"Speech"

'Thought'

X x x x x x

Breathing heavily, Ranma sat down on the grassy hill on his backside, he took in great gasps of air before collapsing on to his back. Staring up into the sky, he tried to count just some of the endless of stars hanging over head. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to remember that it wasn't the sky overhead, it was a projection. He wasn't on the Earth, this grass wasn't the same type of grass he had always known, the trees weren't the same.

Slamming his fist into the ground, he felt so out of place. To everyone else this was normal, they thought in terms of planets and moving between them. But all he had ever known was traveling between continents, islands, countries. He was overwhelmed, he had to admit it. First space, now tree ships, and to top everything off, going back to Earth and finding that his mother would demand his death she found out about the curse.

Washu could cure him, that tiny red head could do what he had failed to do on the handful of occasions where he had actually tried. The instant spring packets, the spring under the girl's locker room, the waterproof soap, Kuno and his wishing sword, all failed miserably. Only two of them even had a chance to actually cure the curse.

The prize was dangling right there in front of him, no one was stopping him, no one even attempting to get in his way. But here he was, working himself to exhaustion, trying to avoid thinking about it. He had been cursed for nearly a year now, and by now it was almost normal, something he just had to deal with that others didn't. Just like how he was so much better at martial arts than the average person. (1)

Letting his eyes open, he watched Earth slowly rotate into view, the light from the sun finding a way to sneak around the edge of the blue dot, illuminating the far edge. Rising up into a sitting position, he looked out over the vast forest, briefly overwhelmed by the size of the interior, before his eyes were drawn to the giant tree dominating the landscape. Leaving that impressive sight, he focused on the smaller tree that represented the real heart of the ship.

Slowly rising to his feet, he started back for his room to take a quick bath before going to sleep. Even though his feet felt like they were encased in lead, he eventually had to start jogging. 'Ugh I can't believe how big this place is.' He once again struggled mentally to imagine the space contained. Thousands could live inside the ship and be completely self-sufficient. For all purposes this would be their planet.

Twenty minutes later he finally reached his room, or it would be more accurate to call the place a home. Though it only had one true room, the whole thing was a self-contained unit that was actually close to the size of the Tendo home. Passing through the curtains that kept the entrance somewhat private, he headed for the bath.

Turning up the heat in the bath, he cleaned himself off, and got in to let the hot water soak into his body. Welcoming the warmth, he pushed everything from his mind to just relax. Like everything else, the bath was large, nearly big enough to be in a bath house. Up overhead the lights were pointed towards the ceiling where they reflected back down, creating a soft relaxing atmosphere.

Finally feeling that he had entered into a good condition physically and mentally, he climbed out of the water to do one last thing before going to bed. Dressing in a set of white pajamas, he used some cold water on his arm to change forms.

Staring into the full length mirror that was in the bath area, she looked directly into her own eyes, and brushed some damp hair from her forehead. 'I guess this is goodbye.' Taking in every detail, every difference from her birth form, she wondered if this was almost a form of suicide. Having met Nodoka, it was obvious that this wasn't just a random body Jusenkyo had generated. Shaking her head, Ranma did not want to consider this form to be some kind of person by itself. It was just her if she had been born a girl. Since she had not been born a girl, it shouldn't even exist.

Laying on the bed, she stretched out, and was unable to find the edges. Tossing and turning, she finally moved to the top corner to lay on her side. "I'm going to have to do something to Amane for causing all this." She mumbled into her pillow. "Yea, Amane is going to get it." She yawned, letting exhaustion take over.

X x x x x x

Hearing a loud ringing, Ranma shot up in the bed, trying to find the source. The source it turned out, was a head sized viewscreen demanding that she wake up. Pein was floating behind the viewscreen, the small ball must have been activated by someone or even maybe the Mikagami herself.

"I'm up I'm up." She rubbed at her eyes, and the viewscreen and noise finally cut out. "How'd you get out of your box anyways?"

"My model is capable of interfacing with a tree ship and I was activated by the Mikagami to raise you from your sleep, Miss Ranma." Pein answered. "In one half hour you'll be transported to the planet, along with your belongings, as you will remain there the rest of the time that you are on Earth."

Ranma didn't respond, slipping out from underneath the covers, to stretch herself out. Arms raised above her head, she leaned her body side to side at the waist. Doing some more stretches focused on her back, the bed was far too soft, and had left her feeling all twisted up.

"Would you like for me to select clothing for you?" Pein asked helpfully.

"Male ones." Ranma answered, heading for the bath area. "And casual stuff." She amended, knowing that he would pick out the formal ones first.

