This is a heavily modified (practically rewritten however) fixed
version that I made to correspond with the newly rewritten first two
chapters. If you've read my previous old version before, don't worry.
This is practically completely new material you see here.

IMPORTANT!!!!!!!  If this is the first time you're reading this fic,
you must read starting from Chapter 1 completely first!  This story
will seem very ridiculous and out of place if you don't.

This fic is a crossover with Ranma and the Tenchi OAV/Universe series.
The rest of the Tenchi characters will be introduced in this chapter,
and there will be a couple of fun surprises as well. Hopefully you
readers know some basic knowledge about both Ranma and Tenchi:)
Compared to movies, I would rate this as a "R" fanfic, because of some
of the harsh language used.

Here are a few things you must know while reading this:

-The Ranma aspect of the story takes place after manga 38 and the
Tenchi aspect takes place after the TV show/OVA.

-Also Ranma still has his curse, but his female form has black hair
(like the manga) and is now just as tall as his male form as the curse
has matured.

    -SgtRanma

At the moment fanfiction . net and Anifics seem to be the only place I
can tell people to update. As of now, I've got someone who's
graciously helping me out with a new place to host my fics. Woot.

Without further ado...

------------------------

Chapter 3: Meet the Family

April 13th, 2001. 11:14 PM
Downtown Okayama Shopping District - Okayama, Japan.

    Both men had regarded each other warily as they approached the
recessed corridor behind a popular nightclub. Their conversation was
drowned out of audible range thanks to the bustling pitter patter of
people walking along the streets.

    "You got the cash, you got the snow."

    "Two eight-balls* for 100,000 yen? You must make a killing huh?"

    "Who's asking?"

    "No, one, just me. I haven't tried this since moving back to
Japan."

    "Is that a fact?"


    Ranma nodded and handed over ten bills to his shady companion
behind the dumpster of a discreet alley. Just over the corner people
were walking around on the busy street promenade in the midst of a
lively Friday evening.

    The dealer had a bony face and a trimmed goatee to match his
stylishly appointed threads. A gold ring pierced above his left eye
and an expensive Breitling chronograph on his wrist revealed some of
the money he seemed to heft around.

    "Your name was Hashimoto, you said?"

    "That's right."

    His seedy grin was more than enough to tighten up Ranma's grimace.
A short, quick exchange of information from Kiyone revealed that
rumors of a new drug being available was indeed true and it was a walk
in the park for Ranma to find and do some quick talking to get this
coke peddler to trust him.

    "Here's your shit," he replied while handing Ranma two rolled
plastic baggies.

    He opened up one of them and dipped a finger in there, scooping a
little into his nails and coating his finger in the white powder. He
rubbed it lightly on his gums


    "That remind you of the good ol' U.S. of A?"

    Ranma took a moment to collect himself, tasting the substance with
his tongue and sniffling at the same time. The very light but
analgesic affect of the tiny amount he just took confirmed it.

    "This is the real thing. I can't believe it."

    "Believe it buddy, and there's more where that came from. I got
some H if you want to chase the dragon too. I'm your man, remember
that."

    The pigtailed detective smirked. "Yeah, that's right. You're mine.
You're under arrest for the distribution and possession of cocaine."

    Much to Ranma's surprise his unfortunate suspect bolted without
even a moment's hesitation. And he was a surprisingly quick little
bastard. Ranma yelped, embarrassed at his slow reaction.

    The two figures ran around and out of the alley down a street
filled with businesses, people and bright neon signs. Downtown Okayama
wasn't a bad place to be, there were a lot of things to do, a lot of
things to eat and buy, and a lot of ways to have fun. Running around
chasing an amateur hadn't been in Ranma's Friday night plans.


    The assignment was simple enough, the objective was to scope and
flush out the apparently easy going coke dealer that was plaguing the
downtown area. Unfortunately, the urgency of this matter and Ranma's
thirst for some action led to him pulling this off the night before
his "date" with Kiyone tomorrow.

    It was typical of Ranma's ambitious nature and there was always
some complication in his life one way or another. But his hunches also
told him this was more than just a simple drug bust. He was carrying
out a standard procedure that all good law enforcement groups used.
Catch the small time drug runners so that they'll lead to the big
bosses, the ones who controlled all the little fish.

     The guy wasn't that fast but the number of people crowding the
path made null of the tremendous speed advantage Ranma held.

    Damn, Ranma thought. He was starting to regret starting this
assignment so hastily, especially the night before he was going to see
Kiyone. This could easily become a long night. Ranma continued to
sprint after the running criminal down the busy district. The guy was
obviously an idiot as he had no idea where the hell he was running. He
thankfully dug his own grave by turning into an empty alley with no
exit.

    The drug dealer had no intention of getting caught by a damn narc.
He was not about to easily give up this fantasy rich life that was so
easily obtained by his boss' generous products. "Screw you, asshole! I
won't go that easy!"



    Ranma sighed and shook his head, these guys were all one in the
same. He had already been hopped up before Ranma had found him, and he
needed a good thorough beating to sober him up. He looked around the
streets when he halted to a stop. The amount of hollering and yelling
they were doing as they ran would garner unwanted attention. This had
to be quick.



       The criminal noticed that Ranma was alone, and there weren't
anyone else to help him out. He growled angrily and pulled out a long
sashimi knife from his jacket. "What the hell are you smiling about?
You're all alone, huh? I'm gonna filet you with this fucking knife!"

    Ranma eyed his target carefully, his arms and legs already moving
on their own from years of hand-to-hand fighting experiencie. With a
lightning quick push kick he knocked the punk straight on the floor
and he slid back a few feet, groaning in pain.

    "I'm gonna kill you!" Hashimoto wheezed.

    Ranma sighed and flexed his forearms. Hashimoto propped himself
back up, clutching onto his knife even tighter than before. His eyes
were bloodshot and red, and his teeth were grinding from all the coke
he'd been snorting himself.

    Hashimoto sprinted towards Ranma again flailing his blade wildly,
vowing to hit something even if he were to get kicked down again. To
his surprise Ranma didn't move and he managed to slash towards his
neck. It was a split second later when Hashimoto realized he was
stopped dead in his tracks, his knife just inches away from Ranma's
throat. He realized all of a sudden that he couldn't breathe.

    Tuk-Gong Moo Sul had roots with Aikido for defensive takedowns,
parrying the knife away with his hands through simple joint
manipulation led him to fluid grab ahold of his victim off his feet
while his hand held a vice like grip on Hashimoto's throat. Ranma
shook his head silently, and released his grip just enough to keep him
from passing out.

    "Plea...pl...please don't kill me!" Hashimoto stuttered
pathetically.

    Ranma gave him a disappointed tsk. "You and I have a lot to talk
about my friend. You've got a lot of balls to try and stab me." He
dropped him on the ground and shoved him on the floor. He pulled out
his handcuffs as Hashimoto coughed and hacked. Ranma forcefully
grabbed his arms and twisted them behind his back.

    "Don't move, put your hands behind your back and stay still. Get
on your knees, and interlock your fingers. I'm not going to say it
twice. Twitch and I'll break your neck," he spat.

    A couple of uniformed police officers from a nearby koban box came
into the alley at that moment with their batons drawn and pepper spray
ready. They were surprised when they saw Ranma walking away from the
downed criminal while carelessly yawning, it seemed they missed all
the action.

    Ranma cursed, the flat foots came quicker than he anticipated. He
wanted to go to them first to avoid any misunderstandings. He racked
up his brain for an explanation to give, otherwise this was going to
be a long night with lots of red tape involved.

       One of the officers came up to Ranma looking ready to pounce.
"Stop right there! Who are you?"

       "Whoa, whoa!" Ranma raised his hands in submission. "I'm an out
of town detective! Just call for Sergeant Makibi or Lieutenant
Kuramitsu! They'll explain!"

       Both uniformed officers looked like they were ready to attack
Ranma to apprehend him, but they calmed down when they recognized the
names he mentioned.

       "We're going to make a call right now to the Detectives'
Bureau, you stay right there."

       Ranma winced remembering that he had to keep a low profile.
"I'll call them myself, and they'll notify you direct. How's that?"

