Pug Productions

*********************************
Author: Pug
cruzd@rpi.edu
http://www.rpi.edu/~cruzd/pug/pug.html
*********************************

Insert standard disclaimer here:
A fan fiction based on Takahashi Rumiko's Manga 
series, Ranma 1/2.   The characters of Ranma 1/2 are 
the property of Takahashi Rumiko and her licensees. 

All characters portrayed in this story are owned by 
their respective creators and companies, I don't own 
any of them.  Please don't sue me.


Genre:  Ranma/Tenchi Muyo Alternate Reality, cross-
over.


Version 	1.00	Draft. 
			Please forgive any spelling or 	
			grammar mistakes.
Version 	1.05	Cleaned up spelling and grammar.
			Broken lines fixed.

Father of the Prince

Chapter 2


The Present:

At the edge of the solar system a lone ship sailed 
through the star filled sea.  It's organic textures 
and design matched that of a piece of driftwood found 
on a sandy beach.  No sign of life could be seen as 
the great traveler silently made it's way to some 
unknown destination.  Then with some unseen signal 
the systems inside the massive vessel slowly began to 
come to life.  Terminals throughout it switched on, 
the blinking monitors relaying information once 
again.  At the core of the ship an arboretum of trees 
lit up with a flashing array of white light. 

Standing at the center of it all stood a great tree.  
It's gnarled roots and massive branches hinted at its 
old age.  Flanking it on either side stood two wooden 
cylinders.  With their peg feet and their singular 
circular eye, they would have been indistinguishable 
from one another were it not for the names painted on 
their sides.  Azaka was written on one in blue. And 
the other, in red was Kamidaki.  From their places, 
the two guardians maintained their vigil, watching 
over the future of the house of Jurai. 
 
Azaka's solemn voice spoke out.  "All systems 
activated. Unlock the time freeze now."

"All systems synchronizing to standard time."  
Kamidaki seconded.  

From the between the two guardians, emerging from the 
center of the main tree, a figure of a girl emerged.  
Dressed in flowing robes of white, the frost vapor 
from the cold sleep coursed around her. There was a 
blue pallor to her flesh, which quickly faded as 
color returned to her cheeks and warmth once again 
touched her body. As she opened her eyes the first 
thing that Ayeka, first princess of Jurai, saw was a 
blue green sphere floating in the lonely coldness of 
space. 

"What planet is this?" she asked.

"Colonized planet number 0315 princess," Azaka 
stated.

"Earth."  Kamidaki elaborated.

"Then this is where my brother Yosho is," Ayeka said.  
She looked upon the planet with hopeful eyes. 

Kamidaki dutifully replied.  "No what we detected 
from this planet is...  Ryoko." 

"Not that woman!  What does this mean?" Ayeka 
demanded.

"We have yet to detect Yosho's ship but he was in 
pursuit of Ryoko," Azaka explained.

"I see.  That woman and Ryo-Ohki must be caught and 
tried formally by our planet Jurai," the princess 
said firmly

Kamidaki interrupted.  "Princess Ayeka, unfortunately 
All of Ryoko's crimes will be canceled by the statute 
of limitations at galaxy standard time 00432 or in 
five seconds."  A vid-screen appeared in front of 
them counting down from five seconds.

"What?"  Ayeka gasped in surprise and shock. 

When the counter reached zero, Azake spoke up.  "As 
of this moment the statute of limitations has taken 
affect and Royoko's galaxy wanted file has been 
destroyed."

Cold fury was slowly building within the princess.  
She flashed an angry glare at her two attendants.  
"Why is that? Answer me that! Why?"  Their two eyes 
looked at her blankly.  "That woman should be chased 
through out eternity.  The only clue left to my 
brother is that woman. We must capture her at any 
cost!" 

"But princess," the guardians spoke up.

"That is an order! We will think of a reason!"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good, now prepare for descent."  

"Preparing ship for landing now," Azaka said.

"Anti-air guard storming level 4.  Ship descent 
initiated," Kamidaki replied.

Ayeka looked on, her eyes gazing at the alien surface 
below.  "Please be well my dearest Yosho..."

(--------------------------)
The Past:
(--------------------------)

Ukyou walked through the school entrance.  A cheerful 
smile was on her face, which was noticed by all the 
boys.  She waved good-morning to the few she 
recognized causing them to tumble over themselves 

"Ukyou, could I carry your books for you?  Ukyou, 
would you have lunch with me?  Could I have your 
phone number?"

Ukyou ignored them passing by with out batting an 
eyelash.  She made her way down the packed halls 
seeking out someone in the crowd.  Spotting who she 
was looking for, she came up to a familiar looking 
boy. 

"Nobuyuki," Ukyou said to the spectacled student 
pulling his books from his locker. 

"Huh?" he turned.  Seeing whom it was his glasses 
fogged up and he nervously fumbled with his books 
dropping them to the ground.  "Ukyou-san," he said 
blinking. 

"Have you seen Ranma yet today, Nobuyuki?"

"N-no, I haven't seen him yet.  You could try asking 
Achika.  They usually come to school together.  Don't 
you two have the same homeroo-"

Ukyou frowned, hearing Achika's name.  'Not that 
girl!’ Her face darkened as she was reminded of the 
new girl who had the audacity to claim Ranma for 
herself. "I'll have to catch him at lunch then.  
Thanks Nobuyuki," she said.

"S-sure!" he replied, swallowing, as he watched her 
stalk off.

Ukyou came to her homeroom.  There she saw Achika 
talking with her friends.  ‘I can’t lose to her.  I 
won’t lose to her.’  Ukyou thought looking at other 
girl.

(--------------------------)
The Present:
(--------------------------)


Tenchi stood wide-eyed and slack-jawed.  Lying there 
in his bed was the amber-eyed demon he had 
accidentally freed from her seven hundred year long 
sleep.  He had hoped beyond hope that his encounter 
with her at school would be their last, but it was 
apparent that his wish was not to be. 

"I don't believe it," Tenchi said. 

Ryoke stood up and walked toward him with a hungry 
look.  "Now I want your balls." 

"What my balls, no way!"  Tenchi backed away, his 
hands protectively covering his crotch.

Ryoko glared at him.  "You numskull!  I mean the 
three jewels on our sword, otherwise I can't control 
Ryo-Ohki!"

Tenchi pulled out the wooden hilt from his pocket.  
"Ryo-Ohki?" 

"Don't you don't know anything?"  Ryoko huffed.  
"It's the other demon in your legend."

"So that means that if I give the jewels back to you 
the demon will come back to life?"

"Give them to me!"  Ryoko said menacingly. 

Tenchi stood his ground.  "No way! One demon on the 
loose is bad enough, you think I want to deal with 
another monster flying around?  That's the last thing 
I want to see!"  Tenchi answered back with 
determination.  His hand gripped the hilt tightly.  
'Oh man, how do I turn this thing on?'

Before he could even react, Ryoko's arm reached out 
and grabbed him by his shirt.  "You sure about that?  
The one approaching us right now is even worse."  

'She's strong!'  He vainly struggled against her 
grip.  "W-What do you mean?"  

"Just give me that sword!"  Ryoko reached for the 
hilt in his hands.  As her flesh touched the wood a 
blue light radiated from it.  Sparks flew as she 
tried to grip the sword.