Having just gone into the room to get some hot water to change back, she once again ended up staring at herself in the mirror. Shaking her head, she couldn't understand why she wasn't jumping up in joy, running around saying something stupid like 'never going to be a girl again!' Then again, Seto's message last night was now repeating through her head.

Was her decision to be cured just because of her mother's insane seppuku idea? Was that a good reason? Why was she even considering any other option but a full cure? Maybe because she had never really thought of trying for a cure unless someone else brought it up. Someone else held it up in front of her. She had never really thought too deeply on the curse, choosing to be like her father, and to just ignore it for the most part. Was being indecisive about a cure a part of the curse? One last thing to make sure that it remains? It would be nice to get some perspective by someone who also had the same curse. Even if asking such questions would be mortifying beyond belief.

What kind of guy was she anyways? Always using this form for whatever whim popped into her head. Was that normal for a guy who suddenly could be a girl? Other than people who knew about the curse, no one had ever realized that she was a guy in this form. Shouldn't her peers realize at some point that she wasn't just a tomboy? Then again, she hadn't realized that Tsubasa had been a boy. ''it's not a hobby indeed."

For that matter, since when had she accepted the face the mirror－ as her's?

X x x x x x

Arriving back on Earth, Ranma found himself inside a very basic room, the cylinder luggage arrayed along one of the walls. There was a futon rolled up in one corner, a closet, and an eight drawer dresser up against another wall. All the colors were an off white or pale shade of blue.

"Not too much difference between your forms. Added height and change of gender notwithstanding, this Jusenkyo clearly works off applying a template while keeping information from your original form." Washu commented, leaning casually against the wall next to the door.

"Yea, I kind a figured that out." He replied without much enthusiasm.

"So did you eat on the ship?" Washu asked.

"No." He answered.

"That's good, Noike and Sasami-chan made something special since Seto-dono was going to be here. So we'll have a nice breakfast, and then get started."

"Can I ask you something quick?" Ranma put his hands in his pant pockets.

"Of course."

"You can cure it right? My curse that is."

"I don't anticipate any problems with－ removing it, so yes. After getting some base readings off your male form, I can apply the body enhancement in a few hours." Washu answered.

"That's good, cause I－ I want to get it over with as soon as possible, I don't want to be a girl ever again." Digging his hands deeper in his pockets, he didn't even want breakfast.

Washu's face remained neutral before she nodded. "Then we'll start right after getting some food."

X x x x x x

Two hours later, Ranma blinked, blinked again, and decided a third and then fourth were necessary. Somehow he had ended up in a three meter high glass cylinder, naked. Well the naked part wasn't too bad, having little in the way of modesty, but it was cold, and Washu kept looking up from the viewscreen computer she was typing at, and giggling.

'Why does she keep giggling?' He pouted, keeping his hands in front of his crotch. He couldn't really see anything past Washu, the room falling away into the darkness created by the harsh light positioned directly above and below him. Feeling a warm liquid pool around his feet, he looked down, watching it rapidly rise up his legs.

"Starting process." Washu announced. "You're sure about this now? There's no going back you know."

"I had enough doctors poking at me the last time I was in a hospital, not like this would make a big difference." He answered as the liquid reached his waist. The liquid wasn't giving him any buoyancy, in fact he felt heavier.

"I told you not to be so nonchalant." Washu shook her head, hitting several keys that hastened the influx of liquid.

"I just want to get this over with and get back to the Academy." Ranma trailed off. "Oh crap the Academy! What am I going to do?" His next words were cut off by the liquid covering his head. Holding his breath, he looked around, his vision being blurred.

"Breath out all your oxygen as much as you can, then take a breath." Washu's voice came over a speaker. "Weren't you listening at all when I explained the process?"

'No I wasn't.' He mentally grumbled. Coughing and hacking when he could no longer hold his breath, and liquid replaced oxygen. After the momentary discomfort was over, he found it difficult, but possible to push the liquid in and out like air. The lights around him grew in intensity and he felt something cloud over his mind.

X x x x x x

Ranma blinked her eyes, realizing that she was in the kitchen at the Tendo home. Glancing down, she found that she was wearing a simple white apron with some puffy frills over her shoulders. 'What am I doing here?' Wasn't she, no he, just in a super high tech lab in Okayama? Akane was off to her left wearing an apron with a flower print. More surprising was that Nodoka was just off to Ranma's right arranging several vegetables on the table in the middle of the floor.

"Midori-chan, would you mind cutting the vegetables for the salad?" Nodoka asked, smiling pleasantly.