    One of the officers narrowed his eyes, mouth slightly agape. "You
really expect us to believe you?"

    Ranma gave up. This wasn't going at all the way he expected. "If I
can't prove who I say I am, I'll come in quietly."

    Both street cops looked at each warily, hands on their batons.
They shrugged.

       "If you're telling the truth, I'll be waiting."

    "This is going to be interesting," Ranma grumbled under his breath
as he pulled out his cell phone.

                *   *   *

April 13th, 2001. 11:24 PM
Miho-Kiyo Apartment, Unit 215 - Okayama, Japan.

    "That's right, he's a visitor in the area and helping me and
Sergeant Makibi personally for a special case. Just hand him over to
one of the boys in bureau and let our friend go. I'll call the watch
commander at the station and he'll radio in to you guys direct so you
can confirm. Thanks for your cooperation officer, I appreciate it."

    Kiyone watched as Mihoshi snapped her cell phone shut and wondered
why she had to call in to the police station.

    "What was that about, Mihoshi?"

    Mihoshi put away her phone and brushed her hair. "Ranma called me
asking me to tell these two traffic cops that he was just a visitor in
the city. I guess your new fling decided to bust someone and got
caught!"

    Kiyone rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "So you bailed him
out to keep his identity a secret?"

    "Yeah, I just told them he's with us."

    Kiyone shrugged. "Alright then, back to this. Damn, I'm gonna have
to choose between these two," Kiyone said, as she crossed her arms
with a hand on her chin.

    She narrowed her eyes, debating which outfit would be better. She
looked over to Mihoshi. It was always a good idea to get someone
else's feedback. During their earlier years Mihoshi was a social
butterfly and went out on dates all the time. While Kiyone was no
homebody herself, she had only a few but steady relationships and
never quite lived up to being as stylish as other girls she knew.
Mihoshi was her super popular counterpart, and she knew how to dress
and bedazzle.

    "Hey Mihoshi, which one do you think I should wear?"

    Mihoshi just looked at the two outfits, one laid out on the floor,
the other on Kiyone. The one on the floor was a simple and nice dress
that came down to the knees and was a nice, pale emerald green. It
came complete with spaghetti straps. The other outfit was a bit of
surprise.

    The other was a set, complete with shorts, shirt and jacket. The
shirt was a tight baby tee patterned with a very well contrasting dark
indigo that flowed well with her hair color. It didn't have a low top
but in combination with her well formed chest, there were visible
cleavage wedges in the center. Then there was a loose and comfortable
fitting tan khaki jacket that gave some subtle distraction away from
Kiyone's curves with her tight shirt. It was all finished off with
some thigh high cargo shorts. Like the miniskirt she wore last week,
these tastefully showed off Kiyone's legs without going so high as to
suggest something naughtier.

    Mihoshi examined the two choices, and gave the nod to the outfit
Kiyone was already wearing. "That one. Looks more natural on you since
you're the outdoorsy type.

       Kiyone observed her expression with a silent gaze to see if she
was sincere about her choice and it looked like she was. "You think?"

    Mihoshi looked at the elegant and innocent dress on the floor.
"That dress makes you look like Ms. Goody Two-Shoes. And he's not
exactly a choir-boy either."


    "Me? I'm no floozy-" Kiyone paused. She thought about his kiss.
"Never mind."


    Kiyone put away her stuff and got ready to go to bed, satisfied
with her choice and silently thanked Mihoshi. She tried to count some
sheep in her head as the racket of Mihoshi blundering in the kitchen
for a late night snack emanated in the background.

                    *   *   *

April 14th, 2001. 8:45 AM
Okayama Mountains, Route 56 - Okayama, Japan.

    The crisp piney air carried by the whistling wind amongst the
trees gave Ranma a peace of mind he hadn't experienced since his
training trips with his father in his teen years. The gust of cherry
blossoms floating in the breeze was almost surreal as they blew past
the windshield. His training had advanced much since then, far beyond
what he could've ever expected when he was sixteen years old. But that
old tingle that ran though his jolting muscles whenever he was living
off the land of mother nature always made him feel good.

    Scenery in the wild was great and all, but it would've been a lot
better if the road had been paved. After making a turn off the highway
as instructed, Ranma realized this place was a very remote getaway as
most wouldn't care or bother to venture through these gravely and
harsh roads. His Chevy handled the rough terrain with ease and gobble
up the dirt, but the ride was bumpy and tiring. He looked at the
expensive liquor he had promised to bring Kiyone bouncing up on the
seat. He was glad the expensive whiskey was in a box, it would've been
unfortunate if it cracked open if the glass was bouncing around
everywhere.

    To think that there were ordinary people who lived this far in
isolation was a curiosity, and Ranma couldn't see a single person
anywhere. Maybe these damn roads probably discouraged people from
visiting, or they took the bus to get here. Ranma saw one bus cruising
down the mountain, but he didn't pay attention to see if there was
anyone in it.

    Ranma pressed the screen of his LCD screen fixed on to the
dashboard of his car. The screen flickered and showed a map of where
Ranma's car was at and how long it would take to get to his
destination. He read the statistics on the screen, his destination was
exactly 9.86 kilometers away, approximate arrival time, 15 minutes.

       Ranma grinned at the amazing little computer attached to his
car, he had never used a GPS system before, he'd heard of them but
never imagined that they would be accurate down to literally a few
human steps.

    The road finally opened up beyond the narrow forest lane and
revealed a fantastic view approaching the crest of the mountain and
down into a huge cratered lake. Ranma punched the gas as the road
widened.

---------------------


    The Masaki home hadn't changed much after the Jurai Civil War.
After a month of living alone, Tenchi had been pretty bored with his
peaceful life. But thankfully everyone had come back, starting with
the reappearance of Ryoko and Ryo-ohki. The chain reaction that ensued
brought back all the chaos that had driven him nuts in the first
place.

    Tenchi enjoyed every moment of it.

    He looked over at the yard where all the girls were chatting along
about something, giggling and joking around with each other. Most of
the attention was focused on Kiyone, they were all fussing over her
and talking about her.

    It was a beautiful start to the spring season with the cherry
blossoms in full bloom, and no finer way to inaugurate it with a
barbecue to last all day. It was also the start of his adult life, the
end of high school, and a year spent in peace and quiet as a ronin.
Tenchi had worked all day yesterday to pick up some fresh vegetables
and fruits in the fields and prepare the wood fire pit out by the lake
and Sasami prepared all the meats and other foods into coolers sitting
in the yard. Ryoko was helpful with the refreshments, albeit with lots
and lots of beer. And then some more beer. And if that wasn't enough,
she generously brought along a couple of large and expensive bottles
of Onikoroshi* when nightfall came.
*Demon sake - Very expensive and smooth sake served ice cold.

    He would never admit it to anyone, but he felt relieved when all
the chaos returned. Life was too short to live a quiet life. Tenchi
looked back at the girls who were still chattering about their soon to
arrive guest. He looked over at the laughing Ryoko and the giggling
Ayeka, as well as the equally curious Sasami. Washu was pretending to
be occupied, but was casually eavesdropping on them and piping in here
and there.

    He loved all of their company and the interesting adventures that
circled around them. But as always the constant and insatiable
bickering between Ayeka and Ryoko were a concern. It troubled him
sometimes to know that both wanted him to love one of them more than
the other. But he was young, and didn't know what love was himself. He
felt he was in no position to choose.

    Katsuhito made a simple remark in the matter, perhaps jokingly,
that whoever acted the worthiest in front of Tenchi would be suitable
as a companion. Or in other words, whoever was the least mischievous
and best behaved would have a shot at the crown. The context of
marriage was taken a little too literally by the girls, but it was
amusing nonetheless.

    It brought out a lot of interesting results, and amazingly, the
plan worked beautifully. Sasami didn't change, she was a polite little
angel like always and still a child going on to her teens. Washu was
fixed in her mischievous ways, she had her own fun and games around
the house and continued on as  the resident genius with a new
harebrained scheme to liven up every week.