"Aaahhh!!!"  Ryoko was forced to let go, pushed away 
from the force.  She and Tenchi fell back together in 
an awkward heap with Ryoko landing on top of the 
startled boy.

"Damn it!"  Ryoko said getting up and dusting herself 
off.

Tanchi sat up examining the wood hilt.  "So you can't 
touch this thing can you?" he said smugly.

Ryoko studied Tenchi digesting his words.  Realizing 
that he held all the cards, her attitude dramatically 
changed.  "Please give them back," she said 
fawningly.  

Tenchi was taken aback with the girl's sudden adore.  
"Well I can't," he said scooting back from Ryoko. 

"I'm begging you!  Please!"  Ryoko crawled toward him 
on her hands and knees.  Her eyes glossed over as she 
pleaded like a lost kitten wanting a dish of cream. 

Tenchi's determination began to waver seeing the 
distressed expression on Ryoko's face. He just 
couldn't stand to see a girl hurt or crying. He 
scratched his head.  'I feel like I'm going to regret 
this but...' he took a breath.  "All right, I'll help 
you, but only if you tell me what's approaching us."

Ryoko leaned in.  "The devil..."


(--------------------------)
The Past:
(--------------------------)


"That, that, girl!!!  Grrrr..."  The dark haired girl 
slammed her locker shut.

"Um... is something wrong Achika-chan?"  Tanaka asked 
her friend.

"No, what on earth could be possibly wrong?"  Achika 
said sharply.

"Well... you seem kind of... upset."  

"Upset?  Why should I be upset?  I mean it's not like 
there's some tramp after my boyfriend is there?"  
Achika gave her locker a good swift kick.  

"Ukyou again huh?  What did she do this time?"  
Tanaka was quickly becoming use to the outbursts of 
her old friend.  The new girl Ukyou, or as Achika 
liked to call her, 'the succubus from hell', had been 
a thorn in Achika's side ever since she transferred 
into school two months ago. 

"I saw the entire thing this morning.  She was 
throwing her self at Ranma again with that cute 
little innocent act of hers.  She even made him 
lunch!  And he doesn't even realize what's she's 
doing.  Why dooes Ranma have to be so dense 
sometimes?"  Achika muttered.

"But he ate the one that you made for him also."  
Tanaka pointed out. 

"That's not the point!  It's a matter of principle.  
You don't go after someone else's boyfriend."

"Well you know the old saying, 'All's fair in love 
and war.'"  Tanaka shrugged.

Achika glared at her.  "You're not helping."

"Sorry..."

Achika sighed.  "Never mind.  Come on let's get going 
before we're late for gym."

The two made it to the lockers and quickly changed.  
They met the rest of the girls outside near the 
volleyball court.  Achika was greeted with the sight 
of Ukyou standing near the net with a group of girls 
around her.  Ukyou was as popular with the girls of 
the school as she was with the boys.  Many of the 
girls were impressed with her looks and how Ukyou 
handled herself.  Her independent and mature attitude 
made her the center of everyone's attention. 

When Ukyou's and Achika's eyes met, a charge began 
building in the air.  A way parted between them as 
the rest of the girls backed off from the two.  It 
had become a well know fact throughout the school 
that the two girls were not fond of each other.  Any 
poor bystander was likely to get caught in the 
crossfire.  

A whistle sounded and the gym instructor, a tall 
middle-aged woman came walking up.  She threw out a 
volleyball to Achika.  "All right girls break it up.  
Achika, Ukyou, you're captains for today.  Pick out 
your teams and play ball."

Achika and Ukyou took their sides.  The other girls 
followed warily behind their captains.  

"Achika-chan, maybe you should let me serve," Tanaka 
suggested tentatively as she watched Achika angrily 
squeeze the ball between her hands into an oblong 
shape.  The look on her friend's face caused her to 
back away. 

On the other side of the net Ukyou watched with an 
expression mirroring Achika's.  It was the look that 
two fighters gave each other just before the fight.  
Achika set up the ball in the air and served.  Round 
one had begun. 


(--------------------------)
The Present:
(--------------------------)


I’m sure that this person can’t be that bad,” Tenchi 
said rubbing his chin. "We could try to talk to her 
and try to settle matters peacefully."

Ryoko shook her head with a whimper.  

He didn't know what to make it.  A demon that could 
walk through walls and throw lightning was scared of 
someone else. "Is she really that bad?"

"Yes, listen to me.  We need to wake up Ryo-Ohki now.  
Please Tenchi..." 

"Don't tell me we're going to fight,"

"No, we'll run away.  Just you and me together 
Tenchi," Ryoko said latching on to him.  Tenchi tried 
backing away awkwardly his feet hit the edge of the 
bed.  He fell backward pulling Ryoko down onto of 
him.  "I didn't know you liked it rough Tenchi," 
Ryoko said smiling on top of him.  "Now gimme'"

***---**---***

"Achika?  Tenchi? Anyone home?" Ranma called out as 
he entered the house.  There was a troubled 
expression on his face.  After feeling some strange 
power emanating from the demon cave, he went to 
investigate.  He found the gate barring the cave 
ripped completely off its hinges, which were attached 
to solid rock.  He had spent the latter part of the 
day combing the entire shrine for any sign of its 
previous occupant.  

He had come up with nothing.  'If I were a seven 
hundred year old demon, where I go?'  He shook his 
head in frustration.  

"Achika?" He looked around the empty living room.  
"That's odd, those two should be home by now."  Ranma 
shrugged.  "Better get dinner started before it gets 
any later."  As he was heading off into the kitchen 
he heard a muffled noise from up stairs.  

"Tenchi?"  With a curious expression Ranma climbed up 
and saw light coming from the crack in Tenchi's door.  
He got closer and he heard the rustle of covers and 
shuffling sounds coming from within.  From what he 
could tell there was some sort of struggle happening. 

Ranma immediately went on guard.  Edging up to the 
door carefully staying close to the shadows he 
readied himself for anything.  He felt little pity 
for anyone foolish enough to harm his family.  Ranma 
carefully looked into the room and blinked. 

In side he saw his son with someone else shifting 
energetically under the sheets.  The someone else, 
from what he could make out from the jumbled pile, 
was definitely female, and the voice he heard only 
confirmed that fact.  His eyes widened.  'What 
the...'

"Tenchi, give me your jewels.  Don't make me have to 
beg again," the girl's voice said.  

"I don't wann'a!" Tenchi replied. 

Ranma buried his head in his hands and grew a sweat 
drop.  

***---**---***

"Father how can you be so calm at a time like this?"  
Achika asked exasperated. After she and Tenchi had 
gotten back from their encounter with Ryoko, Achika 
had headed up to the shrine to see her father.  She 
shook her head as she watched her father sitting at 
the table sipping a cup of tea.  He calmly paged 
through the book he was reading. 

"I usually find that worrying is bad for the nerves 
Achika-chan." her father replied. 

"There is a demon free running around and your 
sitting here doing nothing!"  

"Ranma is out looking for her now.  Don't worry I'm 
sure that Ryoko will turn up eventually," he said as 
he flipped another page.