'Is she talking to me?' Ranma noticed that her mother was indeed talking to her. "Sure." She went along with the instruction. Grabbing all the vegetables to fit into her left hand, she picked up a large blade in the right. "Hup!" She threw the vegetables into the air and followed immediately in a path to jump over the table. With a flurry of precise slices so fast that the pieces didn't even have time to separate, she landed on the other side as the vegetables landed neatly and arranged in a bowl.

"That was wonderful!" Nodoka gushed. "And you arranged them beautifully."

"Oh it was nothing." Preening, she covered her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Although next time you should wash them first." Nodoka informed her.

"Oops, silly me." Scratching at her pigtail, she didn't know what was going on, but she would play along until she did.

"You missed the carrots." Akane pointed out, hastily grabbed several carrots, and a large cleaver. "I can cut them!" Slamming a carrot down on a cutting board, Akane raised her knife hand high into the air, and then proceeded to slammed it down as hard as she could and repeatedly.

"Eh?" Small hard things began to pepper Ranma, and she snagged one out of midair. "This is wood."

"See! Perfect!" Akane boasted as the pile of wood and carrots.

"Wa-wait a minute!" Ranma tried to protest but Nodoka was ignoring her.

"Well Akane-chan, because they're not the same size, they'll cook unevenly."

"That explains why there are always hard chunks!" Akane realized like she had just solved a great mystery.

"That's because you're cooking wood!" Ranma yelled to be heard.

"Stop being so silly Midori-CHAN." Akane remarked snidely while pouring salad oil into the wok.

"Ack! Stop that!" She grabbed the plastic bottle from her unwanted fiancée.

"Quit being so dramatic, it's just some clear soy sauce." Akane grabbed the bottle and tried to take it back but Ranma held on tight.

"Idiot! Read the label!" Ranma was able to take the bottle from Akane just as the wok exploded into a fire nearly reaching the ceiling.

"Where's the extinguisher?" Nodoka looked around wildly.

"It's over here." Ranma grabbed it and was about to put out the fire, except Akane had dumped it in the sink and poured water on it, creating an inferno.

X x x x x x

"Ah, there we go." Washu's voice was very close to his ears, and he could feel her securing something around his head.

'What the?' He opened up his eyes and quickly sat up. 'What a messed up dream.' Reaching up to feel what Washu had been adjusting, he found a simple piece of fabric. Attempting to move it, the headband didn't move at all. Looking down, he was no longer naked, but covered in a black skin tight body suit that ended at his knees and elbows. Over his left pectoral was a golden circle.

"You have bigger things to worry about." The red head's voice oozed amusement.

"Why am I dressed like this?"

Washu put her face in her hand. "You really didn't listen at all."

"You talk to fast." He tried to defend himself, glancing at the large square room. The walls were a flat white color, each side was five meters in length and width, and it was the walls themselves that were actually providing light.

"That is a garment that restricts the electrical impulses to your muscles, which keeps you from using your full strength."

"Oh." Trying to hop to his feet, he fell on his butt. "What gives?" He demanded angrily, climbing to his feet in a normal way.

"Your strength is that of a normal human." Washu answered. "So you'll have to get used to being average."

"But." Ranma frowned.

"Do I have to re-explain everything? Body enhancement sets your normal, at rest strength, to ninety percent the maximum your enhanced body can withstand before breaking. It's the reverse of everything you've done before. You'll have to train yourself down, rather than up now. Quite honestly you must have very good genes for your body to have withstood the forces you put it through beforehand."

"My old man? Good genes? I still can't believe that my mother is as pretty as she is and she settled for him."

"Good genes don't always mean pretty ones." Washu shook a finger disapprovingly at him. "And it is both parents that you get your genes from, so your mother must be physically fit as well. Though her lifestyle likely negates any benefit, unlike you and your father."

Washu summoned her viewscreen laptop and hit several keys, plunging the entire room into complete darkness. A moment later the world around them was suddenly filled by a grassy meadow surrounded by large trees. "Before you even start training your body, we have to work through that little phobia of yours."

"We do?" he asked nervously, suddenly very self-conscious about being so weak.

"We do." Washu answered, glancing around at the environment. "Before we begin, remember that all of this is just a three dimensional image. The only real objects are you and me, so you cannot be hurt by anything you see."

Ranma glanced at the red head, wondering why she had felt that warning to be necessary. "So what's with the forest?"

"This room is keyed to your mind, we are in a forest, because your mind is in a forest. Trees on the brain as it is."

"Eh?"

"You said you traveled a lot, I'm sure at some point you were lost in the woods. I believe that would be an apt analogy to your mental state at the moment. Lost in the woods, many options, many avenues of passage, some of which lead to dark places that you may or may not want to go to."

"Can't we just do something simple? Like work on getting used to this enhancement stuff?"

