narrowed eyes,
and asked, "Kasumi, could you please fetch me some more hot water?"
A second after she spoke, she lunged forward, and drove her sword into
the floor in front of the nose of the panda who was trying to creep from
the room, freezing it in place. "Please stay still, Panda-san. We would
not want an accident to happen. Would we?" Nodoka's tone of voice was
quiet, even polite, but no one in the room supposed for an instant that she
was anything less then serious. The panda subsided into a quivering
hunk of flesh.
     Ukyou's eyes narrowed. After the experiences of the past week
there was only one inference he could assign to Nodoka's words. The
panda was cursed, just as they were. But the implications went far
deeper than that. It was possible that his presence here was purely
random, but Ukyou was not about to buy it. Not when he knew for a fact
that a certain someone had visited Jusenkyo three and a half months ago,
and had some reason for being in this area. He pointed his finger at the
quivering panda, and said in an accusing tone of voice. "Gen__"

     "HOTCHA!!!  Akane-chan, I've missed you so much. Take me to
your breasts!"
     Ukyou stood with his finger still pointed at the panda, but his
attention was on something altogether different.  A bead of sweat
appeared on his forehead as he took in the small wizened figure
clutching Annakane's breasts. He fought down an urge to scream 'duck
and cover,' and instead pulled his spatula from behind his back, and
prepared to protect the non-combatants as best he could from the
approaching fall out.
     Predictably, Annakane was not taking well to having her breasts
fondled and mauled by the wizened little man. Ukyou presumed he was
a man anyway; it was rather hard to tell with the way Annakane was
gyrating around the room. It wasn't until Unakane snatched up the table,
and Annakane suddenly stopped, that Ukyou realized that Annakane was
not as lost in anger as he had thought.
     "Now!" Annakane cried out, without need as it happened, Unakane
was already swinging the table flat side on as her twin came to a stop.
There was a fearsome crash, and the middle of the table shattered into
splinters as it impacted with Unakane. She staggered a step backwards,
and shook splinters out of her hair. Other than that she showed no sign of
damage.
     Unfortunately, the same could be said for the wizened little man.
That individual was sitting on the end of a dumbfounded Ukyou's
spatula, calmly smoking a long slender pipe. As he puffed, his eyes
swivelled from one Akane to another. The two girls were busy gingerly
examining Annakane's front, and were not yet aware of the present
location of their tormentor.
     Tears started to stream down the cheeks of the little man, and
Ukyou, who had been about to shake him off, paused. Only to face-fault
when the wizened freak spoke. "I'm so moved," he sniffed. "What a
splendid present. To think you went to all that effort for me. I must give
you something in return." His eyes lit up. "I have just the thing. Here you
go." From inside his clothes the little man produced two pairs of black
lacy bras.
     The twins glared balefully at the small man, veins bulging on their
foreheads.
     Ukyou gulped, suddenly realizing he was sharing ground zero with
the object of the girls' ire. "Catch, girls!" he shouted, swinging his
spatula up and heaving the little pervert at the two Akanes. Or at least he
tried to do so. The little man didn't shift an inch from his position on the
end of Ukyou's spatula, sticking like he was glued in place.
     Gaping incredulously, Ukyou shook his spatula violently. The only
reaction from the little man was a narrowing of his eyes. "That's not
very friendly," he accused Ukyou. He pointed his pipe at the brown-
haired boy, and said. "Take some advice, sonny, get lost. Me and Akane,
and uh," he looked over at the two twins, "and Akane, have some
catching up to do, and the last thing we need is a third, er, fourth wheel."
     "Why, you little --"
     Ukyou got no further because at that moment a black blur buzzed
by the end of his spatula, and the little man gave a cry of horror, "My
pretties!"
          Ukyou's eyes tracked toward the door, where a small black
pig was standing, a black bra dangling from his mouth. Even as the
perverted old man dove for him, he ducked around the corner of the
opening, followed closely by the little man. A second later, there was a
loud crackle of electricity, and a brilliant flash of light illuminated the
doorway.
     All was silent. Everyone's attention focused on the door through
which the pig and man had disappeared. There was the sound of
staggering steps, and the little man tottered into sight. He was covered in
black soot, and the charred remains of a bra hung from his hand. He
gave a gasp, expelling a puff of smoke, and said in a faint voice, "That's
no ordinary pig," after which he slowly fell forward onto his face.
     Behind Ukyou, Nabiki eyes narrowed.
     The room went silent, everyone just stared at the tiny figure on the
floor. Akane's father was the first to break the silence. "Master?" he
asked in a hesitant voice. "Master, are you all right?" He said again,
moving slowly toward the fallen midget. He reached out hesitantly and
nudged his master with a toe. No reaction. Bending down, he shook the
little man with his hand. No reaction.
     "Oh my poor Master!" Soun wailed taking the little mans shoulders
in both his hands, and shaking him violently. "Wake up, Master," he
cried, as she started slamming the little pervert into the floor over and
over.
     Ukyou and Nodoka watched wide eyed, sweat forming on the back
of their heads. Nabiki yawned, bored. Unakane and Annakane stood
facing each other, playing a game of Rock, Scissors, Paper. Each picking
the same object each time, of course.  Agent P strolled back into the
room, a certain degree of smugness evident in his posture. He trotted
over toward the two Akanes, where Unakane snatched him up, directing
a triumphant gaze toward her twin, who scowled, but conceded defeat.
     Unakane marched across the room and plucked the little man out
of her father's grip. Ignoring his protests, she marched out into the yard,
depositing Agent P on the porch as she did so. Once clear of the house
she gazed down at the limp figure in her arms who was starting to twitch
back to awareness. "Why, Master Happosai, you look a bit pale," she
said in a tone of voice, that despite being quiet and gentle sent a shiver
down Ukyou's spine. "I think you need a bit of sun."
     "I hear Hawaii is nice this time of year," Nabiki said in a sardonic
tone from where she'd stepped up beside Ukyou. She turned her gaze up
toward him, and continued. "I read that it's a favorite honeymoon
destination, what do you think?"
     If Unakane's voice had sent a shiver up Ukyou's spine, the slightly
predatory tone of Nabiki's voice, combined with the rather ravenous
look in her eyes sent a whole fleet of icebergs, and he didn't even know
why.
     Meanwhile, out in the yard Unakane was musing over Nabiki's
suggestion. "Hawaii, eh? That's to the east isn't it," she asked
rhetorically, as she turned to face the north. "I don't know, I think some
clear mountain air might be better for him, up above all this smog."
     "I hear that the air in Tibet is very fresh," Annakane offered with a
grin.
     "I do believe you are right, sister," Unakane said, going into a
windup. She bent backward till the hand holding Happosai was almost
touching the ground.
     "Stop!" Nodoka suddenly shouted, stepping down off the porch.
"Girls I'm ashamed of you," she said.
     "But, but," both Unakane and her sister sputtered.
     "You can't have been paying attention in class. Tibet is at least five
degrees that way," she said, taking Unakane by the shoulder and turning
her ever so slightly. She patted Happosai on the head, and said in a very
chilly voice, "I never did get a chance to thank you for those 'interesting'
wedding gifts, Master Happosai." Nodoka stepped back and nodded to
Unakane.
     A few seconds later the rapidly diminishing figure of the little
pervert disappeared into the smog.
     The people in the yard watched the disappearing speck with
various emotions. Most of them with degrees of glee, and Kasumi with
concern, but one person present was not paying any attention to the
departing master.
     While she took as much satisfaction in his banishment as her
younger sisters, a flying Happosai was worth very little Yen. Pandas on
the other hand . . .  That was why it was Nabiki who asked. "What
happened to Mr. Fuzzy?"