Achika resisted the urge to grab her father and start 
shaking him.  Katsuhito not looking up from his book 
poured some more tea into his cup and slid it over to 
her.  Giving up, Achika sat down next to him.  Taking 
up the glass she took a sip and felt the warmth of 
the liquid within her.  It was a soothing affect on 
her frayed nerves.  Only the occasional flipping of 
pages was heard for a while as the father and 
daughter sat thinking their own thoughts. 

"Achika-chan, tell me about her," the priest said 
finally breaking the silence. 

"Ryoko?"  Achika's brow knit in thought.  "She's as 
powerful as the stories say she was.  But in many 
ways I think she's just an ordinary girl.  She acted 
like... I just don't know what to make of it.  When 
she attacked us I couldn't feel any evil within it.  
It was almost as if she was just playing."

Katsuhito nodded.  "Imprisonment in a cave for seven-
hundred years doesn't help with anyone's 
development."

"She's still dangerous though."  Achika sighed.  "We 
have to find her before anything else happens.  
Though she's hiding it, I think she recognized me.  
I'm worried that she might have taken an interest in 
Ten-"  She was caught in mid sentence as a low 
rumbling sound was heard in the sky.  

Katsuhito put his book down and looked up at the 
ceiling.  The rafters were shaking as the wood 
creaked and the plaster cracked.  

Achika quickly got up and pulled the shade from the 
window.  Looking up she saw a large ship passing 
overhead.  "Kami-sama..." Achika stood there wide-
eyed.  "It's heading for the house...  Tenchi!"  
Without wasting another moment she ran out the door.

"Achika wait!"  He couldn't catch her before she was 
making her way down the stone steps.  The old priest 
looked to the floating vessel.  Memories from a 
distant time came back to him. 'So she finally 
came...'

***---**---***

Tenchi struggled under the sheets trying to fight off 
Ryoko's advances.  In the course of the conflict 
Tenchi found himself on top of the pretty girl in a 
comprising position with his hand fondling something 
soft and round.  

"Tenchi..." Ryoko purred in pleasure. 

'Oh boy...' Tenchi's jaw dropped. He pulled his hand 
back as if it were on fire. "I-I didn't... I mean I 
wasn't trying to..."

"No need to be shy Tenchi."  Ryoko arched her back 
giving the dumbfounded boy a better view of her 
assets. 

Tenchi grabbed his face as he felt a nose bleed 
coming. 

"Come here lover boy," Ryoko leered at him.  Tenchi 
sat frozen like a deer caught in headlights.  He felt 
another blood vessel about to go. 

"Here Tenchi, use this."  A hand with a tissue 
appeared in front of him. 

He quickly grabbed it and stopped up his nose.  He 
paused for a second trying to figure out where the 
helpful hand had come from.  Noticing the surprised 
look on Ryoko's face, Tenchi slowly turned his head 
to the side and saw a familiar pigtailed man holding 
a box of tissues next to him.  "P-P-Pop!?!"

"Would you like to introduce me to your... um... 
friend, Tenchi?"  Ranma said clearing his throat.

"Hello," Ryoko said smiling with a wave.  There was a 
twinkle in her eye as she looked over the older man. 

Ranma was too busy with thoughts of his own to 
notice.  'Why couldn't Achika be here to handle 
this?' He sighed feeling a headache building.  
"Tenchi I know that you're getting older and that you 
would naturally be curious about... things...  But I 
don't think that your mother would really approve of 
this."

"Dad it's not what it looks like!"  Tenchi said 
trying to scramble up from the bed only to be held 
down as Ryoko caught him in a tight embrace.  

"There's no need to hide it anymore Tenchi.  You can 
tell your father about us," she said dramatically 
snuggled contently on his chest.

"What are you talking about?!?  It's not like that!!!  
Let go of me!!!" he sputtered, trying to peal her off 
him. 

The argument was interrupted when a low rumbling 
sound was heard from above. 

"What's that?" Tenchi looked up.

"Damn I knew it, she's her already."  Ryoko cursed. 

Ranma looked at her sharply.  "Who's here?"

His answer came in the form of a booming voice from 
out side.  "Ryoko come out!" a serious voice 
demanded.  The three in the room went to the window 
and looked out.  Ranma and Tenchi's eyes widened, 
seeing the massive object hovering over their house.   

Ryoko glared at the ship and growled. 

From the view screen in her ship Ryu-oh, Ayeka 
focused on the red and white house sitting by the 
side of the lake.  After centuries of wandering she 
had finally found some link to help her find her 
beloved brother.  Capturing Ryoko would bring her one 
step closer to the reunion she had spent years 
dreaming of. 

"Ryoko!  I know your there, you must come out 
immediately," the princess commanded.  No response 
came from the house.  "Very well then, Azaka, 
Kamidaki, fire a warning shot."

"But princess you said-" the guardians responded only 
to be cut off with an angry stare from Ayeka.  "Yes 
ma'am."

An energy cannon extend from the hull of the ship and 
a blue beam of light shot out hitting the water in 
the lake below.  The blast lit up the evening sky and 
furious waves lapped up onto the shore.

In Tenchi's room, everyone was knocked off their 
feet.  The glass window shattered from the force.  
"Lookout!"  Ranma yelled as he protectively covered 
both Ryoko and Tenchi from the explosion.  Taking the 
brunt of the force he staggered dazed to the floor. 

Ryoko quickly got up and turned to Tenchi.  "See, I 
was right about her wasn't 
I?"  

He could only nod.  

"You have to give me the jewels now Tenchi.  We have 
to get out of here before she destroys us."

He looked at the sword in his hands.  "How can I give 
you the jewels?  They're attached to the sword hilt."

"Just hold it out toward me and think about giving me 
the jewels."

Gritting his teeth, Tenchi held the pommel of the 
sword toward her.  In his mind he concentrated on 
giving the jewels to her. 

"Tenchi, what's going on?"  Ranma said groggily 
getting up.  He rubbed his head wincing.  And then he 
felt it.  The same energy force he sensed earlier 
that day when he discovered that demon had escaped 
from the shrine.  His jaw dropped as her realized 
that the cyan haired girl was now radiating that 
power. 

Ryoko smiled feeling her abilities enhanced by the 
jewels.  Then she realized that something was amiss.  
Looking at her wrists she saw only one jewel on her 
person.  She looked at Tenchi and growled.  "Hey!  
What's the big idea?  You only gave me back one 
jewel!"

"Yeah that's right," Tenchi deadpanned.  There was a 
satisfied look on his face. 

"Oh... um... heh...heh..." Ryoko said abashed.  

Ranma stepped forward with a serious expression.  
"Who are you." he demanded.  

"Watch and find out," Ryoko said grinning.  Clenching 
her fist the jewel on her wrist glowed to life

"Ryoko!" Ranma said finally realizing who the girl 
was.    

"Bingo!" she said touching her nose.  She sighed 
looking him over. "If only you weren't so old..."

Ranma blinked.  

Ryoko laughed then raising her jeweled hand above 
herself she called out.  "Ryo-ohki wake up!!!"  The 
jewel glowed even brighter causing Ranma and Tenchi 
to wince in its light. 
 
***---**---***

Achika hurried down the path chasing after the ship 
in the sky.  She could see its form hovering above 
the treetops.  From what she could make of it, the 
ship stopped directly over where their home would be.  
Wondering what was happening, she was blinded as a 
pulse of light shot out from the vessel.  A crackling 
sound followed by an explosion rang out. 