"No, if by some off chance you get into a blind panic again while unrestrained, you could seriously injure someone. I wouldn't even have done the body enhancement if you weren't so adamant about having a cure, right now." Washu's voice broke no argument.

"So what now?" He asked, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"Now you think about cats."

"Why would I want to think about them?" He tried not to, realizing that if this was his mind being projected, that if he did, some cat would appear. The bright sunlight overhead dimmed suddenly, but no feline appeared.

"So how did you gain this fear? Did you always have this phobia? Or was it a bad incident in your childhood?"

Shutting his eyes tight, he focused on everything but the neko-ken training. "I really want to do something else right now." He said through gritted teeth. Living with that memory was hard enough, he didn't want this room to make him relive it.

"Must be childhood trauma." Washu commented. "How old were you when it happened." She asked, her voice full of concern.

Ranma had never actually talked about the training with anyone. That little old lady who had calmed him down was as close as that got. But he had never talked to her about it, he had just used her for a comforting presence, the kind that Genma simply didn't give. Letting his eyes open, he thought about that old lady, who was likely dead now.

The first thing he saw when opening was the positively giant form of the woman he was remembering. It was like everything was being shown from the position of a small child. The woman was also incredibly blurry, nothing was in focus, the details having been lost to time. All that remained were general details.

Unfortunately his mind wandered, connecting the old woman to events that had happened only an hour before. The room quickly became completely black. Sounds of creatures shifting accompanied large dark forms moving around him. "No." He whispered, being unable to stop himself, glowing eyes started to appear. It was too much, it was too real, he spun in a circle, his breath coming in large rapid gasps.

They were all around him! Hundreds of eyes staring hungrily at him, ready to pounce, to bite and claw at his flesh! As one the dark forms became that of cats, and they descended upon him. Screaming, he curled up in a little ball, covering his head as best he could.

So engrossed in the illusion, he didn't realize that no claws or teeth dug into him. There was no pain, no spitting or hissing from the cats, it was quiet except for Washu's voice as she made soft soothing noises. He was shaking, curled up in a fetal position, with her kneeling next to his head. Not moving, he glanced around, seeing that the illusion was gone, and he was back in just a white room.

"Who did that to you?" Washu asked, rubbing his upper arm.

"My stupid old man." He gulped, his voice quivering. "Thought it was a training technique. He did it a lot of times." Too worked up, he didn't think anything of telling her details. Looking up at Washu, he was surprised to see that she was much older, in her mid-twenties. "Wha?"

"There are many types of shape shifting." She smiled sadly. "Age is the easiest full body type." Sliding across the floor, he settled a meter away from Washu to stare at her.

"Like what you see?" She asked throatily striking a provocative pose, completely breaking the mood he was in.

"That kind of stuff doesn't really work on me." He rolled his eyes, trying to hide that it did work on him, just not to the same amount. "Sides, I bet I could catch more eyes than you ever could." He asserted haughtily.

"Not anymore." Washu countered, summoning her laptop, and pressing a single key.

"So you ACK!" Ranma squeaked when very cold water splashed down over his head. "What did you do that for?" He yelled without thinking before finally noticing the voice. "I didn't change." He noted with amazement. Being covered in cold water, and not being female felt even stranger than the first time he did change.

"Tsk, tsk, never doubt Washu-chan." The red head chastised him, hitting another key. "Just for that."

"Meow."

Ranma froze up at the sound as a small white cat with black spots hopped into his lap to lie down and purr. There was weight to it, so it couldn't be another illusion, so he kept perfectly still lest he agitate the monstrous creature that was using him as a pillow. Washu slid over to sit next to him and pet the feline.

"I upped the realism settings for a little positive reinforcement. Don't worry, nothing you could ever do will cause this cat to do anything other than purr and rub against you." She explained.

"I－ I－ It's a－ a fake?" He stammered, still not moving anything past his neck.

"Well what is real and what is fake? Everything you experience is really nothing more than electrical signals processed by your brain. I reversed the direction of the rooms operation. Now instead of projecting your－ mindscape, it's giving you stimuli for things that don't actually exist, and your mind fills in the blank."

Uncaring for the explanation, he stared at the feline, waiting for it to attack. He could tell it would be soon, the cat's tail was swishing back and forth. It twisted it's head to look up into his face, ears twitching and rotating. Those yellow eyes stared at him, sizing him up for the attack. Ranma was so worked up, that when the cat rose to its feet, he could do nothing but tense up. Except that cat simply laid back down in a different position, oblivious to his distress.

"It's not real, remember?" Washu grabbed his left hand and was able to overpower him to make him touch the cat.