    Ryoko and Ayeka were the most pleasant surprise in their attitude
adjustment. They were bonded by the fact that they were friends
regardless of their mishap laden past, and the time spent living
together on Earth was solidified by their earnest and sincere care for
Tenchi himself. They were still privy to bickering every now and then,
but it wasn't the hasty pissing contests that they had perseveringly
endured before. It seemed for these two women of contrasting extremes
of spoiled grace and rough necked rampage, learned something from the
Jurian Civil War that all their years had not been able to teach. The
turmoil they had shared together allowed them to wind down and regard
each other with cooler, prevailing heads.

    It was all perfectly laid out in this storm of chaos that invaded
Tenchi's life. He was given plenty of time to forget about everything
and allowed to live a relatively normal life with his friends. He now
had the opportunity to catch up on his education like any other
student and strive forward with plans he had once left dormant.

    Interestingly, Katsuhito had put in one more important rule for
all the girls, to Tenchi's advantage. He was to wait until he at least
graduated college before any sort of plans for a future bride. And
that meant all four years, of normal schooling, and many more if he
wished to pursue higher degrees. It was an excellent diversion to
allow Tenchi to mature.

    Tenchi was still 18 with high school barely completed under his
belt. His missed studies were handily made up thanks to some advanced
academic training from Washu. On a whim and a suggestion he took a
shot at those foreign SAT exams scoring a 1600* easy, along with his
perfect grades in the last semester over here in the land of the
rising sun. Although he was in danger of failing when all the girls
came, thanks to some "cranial acceleration" programs invented by
Washu. Although involved some haphazard experiments and a giant
computer cable surgically plugged into Tenchi's brain against his
will, everything worked out fine in the end.

    As Tenchi pleasantly loafed about his current state, Kiyone was
busy with the others babbling away on how to act around their soon to
arrive guest. To the others this sounded awfully confusing as they
were trying to figure out whether Kiyone wanted to keep their
identities a secret or not.

    All of them were listening on keenly as they were pleasantly
surprised that Kiyone was able to find a guy in her spare time. As far
as they knew, Kiyone was a woman married to her jobs. That and she
kept her private life notoriously secret amongst the others.

    "Okay, do all of you understand what not to do and say when he
gets here?" Kiyone asked.

    They all nodded with tepid enthusiasm, wondering why Kiyone was
making such a fuss.

    "Let me get this straight," Washu interjected, "You want us to
pretend to be earthlings in front of your new boyfriend and make sure
we don't say anything unusual? But you also invited him over here to
tell him the truth? I don't get it."

    Washu's comment finally got the others to nod in complete
agreement.

    Kiyone gave an exasperated sigh to Washu. "He's not my boyfriend!
I invited him over so I can explain to him who I really am. He
suspected Mihoshi and I as fake cops and had the evidence to prove it,
so I have to clear this up. I just don't want to overwhelm him with
all of your- I mean OUR unusual circumstance for being here and all
the other crazy stuff."

    "So, you want to lie to him?" Washu asked.

    "I'm not trying to lie to him. I just don't want him to find out
all at once about how weird we are. For all I know he might just freak
out and give me and Mihoshi the axe. I don't want to lose a career
that I worked hard for."

    Washu regarded Kiyone for a moment and shrugged. They had never
really had to deal with outsiders before, so the outcome of this was
up for grabs. "Whatever you think is best, Kiyone. I know you aren't
stupid."

    Kiyone shrugged as well. "We'll see."

    "So this guy is a cop, eh?" quipped Ryoko. "Do we really want more
of you?"

    "Hey! I thought we were your friends Ryoko!" whined Mihoshi.


    Ryoko rolled her eyes at Mihoshi. "I'm just trying to give Kiyone
here a hard time."

    Kiyone shook her head, taking the joke in stride. She hoped her
plan of breaking the news to Ranma would go as smooth as she hoped.
She hoped he was the type who would understand things when they were
presented to him slowly, piece by piece.

    "Can you tell us what kind of person he is Kiyone-san?" Ayeka
asked, curious about Kiyone's new prospect.

    "Well, he's not really a cop. More like a government agent. A high
ranking one at that. Seems like a nice guy, he's dedicated to his work
like me. He has a pretty big mouth, kinda like you Ryoko," Kiyone
said, smirking in the space pirate's direction.

    Ayeka hid a chuckle as Ryoko stewed.

    "And he's cute enough to make Kiyone blush!" Mihoshi blurted out.

    Everyone laughed as Kiyone turned a bright shade of red and yelled
at Mihoshi. Everyone continued laughing, but it slowly died down one
by one as they noticed a speeding black object coming their way. It
left a trail of dust as it made its way to the lake.

    The car came to a halt right next to Kiyone and Mihoshi's car.
Everyone just stared at the huge, blacked out SUV in front of them.

    "Whew!" Ranma took a breath of fresh air as he stepped out of his
truck. He was glad that he was finally here, he was getting real bored
driving all by himself in the middle of nowhere.

    He looked at his surroundings, immersed in green. He noticed the
staring onlookers and walked over to greet them.

       Everyone looked intently as the newcomer made his way towards
them. His stride and composure oozed of confidence and his smile
reflected as much. He sported an unusual pigtail that only added to
his charisma. There was an attractive appeal to him that all the girls
would've agreed upon, a bit of a bad boy character that intrigued many
girls.


    Kiyone was the only one who tried not to look impressed, trying to
match his confidence. She tucked her arms across her chest casually.
She looked at her wrist watch and nodded at Ranma, impressed. "It's
8:59. Got here almost on the dot, didn't you?"

    Ranma raised his eyes at the shrewd comment. "It's a coincidence.
Didn't think you'd be timing me." He glanced over at everyone else and
raised a hand. "Hi, I'm Ranma. Ranma Saotome."

    Everyone gathered around to quickly greet him. Like the first time
he'd met Kiyone and Mihoshi, he immediately felt a strange presence
amongst them. He looked over at the beautiful purple haired girl in
the kimono, and the cute little girl with the vibrant blue hair. They
were radiating a powerful aura, almost majestic, it was so distinct
and unusual, nothing like Ranma had ever seen. He gave an inquisitive
look at the little girl especially. She seemed to have TWO different
auras at once. The other one was harder to detect, but he could swear
it was like there were the souls of two people inside of her.

    Sasami felt uncomfortable by the way he looked at her. "Is there
something wrong, mister?"

    Ryoko decided she would be the first to introduce herself as she
was the least timid person of the group. "So you're Kiyone's new
friend, huh? I'm Ryoko, former space pirate and demon."

    Ranma snapped his attention away from the Jurai sisters and turned
to Ryoko. "Nice to meet you. That's real funny, I don't think I've
ever met a space pirate before."

    Ryoko stuck out her tongue, she could practically feel Kiyone
mentally cursing at her. "And what may I ask you do for a living,
Saotome-san?"

    "You can just call me Ranma." He hesitated for a moment, regarding
his occupation. "I guess you can say I'm a cop, just like she is," he
replied pointing at Kiyone.

    Ryoko lifted an eyebrow. "First she says you're not a cop, and you
say you are one?"

       Ranma looked at Kiyone, who looked just as awkward as he did.
"Well, I'm in a whole different ballpark than she is. How about you?"

    Ryoko stepped back and gathered around her housemates. "I live
here with Tenchi, his grandfather, the prissy princess, our little
Sasami, Washu, and my pet cabbit Ryo-ohki." She started grinning.
"Like I said, I used to be a space pirate before I settled down here,"
she said with a grin.

    "Ryoko!" Ayeka's lips pursed. "Was it really necessary to
introduce me in such a rude way?"

    "I'm sure it's just a joke right? How are you miss, what's your
name?" Ranma interjected.

    Ayeka quickly smoothed herself out. "I'm Ayeka Jurai. It is a
great pleasure to meet you, Saotome-san." She lifted a hand as she
covered her face with the sleeves of her kimono.

    Ranma suppressed a blush at how polite she was. "Same here. I'm
sure she was just kidding with the princess part." He looked over at
Ryoko again. "And that's really funny, Ryoko-san. You don't do
anything for a living?"

    Both girls tried to respond at the same time.

    "Well, I may not be prissy, but I certainly am a princess," Ayeka
replied with an air of dignity.

    "I told you bud, I used to be a space pirate."

    "Huh?" Ranma shook his head in confusion. He just went along with
the joke. "That's real funny, ladies." He gave a weak laugh.