************************************************

     The flight to Japan had been much more strenuous than the
overconfident Herb had imagined. While it was true that she had
impressive levels of chi, she'd never before had to use them for such a
sustained effort. She was almost drained dry, and had been forced to
manage the last few miles on pure wing-power alone. She needed to
conserve what little energy she had left for her attack when she finally
reached her target.
     It was fortunate that her time in the air under chi power had
allowed her to become partially familiar with the art of flying, but it was
still far from easy for her. Eagles she had passed on the way had soared
high above her, never moving a muscle. They rode the currents in the air
with a skill Herb could only observe with bitter envy. Her own efforts to
stay aloft relied on much wasted thrashings. By now her joints felt like
they were ready to burst into flame, and it was agony each time she
flapped.
     One thing alone at this point kept her going, and it was that her
target was very near now. Perfume was so close she could almost smell
the treacherous cow's sweet fragrant scent. She could make! She would
make it! No matter how much her new wings ached.
     Herb's vision had increased greatly with her transformation, and so
she was still nearly a mile away, and two miles up when she finally
spotted her prey. The gleaming glory of her hair was clearly visible as
she stood in front of a small insignificant house along with two other
figures.
     The tired dragon would have screamed out a battle cry, but was
lacking the wind to do more than wheeze a hoarse, "Now I have you, my
pretty," before calling up her last reserves of chi, and tucking her wings
in close to her body as she began a dive bombing attack on her target.
     Ten seconds after the start of her dive she had dropped nearly half
a mile, and was traveling at a speed that would have turned a falcon
green with envy. That was when the little man hit her right between the
eyes.
     At this point a certain bit of information about her new body
became evident to Herb. The ground where she'd been birthed had been
scoured back for yards from the heat of the transformation, and she'd
paid scant attention to details when she'd finally managed to take flight.
Herb, with some justification, had assumed that as she was a dragon,
then she must of course share the qualities that went with that status.
Everyone knew dragons were huge beasts, the largest under the sun
some had claimed. But there was no external magic involved in Herb's
transformation. All the energy and mass that contributed to her present
state had to come from her former body, and a one-hundred and ten
pound girl did not make for a very large dragon.
     So she possessed very little mass to counter the impact. Her
collision with Happosai was more then sufficient to destroy the delicate
balance she needed to maintain her control, and as her head whipped
backward from the force of the blow, her long tail whipped forward. The
spin continued until she was moving backwards at over a hundred miles
an hour. The pressure of the air flow against the back of her wings
pressed them tightly against her body, robbing her of any hope of
control, and completing the disaster.
     Seconds after being struck by the flung master, Herb's power dive
had degenerated into an out of control tumbling. If she had been capable
of coherent thought, however, she might have taken some consolation in
the fact that she was still falling straight at her former lover and target.