'First Ryoko escapes from the cave, now giant a ships
starts flying over our home.  What else could 
possibly happen!?!' she thought out in exasperation.  

Moments later she heard a rushing sound approaching.  
Instinctively she ducked down and held on to a tree 
trunk as the blast of wind swept through the area.  
Another object zoomed past her, its star shaped form 
grazing the treetops and in some cased plowing right 
through them.  It to was headed toward her house and 
the other ship.  As it flew she could hear the ship. 
"Miya! Miya!"

Achika face-faulted. 

***---**---***

"Come on Tenchi!  We're out of here!"  Ryoko said 
grabbing the boy's shirt.  Before either Ranma or 
Tenchi could react, the space pirate/demon had 
teleported them both aboard her ship, now hovering 
over the house.  From the relative safety of their 
home, father and son found them selves in the heart 
of Ryoko's vessel.  Floating crystals and flashing 
view screens in the ship's interior cause the two to 
look on with open mouths. 

As Ryoko moved toward the diamond like controls,, the 
ship shuddered.  On the main monitors which were 
actually the walls of vessel, she could see the Jurai 
ship unloading its beams into Ryo-ohki.

Ryoko cursed.  "Ryo-ohki, let go!" she commanded 
placing her hand on the crystals. 

Ryo-ohki complied with a, "Miya!!!" shooting off into 
space closely perused by the Jurai ship.  "Miya! 
Miya! Miya! Miya!!!"

"Cat!?!" 

"Pop?"  Tenchi looked at his father. 

Ranma was glancing around him trying to look at 
everything at once.  There was a wild look about him 
as he struggled to keep calm.  Seeing no four legged 
felines about he started to calm himself.  'Not a 
cat.  No cats here.  I'm just imagining things.'  He 
backed up against one of the floating crystals.  
Ranma jumped and turned.  He breathed a sigh of 
relief seeing his reflection in the polished surface.  

"You ok Pop?" Tenchi asked worriedly.  

"Yeah Tenchi, just my imaginat-  Huh!?!"  

The jewel flew up to his face and up popped the image 
of a feline like creature.  With an energetic 
expression, Ryo-Ohki happily greeted the pigtailed 
man with a "Miya!"

Ranma took on a palled color and an uneasy twitch 
came to his eye.  "Ca-Ca-Ca-Ca-"  The rest of the 
jewels in the ship started to congregate around him.  
As they came close, each one popped into the image of 
Ryo-ohki.  Soon Ranma was surrounded by a pack of 
excitedly 'Miyaing' Ryo-ohki's.  "Cat..."  Ranma said 
feebly and his eyes went blank. 

"The Neko-ken." Tenchi's mouth went dry.  He quickly 
backed up remembering the time when he was younger 
and had brought home a stray for a pet.  Needless to 
say he never brought a cat home again.

"What the heck is going on over there!"  Ryoko said 
looking over from the controls which suddenly became 
nonfunctional.  Tenchi was edging away from the swarm 
of crystals and in the center she saw Ranma. Happily 
playing around with Ryo-Ohki.

"Eh?" Ryoko said weakly as her ship veered off 
course. 

***---**---***

"Princess, Ryo-Ohki is taking evasive maneuvers to 
avoid our weapons," Kamidaki said.  On the view 
screen Ryo-Ohki was veering sharply back and forth.  
Its erratic flight seeming to make no sense at all. 

"We are trying to compensate but their flight pattern 
is too complicated to analyze," Azaka replied. 

"Keep firing!  Use your best guess!" Ayeka commanded. 

"Yes ma'am!"

"Damn she's good!" Ayeak said grinding her teeth in 
frustration. 


(--------------------------)
The Past:
(--------------------------)

"Hey Nobuyuki!"  

"What's up Ranma?" the boy asked as he pushed his way 
through the hall filled with students for the change 
of period.

"Can I borrow your notes for history class?  I sort'a 
slept through it last period."   

 "Sure Ranma, no problem.  I just hope that you 
didn't get caught napping again," Nobuyuki said with 
a laugh.

Ranma pulled out his detention slip with a sigh.   

Nobuyuki just shook his head and began digging in his 
backpack for his notebook. As they stood there, the 
two noticed some of the girls coming back from gym 
class. Hunched over and wobbling forward, there were 
groans as they nursed their tired bodies. They looked 
like they were coming back from a war.  

Nobuyuki recognized one of them and walked toward 
her.  "Hey Tanaka-chan, what happened?  You look like 
a mess."

Tanaka was limping slightly as she walked.  "You play 
a game of killer volleyball and see how good you look 
after it," she muttered.  

"Huh?" Ranma replied. 

Tanaka explained how a friendly game of volleyball 
turned into an all out blood sport between Achika and 
Ukyou.  From the two girls' point of view, the object 
of the game was not only to score points, but also to 
knock out the other girl while doing it. Everyone was 
forced to duck and dodge the constant barrage of 
spikes and hard serves the two girls were throwing at 
each other.  Very few of them made it out unscathed. 

Ranma and Nobuyuki both grew sweat drops. 

"Here they come now," Tanaka said pointing down the 
hall.  

Ukyou and Achika were walking down the hall together 
under the supervision of Mrs. Subaru, the gym 
teacher.  Ukyou was nursing her side and Achika had a 
large red welt on her face about the size of a 
volleyball.  The two seemed to be oblivious to 
everything else except for the fact that they were 
next to each other.  The battle auras around them 
made Ranma swallow. 

"After school detention should teach your girls the 
importance of good sportsmanship."  Mrs. Subaru told 
the girls as they passed through the halls.  
"I expect a two thousand word essay on the subject 
from each of you on my desk tomorrow."

Ranma watched them go and looked at the slip of paper 
in his hand.  In one of the rare moments of his life, 
he was truly afraid. 

(--------------------------)
The Present:
(--------------------------)

Tenchi woke up.  Blinking a few times his eyes 
gradually focused.  From where he lay he found 
himself looking up at a very unfamiliar ceiling.  
Actually it was a canopy of green trees to be 
precise.  He bolted up realizing that he wasn't in 
Kansas anymore.  

"What is this place?  How did I get here?"  He shook 
his head trying to get the fuzz out.  "That's right I 
remember...the Neko-ken!"  With Ryoko running around 
the ship avoiding Ranma, no one could control the 
ship properly.  Also it seemed that Ryo-ohki had 
found playing along with Ranma more amusing than 
avoiding energy blasts.  They finally were brought to 
a halt with some kind of energy field.  The last 
thing he remembered was Ryoko and he being pulled 
into these large wooden cylinders.     

Looking around Tenchi realized that he was surrounded 
on all sides by slim tree tendrils.  The gaps between 
them seemed large enough for him to squeeze through.  
As he tried to push his way through, the wooden bars 
moved in tighter preventing him from escaping.  

"Hey! What's going on here?" he exclaimed.  The 
harder he pushed the stronger the resistance.  "Stop 
it!  I have nothing to do with Ryoko!" he yelled 
fighting against the tendrils of the cage.  All his 
effort was turned against him as he was squeezed 
tighter by the bars. 