"N- n- not a cat." He repeated, feeling the fur as if it was actually there.

"If you would give me permission I can make you more－ susceptible to suggestions, only briefly, just to get you started on overcoming your phobia."

"Do whatever just get this thing off of me." He answered in a tiny voice, the cat having risen to rub against his outstretched hand.

"See, he's not going to hurt you." Washu seemed to whisper into his ear.

"He's not?" Ranma asked himself, realizing that the cat was really calm. Washu let his arm go, and he didn't immediately pull back, wondering why he was so scared of something that wasn't going to hurt him. The cat stared up at him, expecting to be petted, and Ranma hesitantly dropped his hand to touch the cat's back.

"But this isn't real." He realized. "A real cat would try and bite me."

"Why would they do that? You haven't done anything to them." Washu whispered again. "A cat isn't going to hurt you unless you did something."

"Really?"

"Really." Washu whispered again, reaching over to pet the false cat.

"I didn't know that." He tentatively stroked the cat along it's back. "This is that suggestion stuff, right?"

"Was, if your phobia wasn't caused by such a traumatic experience, I wouldn't have even considered it."

"Can't you use it to just get rid of it?" He considered how easy it would be to remove the neko-ken if she could do all this.

"No, all I did was implant a subtle suggestion and let your mind do the rest, it's a start, that's all. Think of it as me presenting an argument really well, and you having no choice but to agree. It wouldn't work for something that big. So, like training your body, you'll have to work to get over your phobia."

X x x x x x

Akane sat down with a huff at the table in the living room before dropping her book bag at her side. School was over for the day, and she wanted to relax before dinner, homework could wait till later. Last night had been difficult. It was originally supposed to be just a simple dinner so her family could get to know Nodoka as a formality for a possible future marriage. What it ended up being was Nodoka grilling them for information on Ranma.

Nabiki had taken the opportunity to make several jokes about Ranma, that she and Kasumi had to defuse when the Saotome woman actually took them seriously. It seemed like Ranma's mother was actually completely, totally, one hundred percent serious about a ridiculous seppuku pledge. That was what they were dealing with the moment Ranma himself had shown up.

Akane had no clue who that older woman had been with Ranma, but it wasn't hard to see that she had been unhappy by Nodoka's insistence of the contract, and seemed to have some vested interested in the gender changing martial artist. Ranma him, or herself at the time, had been similarly shocked by the idea. Akane had never really seen the gender cursed boy just walk out like that. She had tried to follow shortly after, but the two were simply gone, as if they had vanished.

"Hello." Nodoka appeared in the doorway to the room, silk wrapped bundle held over her shoulder.

"He- hello auntie." Akane greeted, seriously wondering about the Saotome woman. "When did you get here?"

"Your sister Kasumi just let me in. She said that you knew Midori-chan the best."

"Well－ you could say that." She gulped, cursing her sister for shoving this on to her. Worst case scenario was that the Saotome woman was quicker than the let on, and had placed some special emphasis on the similarities between herself and 'Midori'.

"I just wanted to know if you and her would like to go with me for a day on the town, just us girls, as an apology for how last night went."

"Auntie." Akane floundered for a way to answer the question. She had no way to contact Ranma, and having Ranma, someone who Nodoka demanded be manly, spend the day with 'just us girls?' Nothing could possibly go wrong. "Next time I see－ her, I'll be sure to ask, but I don't know when that will be. We don't see each other that much."

"That's too bad, I was hoping to get to know her a little better."

'I'm sure you were.' Akane smiled nervously. 'Oh crap she must know something.' Nodoka knew about Genma's curse, she must have guessed something about Midori, and was looking to dig for information. Hearing the phone out in the hall ring she excused herself to answer it, wanting to get away before saying anything that would help Nodoka get closer to the truth.

"Hello, Tendo residence." She greeted.

"Hey Akane." Ranma's male voice came over the headset.

She nearly said his name loud enough for Nodoka to hear but dropped quickly to a whisper. "Ranma, where are you?"

"Er－ well I'm not really supposed to say, but I was just here a while ago while training for that fight with Pops, if you know what I mean."

"That doesn't really help."

"Anyways, I'll be on Earth for a bit, and I was able to get－ cured."

Akane glanced towards the living room, Ranma didn't seem as enthusiastic as she thought he would. "Do you want to talk to your mom? She's here right now, she wanted to take me and 'Midori' out for the day."

"Yay." Ranma replied with enthusiasm. "And－ not really."

"I know she's weird, but she does miss you, you know that right?"

"Don't you think I know that?" Ranma snapped. "Sorry." He added after a second.