     "How long are we going to have to wait?" Perfume asked her
cousin in a whisper. "I'm starving."
     "A true warrior does not whine, Great-granddaughter," Cologne
said from where she was sitting several feet away.
     Perfume winced, and directed a dark look toward the Elder, but she
kept her tone civil as she said," Yes, Great-grandmother." She finished
her apology by making a face at the Elder's back. But then a puzzled
expression crossed that face, and she asked, "Do you hear something?"
     The village enforcer  twisted her head around looking for the
source of the strange whistling sound that had attracted her attention.
Her eyes widened in shock as she spotted the strange dark ball that was
falling out of the sky straight at her and her companions. "Duck and
cover!!" she screamed, suiting actions to words.
     Shampoo and Cologne duplicated her move, each in their own way.
Cologne managed to give the impression of leisurely stepping aside
rather than that of moving with any haste. Shampoo, on the other hand,
hearing the urgency in her cousin's voice dove as far to the side as she
could, sliding belly down in the dirt of Nodoka's garden, before spinning
around and bringing her maces up in a defensive position.
     All three Amazon's stared in amazement at the tumbling object
heading toward them. While it bore little resemblance to the graceful
images woven into the tapestries where its kind usually resided, all three
Amazons could make out enough in the brief moment offered to them to
correctly identify the genus of the creature heading their way.

     Even if it was minuscule in comparison to those legendary beasts.

     Cologne reacted with an arched eyebrow, and the expression of
one who has just won a private bet with oneself. Shampoo and Perfume,
on the other hand, gapped in amazement.
     A strange dopplering voice screamed out from the tumbling ball of
flesh as it went screeching past them. "Curse you, Perfume! You'll pay
for taking advantage of my innocence!!" The screaming voice cut off
abruptly as the miniature dragon impacted the front door of the house in
front of them. There was a tremendous crash, and splinters flew
everywhere. The patter of falling debris continued for several seconds,
and then silence fell.
     Perfume stared at the large hole the dragon had left in the face of
the house, her face a study in surprise. How had the dragon known her
name? And what had it meant by its accusation? Perfume turned to face
her cousin to voice those various questions, only to stop short at the
expression on Shampoo's face. Her cousin was looking at her with
horrified awe.
     "You ravaged a dragon!?" Shampoo said incredulously. Then a
puzzled look joined the other expressions on her face, and she asked,
"How do you ravage a dragon anyway?"
     "What!? How would I know that!? Are you crazy?"
     "Tsk, tsk, Gread-granddaughter. I knew your philandering ways
would come back to haunt you one day," Cologne said in mock censure,
long practice letting her keep the twinkle in her eye from giving away
her teasing.
     "What! You, too? I tell you I didn't do anything to it. I've never
even met a dragon before."
     "Oh?" Cologne commented. "And what of the fair Herb?"
     "Herb-chan? What has she to do with this? She's back in China, no
doubt dreaming of me at this very minute."
     "No. There I think you are mistaken, Great-granddaughter. Unless
I miss my guess, your precious Herb-chan is currently residing in that
house there," Cologne said, pointing at the opening left by the
plummeting dragon.
     Perfume stared at her Great-grandmother. She opened her mouth to
say something, and closed it. She turned to look at the house, which had
started to creak. Even as she watched, one corner of the roof started to
sag. Finally she found her voice, and said, "I don't understand. Herb-
chan can't be in the house. There is no way she could have gotten here
before us."
     Cologne stopped herself from slapping her forehead, and settled for
giving her dense descendent a disgusted look. "Herb-chan is the
dragon!" she said in an exasperated voice.
     "What?"
     "The current prince of the Musk is a descendent of a dragon. That
prince, Herb by name, recently took a dip in Nyanniichuan. Or so the
Guide tells me. Now a dragon, the first even I have ever seen, shows up
complaining of being betrayed, shortly after you shared an evening with
a certain young lady of the Musk named Herb. Does any of this ring any
bells, Great-granddaughter?"
     Perfume blinked as she digested this rapid summary, but then a
light went on in her eyes as the most important factor registered. Her
cute little Herb-chan was in that house. She turned to face it, and her
expression became horrified as she saw the slumping roof start to sag
even farther.
     "No!!" Perfume screamed, and in an eye blink was rushing at full
speed toward the house. Two twin-bladed hand-axes flowed into her
hands from their places of concealment, and a second later she vanished
into the dark hole that was all that was left of the front door of Nodoka
Saotome's house.
     "Perfume!" Shampoo cried out, and would have followed her
cousin, but Cologne's staff snaked out and snagged her before she could
take a step.
     "Leave her be, Shampoo. She needs to do this herself."
     "But--"
     "Trust your cousin."
     Before Shampoo could make any further protests, the west wall of
the house finally gave up the ghost, and folded in on itself. The sagging
roof broke in half, and fell into the interior of the dwelling. Shampoo
gasped in dismay, but Cologne's expression never shifted as she watched
with placid curiosity.
     A first the only thing moving was the clouds of dust kicked up by
the collapse of the house, but then the focused scream of Perfume's
battle-cry vibrated the air, and the exposed section of the fallen roof
started to shake and shudder. A screaming tearing sound clawed at
Shampoo's ears, as if someone had jammed an oversized piece of wood
into an industrial bandsaw. The few remaining clay tiles on the roof
segment started to dance in place, and several shattered. The runaway
saw sound reached a crescendo, and the section of roof where the tiles
had shattered suddenly exploded outward, revealing a whirling dervish
of destruction.