"Ok this calls for some real action!"  He said 
rolling up his sleeves.  Backing up to the other side 
of the cage leaning back as far as he could against 
the flexible bars.  Taking a deep breath he flew 
forward using the elastic bars as a slingshot.  
"Chokusetsu Shuuda Ryuusei Ky-Aku!!!"  (Direct kick 
attack Meteor kick!!!)  His foot connected with one 
of the wooden bars.  The cage stretched like a rubber 
band from force Tenchi gathered.  Then like a rubber 
band it snapped back propelling the young man back 
from where he came.  "Aaaaaahhhhhh!!!"  Tenchi was 
sent flailing back tumbling to the ground.  He 
groaned coming to a stop on his stomach with a mouth 
full of dirt.  

"What are you doing?" a little voice asked him.

"Well I'm trying to escape from here."  Tenchi 
answered without thinking.  "Huh?"  Looking up he saw 
a cute little girl on the outside looking in.  She 
seemed to be around twelve years old.  Dressed in 
pastel shaded of green and blue, her hair was done up 
in two pony tails reaching down her back and her 
eyes, tinted with a touch of pink blinked curiously 
at him.      

"Who are you?"  He asked scrambling up from the 
ground. 

"My name is Sasami." She answered cheerfully?

"Sasami?  Have you been kidnapped too?"

The little girl laughed.  "No silly this is our 
ship."

"Your ship?  Then you're an alien from planet 
Sasami?"

"No I come from planet Jurai."  She answered as if it 
was the most obvious thing in the world. 

"Then what about those logs?"  Tenchi asked recalling 
the wooden cylinders that had captured him. 

"They are guardians, our servants."  The girl 
explained.  Tenchi nodded understanding.  "What's 
your name?"

"My name is Tenchi."

She looked at him as if trying to make a decision.  
Then after a moment of thought She pulled out 
something from her clothes and held it out to the 
cage.  The object in her hand glowed a little then as 
if by magic the bars parted freeing Tenchi.  "Do you 
want to play a game with me?"  Sasimi asked 
hopefully. 

"Hmm... You look just like we do."  Tenchi observed 
coming up the little girl.  He saw the device in her 
hand.  The texture and color reminded him of the 
sword he had.  "Hey that looks like mine."  He patted 
himself down checking his pockets. 

"What's wrong?" Sasami asked seeing the distraught 
look on his face. 

"I had a sword like that one.  But it's gone!"  His 
shoulders sagged realizing the loss of his family's 
artifact.  His eyes widened as he realized that he 
was missing something else. 

"Sasami-chan my pop was brought here by mistake like 
me.  Please help me find him so we can both go home."

"Well...I'll do you a favor if you do me a favor," 
the little girl said mischievously. 

"I guess..."  Tenchi was getting a bad feeling about 
this. 

***---**---***

Alone in her room Ayeka, first princess of Jurai sat 
brushing her hair.  A quiet sadness was in her eyes.  
'So long... I've waited for so long and I still 
haven't found you yet my love...'

Ryoko had been captured as well as two natives from 
the backwater world her brother had come to centuries 
ago.  Yet still she felt herself no closer to finding 
him.  She tried questioning the space pirate, but the 
answers raised even more questions.  'Tenchi, the 
boy's name is the same as the sword.  Why?'

She put her brush down on the dresser and touched a 
panel on the side.  A small holo-image of a handsome 
young man appeared before her.  Ayeka's eyes 
moistened at the portrait. 

"When you came back I was to become your bride, 
Yosho..."  Wiping her face she turned off the display 
and readied herself for bed. 

***---**---***

From outside of the royal residence, Tenchi and 
Sasami waited.  Around them it was more like forest 
than anything else within the confines of the 
arboretum.  Trees and tall grasses, even a small pond 
of clear water.  Tenchi found it hard to believe that 
he was on a starship in space. 

"Hey Tenchi the lights have gone out."  Sasami 
pointed over to the cottage.  "Look over there that's 
my sister's room she's asleep now.  You know what to 
do?"  She asked him excitedly. 

"I think so.  I have to get her head ornament,"  
Tenchi said scratching his head. 

"That's right."

"But why?  It belongs to her doesn't it?"  He still 
had some reservations about the whole thing.

"Just get it," she said impatiently.  

"All right.  I’ll get it just remember your promise," 
he said finally giving into the little girl's demand.  
With that he set off keeping low hiding in the tall 
grass. 

Sasami giggled quietly watching him go.  

***---**---***

Like a soft breeze Tenchi entered the room.  Staying 
to the shadows he moved up to the sleeping form of 
Ayeka.  'I have to get that head ornament,' then he 
saw her face.  He blinked.  'She's cute,' he thought.  
'What am I doing, got to keep focused!'

He crept up onto the bed leaning over her.  Tenchi 
froze as she turned onto her side.  As he was praying 
for her not to wake up, he saw something held in her 
hand. 

'Ah... the sword she's got it.  Well first things 
first I guess...'  Carefully he took a hold of the 
sword that Ayeka held and tried to pull it away from 
her.  'What the...' The grip she had was like a vice.  

She rolled over again, this time pulling Tenchi down 
with her.  Their faces were inches apart.  He felt 
her breath on her face.  He could barley make out 
something she was saying in her sleep.

"Yosho..."

As he tried to pull himself from the girl he nudged 
her by accident causing he to roll over again.  Off 
balance he fell on top of her, his face landing on 
her chest.  Ayeka groggily woke up.  She blinked in 
surprise seeing the stranger in her bed.  "What?"

"It's not what you think,"  Tenchi said frantically 
cupping her mouth to keep her from screaming out.  
"I-I just wanted to get your ornaments... I mean... 

Ayeka's eyes widened and with an inhuman effort she 
kicked him off her screaming 
"Aaaaaaaayyyyyyyeeeeee!!!!!  Pervert!!!"  Tenchi 
tumbled back onto the floor in a tangled heap with 
the bed sheets.  Looking up he realized that he had 
somehow managed to take the sword back. 

"Azaka!  Kamidake!"  Ayeka called out and immediately 
the two guardians appeared at her sides.  "Put that 
scoundrel to death!"  She commanded.

Tenchi like a dear caught in head lights stood there 
thinking of what to do.  Taking the first thing that 
came to mind he used it.  Grabbing on to the mattress 
sheets he drew it around him in a fluttering motion.  
"Umisen-Ken forbidden technique, Goshin Dai Ryü Sei 
FuBody!!!" (Body Defense Shooting Star Cloth) 

"What!?!"  Ayeka exclaimed as she found herself and 
the two guardians wrapped up in the bed covers.  With 
an expulsion of energy she blasted the cloth away 
finding Tenchi gone.  "Where did he go!?!  Find him 
immediately!!!"  

"Yes ma'am!"  The two guardians flew off in pursuit. 

***---**---***

Ranma sat cross-legged at the edge of his cage poking 
at the bars with an annoyed expression. Each time his 
finger came close to it a blue spark zapped him. 

He sucked his finger with an impatient look on his 
face.  "Guess I don't have a choice,” he 
sighed.  Hesitating for a moment then gritting his 
teeth he reached out with both hands grabbing the 
bars in front of him.  The blue energy encircled him 
like electricity dancing around an electrode.  The 
tingling feeling covered his body and Ranma looked 
down at his arms.  A blurred affect was there 
surrounding him as the energy of the cage reacted 
with his own.  

The wooden bars parted and the shifting static that 
affected his body grew until it finally dissolved the 
deception that Ranma had maintained for the last 
fifteen years.  He dusted off his hands smugly as he 
stepped out of the cage.