    Kiyone was quick to interrupt. "Yeah, it is. Isn't it? That's my
friends for ya." She tried to laugh but it came out weak as well.

    "I like the space pirate one. Never heard that one before," Ranma
said. He shut his mouth when he saw that both girls looked agitated.

    It was just then he noticed something as he looked into Ryoko's
eyes.

    "What the - cat eyes!" he blurted, nearly tripping as he stepped
back.

    Ryoko was taken aback and looked hurt. "What about my eyes?" What
the hell was wrong with this guy?

    "Oh, she's a demon alright!" Ayeka butted in to pay back the
mischief.

    "Hold on, it's all right!" Kiyone shook Ranma out of his
bewildered shock. She mentally slapped herself as things had turned
weird out of nowhere.

    Ranma mashed his eyes shut and blinked several times. He looked at
Ryoko again and then at Kiyone, as well as everyone else who was
looking at him with mouths agape. Ryoko clearly wasn't a cat, but his
eyes confirmed that she literally had feline features.


    Ranma stammered, backing away still. "I'm sorry. I have trouble
around cats. I didn't mean to offend you."

    "Afraid of cats? Seriously?" Ryoko crossed her arms. "Now how the
heck do you acquire something like that?"

    "Alright, alright. I'm gonna make this a whole lot easier and as
painless as possible for everyone!" Washu walked out in front of
everybody with a bemused look on her face.

    "Wait, Washu-" Kiyone tried interrupting.

    The short redhead stepped up to Ranma with her head barely up to
his chest. "Ranma, my name's Washu. Don't worry about my daughter over
here, because she's not a cat."

    Ranma looked down at this diminutive young girl with her crab like
hair. He was getting more confused by the second. "Daughter? What?"

    "This isn't going to hurt a bit, so just bear with me," Washu
said. She pulled out a silver rod from out of nowhere and lifted it up
to Ranma's head.

       It popped open and lengthened to match up with Ranma's eyes. He
stared at a tiny glass rectangular lens that reminded him of a scene
from a movie he had seen before.

    "Hurt? What are you talking about? This looks like that memory
eraser from that one movie," Ranma said, staring at the rod still

    Kiyone gasped in horror as she realized what Washu was trying to
do. Washu smirked as she clicked the trigger for her device, flashing
a red pulse of energy into Ranma's eyes. He fell back and onto the
ground, dazed.

    Everyone else meeped as they watched Washu do her thing while
Kiyone shook her shoulders in disbelief.

    "What the hell did you just do?" Kiyone shrieked.

    Washu tossed her device into a pocket of hyperspace which opened
just as it was in the air. "I shot an alteration pulse into his neural
synapses so that he'd be more receptive to suggestions. I set this
baby up so he won't be gawking in disbelief when your little plan goes
wrong and he drives off thinking we're all crazy."

    "Hey, that did look like that one thingy in that one movie! Men in
Black!" Mihoshi said delightfully.

    Kiyone was still fixated on little Washu. "Are you sure you know
what you're doing? You knocked him out!"

    Washu shrugged Kiyone's hands off of her. "He's fine. It's like
he's taking a nap, just wake him up."

    Tenchi had seen the whole exchange and worriedly ran over with a
pail of cold water to splash Ranma's face with. He feared just as
badly for Ranma, as Washu's inventions were sometimes a bit crazy.

    Kiyone held her breath again as she saw what Tenchi was about to
do. "No, Tenchi , don't-!"

    A female Ranma sat up from the grass and clutched her eyes,
wondering why she had just fallen asleep. She looked up and saw Tenchi
with a bucket in his hands, frozen in place. Ranma scanned everyone
else, they all had similar expressions with the exception of Kiyone.

    She wasn't overwhelmed with the usual anxious panic that occurred
when new people found out about her curse. "Hold on, I can explain
this."

--------------------

    Half an hour and several dozen transformations of the curse later,
Ranma sat around the picnic table in front of the lake amidst a
bemused crowd.

    "Wow, so that explains why you were afraid of my eyes. I never met
anyone who was afraid of cats," Ryoko said.

    Ranma was petting Ryo-ohki who was perched on his shoulder. She
had accidentally spooked Ranma while he was telling everyone about how
he got his curse, and he freaked out completely. However, he noticed
that Ryo-ohki was a rabbit that had a cat face and a cat's meow, but
it wasn't a cat.

    "My dad thought that the neko-ken would make me stronger," Ranma
replied.

    "I still can't comprehend how your father sold you for food, and
traded you off for his own benefit," said Ayeka.

    "Well, Pop has always been like that, he was trained by a master
who taught thievery and he always thinks with his stomach instead of
his brain," Ranma said. "He's like a shoplifting kid who never grew up
to feel guilty about it."

    "Would your mom really force you to kill yourself for not being
manly?" asked Sasami.

    "Not really, when she found out I was 'Ranko' she forgave me
because I acted manly even as a girl. She was disappointed more at my
logic actually, the seppuku pledge was just something to keep my dad
from doing stupid things, although even that didn't stop him. My mom
told me she would never kill me over something so dumb."

    "Well you're curse isn't that unusual," Tenchi said. "It may be
hard for you to believe, but I believe in magic and unusual stuff like
that. I think it's a fantastic thing to witness."

    "It wasn't exactly fantastic when I first had to live with it, but
it's not so bad anymore." Ranma looked down at his flat chest, glad to
be a male whenever he could. "It became really handy a lot of times.

    Kiyone silently prayed to the gods for everyone's easy
understanding. He was a smooth operator and managed to charm over
everyone easily.

    Ranma looked around, still trying to grasp the awkward auras of ki
surrounding him. He had been nice to them so far, he figured they
would return the favor. "Well, since I've told you people about myself
and my peculiarities, would any of you like to explain why none of you
are human?"

    Everyone froze at this comment, even Washu and Katsuhito were
caught short with the comment Ranma had made. Katsuhito was the first
to respond.

    "What are you talking about son?"

    Ranma tried not to look so accusative. "You know what I'm talking
about. I can sense your auras, and they're nothing like anything I've
felt here on earth. It's been like this since I met Kiyone and
Mihoshi. Especially Sasami over there, that girl definitely has
something wrong with her. She has two different flavors of ki on her
at once."

    Washu interjected before anyone else could try to conjure up a
lie. She had prepared for this. "That's impressive, young man. You
figured out that we weren't human when we didn't even tell you."

    Young man? Ranma chuckled. "Are you trying to be the wise sage
among you, pipsqueak?"

    Washu snapped her fingers and grew out as an adult, metamorphosing
right in front of him. Her eyes held a steely glare. "You were
saying?"

    Ranma sweatdropped.

    "We'll try to explain," Kiyone said, sighing in defeat. She looked
up at Washu, eyes pleading.

    "You ready for a long tale?" Washu said in her sultry and matured
voice.

    Ranma nodded, more comfortable than he thought he'd be under the
circumstances. "I'm all ears."

    Ryoko giggled as she decided to phase out and grab the first ice
chest full of beers to the table. "Oh, this is going to be good."

---------------------

    Lunch was a lively affair, with gasps of shock and eager turns
exchanged for storytelling shared amidst plates of barbecue.

    "Damn!" Saying that Ranma was overwhelmed would be an
understatement, he learned more about the universe and the outside
world in the past half hour than his entire time in college.

    "So a couple months ago you guys just came back from a huge war?"

    "Yes, it wasn't too pleasant, but we won against Kagato again in
the end and we all came back to earth because royalty was just too
tedious," Ayeka said, chuckling politely under the cover of her
sleeve.

    "What she means is she missed Tenchi so much that she just ran
away completely from her duties to be with him, and I joined her!"
exclaimed Sasami while laughing.

    Ranma tried to comprehend everything everyone told him so far, and
it was a lot to swallow. However, it wasn't as strange as it sounded.
Everything felt so easy to take in and he felt refreshingly
understanding about the whole thing. He saw Washu snickering
mischievously throughout each new story and explanation.

    Kiyone munched away at her plate of food, reluctant to be as eager
as her friends were. She almost wished Washu had zapped her too, to
calm her nerves.