     "Man, the Tasmanian Devil has nothing on that chick," Agent Jay
said in admiration. He was scanning the crash site from half a mile away,
courtesy of a pair of normal seeming, if slightly thick, glasses.
     Kay, who was also wearing a pair of the MIB specials, stiffened
slightly, and said, "There's the Draken."
     "Yea, I see it. Not much to look at, is it?" Jay commented as he
watched the brown-hair girl trying to carry the large winged lizard free
of the wreckage of the house. The awkward bundle made that difficult,
and it was not till the purple-haired cutie moved forward to help that she
managed to get it out into the front yard. "So do we move in now and
take care of__Whoa, did you see that!? The Old lady just changed the
lizard into a girl . . . A very cute, naked girl. Man. I have got to learn
that
trick!"
     "Nyanniichuan unless I miss my guess," Kay commented, and then
added. "I don't think we need to snatch the Draken. I'm thinking we can
leave it where it is now."
     "What? But it's a monster. Sure, she may be one seriously foxy
mama right now, but from what Gee told us, one splash of hot water, and
she's all scaly again, and she's not going to stay a shrimp forever."
     "Draken don't have scales, but you're right. She won't stay a baby
forever. As far as is known, Draken never stop growing. The largest ever
recorded was over ten miles in length, and claimed to be over twenty-six
million years old." Jay let out an appreciative whistle, and Kay
continued. "Extrapolating from known data, Herb should double in size
in the next hundred years." Kay directed a sardonic grin at Jay. "I think
Tokyo can be prepared for her in that time frame."
     Jay grimaced, and said, "I know, I know. Study the material. But
anyway, even if she is going to stay a shrimp, how can we leave her
running wild? She's not exactly the subtle type. Be a bit hard to keep her
under wraps, won't it?"
     "Doesn't matter. Our mandate is to keep the world from
discovering that aliens live on Earth. As far as the people who see our
Draken, they're just going to think it's a legendary mythological beast.
Native to Earth. Think of it as hiding her in plain sight. Not that we
won't make a few adjustments to keep things smooth," Kay said, as he
extracted what looked like a small silver flashlight from inside his breast
pocket.
     "I see," Jay said with a grin. "So who gets the nosy neighbors, and
who gets the cute babes." Kay's response was to simply lift an eyebrow,
which drew a groan from Jay. "Right, Rookie gets the nosy neighbors."

     Cologne replaced the heavy-duty flask with some regret. She'd
specifically brought the Nyanniichuan in the event that they ran across
any kin to Nodoka Saotome. Given the evidence of her and her son,
there was a good chance that anyone of her blood line might gain at least
some of the late Xian Pu's ability. Oh well, it had only been a possibility.
Restoring the dragon to human form had been more important. And after
hot water had failed, the Nyanniichuan was the only option left. They
needed all the fire power they could muster, and by all accounts the
Prince of the Musk was formidable.
     While Cologne had been musing on the martial abilities of Herb,
Perfume had been focusing on something else entirely. Namely the fact
that Herb had not seen fit to bring any clothing with her. This was made
easier by the fact that she was currently cradling the shapely girl in her
arms. The unconscious girl shivered, which sent delightful ripples
through her body, but reminded Perfume that while a bare Herb was a
pleasing sight, she would not thank Perfume if she caught cold. The
fierce village enforcer slipped off her own top, intending to wrap it
around the sleeping beauty.
     "Oh, for heavens sake, you pervert," Shampoo teased. "Let the
poor girl at least wake up before you take advantage of her." Perfume
directed a dirty look at her unrepentant cousin, and worked her top
around Herb as best she could. As she finished, the girl in her arms gave
a soft moan.