The wrinkles on his hands and face had faded and the 
gray hairs on his head returned to their natural 
black sheen.  Where there was once a middle aged man, 
now stood a youthful figure, with the gleam of wisdom 
in his eye.

This was the gift of the Jurai seed that was grafted 
into him by Tsunami.  In essence it made him a Jurai 
tree enabling him to tap into the power that was the 
very essence of creation itself. 

"Now where is that boy?"  He said thinking of how 
to begin looking for his son.  It was then that a 
voice came echoing into his mind.  

"Ranma!" a very angry voice called out.

'A-Achika-chan,' 

'Don't you dare “Achika-chan” me Ranma.  Do you have 
any idea how worried I've been?'

He swallowed.  'Achika, it's not really as bad as you 
think.  I've got everything under control.'

'Where's Tenchi?'

'Um... Ah...He’s...' As he was about to answer an 
explosion occurred in the distance. Turning towards 
the noise he was met with the sight of Tenchi 
tumbeling out a grove of trees, running for dear 
life.  Two flying wooden pegs pursued the boy.  In 
the his arms was a little girl who was laughing, 
seeming to be enjoying the excitement. Ranma blinked 
a few times making sure that his eyes were working 
properly.

'Ranma?'

‘He's got his hands full at the moment.' he said 
growing a sweat drop. 

'Your not telling me something, Ranma!'

'I-I can't talk right now dear, I'll explain when we 
get back.  Love ya, bye-bye!'

'Ranma?  Ranma! Ran-' his wife yelled back at him. 

He cut off the link.  'I'm a dead man when we get 
back home.'  Calling up on the power of the Jurai 
seed, the disguise formed around him, and once again 
a middle-aged man stood in his place.  Shaking his 
head he ran off after his son.

***---**---***

An energy blast flew from Azaka's eye barely missing 
the fleeing boy.  Tenchi spared little time to look 
at the crater that formed to his side and 
concentrated on running faster. 

"Can you stop those logs?"  He panted, asking the 
small girl in his arms. 

"No they're my sister's!  There's nothing I can do," 
Sasami explained. 

"Oh man, how am I-"

"Tenchi, get down!" a voice commanded.  With out a 
second thought he ducked down to the ground 
protectively covering Sasami with his body.  Looking 
up he saw his father leaping over him.  

The two guardians took note of the pigtailed man 
charging forward.  Sighting their new target the logs 
fired.  

"Pop!"  Tenchi said alarmed.  But his father seemed 
to take no heed to the danger in front of him.  Then 
before his eyes just as the beams were about to hit, 
he saw Ranma blur for a moment as the beams passed 
through the man.  
"How..."

"The target dodged," Azaka stated.

"Recalibrate for target's speed," Kamidake replied.

Ranma smiled as he ran forward.  With a gleam in his 
eye watched as the two pegs fired again.  With a 
relaxed expression, he tilted to the side letting the 
blast pass bye.

"Target's speed increased."

"Calibrating..."  But it was too late.

Ranma said reaching the two. He struck out with his 
palm first to Azaka.  'Stop.'  The guardian fell over 
like a puppet with its strings cut.  Its single eye 
going dim.  

Ranma then turned his attention to Kamidake only to 
be met with beam of blue light coming at him.  He 
caught the blast taking the energy in his hand, 
forming it into a blue sphere and threw it back at 
the second guardian.  Kamidake fell to the ground 
next to his counterpart.

"Sorry," Ranma said as he walked away. 

"Pop!"  Tenchi came running up with Sasami in tow.

"Tenchi," Ranma said with relief seeing him all 
right.  He noticed the little girl next to his son. 

"Hello, I'm Sasami," she chirped.  "You stopped my 
sister's guardians, no one's ever been able to do 
that before.  That was so cool!" she said excitedly 
jumping up and down.  

 "You sister?"  Tenchi saw the questioning look on 
his face and quickly explained everything. Ranma 
blinked taking everything in.  He couldn't help but 
laugh listening to his son misadventure.  "Come on 
Tenchi we still have to find a way to get back home.  
Sasami, could you please help us now?"

"Sure!"  She smiled.  "This has been the most fun 
I've had in a long time!  Hurry it's this way," she 
said running off pulling Ranma along with her. 

Tenchi shook his head.  "I've got two crazy girls 
after me and she's having fun.  Why me?" he said 
chasing off after them. 

(--------------------------)
The Past:
(--------------------------)

Ranma shook his head.  Detention had become a routine 
for him.  With the constant training he received from 
Katsuhito, late night practices were common 
occurrence.  Falling asleep in class was the usual 
result of such trials with the penalty staying after 
for the cleanup of the classroom.  Thought he didn't 
mind the extra work that much, Ranma wished that he 
were anywhere but there at that moment.  He stole a 
quick glance at the two girls sharing the room with 
him.   

Achika with an irritated look was scrubbing desks 
with the wet wash cloth.  On the other side of the 
room Ukyou was busy sweeping the floor.  Whenever the 
two would come close to each other he could 
distinctly feel the battle auras in the room rise. 

At the front of the room where he was busy washing 
down the chalkboards, Ranma tried very hard to blend 
into the background. 

"Oh Ranma honey.  Could you please help me move this 
table over so I can sweep under it?"  Ukyou asked 
sweetly.

"Um, sure Ukyou," he said putting down what he was 
doing.  He could already feel his danger sense 
blaring at him.  

Achika looked on with a casual expression, but she 
was grounding the wash cloth into the desk.  

"What do ya need Ukyou?" Ranma asked. 

"Could you just pick up and take the table over 
there," she said pointing.  

"Sure, no problem Ukyou."

She finished sweeping up throwing the debris into a 
little dustbin next to her.  "Thanks Ranma," she said 
with an amused expression on her face. 

"What's so funny?"

"Just thinking about something," she said 
mysteriously. 

"Oh?"

"Do you remember when we were little and all the 
things we did together?  Like when you would help me 
make okonomiyaki?  Or should I say you would help me 
eat the okonomiyaki I make."

"Well even then you made really great food Ukyou," 
Ranma said reminiscing.  "Practically as good as 
Kasumi's, and your okonomiyaki is the best anywhere!" 

"You're just saying that," she said modestly.

"No way Ukyou, just thinking about your okonomiyaki 
makes me hungry,"

"Really?  Well then how about after we're finished 
here you come over and I'll make you one of my super 
sized specials!" she suggested. 

Ranma's mouth began to water and his stomach growled 
offering its two cents.  "Sure thi-"

'Rrrrrriiiiiiippppp'

Ranma and Ukyou paused turning their attention to 
Achika who was busy washing the desk with the now 
shredded wash cloth.  She continued working as if 
nothing was a matter.

"Um... maybe some other time Ukyou.  I ah... have to 
train, yeah I got a lot of training I have to do.  
You know martial arts kind'a stuff.  Heh heh..." he 
said scratching his head.  "I better get back to 
work," he said.  He could feel the tension building 
in the room and decided that now was a good time to 
go out and refill his wash bucket.  Ranma hurried out 
the room as if there was a bomb in there. 