    Ranma laughed as he clicked beer cans with the other adults. He
looked at the morose Kiyone. "What's the matter?

    "I guess you're not gonna want to hang around here anymore, now
that you know that we're not from this planet," Kiyone said with her
head was down.

    Ranma lifted his eyebrows at Kiyone, he wasn't expecting this.
"What makes you think that? I think this is totally cool! I wish I
could've been with you people! I've always dreamed of going out to
space! I'd kill to have a spaceship!" exclaimed Ranma excitedly.

    "Wha-what?" Kiyone was caught off guard by Ranma's excitement, her
jaw was hanging down, "You're not bothered at all by any of this?!"

    "Well I was expecting something good since your past is all smoke
and mirrors, but this was something else too." Ranma pondered. "I've
had some weird stuff happen to me too, since I didn't tell you every
little detail of my life, I'll tell you later. I don't think it's that
weird, at least now I know we're not alone in the universe. And, I
could use some of your advanced alien technology, especially from
Washu, if everything she says is true," said Ranma.

    "You've had weirder things happen?" Kiyone gave him a skeptical
look.

    "Not weirder, but pretty damn weird." Like fighting gods and godly
perverts, Ranma thought.

    "I'm glad you finally know the truth though," Kiyone said. "It
could've been a lot worse."

    "It's still a bit much, but I'll live," Ranma replied. He looked
at the huge floating onsen in the middle of the lake. It had been
camouflaged to be invisible before Ranma's arrival by Washu.

    Katsuhito approached him from behind and tapped his shoulder. "So,
young man. Since you've been practicing martial arts your entire life,
you must be a pretty good?"

    Ranma nodded. "I think I know a thing or two." He flexed his
biceps and arms up with a huge smile, much to the amusement of all the
girls.

    "You sound like a formidable young warrior," Katsuhito said, also
amused at his playful demeanor. "How about a practice match with my
grandson? You two can spar out here by the lake."

    Tenchi was munching some grilled veggies and nearly spat them out.
"Oh come on, grandpa! He's a lot older than me and we're just out here
having fun."

    Ranma shrugged his shoulders, watching his hosts and staying quiet
to their requests.

    Katsuhito tsked. "Come on, Tenchi. It's not often we get visitors
here, and you only practice with me. See how you match up against
him."

    Ryoko whistled. "A match against Tenchi? Ranma here may be a cutey
but he's no match for our man!"

    Ayeka nodded, matching Ryoko's enthusiasm. "I agree, it's
dangerous for a human to go against one of Jurai's noble. He could get
hurt."

    Ranma frowned. His guests were very nice to him, but he still took
a challenge to his fighting skills seriously. Tenchi was a nice
looking kid, but didn't look serious. "Hey now, just because I'm older
than him doesn't mean I'll be some pushover. I've trained in the art
my whole life, I can take on anybody."

    Kiyone squeezed his arm and pulled his ear close to her mouth. "He
just defeated an entire galaxy of evil forces, and he has the light
hawk wings of Juraian power. You can't beat him!"

    "He may be strong," Ranma said, remember the stories they had told
him earlier. "But I bet you he's not as skilled."

    Kiyone blinked. "What's the point if he can crush you without
touching you?"

    Tenchi wanted to stay neutral and wasn't intent on goading on
either his grandpa, Ayeka and Ryoko, or Ranma. Washu however, looked
amused. She stood up and pointed to both Ranma and Tenchi.

    "I for one, would like to see how they do in a match. No extra
energy though and no Jurai-powers involved," Washu said.

    Katsuhito smiled. "Which is exactly what I planned."

    "You read my mind, old man," Ranma said. He stood up, getting
ready to stretch.

    Tenchi sighed but steeled himself as he walked out into the open
grass away from the picnic tables. He watched as Ranma walked out in
front of him, stretching his limbs and loosening his joints. Tenchi
looked at Ranma carefully, who was the same height as him and had the
presence of an older, and much more experienced combatant. But he
wasn't the same shy boy he was before, eager to skip his grandpa's
daily sword fighting lessons and his chores at the shrine. His
skirmishes with the rest of the galaxy, saving the damsels in
distress, and defeating Kagato had been influential in carving him out
of his boyhood shell.

    Tenchi raised up his arms, a basic fighting stance from Juraian
combat arts. Ranma readied himself as well, his hands at his chest and
comfortably resting. Both regarded each other carefully.

    "You don't look as comfortable as you should be with bare hands,"
Ranma said.

    Tenchi blinked. "I usually fight with a sword and train with a
bokken."

    Katsuhito nodded. "It's the way of the Juraian knight," he said.
"We train both ways, but the way of the sword is the essence of our
style."

    Ranma lowered his arms. "I don't mind if you fight with a bokken,
makes no difference to me."

    The spectators regarded him warily, wondering if he was being
cocky or if they thought he didn't know he was giving Tenchi an unfair
edge. To the girls, a fighter with a bokken versus an unarmed fighter
seemed like a mismatch.

    Tenchi grabbed a bokken that his grandpa threw at him and readied
it in front of him, his grip on the hilt firmly in place. His
confidence grew leaps and bounds, and he no longer regarded Ranma as a
threat.

    "Whenever you two are ready," Washu announced. She sat on top of
one of the tables with some popcorn.

    Ranma raised his fists and slowly started skipping side to side
and advanced slowly towards his opponent. "Let's see what you got,
boy."

    Neither made an attack first, and Tenchi regarded the pigtailed
man carefully to gather his fighting style. It looked like he was
skipping around like a boxer, but his palms were open in a kenpo
stance.

    Tenchi made the first attack, jabbing consecutively with thrusts
of his bokken. He followed through with several technical slashes,
coming across naturally with brute force and elegant execution from
years of conditioned training.

       Ranma avoided it by jumping back and defensively shifting, also
observing his opponents footwork. He narrowly avoided a lightning
quick slash from an unknown direction, parrying a couple of attacks
with his own kicking feet. He was curious by what martial arts from
outer space looked like, and he was almost caught off guard. The
exotic difference in Tenchi's sword fighting style to the styles he
had encountered in his own travels didn't disappoint, and he continued
to play along to his defensive strategy.

       "Kyaa!" Tenchi made another battle cry as he slew another
barrage of attacks, this time more successfully. He grew irritated
this time around, wondering why he hadn't been able to get a single
hit yet. His opponent seemed unable to block his attacks and could
only retreat, he read Ranma's moves and could tell he was confused.

    "Yeow!" Ranma narrowly avoided yet another slash, this time to his
Achilles heel. He continued to observe his opponent, looking at the
way his knees bent and shoulders rotated, the force of the snap on his
wrists as he slashed, the way his eyes followed Ranma's own movements.

    And then finally, Ranma saw what he was waiting for. He rushed in
and anticipated a jab and stepped in and tripped Tenchi right on his
back, knocking one of his hands off the bokken. He grabbed the hand
with his bokken and twisted it back, manipulating it to force Tenchi
to roll over onto his stomach with his arm restrained on to the small
of his back. Tenchi yelped, and Ranma released him, jumping back.

    Ayeka and Ryoko shrieked. Mihoshi, Nobuyuki, and Sasami looked on
with wild eyes, wondering what had just happened. Washu whooped and
Kiyone cheered on. Katsuhito had a very subtle crease form at his
cheeks.

    Tenchi scrambled defensively back onto his feet, grabbing his
bokken in the process. He looked up at Ranma angrily, wondering what
in the world had just happened. His body had been forced and
manipulated against his will, and while it hadn't hurt the whole
action was so seamlessly executed he felt almost violated. He felt his
face burning and his light hawk wings forming.

    Ranma's concentration broke for a moment as he felt a surge of
power weaken his knees as he saw a glowing white entity form around
Tenchi's body. He saw Katsuhito yelling at Tenchi, and the white light
disappeared immediately.

    "That was crazy! If you bring those out I'd be a goner!" Ranma
exclaimed, impressed at his alien powers.

    Tenchi grimaced, unwilling to concede even without his powers. He
dashed forward, going for another aggressive attack.