"I think I can understand. So what did you want?" She changed topics, wondering if he had been calling to talk to her.

"I don't know, it's been hard just trying to call Earth while I was off planet. Guess I just wanted to hear a familiar voice."

"So what's it like?"

"It's－ it's incredible out there. Some of the stuff is so hard to believe even when you're there."

"Like what?"

"Well－ I'm going to school on a planet, but that's just one part of the school that includes all the planets in that solar system, and around this whole solar system, is a space station that forms these two gigantic rings."

"Woah, that is hard to believe."

"That's just the beginning of it all. But－ there's a lot of things that are the same. I got this teacher at the school, you would swear he was a Kuno, cept he's got bright pink hair. I've had to bounce his head off the wall almost once a day."

Akane laughed, imagining Kuno and his sister with pink hair. "Anything else the same? You still got girls hanging off of you?"

"That'd be kind of hard, I've been living as a girl."

"You have?" Her brow furrowed, wondering what the reason was for that.

"Stupid Seto enrolled me as a girl, probably thought it was a hoot. Anyways, I should get you and one of my roommates together, I bet you and Corina would get along great."

"Roommates?" One of her eyebrows began to twitch.

"Yea I have two roommates, and they are both slobs. I'll probably get back and find the room is trashed again. It wouldn't be so bad if we had separate rooms, but all we have is this big room, with one bathroom."

"Do they know about your curse?"

"No, I haven't told them."

"Am I right that they－ change around you?"

"Well- yea, it's not like there's a whole lot of privacy."

The plastic of the headset began to crack from the force of her grip. "I'm going to hang up now." She told him slowly.

"Oh－ alright, well I gotta go anyways, Washu just yelled at me and she wants to go do some training with her. See ya." The line to Ranma clicked off just as Akane was about to shatter the phone.

X x x x x x

"What?" Ranma nearly yelled at Washu. Dressed only with a pair of white pants, he followed her out of the home, and towards the hillside. Thinking about his conversation with Akane just a moment ago, he wondered if she was upset about something. 'Eh, probably just one of her weird fantasies.'

"You wanted to do physical training, so we'll start right away." She stopped at the base of a large red torii that arched over a long set of steps.

"Climbing steps? That's it?" He rolled his eyes.

"Oh I think you'll find it very challenging." Washu pressed a few buttons that appeared on a wrist computer viewscreen. "There, I changed the damper on your strength so that you're only 90 percent limited."

"I really don't see how that's going to cause me any problems. Well, I'll be back in a minute or two." He went to take a step forward, except when he raised his right leg, it shot up and struck him in the chest with enough force to knock him on his butt.

"You know, if you don't start listening to me, I'm just not going to tell you anything." Washu's smirking face looked down at him. "I told you, instead of working to be strong, that's your at rest state. You have to train yourself to have a－ soft touch. Do I have to repeat myself?"

"No." Ranma slowly got to his feet, forcing himself to do everything with as little force as possible. This was a lot more difficult than he imagined it would be. Before he had trained himself not to put a lot of force into his movements. Now he had to be as gentle as he could be for everything.

"Don't worry, either with your prior training this will be very easy, or incredibly difficult." Washu smiled casually as he finished taking a step to finally plant his foot to start moving the other. Once again he used too much force and his leg shot up off the ground, and nearly threw him to the ground again.

"If you're going to be up in back in a minute or two, you've already wasted fifty seconds." Washu commented.

"Oh shut up." He grumbled.

X x x x x x

Four days later (2)

"Oh that feels good." Ranma slid himself further into the hot water of the bathhouse up on the hill. Having been given a muscle relaxant, he was able to remove the restraining suit, but not the silver band on his forehead, which Washu said he simply couldn't take off, and she never gave a reason. The onsen was multi-level, with small waterfalls moving between them. Like a tree ship it was designed to look like the bath area was in the middle of a forest.

In an hour Washu wanted to work on his fear of cats again, which she had been doing once a day since the body enhancement. He was loathe to admit that he was getting better around that fake cat in the simulator, and Ryo-Ohki. It made him feel even more mortified at his behavior around cats before. Other than that, he was usually doing something physical, like walking up those steps, usually followed by stacking blocks, or some random household chore. He was now holding steady at twenty percent his max.

He had also had to get used to the people who lived at the home. With Seto gone, the attention shifted to him. It was probably a good thing Noike was around, since both Ayeka and Ryoko had tempers that could easily turn violent. He had yet to meet the priest who lived up at the shrine, but he was apparently Tenchi's grandfather, and the two princesses' brother. Ranma couldn't be quite sure, the family tree around here seemed to include everyone, so he just focused on Noike being adopted by Seto, and being by extension Ayeka and Sasami's aunt.