     Herb's eyes blinked as she tried to clear her blurry vision. A face
swam into view, and became clear. A jolt of shock raced through Herb
as she finally recognized Perfume. "You--" she started to say in an
accusing voice, but that was as far as she got. Delighted at Herb
returning to the land of the living. Perfume gave a glad cry, and hugged
the green and white-haired girl to her bosom, which was substantial, and
currently bare. When Perfume finally let Herb up for air, the former
prince's eyes were glazed, and a slight trickle of blood ran from her
nose. And all thoughts of vengeance had fled, for the time being.
     Before Perfume could further daze her beloved, Shampoo, who had
been making a show of looking away in disgust, suddenly hissed at her
cousin. "Company."
     Outwardly Perfume gave no sign of changing her behavior, but as
she shifted her gaze to take in the black suited man approaching them,
she adjusted her shoulders slightly, just enough to make sure her folded
axes were loose in their wrist sheaths.
     As the two young Amazon's examined the stranger, Cologne
moved over to stand by them, or rather to perch on the top of her staff.
"Good day," she said in Japanese.
     "And a good day to you as well," Kay replied in the same
language. "I wonder if you could tell me what happened here. I'm with
division 13 of the local gas utility."
     "I can't really say. We were just waiting here for some friends,
when the house exploded."
     "Ah, sounds like gas. I'll just take some air samples," he said,
adjusting the slim silver device he held in one hand. Cologne just had
time to wonder how he could see with those dark glasses on, when there
was a bright red flash, and the world went away for a little while.

**********************************************

     "No! Ah, I mean, I'll be fine, really, don't worry, Ayeka. After all,
I've been dressing myself for years now."
     "But . . ."
     Gently, but firmly, Ranma shut the door on the Princess, and gave
a sigh of relief. Bad enough she had to do this. The last thing she wanted
was an audience while she tried on her first girl's school uniform. That
is, if she actually had to . . . Ranma cast a speculative look at the wide
open window on the other side of the room . . . Maybe . . .
     "ZAP"
     Well, so much for that idea, Ranma thought as she sucked her
singed forefinger. Guess there's no way out of it. Ranma looked down at
the brown paper wrapped object on the bed, and gave a sigh of
resignation..
     Ranma had been avoiding this all morning, not that's she'd ever
felt she had any real chance of escaping her fate, but she'd felt the need
to make a least a token effort at resisting the inevitable. Anyway, it
wasn't really the fact that it was a girl's uniform that had caused her so
much distress. At least not directly. She'd been wearing girl stuff for a
while now, and actually appreciated the bras. Panties were another
matter, but she accepted the necessity of those at certain times. It was
something else that bothered her.
     Ever since her accident, she'd found herself intensely conscious of
her own body, and the attention it drew. Most especially from Tenchi,
but also from his father and grandfather. Not that the latter gave any sign
of paying any attention, but she still blushed at the thought that she'd
been standing in front of him naked. That alone was weird. That was the
first time she'd ever cared about being naked in front of a guy. Now,
even the thought of appearing in something as ordinary as a dress made
her nervous, wondering what the reaction would be.

     Well, she'd given escape her best shot, time to face the music.
Reaching down, she neatly, in order to take more time, folded the paper
carefully away from the contents. Despite being braced for the sight, she
couldn't help wincing a bit when the first sign of cloth showed, but a
second later her forehead creased. What the?" she murmured.  Ranma
picked up the top most article of clothing and held it against her body. It
looked to be a perfect fit. Which was strange, considering the style. "No
way. I don't believe it," she said incredulously.

     "No way. I don't believe it," Tenchi said in unconscious mimicry
of his fiancee. He stared at Ayeka in shock. "Dad bought Ranma's
uniform?" There was a note of horror in Tenchi's voice, along with
something else. The something else could have been due to a sudden
vision of thigh-high skirts, and white cotton panties, but a good boy like
Tenchi would never have such a perverted thought. Would he?

     "Big-brother Tenchi, why is your nose bleeding?" Sasami asked.