"You don't fool me!  I know perfectly well what 
you're trying to do!"  Achika said slamming her hands 
down on the desk as the door closed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ukyou said 
innocently.  "We're just old friends talking.  Face 
it Achika, Ranma and I have been friends ever 
since we were kids.  We played together, we laughed 
together, and we looked after each other.  We should 
have grown up together too if his jackass of a father 
hadn't run off leaving me behind.  But that doesn't 
matter anymore because I found 'my' Ranma.  I know 
him better than he knows himself.  The time you've 
spent playing house together is nothing to the things 
Ranma and I have share.  It's something that you can 
never be a part of!"

"I've had enough of you trying to take Ranma away 
from me!" 

"And just what are you going to do about it?"  Ukyou 
challenged. 

Achika grit her teeth and threw the water soaked rag 
at Ukyou hitting the other girl in the head with a 
wet sopping 'SQUOOOSH!!!'

"Why you!" Ukyou's expression was one of surprise and 
outrage.  In retaliation she slid her half-full 
dustbin over and gave it a swift kick.  The tin 
container flew toward Achika who deflected it away.  
Unfortunately the all the dust flew out powdering the 
other girl in a layer of grime. 

Achika wildly waved her hands in the air trying to 
clear out all the dust.  She was caught up in a fit 
of coughing and sneezing. 

"Had enough or are ya thirsting for more?"  Ukyou 
said twirling her broom like a staff. 

"I'm just getting warmed up!"  Achika answered 
hefting up the bucked of water she had been using.

And so started round two.

Ranma came back entering the room.  The first things 
he saw were a broken broom handle and an empty wash 
bucket flying toward his head from opposite 
directions.  'Why me?' he lamented and then came the 
impact.

(--------------------------)
The Present:
(--------------------------)


"The way out is this way," Sasami said leading the 
group.  

"We should hurry before your sister sends anything 
else after us," Tenchi said nervously looking behind 
him.  

"If that happens jus think of it as more training, 
Tenchi," Ranma said walking with his hands behind his 
head. 

"Yoo-hoo!  Yoo-hoo!" a voice called out as they were 
walking.  Turning, the group saw Ryoko happily waving 
at them.  She was stuck in the same cages that 
Tenchi and Ranma were placed in.  

"Ryoko," Tenchi said seeing the demon. 

"You showed up just in time, Tenchi," Ryoko said to 
the boy coming up to her. 

"You got us into this mess.  You get us out and take 
us home."  Tenchi said seriously.  He'd had his fill 
of excitement for the day.

"I'd love to help but I just can't without the other 
two gems," Ryoko pouted showing her bare wrists where 
the jewels should have been.

"I really don't think that'd be a good idea, Tenchi," 
Ranma said.

"Humph!  Hey old man if you hadn't been playing 
around with Ryo-Ohki, we would never have gotten 
caught,”  Ryoko said mockingly. 

Sasami walked up getting a closer look at the space 
pirate.  "Hey Tenchi who is this old lady?  Is she a 
friend of yours?"

Ryoko's eyes twitched angrily.  "old... lady?"  

"This is Ryoko,"  Ranma said squatting down next to 
Sasami.  "Would you believe that she's more than 
seven hundred years old?"  Ranma side grinning 
evilly.

"Why you!"

"Wow, that's really old!  Nice to meet you I am 
Sasami," the little girl said oblivious to the arms 
trying to pull her through the bars.  

"Let me out of here!!!"  Ryoko growled.

Tenchi stepped in trying to salvage the situation.  
"Ryoko, listen to me, first of all I can't open this 
thing.  You know that," he said walking up to her.  
As he did so the sword he tucked between his belt 
glowed.  

"Tenchi!  Get back from there!" Ranma said sharply 
feeling the power from the artifact.

"Huh? Woah!"  Tenchi's eyes widened as the bars to 
the cage opened up setting cyan hired girl free. 

Sasami noticed the sword glowing beside Tenchi.  "Hey 
that sword belongs to Yosho," the little girl said 
pointing.

'Yosho?' Ranma thought.  'So that's what this is all 
about.  The old man going to have some explaining to 
do when we get back.'

"But why were you able to use it?"  Sasami wondered 
aloud. 

"Who cares, I just want to get out of here!" Ryoko 
stated.  Pushing her way past everyone she began to 
walk off. 

"Stop!"  a new voice commanded.  Everyone looked and 
saw Ayeka standing there flanked by her two 
guardians.  The two logs looking a little worse from 
ware. 

"Humph!  Here comes the princess," Ryoko muttered. 

Eyeing the group, Ayeka caught a glimpse of a green 
ponytail hiding behind the tall older man.  "Sasami 
it was you who released them.  I can't believe this."  
Ayeka shook her head.   

"I'm sorry," the little girl said peaking out from 
behind Ranma.  "I was just bored." 

"That's no excuse!"  

Sasami bowed her head apologetically.  

The princess then turned her attention to the boy 
holding her bother's sword.  "Tenchi. I believe your 
name is Tenchi.  I have a question I'd like to ask 
you," Ayeka said slowly measuring her words. 

"Sure what is it?" he said looking up. 

"Where is the owner of that sword you hold?"

"Well he died a long, long time ago."

"You're lying."  The princess said using every bit of 
her will to keep from trembling.  

"I'm not lying.  That's what it says in the ancient 
legend.

"What was his name?" 

"Well I guess his name was Yosho."

"..." 

From the sidelines Ryoko was leaning up against Ranma 
cleaning her fingernails with a bored look.  "He died 
didn't he, that's just too bad."  Ranma frowned and 
took a quick step forward, causing Ryoko to fall to 
the ground with a thud.  

"You're only trying to trick me!"  Ayeka said growing 
desperate. 

"I'm sorry, I don't know what else to tell you..." 
Tenchi said helplessly looking at the distraught 
girl. 

"No..."

(--------------------------)
The Past:
(--------------------------)

"Ranma-kun!" Achika exclaimed. 

"Ranma honey!" Ukyou seconded. 

The two girls watched in shock as Ranma toppled to 
the ground.  They looked over the prone body of the 
boy, then to one another. . 

"Look what you did!" they both exclaimed.  The two 
girls echoed each other in remarks. 

"Me?!?"  

"You're the one wh-" 

"Grrrr!!!!!" 

As they were about to go at each other again, Ukyou 
paused as a thought came to her mind.  She looked 
back at Ranma.  'He' was soaked.  "Hey he didn't 
change."

"Huh? You knew about the curse?" Achika remarked.

"Yes, I know about it!  When Ranma and I were 
together we talked about everything. He found the 
cure to the curse then."  Ukyou stated. 

Achika nodded. 

"How?"

"It happened some time ago during the class field 
trip to Tokyo Tower.  I don't remember much of what 
happened but the tower was struck by lightning.  A 
lot of people got hurt."

"I remember reading about that in the papers," Ukyou 
said.  "I don't understand what that has to do with 
the curse though."

Achika took a breath and continued.  "From what I 
remembered I saw a flash of light and the elevator we 
were in stopping.  There was so much yelling and 
screaming.  Then the next thing I know I wake up in 
hospital bed, with father at my side.  I found out 
then that Ranma had been one of the people hurt.  I 
don't know how but I felt that he had protected me.  
I can't explain it but I just knew."

Ukyou looked at her then at Ranma who was still lying 
cold on the floor. 