Hearing the air reverberate off to the side, he glanced over and found a naked Ryoko appearing in midair. The cyan haired space pirate glanced over in his direction before settling down to sit crosslegged at the washing area.

"Urk." Ranma quickly looked away. "Um." Being naked as a girl around other girls was one thing, being a naked guy was another.

"If you want me to scrub your back wait till I'm done over here." She answered.

"No, it's not that." He slowly waded through the deeper center section of the pool he was in towards the exit. Being as weak as he was, he really did not want to make Ryoko angry. 'How in the world do normal people live like this?'

"Were you thinking of something more?" Ryoko purred, flashing into existence next to him in the water.

"No!" He said far too loudly, trying not to look down. "Well don't you want any privacy?" He hastily added.

"Hmm." Ryoko put a finger to her lips before vanishing from sight.

'Phew.' Ranma wiped some sweat from his forehead. His relief was short lived when Ryoko appeared with a small splash, a tray with a bottle of sake and several cups.

"Forgot that a bath isn't as nice without a drink." She smiled broadly, splashing over to wrap an arm around his shoulders and forcibly pull him to the floating tray. Finally released, Ryoko hastily poured sake into two of the cups. "Here ya go."

"Thanks, I think." He took the offered cup as Ryoko quickly downed her own and just as fast, she poured another. Ryoko didn't seem like she was going to just let him go, so he shrugged, and drank.

X x x x x x

"An you－ an－ the worse part?" Ranma slurred. "My own mum, she's gonna cut my－ my head CLEAN off less she thinks I'm manly." Glancing at Ryoko, he checked to see if she was going to talk. "You ever had that? Find out that ya got a mum, and－ suddenly it's all, do dis, do dat? Ya know?"

"Dat's nothing." Ryoko waved her right arm across her body, spilling some of her sake. "Washu keeps draggin me into her lab for all these tests. Real invasive creepy stuff too!"

"That sucks." Ranma added.

"I know right?"

"And ya know my curse－ it's gone now. I am." Ranma jerked a thumb at himself. "One hun-dred percent guy now, manly all da way." Letting his head fall back against the wooden walkway around the pool. "Still don wanna see her though." He remembered the way she had looked at 'Midori' so full of kindness, just before she had explained how she had spent all of his life waiting for the moment to judge him. Whatever he had seen must not have been there.

"Why bother? She's just an Earthling. Moms are over－ rated anyways. Ya do just fine without em."

"Dat's true. Never needed er before." Taking a deep breath, he liked the color the sky was turning as the sun set. "Never even though bout her."

With Washu working him over physically and then mentally, it was hard not to think about the neko-ken training, and that simulation room. Coming back from the brink of falling into the cat state with Washu hovering protectively over him. What he wouldn't have given to have Nodoka there when he was ten, instead of some old woman.

"Sounds like you need－ another." Ryoko sloppily poured him more sake.

"Tanks." He hiccuped before downing the sake in one gulp. "Seto said she wants to be my mum, gimme a twee ship too."

"Heh, if ya did that you'd be Ayeka's uncle."

"Dat's true isn't it?"

"There you two are." Noike stormed over to the pool from the entryway. "Dinners ready." The woman looked between them, and then down at the sake bottle. "Ryoko, he's underage."

"Mah mah, it don't matter. We didn't drink it all."

"Both of you out, get dressed, and down for dinner!" Noike commanded and Ranma sobered up quick.

X x x x x x

Ranma ate slowly, letting his body work off the alcohol. Whatever Ryoko had been shoving in his face must be strong stuff to keep him feeling drunk this long. He resolved not to let her get him drunk again.

"Ranma-san, being a guest here, it's most improper for you to have naked escapades with the resident drunkard." Ayeka berated him and he really didn't want to deal with her right now. He was already supposed to be respectful of her because she was a princess and he was just a commoner in the Jurai system. But sometimes he really just wanted to tell Ayeka to shove it.

"Oh Princess?" Ryoko challenged. "I remember a certain someone sharing a naked escapade with me."

"That was different!" Ayeka protested. "I'm sure Ranma-san is under enough stress with Washu-san. He doesn't need you tempting him with immoral behavior."

"I didn't make him do anything." Ryoko started, only to be interrupted by a loud crash outside, followed by the glass windows looking out over the lake being covered in a wave of water. "Oh, Mihoshi's back."

"Mi- Mihoshi?" Ranma asked nervously, watching the water recede.

"Washu-san, I thought you had installed an autopilot into the shuttle?" Noike asked the diminutive red head.

"Multiple times." Washu answered.