     "Ah, wha, oh, yes, it's, I've had a cold, that's it, I've had a cold,
and my nose is sensitive," Tenchi stammered, wiping the blood from his
face, and the dirty thoughts from his mind. What was he going to do?
When Ranma saw what his dad had bought her, she'd go through the
roof, maybe literally. Only the thought that Ranma might already have
started undressing kept him from bursting into the room and throwing his
body on top of the offending package. This was bad, this was very bad.
     Tench cast a glance over to where his father was busy setting up a
video-camera. Funny, he'd didn't look particularly lecherous. Very
happy yes, but not in a hentai sort of way. Maybe the uniform was
alright. Maybe there was nothing funny about it after all. Yea, and
maybe pigs would fly. Tenchi's attention turned once more toward the
bedroom door. Surely Ranma had checked out her uniform by now.
They'd be hearing her screams of outrage any second now.    Tenchi
braced himself, squinting his eyes shut. After a few seconds, he cracked
a cautious eye open and peered at the door. Nothing? Maybe Ranma
hadn't tried it on yet, maybe she was sulking in there, or maybe . . .
     Tenchi paused as a thought suddenly occurred to him. Ranma had
never attended a school that allowed girls, at least not in the last six
years if what she'd told him was correct. It could be that she didn't know
what a proper girl's school uniform was suppose to look like, and that
would mean . . .
     "Oh, big-brother Tenchi, your nose is bleeding again!" Sasami
exclaimed with concern.
     While Ayeka, Mihoshi, and Ryouko all hurried over to join Sasami
in nursing Tenchi back to health, the bedroom door swung open.
Nobuyuki clicked on the video recorder and beamed happily at the figure
in the doorway. "You look beautiful, Ranma," he said, a tear trickling
down his cheek.
     The mass of humanity in the center of the room all turned their
heads to stare in Ranma's direction. There was stunned silence for a
second, and then a universal cry of "NANI?!?!" went up as their chins
fell.

     Feeling self conscious, Ranma glared at the group. "What's the
matter? Ain't you never seen a school uniform before?" she asked
belligerently, but not quite keeping the pleasure out of her voice at the
reaction she had caused, and at the well tailored boy's uniform she was
wearing.

*******************************************

     *I don't see why I couldn't help Ukyou and Annakane and
Unakane hunt for the Panda, mother,* Ranko said in a sulky tone.
     "I'm sorry, dear," Nodoka said in a kind, but firm voice. "but you
don't have enough experience with the modern world yet. You'd have
had to stay with one of the girls, and that wouldn't have covered any
more territory than they could by themselves. As well, I need to call
home and see if maybe the Panda, or someone else has been there."

     From her position at the dining table, down the hall from the
telephone, Nabiki watched as Nodoka picked up the handset. Nabiki had
always thought her family lived in the midst of chaos, what with her little
sister's super-soba boosted strength, and her father's perverted master,
but she hadn't known the meaning of the word. Watching Nodoka carry
on a one sided conversation with herself, and knowing that there was a
real person residing in the wooden diadem she wore as a hair ornament
merely drove the weirdness home even further.
     Faced with this chaos, Nabiki could really only do one thing. Think
of the best way she could maximize the potential. There had to be some
way she could make money out of this.

     Soun, like Nabiki, was dealing with the weirdness by focusing
tightly on a singular goal. In his case it was Nodoka's son. He was a
handsome looking lad, who had acquitted himself well during the
Master's attack. Best of all, he'd managed to survive over a week in
company with Akane, and was still healthy. Tears ran down Soun's
cheeks. At last his family would be joined with Saotome's.

     A sudden, shocked exclamation from Nodoka drew both Soun's
and Nabiki's attention. Her face was pale, and one hand rested on the
hallway table, as if her legs were suddenly too weak to support herself.
     "Nodoka!" Soun said in concern. "Are you alright? What's the
matter?"
     "My home," Nodoka said in a faint voice. "It's gone."
     "Gone?"
     "Exploded. A gas leak," Nodoka explained, her voice shaky with
shock. A sudden thought struck her, and she quickly raised the phone
back to her mouth. "Was anyone hurt, Ichiro-san?" she asked in concern.
     A look of relief appeared on her face. "Thank goodness for that in
any case. I'll be home . . . I'll be there as quickly as I can manage. I'll
need to see what I can salvage. . . They did? Everything? . . . That was
very kind of them. And very kind of you to store them for me. I'll take
them off your hands as soon as I can. I am very grateful for all your help,
and--" Nodoka paused in surprise as the lady on the other end
interrupted her as she recalled something. "A message? . . . From my
uncle? Thank you Ichiro-san. I'll give him a call. And thank you again
Ichiro-san." Nodoka hung up the phone, a thoughtful look on her face.

     Kasumi, who had come out of the kitchen during the conversation
said, "Your house blew up, Aunty. That's terrible." She looked over at
her father, and asked. "Father, might we not put up Aunty and Ukyou?"
While the question was put in a very polite and respectful manner,
Nabiki for one was not fooled, and neither was her father. Kasumi would
never be so crass as to indulge in fits of temper or spite, but the house
would become a very uncomfortable place if Soun was not forthcoming
with said invitation.
     Not that Soun had any intention of refusing. Having Nodoka and
her son living in his house was a much to be desired event in his mind.
"Of course they must stay," he agreed firmly. "Will you be needing
anything? Did you lose much in the explosion?"
     "No, strangely, Ichiro-san says there was very little damage to the
bulk of the contents, and that the men from the gas company helped
salvage everything. She's keeping my possessions in her own home at
the moment."
     Nodoka looked thoughtful, and added, "the strange thing is that she
received a call from my Great-Uncle Masaki shortly after I left. He
asked that I call him back as soon as I could." she shook her head in
puzzlement. "I haven't talked to my uncle in years. I can't imagine what
he would be calling about." She looked at Soun, and asked. "If I might
trouble you again, Soun, do you suppose I could use your phone again? I
can't help but think it must be very important."