    Without the same skipping footwork, Ranma stepped forward and
anticipated Tenchi's path. His observations had been pretty complete,
and Tenchi had reused the same forms over again. No matter how exotic,
Ranma learned how to attack his enemies without being shown twice. He
used Tenchi's own forward momentum to flip him over and then disarmed
him similarly like before by knocking his weapon off of him. Ranma's
foot was on Tenchi's chest with his right arm locked in a standing arm
bar, with his forearm locked at Tenchi's elbow for a fulcrum.

    "Do you yield?" Ranma asked.

    Tenchi hissed in pain, his other hand tapping the ground. "I do!"

    Ranma helped the boy up from his ground, and rubbed his shoulder
and arm. "Sorry, hope I didn't hurt you."

    Tenchi swung his arms around and looked at his elbow. He hadn't
been hit once, and was only given take downs. "I'm fine," he said
dejectedly.

    Ranma pat him on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, you have a
lot more to live and learn." Ranma raised his fists. "I'm a hand-to-
hand guy. That's why I didn't mind you using your bokken. I have to
tell you, your Juraian fighting style sure is something. But it still
doesn't change the fact that you're limited by the way you can attack
with a sword compared to your bare hands."

    Katsuhito clapped, as did Washu. Ayeka and Ryoko grumbled at
Tenchi's loss, claiming foul play. The rest were cheering at the
marvelous display that both men had shown.

    "You're right, he may be a boy..." Katushito without warning
attacked Ranma with a couple of jabs and roundhouse kicks, all of them
blocked or avoided. "But I'm a different story. So how about it?"

    "You're a sword fighter too, though." Ranma smiled, planning his
next move. "Why bother? I'll just take you down like your grandson."

    Katsuhito smiled, ignoring his attempts to anger him with taunts.
"I've had 700 years of practice, trust me boy."

    Ranma raised a brow and decided to go on the offensive. He threw a
couple of karate strikes and successive kicks, parrying back and forth
with Katsuhito. Like Ranma had been doing to Tenchi, Katsuhito was
mostly avoiding his attacks. He figured the old coot was trying to
learn a way inside his defenses.

    Old age was not a debilitating factor for Katsuhito, as he wasn't
like any other normal being. His white hakama fluttered as Ranma's
punches barely missed his body. An overextended punch presented itself
and Katsuhiko took hold of Ranma's straightened arm, and with a surge
of flashing speed he elbowed Ranma in the chest which allowed another
opening to sweep him on the ground.

    The pigtailed boy felt his breathing jolt from the hit and he
softly positioned his back to roll back as he felt his legs get swept
from under him. Ranma rolled back and onto his feet and managed to
deflect down a devastating punch aimed at his solar plexus, one that
could very well send him to the hospital. With another surprising dash
of speed, he let another punch slip by that stopped short of hitting
his stomach. The change in air pressure from the speed and power of
the punch caused a blast of wind that ruffled Ranma's hair.

    The crowd watched spellbound. Ryoko cheered for the old man to
kick Ranma's ass, the others were sitting and watching the affair like
a movie. Ranma stumbled back, rubbing the part of his chest where he
was elbowed.

    Ranma clicked his tongue. "Not bad, old man. I never would've
dreamed you were that fast. My eyes and intuition said you're nowhere
near capable of that kind of power or speed. But I guess that's why
you guys are all aliens, right?"

    "It's still a thousand years too early for you, boy!" Katsuhito
cackled. He fingered his grey moustache proudly.

    "Well, I'm not finished either," Ranma said. He cracked his
knuckles and got into a karate stance this time. His eyes were set
dead ahead on his opponent.

    Before Katsuhito could brush off Ranma's newly revived threat, he
saw an unexpected blur and a battle cry that made no sense to him.
Before he knew it, Katsuhito found himself on the ground, paralyzed
before Ranma had finished yelling "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken*."
*Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.

    Tenchi gasped watching his grandpa fall on the floor with Ranma
standing over him, defeated. He had been watching them closely with
his undivided attention, and couldn't see Ranma's hands during his
vision blurring display of speed. "What did you do to grandpa!?"

    The rest of the Tenchi household gawked, speechless. They watched
as Ranma bent down and poked a few pressure points on Katsuhito's
motionless body.

    Katsuhito breathed deeply and pat his body down, wondering how he
had been incapacitated. He looked up to see Ranma extend a hand. He
grabbed it and helped himself off the ground.

    "Not bad, old man. I think you might've been a thousand years too
naive to think I can be beaten so easily," Ranma said. "Care for
another?"

    Katsuhito smiled. He liked this kid. "Certainly.

    Ranma still had a surprised smile on his face as a gust of pillowy
ki launched him into the middle of Masaki lake.



                *   *   *

April 14th , 2001. 8:46 PM
Tendo Residence - Nerima, Tokyo.

    "I can't believe how fast your arm healed after Ranma broke it,
Ryoga."

    Ryoga's clenched his teeth. He still couldn't believe how easily
Ranma took him out. He underestimated him, like a foolish amateur. "As
soon as I find that bastard, I'm gonna beat him to a bloody pulp," he
hissed.

    Akane sighed. "We shouldn't have provoked him. Things went bad
with you two within minutes. Knowing him, he probably learned a thing
or two living on his own. None of us back home have had to deal with
much insanity since Ranma left us."

    "He caught me by surprise. I shouldn't have charged in so
quickly," Ryoga spat. "I'm better now too. I didn't spend all these
years doing nothing either."

    Akane tried her best to calm her husband down, but she knew all
too well just how stubborn Ryoga could be when it came to being beat,
especially by Ranma. She was hoping maybe her and Ranma could settle
their differences. But Cologne, Ryoga, Kuno, Nabiki, and even she had
pushed his buttons. Deep inside, she knew she couldn't blame him. It
was a difficult circumstance, but it was her relationship with Ryoga
in Ranma's absence that had caused his departure years ago.

    But Akane never imagined that he would change so much. Ranma was a
different person now. Even in the short time she saw him, Akane knew
right away the destructive and moody man who broke her husband's arm
was not the pigtailed boy she had fallen in love with when she was a
teenager.

    Akane and Ryoga both turned their heads as the door popped open to
reveal Nabiki in a slick trench coat.

    "Jesus, Nabiki. Don't you even knock anymore?" Ryoga asked.

    "As far as I'm concerned you're still the guest here, Ryoga,"
Nabiki replied with derision.

       Ryoga was used to Nabiki's quips whenever she visited home to
stay with the family. It was a break from her job, which demanded much
of her time as far as the rest of the family knew. She never really
talked about her job, it was mostly a mystery and never quite prodded
into. It was the same from when they were teenagers, nobody questioned
Nabiki's methods of income for the dojo. That same attitude carried
over as they became adults.

    "Hey sis, guess what I found," Nabiki said. The look on her face
meant she had found something juicy.

    Akane wasn't as interested, as her mind was occupied elsewhere.
"What is it oneechan?"

    Nabiki opened up her large work purse and pulled out a thick
manilla folder and a couple of videotapes. The jacket had big red
letters stamped on it.

       Akane knew enough English to read what it said.

    [EYES ONLY! >TOP SECRET MATERIAL ENCLOSED<]

    Ryoga and Akane's jaws dropped when they saw whose name was on the
file.

    The satisfaction in Nabiki's face was replaced with a concerned
scowl. "I found out all the dirty little details of the past five
years of Ranma's life."

                *   *   *

April 14th , 2001. 9:00 PM
Masaki Lakefront - Okayama Mountains, Japan.

    Ranma laughed as he watched Tenchi's father and grandfather give
him another pour of sake into his cup. The poor boy was already drunk,
and didn't receive any help from some of his girlfriends as they
goaded the older men into getting him more plastered. It was Tenchi's
inaugural drink into adulthood, one of many barriers he would cross
now that he was finished with high school.

    His own stomach comfortably settled with even more food from the
ongoing barbecue that was still going strong. Ranma settled on the
grass by the lake and look at the bright reflection on the still water
from the power lamps of the floating onsen that illuminated the entire
Masaki mountain area. The soft, luminescence surrounding the forests
and the grass to the Masaki house beautifully enveloped the peaceful
ambience.

    Kiyone walked over to his side, a couple of glasses in her hand
and a large handle of scotch whiskey in the other. She sat down next
to him and handed him a glass.