"It wasn't good.  The doctors said that he wouldn't 
survive.  It was then that father and I brought him 
back to our shrine.  There wasn't anything else that 
we could do, so we prayed."

"A holy tree at our shrine was suppose to be able to 
heal the sick.  It cured a few people and so we 
brought him there.  I don't remember how long we 
stayed. I was so tired but I didn't want to leave.  I 
didn't want to give up.  And then he opened his eyes 
and looked up at me." Achika blushed.

"He was healed?"

"Yes."

"And the curse?"

Achika nodded.

Ukyou turned away from her. "It's not fair." Ukyou 
said quietly.  Her body shuddered with a sob.

"Ukyou?" Achika reached out with her hand, only to be 
angrily slapped away. 

"It's not fair!" There were daggers in the 
okonomiyaki chef's eyes.  "It should have been me!  I 
should have been the one he found the cure with!  I 
should have been the one he was to be engaged with! 
And should have been the one he took with him on his 
training trip!"  She lashed out with her fist 
catching Achika off guard.  The other girl could 
nothing but prepare for the impact. 

The blow never landed.  "Ukyou!" Ranma said.  He had 
caught her arm inches from Achikas face.  

Achika blinked.  "Ranma?" she exclaimed seeing the 
once prone boy back on his feet.

"I knew you were awake the whole time, Ranma," the 
chestnut haired girl said in a broken voice.  "You 
could never really bluff your way out of anything.  I 
knew you wouldn't let me hit her.  You've always 
protected the ones you loved.  Why?  Why wasn't it 
ever me?"  She sunk down on a desk and the anger 
drained out of her. 

"Ucchan."

Achika didn't know how to feel.  Ukyou was her enemy, 
but there in front of her now was a broken girl 
carrying too much pain.  "I… I'm sorry Ukyou." she 
said not knowing what else to say. 

"Save it, Achika," Ukyou said coldly.  She looked up, 
facing her.  "If you. If you ever hurt him, I'll be 
right there to take him away."  She looked at Ranma 
then back to Achika.  

Achika looked her in the eyes, understanding. 

With that, Ukyou quickly left the room before the 
tears came. 

***---**---***

Nobuyuki finished packing away his books in the 
locker and got ready to go home.  He hadn't intended 
to stay so late after school but reading up on the 
various architectural designs from the books in the 
library was a passion for him.  Already his 
sketchbook was bulging with drawings and drafts of 
his own ideas.  

Closing his locker he started off, but no sooner than 
her rounded the corner was he pushed down as he 
collided with someone else.   A flutter of papers 
filled the air landing all around.  "My work!" he 
exclaimed in dismay.  He looked over seeing who and 
run into him.  "Ukyou-san?"

"Sorry," she said turning her face away. She stared 
gathering up the papers. 

"That' all right you don't have to do that.  Here 
please take this," Nobuyuki said pulling out a 
handkerchief from his pocket.  

"Thank you." she said quietly.  She got up and made 
her way down the hall with out further comment. 

With a concerned look, Nobuyuki watched her go, not 
taking his eyes off her till she was out the door.  
Then slowly, he began gathering up the papers around 
him, first carefully picking up the ones where 
teardrops had fallen.

(--------------------------)
The Present:
(--------------------------)

Tenchi’s heart went out to the distraught princess.  
As much as he tried, he couldn’t find the words to 
comfort her. 

“He can’t be dead, he can’t be…” Ayeka said.  Her 
lips were trembling. 

"Yeah, yeah what ever."  Ryoko picked herself off the 
ground.  "I'm just bored 
to tears.  In any case I'm out of here."

"No Ryoko.  You not leaving, until I get all the 
answers out of you.  Azaka!  Kamidaki!"

"Fat chance!  We're leaving Tenchi." She grabbed on 
to the startled boy and yelled out, "You might want 
to get out of the way princess.  Ryo-Ohki!!!"  
Everything shuddered and the sound of tearing metal 
and cracking wood was heard as Ryo-Ohki crashed into 
the Juraian ship.  

Instinctively Ranma pulled Ayeka and Sasami out of 
harms way as the structure collapsed all around them.  
He could do little as he saw Tenchi be dragged in 
Ryoko's ship. 

"Are you all right?" Ranma asked the two girls.  

Sasami nodded. 

"I'll never forgive that woman!" Ayeka swore."

"I'll take that as a yes," Ranma said.  It was then 
that the ship tilted and the three were thrown back 
from the change of momentum.  Klaxons started ringing 
throughout the ship.

"Now what?" Ranma muttered. 

"Princess, Ryoko's ship is still attached to ours," 
Azaka stated. 

"Ryoko is using Ryo-Ohki to push us toward the 
Earth's surface," Kamidaki elaborated. 

"She's what!?!?!!?!?" the three responded.

***---**---***

Achika stood outside the house looking anxiously up 
at the sky.  Katsuhito was next to her accompanying 
her on her vigil.  

"I'm worried father."

"Things will work out, you'll see.  Have faith in 
Ranma and Tenchi.  Look a good omen.  It's a shooting 
star," he pointed out. 

"T-That's not a shooting star!"  Achika exclaimed.  
She looked in horror as the two ships came flaming 
out of the sky.  

"Hm… looks like they're going to hit the lake," he 
observed calmly.  Achika just gawked at him with an 
open mouth.  

The impact was awesome.  Heat from the two craft 
turned the water to steam when it first touched the 
placid body of water.  The explosion that came after 
let out enormous amounts of light and heat.  

"Achika!"  Katsuhito said sharply.  Father and 
daughter joined hands and a blue sphere enveloped 
them.  As the blast passed through, Achika saw the 
grass around them become singed from the heat.  

As the blast cleared, the steam condensed into rain 
drenching the two with a heavy down pour.  From what 
she could make of it bits and pieces of the two ships 
suck out of the water.  Standing up on one of the 
jagged protrusions she could see a figure waving at 
her. 

"Ranma!" she called out. 

He waved back.  On his shoulders was a little girl 
doing the same.  Tenchi was there also with a tired 
smile saying that he was fine.  In the warmed waters 
of the lake, Ayeka and Ryoko were sputtering at one 
another, clinging onto the floating guardians, using 
them as life rafts.

"Looks like we have some guests, Achika-chan," 
Katsuhito said.  "Achika-chan? Achika-chan?"  He 
looked over.  "Hm...she fainted."



The end (for now)

Authors Notes:

Well? What do you think?  
If any one seems OOC (out of character please tell 
me.)  I tried to make Ranma more mature as Tenchi's 
father while at the same time try and keep his 
energetic personality.  Tenchi as you have noticed 
know Anything Goes pretty well.  So I made him more a 
little confident in a fight.  The most troubble I'm 
having though is dealing with Achika.  She only 
appeared in the movie so her character was never 
really developed.  I'm just trying to get a better 
feel as to how she would react.  Help me out on this 
one would you.  Send you suggestions out please.  
Other than that everyone else is the same. 

With Chapter 2 complete, I plan to concentrate on the 
other series I’m working on.  “When Gods Fall”  It’s 
an AMG/Ranma cross over.  Till next time.


Feel free to send me your comments and criticisms.  
Fror subject please put:

Ranma|Tenchi

*********************************
Author: Pug
cruzd@rpi.edu
http://www.rpi.edu/~cruzd/pug/pug.html
*********************************