     It was some hours later that Ukyou returned home with Unakane
and Annakane. Ukyou was feeling a bit down at failing to locate the
missing panda, both for his own reasons, and because he knew how
important it was to Nodoka that he locate it.
     As he walked in the front door, the tension in the air was almost a
physical blow. Nodoka was kneeling at the table, a cup of tea in her
hands. Kasumi hovered beside her, a steaming teapot held ready to
refresh Nodoka's cup. The expression on Nodoka's face was strange. It
was one part anguish, and one part towering rage.
     She looked up as Ukyou walked in. If she cared that they were
pandaless, she gave no sign. Instead she said in a brusque voice, "Good,
you're home. We'll be going now." Turning to Soun, who was kneeling
at the end of the table, a worried expression on her face, she said, "I
thank you for the care and concern you have shown. It was more than I
deserved after I failed so dismally in my care of your daughter."
     Ignoring Soun's sputtered objections that no apologies were
necessary, Nodoka turned back to Ukyou. "We need to leave now, I'm
afraid, Ukyou. I have learned the location of your . . . of Ranma."
     A shock went through Ukyou. "Ranma's alive!?" he asked
incredulously. His first thought was that he was finally going to get his
vengeance. His second was that he was now Ranma's brother, which
could make pounding him into a thin paste a bit of problem, ethically
speaking.
     "Yes, so it would seem." Nodoka turned to the two Akanes next. "I
am sorry I must rush off like this. I had hoped . . .well, that is neither
here or there. I am sorry for what my carelessness has cost you both."
     "Don't be!" both twins said in unison. "We are happy with the way
things turned out."
     Nodoka gave a weak smile. "Well, that at least is some small
consolation."

     A few minutes later the Tendos stood on the porch watching
Nodoka and Ukyou leave. Speaking in a whisper out of the side of her
voice, Annakane spoke to her twin. "You know. It sort of seems a
shame."
     "Yea, you're right."
     "We started out to help her find Ranma."
     "And now we're going to miss the ending."
     "You know . . ."
     "We're still suspended from school for another five days."
     Both twins turned to look at each other with a gleeful smile, and
whispered together, "Road trip."

*********************************************

     The phone rang just as Princess Ayeka was walking past it,
startling her. "Lord Tenchi, the communication device is calling," she
said, raising her voice slightly. "Mr Masaki," she tried next when there
was no answer from Tenchi. Again the house was silent. Gingerly
reaching forward, she picked up the receiver with the tips of her fingers,
and held the device several inches from her ear and mouth.
     "Lord Tenchi's residence," she said in a clear voice. She was
answered by an indistinct voice she could barely make out. Resigning
herself, she brought the device closer to her ear, praying Ryouko hadn't
been using it. "Please repeat."
     "Oh, Mr Katsuhito," she said in relief. "Can I help you? . . .
Ranma? No, I'm afraid she is not here at the moment. She's . . ." Ayeka
hesitated. When last she'd seen Ranma, she'd been involved in a brawl
with that barbarian Ryouko. Something to do with the last pastry at
dinner. But Ranma-chan's penchant for unladylike behavior was hardly
something she wished to broadcast to the world, even if her grandfather
was fully aware of her normal behavior. "Ranma is out enjoying the
night air at the moment. . . I'd be happy to take a message. . ." Ayeka
suddenly went very still, and the neutral expression that was her normal
aspect hardened. "I see, her mother is coming to visit tomorrow. I'll pass
that along. . . Goodnight to you as well."
     Ayeka hung up the phone. "So," she muttered to herself. Vividly in
her mind she could hear Ranma-chan's father explaining his wife's
psychosis. That she believed Ranma-chan to be male, and that she
tended to react very badly when confronted with the truth, up to and
including lethal measures.
     Mr Genma had claimed that he was going to visit his wife in order
to feel her out on the subject. The news had reported he'd escaped from
his inclosure at the zoo. Ranma-chan had claimed he'd be coming home
soon as a result. But if he'd gone to see his wife instead . . . Mr
Katsuhito had said nothing about Mr Genma accompanying his wife. But
how could she have discovered Ranma-chan's whereabouts if he had not
told her? It seemed unlikely he'd not accompany her back to the temple
if their discussion had gone well. Maybe it had not gone well! If that
were the case, it might mean that Mr Genma was in no position to
accompany his wife back.
     Ayeka's expression became even firmer. There was no way she
could allow Ranma-chan and her mother to meet until she had
determined the state of the woman's mind. "Kamidake, Azaka!" she
called out in a commanding voice.
     "Yes!" the two guardians shouted as they blurred into focus in
front of her.
     "I wish you to take up position on the far end of the path to the
house. You are to warn me if any strangers appear. Do not take any
action unless they are acting in a threatening manner, but one of you
inform me immediately as soon as you detect visitors. Do not inform
anyone else. Only me. Now go!"
     Ayeka nodded in satisfaction. That eliminated any chance of
Ranma-chan's mother coming upon them unaware. Ayeka had no wish
to come between a mother and daughter, but she would never allow
harm to come to Ranma-chan, and if the woman proved to be as crazy as
her husband claimed, then steps would be taken.