    "Is that my Blue-Label?" Ranma asked.

    Kiyone smiled. "Thought it'd be a good time to take it out. I had
to hide it otherwise these jerks will just hog it all."

    Ranma laughed and received a generous pour of the amber liquid
into his cup. It was filled 3/4 of the way up, and Kiyone filled hers
up the same. Ranma leaned back comfortably, lying on the incline,
before the edge of the ground dipped into the lake.



    Ryoko floated over with her tail wagging, hovering around the
bottle in Kiyone's hand. "What is that, I see? Have you been hiding
something nice without sharing with us?"

    Kiyone's eyes narrowed. "I didn't bring it out because I knew
you'd just guzzle it all without appreciating it."

    Mihoshi came to their side, rows of shot glasses in between her
fingers. "Hee, hee. We can play a drinking game to see who gets to
kiss Tenchi when he passes out!"

    Ryoko squealed excitedly. Everyone had been drinking their fair
share throughout the whole day, and the only inexperienced drinker was
Tenchi himself. She snatched the bottle away from Kiyone's hand and
ran off with Mihoshi in tow, both of them giggling.

    "Why you!" Kiyone went to go chase after them, but a hand on her
ankle made her stop. She looked down.

    "Don't worry about them," Ranma said, raising his glass. "We've
already got ours, right? Let them have their fun."

    Kiyone brushed herself off and hmphed. She sat down on the incline
next to Ranma's right and nuzzled her own glass close to her face and
took a sip. "Mmmm. It's such a waste for them though."

    Ranma laughed. "We can always get another. I picked it up cheap,
duty free."

    "Oh, very well." Kiyone happily bounced her head lightly from left
to right as she drank some more, her cheeks turning rosy as she blew
out a cool breath.

    "That's a nice group of friends you got there," Ranma said. He
raised his glass and clinked hers. "I liked 'em right away, even if
they're all out of this world."

    "They're more than friends," Kiyone said. "They're family."

    "Nice family."

    Both of them laid in the grass together in silence, listening to
the cheers and jeers coming from the picnic tables. They laughed as
they leaned over to see the usually graceful Ayeka howling crisply as
she took down a burning shot of liquor along with Mihoshi and Ryoko.

    Kiyone lifted her right leg up and crossed it over her left,
resting and bouncing it on her knee. Her light, fair skin reflected
some of the light coming off the lake and her painted white toe nails
shimmered. Ranma's eyes took note, and he traced her legs back down to
her thighs. Her cargo shorts had slipped and pulled back, revealing
more than they were supposed to. He looked at the rest of her.

    "You look really nice in that outfit. Looks good on you," Ranma
commented.

    "Now you notice?" Kiyone huffed lightly. She had been waiting for
him to notice or say something all day. She looked away, her face
pensive.

    "What? Oh hey, come on." Ranma sat up straight and tried to get
her to pay attention to him. "Did I say something wrong? What's the
matter?"

    Kiyone continued looking away, her eyes darting back at his for a
moment and then back into the open night.

    Ranma brushed the tip of his nose and took a gulp of his drink. He
tried to inch closer to her, his right arm propped close to Kiyone's
neck and her teal hair. He looked down at her, and she rebuffed his
advance.

    "You look beautiful."

    Kiyone turned her head in surprise. Her eyes strained as she
looked him in the face, and then her eyes widened slightly. She
reached up and pinched his nose shut and started laughing.

    "Ow, ow!" Ranma jerked back and rubbed his nose. "What was that
for?"

    She stopped laughing to catch her breath and wiped away a tear.
She leaned on an elbow and rested her head on her hand. "Why so
serious?"

    Ranma snorted and joined her in laughter. He leaned and fell onto
his back again, his head next to Kiyone's. A bright flash interrupted
them as Washu stood in front with a camera in hand.

    "Aww, how cute. I got you both laughing next to each other on
candid camera," Washu said. She pressed a button that projected a
holographic photo of them in front. "See? Came out perfect."

    Ranma held his mouth as he stopped laughing and Kiyone turned
bright red. Both tried to reach out and snatch the camera.

    "Not so fast!" Washu said. "This is a joyous memento for the both
of you."

    "Washu! You give that back and erase it right now!" Kiyone
screeched. She tried to get up and Ranma again held her down by
grabbing her arm this time.

    "Leave it be. Why bother?" Ranma said.

    Kiyone gave up and tossed and turned on the ground. "You don't
understand. There's no end with her."

    "Eh," Ranma replied, shrugging.

    She narrowed her eyes at him, a Cheshire grin among her features.
"Don't get any funny ideas, Captain."

    He looked over at her with eyes narrowed too, but with a straight
lip. "I wouldn't dream of it."

    A side of Kiyone's lip curled. "Bottoms up." She poured the rest
of her liquor, a considerable amount, down her throat. She felt her
whole head burn like it was on fire.

    Ranma refrained from doing the same. "You ok?"

    A fake smile crossed Kiyone's face. "I'm fine."

    He watched as she got up and walked towards the other girls, still
in the middle of their drinking game with Tenchi in the middle. He
chuckled as he watched Kiyone walking clumsily, the alcohol affecting
her balance. "Still playing the game, I see," Ranma quietly said.

    Washu walked over to Ranma with something in her hand, her big red
hair bouncing as she skipped towards him. Ranma watched with
fascination at the little girl, who was really an old woman and the
greatest scientific genius in the universe, as he was told.

    "I got a little something for you, and I think you'll find it
useful," Washu said. She had a small flask in her hand with a silver
bevel top and bottom and wrapped with pinkish red leather, the same
exact distinct color as her hair.

    Ranma looked at it, and noticed two buttons. One was blue, the
other was dark red. "What is it?"

    Washu pressed the blue button and cold water poured out in a
smooth stream out of the spout. Ranma's curse triggered and she wiped
away her face, annoyed.

    "Did you come all the way here to play with my curse again, little
Washu?" the now female Ranma asked.

    "Tsk, tsk." This time Washu pushed the red button, and a stream of
lukewarm water cascaded out and changed Ranma back. "Ye of so little
faith, may I present you the Washu Thermos."

    Ranma wiped his now male face of water and looked at her. "What?"

    Washu cackled out loud. "This little flask here is a controlled
temperature thermos that is linked directly to my laboratory for an
unlimited supply of cold and hot water. And it's the perfect
temperature at all times too! Never too hot, never too cold, just
enough to trigger your curses back and forth. That's why I had fun
splashing you over and over earlier."

    "What?" Ranma looked at the device with eyes wide open. "How,
what?"

    "Try not to think too hard how it works, because you'll never get
it," Washu said. She pat Ranma on the head and tossed him his new toy.
"And I don't leave out the little details either. Naturally I made the
water purified, so you can drink it. You can control the temperature
with the turn dial on the bottom if you want for colder or hotter
pours, in case you need a cool drink or some instant ramen."

    "No shit?" Ranma looked at the flask in his hand. It was
incredibly then and easy to hold. It was an easy fit in all of his
pockets. He looked up at Washu, impressed. "That's amazing. What else
can you do?"

    "Well if you have to ask," she said, her palm open and pointed as
she brought it up to her chin. "I'll start with some of your own
stuff. How's that?"

    "My own stuff?" Ranma looked confused. "Like what?"

    "Hand over your gun," Washu said.

    Ranma looked hesitant but he reluctantly drew his Sig Sauer P226
from his holster. He unloaded it and removed the magazine. "What are
you going to do with it?"

    Washu examined the steel pistol in her hands and shook her head.
"This piece of ancient history? You couldn't even shoot something
across the lake!"

    Ranma looked confused. "You don't say."

    "You want a Galaxy Police issue blaster? I can get plenty of
those, easy. Heck, even Kiyone could probably help you out."

    Ranma shook his head. "No, I don't know anything about that. No
need for blasters or the Galaxy Police or whatever."

    "Oh well." Washu tossed the gun over her shoulder and it
disappeared into a pocket in hyperspace. Another pistol popped out and
landed in Ranma's hands. "Try that one."

    Ranma looked down in surprise, his mind was still amazed at some
of the incredible alien technology that Washu had demonstrated for
him. He looked down at his gun, it looked the same as before except it
came with another suppressor attached to where barrel threads were.
"What's this?"

    "Better, faster, stronger. Lighter too, don't you think?" Washu
proudly crossed her arms.

    He hefted the pistol in his hand, and nearly dropped it in
surprise. It was lighter, almost like a toy. The grip and the slide
felt like cold steel, but the weight made it feel unnatural. Like a
paradox of physics. "It's too light!"

    "Try shooting it! Go ahead, pop off a few in the lake," Washu
said.

    Ranma looked at her skeptically and aimed the pistol into the
water. He braced himself with a strong grip, fearing that a light
pistol would equal unmanageable recoil. With a few light squeezes of
the trigger the slide racked back with a very muted clink-clink, the
only audible noise was a light whistle from the bullet flight and the
ejected shells popping out of the extractor. There was no suppressor
hiss, and the muted explosion of a casing full of gunpowder was
nowhere to be heard. This time Ranma did drop his gun.

    "What the hell?" He felt his throat go dry.

    Washu picked it up, holding the pistol with both of her small
hands. "Neat, isn't it? And you didn't feel any recoil, did you?"

    Ranma's eyes widened even further. "You're right!"

    Washu clicked the guide-rod laser's activation switch on the
takedown lever. A crisp and bright laser shot out and reached far
beyond the normal range of a laser sight, illuminating a dot visible
all the way from the other side of the lake. "Did a little number for
you, all around. The magazine is bottomless, it's connected to a
dimensional portal that feeds constantly from my lab. A laser that can
be seen as far as the eye can see, a suppressor that completely
silences, and bullets that don't lose energy and shoot straight until
they hit. Now how do you like that?"

    Ranma looked at her, feeling like an insignificant ant. "Thanks?"

    "Oh, of course you're welcome," Washu said, waving him off
exaggeratedly. "Oh, and that's not all. Look over there."

    Ranma saw her pointing to his car and when she snapped her fingers
it was swallowed up by another huge dimensional pocket.

    Washu spoke up before he had a chance to protest. "Oh, you have
even more goodies? A few more guns, a car that has armor built in.
Why, I'll fix these up in a jiffy."

    She snapped her fingers again and in the void another identical
looking car appeared, with no discernable changes to Ranma's eyes.

    "There, gave you a couple of extras I'm sure you'll like," Washu
said, winking. "You can thank me later next time you visit by letting
me do some experiments on you in my lab."

    Ranma unscrewed his new suppressor and holstered his pistol. "What
did you do?"

    Washu tapped her feet. "The same thing to your other guns. Armor
on your car that actually works. And a killer air freshener, courtesy
of me. I invented it years ago to sell to space cruisers, but it never
took off in the market."

    Ranma blinked. "Oh. Wow. Great." He scratched his head. "Thanks?"

-------------

    Kiyone watched from the table and saw Ranma shooting into the lake
with his gun. He looked like he was having a hard time dealing with
Washu, waving his arms about and switching from looking confused to
amazed.

    Ryoko bumped into her shoulder, with Ayeka pulling Ryoko's sleeves
back to keep her from toppling over. Tenchi was already in the late
stages of looking sick to passing out, with Mihoshi still going
strong. The elder Masaki men were chatting and drinking quietly,
laughing over nothing in particular between their own sips of sake.

    "You brought a real interesting guy, Kiyone," Ryoko slurred. She
tickled Kiyone's chin with her finger. "You think he's a keeper?"

    Kiyone smacked her hand away and looked the other way. "I just met
him, and I just got to know him today."

    Mihoshi whispered something in Ayeka's ear, who then covered her
face and started laughing "to-ho-ho-ho" loudly as she leaned over to
whisper into Ryoko's ear.

    "Bwahaha!" Ryoko exploded. "I'd say that's about right!"

    "What is it?" Kiyone demanded. She looked over at Mihoshi. "What
did you tell them, Mihoshi?"

    Mihoshi put a finger to her cheek and stuck her tongue out
slightly. "Sorry Kiyone, I'm not telling!"

    "That's it!" Kiyone wiped her face. She was drunk and ready to
take them on. She lunged for her partner first.

    Washu skipped over to the tables with her bubbly mood in tow and
she walked past the mayhem to Tenchi's now near-dead form. She snapped
her fingers and a plastic medicine spoon with a recessed storage
handle dropped into her hands. She stuck it in Tenchi's mouth and
tilted his head back so he would take it all down. She stepped back
and watched Tenchi immediately revive, his alcohol tolerance boosted
temporarily for the night.

    "Can't have you passing out early now, Tenchi-dono," Washu said,
clicking her tongue. She made a loud 'ahem' to get Kiyone's attention
long enough before she strangled Mihoshi. "I think it's time we all
went inside for some karaoke, wouldn't you say? I just installed a new
system in the living room, just for this occasion."

    Mihoshi managed to slip away long enough to join the rest of the
household as they cheered and got up to clean up and make their way
into the house. Kiyone slumped and sat in her seat, looking defeated.
Washu yelled over for Ranma, who came over to join them.

    "You're going to join us for karaoke before you go, aren't you?"
Washu asked sweetly.

    He looked over at Kiyone, who had her face down on the table. She
looked up at him, expressionless, awaiting his answer.

    Ranma shrugged. "I guess, why not."

    Washu nodded and went to join the rest of the family as they
walked back towards the Masaki home. Ranma and Kiyone were left behind
at the table.

    He reached out his hand for Kiyone to grab. "This was the way to
meet the family, huh?"

    Kiyone grabbed his hand and helped herself up, woozy from all the
drinking. She latched around his waist and started walking towards the
house with him. "If you say so."



[End Chapter 3]

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction, I don't plan to make a profit out of
someone else's work, just don't sue me. All respective trademarks,
copyrights, whatever-rights, theirs and not mine.

Author's Ramble: Oooooh! This revision has been taunting me for so
long! I was literally growling with joy because I finally conquered
it. Believe it or not, I had lots of trouble getting through it even
though I had the original chapter to source off of. Oh pooh. But Now
I've caught a bit of a bug, and after rereading chapter 4 after
reading this... I think I might venture into yet another revision.
Sigh.

Author's Notes:

    I had to do this revision, which almost turned out to be a
downright complete rewrite (about 95% of this is new and altered).
It's a little bit longer than the previous chapter 4, I fixed a couple
of continuation errors (that are reflected for later chapters), and
most important of all I fixed the characterization of all the canon
traits of each character. Everytime I reread the old, original version
of this chapter, I wept. I wept because it sucked so hard and it was
my very first attempt ever all those years ago at any sort of prose
story writing. This revision isn't exactly a work I'm super proud of
and isn't the best it can be either, but I wanted to finish it quickly
so that I could move on and do chapter 8 (as of Nov. 17, 2008).

    The old chapter had Ranma being Mr. Cool Guy with all the
stereotypes of a fucking douche and Kiyone being the lovestruck cunt
that I totally hate reading about in crappy fanfics. I tried to match
it up more to a hard-to-get type personality that I can imagine a
veterano policia heina like her being, and tried to do that without
making things to hostile. I also smoothed out the whole Washu gadgetry
and stuff here without making it too much of a distraction, and tried
to make it a whole lot more natural.

    And also I revised the whole Ranma versus Tenchi and Katsuhito
scene into something a lot more readable although I won't say it'll
appeal to all the Tenchi Muyo-fags who go gay over how powerful his
lightwings are and how Yosho is just uber powerful with all his
Juraian glory. I specifically made the fight into a skill based one,
and I always thought Ranma's hand-to-hand combat was far better tuned
than some of the tamer stuff I've seen from Tenchi. I know I'll get
flamed for this either way, but that's how I portrayed it.

So other than the other fix, that's it for this. Look forward to chp
8, which I've named Reciprocity for now (subject to change), and is
already on its way being written. Hopefully it'll be a lot quicker
than the super long time I take in between my other chapters.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME FEEDBACK!!! I write way faster when
people give me feedback! My e-mail is SgtRanma@yahoo.com. Oh, for
stupid fanfiction dot net readers, it's SgtRanma AT yahoo dot com.
Goddamnit I hate their stupid anti html link horseshit.

Finished November 17, 2008.