******************************************

     "Look, I'm not arguing that we should have sent them back," Jay
was saying to Kay, as they cruised down the street in the LTD. "That
would have caused problems, no arguments. We'd have had to flashy-
thing the whole village, and we might have missed someone that was
away. All I'm saying is that don't you think it was a bit, oh, I don't
know, stereotypical."
     "I like Chinese food," was Kay's only reply as his eyes scanned the
sidewalks on either side of them. "Elle should be here," he said with a
frown.
     "You don't think something maybe happened to her, do you --" Jay
was suddenly cut off as Kay slammed on the brakes, bringing them to a
sharp stop.
     "Told you to wear your belt, Slick," Kay said in a distracted tone,
as he gazed at the figure currently opening the back door of the LTD.
"Bit out of uniform, aren't you, rookie?" he said with a raised eyebrow.
     "I'll say, but I don't mind in the least," was Jay's contribution as he
took in the thin silk kimono that Elle was currently wearing. "Looking
good!" he said with feeling as he looked her up and down.
     "I had a little accident," was Elle's tight lipped reply.
     "Must have been more then a little," Jay protested. "Our clothes
are tough."
     "I'd rather not talk about it. Thank you."
     "How did the mission go? Did you straighten out the princess?"
Kay inquired.
     "Matters have been looked after," Elle said tersely.
     "That's it!? That's all we get?" Jay protested. "Come on, Elle. Dish
the dirt."
     "I rather not, thank you."
     "Something happened didn't it?" Jay said with a smirk. "Come on,
no need to be shy with us. We've all been there. I get slimed by a baby
squid-thing. Kay gets swallowed by a giant cockroach. Whatever
happened to you can't be worse than that. Come on, sister, spill."
     "I really, would rather not," Elle said through lips that barely
moved, and the look from her eyes could have frozen water at ten paces.
     "Ok, ok, have it your way," Jay said, turning around to face the
front. Once his hands were out of sight, he surreptitiously reached over
and pulled a portable terminal out of the pocked in the door. A few
clicks called up Elle's report.
     "Well, lookie here," he chortled, "turns out that the princess's
boyfriend was a Moroboshi in a human suit. Ain't they those tentacle
thingys with a yen for mammalian females?"
     Jay's answer was the distinctive sound of a mini-fusion reactor
winding up, and he felt something hard and cold on his cheek. He rolled
his eyes sideways, and could make out the gleaming chromed end of
Elle's personal handgun.
     "I said," a frosty voice hissed in his ear, "that I didn't want to talk
about it!"
     Jay's fingers quickly hit the disconnect and power buttons. "Sure
thing, whatever you say. My lips are sealed. I'll not say another word."

End, chapter 12
***********************************************

Authors notes.

     No, I'm not planning a MIB/UY lemon. Anyone want to try their
hand . . .^_-

     Some time ago I took a survey to determine what I should focus on
in this story. One of the things most people wanted dropped was the
MIB. As I only started using them as a one shot gag, that got out of
control, I had no problem with that. From now on they will only appear,
if at all, as background characters. Kay is going to be an English teacher
at Furinkan. Elle a nurse, and Jay a P.E. teacher. This being their cover.
They will only appear in passing references. Someday I may do a side-
story where they will appear more prominently.

     The China Girl cast will fade back somewhat. Only appearing
when they interact with the Ranma and Tenchi cast. I originally didn't
plan to have any other members of the Ranma cast except Nodoka,
Ukyou , and Ryouga, but then my twisty mind got to working, and I
started wondering about what might have been going on in Nerima while
Ranma was rusticating.

If anyone is interested in doing a side story, or series, featuring the
events in Nerima that are separate from the Tenchi and Ranma story,
drop me a line, I'd have no real problem with that.

About Kuno. You'll have to wait and see. ^_^

     Next chapter. Nodoka meets Ranma. And they both meet Kagato.
Who will survive . . .?

Dum de dum dum.

T.H. Tiger