"Should we." Ranma paused in shoveling his food into his mouth with blinding speed. "Get back to work Washu?" Grabbing Washu's hand, he dragged her towards the lab, desperate to not let Mihoshi find him.

"Ranma-kun!" A bubbly unwanted voice cried happily before Ranma was crushed by a wet form hugging him. Desperately he tried to escape Mihoshi's embrace, and finding that he could barely budge her arms, let alone free himself.

"Mihoshi!" Noike dragged the bubbly blonde off of him, and he took off to hide behind Washu. "You're tracking water through the house, get changed this instant, and then mop of your mess."

"Yes Noike." Mihoshi whined pitifully.

"Is she gone?" He asked, peeking out from behind the small scientist.

"For now." Washu chuckled and patted him on the head. Pouting he tried to regain some dignity, by leaving his hiding spot.

"Don't worry, I understand." Noike nodded solemnly. "I was her partner for a time."

"The horrors you must have faced, the hardships you must have endured!" Ranma looked at the woman with short teal hair in awe. "You're so brave!" His voice quivering with emotion.

"Quit being so melodramatic." Washu bopped him on the back of the head. "But since you're so eager, let's get started."

X x x x x x

Sitting on her floating cushion in the main atrium of her lab, Washu was talking to Seto, while monitoring Ranma in the simulation room through a viewscreen. As impressive as his progress was physically, mentally he wasn't getting too far with his phobia. The little white lie that she had told him about making him susceptible to suggestion was helping. But in the end it was just her altering the sound of her voice.

"So how is Ranma doing?" Seto asked.

"Well currently he's mentally a cat and is frolicking through a nice field." She grabbed the viewscreen with Ranma and turned it towards Seto. The image really was kind of cute in a disturbing sort of way. He basically had the mentality of a kitten, and she had programmed the simulator to provide stimulus randomly so that he would tire himself out quickly.

"I do hope that you're recording that."

"Of course." She scoffed. "So how is Seina-dono doing?"

"He was put through body enhancement two days ago and is currently staying with Amane, Kiriko, and Elma. Airi tells me that they are having a lot of fun together."

"I'm sure they are." Washu giggled. "Any idea how long Seina-dono will take to become normalized?"

"Shouldn't be too long. He doesn't have the added complications and he's constantly being pressured."

"Very true, I'm reluctant to take Ranma above forty percent of his max abilities because he still has problems with Ryo-Ohki."

"And how about－ you know?"

"It's too soon to make a decision on that. Although he did have an interesting conversation with Ryoko earlier. The option remains open."

"I see." Seto tapped a wooden folding fan against her chin. "I take it he hasn't contacted his roommates then?"

"I believe he has sent a few emails but nothing with video or voice. This one roommate, Adilynn, would be interesting to meet."

"She's only a cadet and she's already helping out significantly with the computer system." Seto supplied. "I've already considered offering her a job when she completes her studies. Minaho-chan has also expressed interest in the other roommate, Corina."

"And just how did Ranma end up being the roommate of two obviously gifted cadets?" Washu smiled knowingly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. It was purely the luck of the draw." Seto unfolded her fan and held it in front of her mouth, though Washu could see that the woman was smiling.

"I'm sure." Glancing at Ranma's viewscreen, she saw that he had finally started to calm down and look for a place to nap. "I'll keep you informed of his progress."

"Have fun." Seto's line cut out.

X x x x x x

"Ooh what's this place?" Mihoshi asked while wandering around Washu's lab. She had entered with the intent to talk to Washu about her ship always crashing, but had seen the most beautiful flower in the area immediately within the lab, and had gotten lost. Trying another doorway, she found herself within a vast grassy meadow surrounded by tall trees. Bright sunlight made her raise a hand to shield her eyes briefly.

"Pretty." She commented absently before realizing that it was a projection due to the subtle ways distance was shown. "Oh Ranma-kun." She smiled, he had been so fun to be around when she had been transporting him in her shuttle that she had been looking forward to meeting him again.

"Um－ Ranma-kun, why are you walking around on all fours like that?" She asked, watching the boy circle her, his eyes were curious, but there was something very off about the boy.

"Mihoshi!" Washu's cutting voice yelled from behind her. "What are you doing here? I've given up on trying to figure out the how."

"Well I came to see you and then there was this really pretty flower, and then I found this room which is really neat by the way. I always love simulation rooms, do you think maybe you could make me one for my ship? Oh that would be so nice! I want one that can make a big beach!"

"Meow?"

"And Ranma-kun could come visit, and Tenchi-san, and Ayeka-san, and Ryoko-san. Mmmph mmmph." Mihoshi tried to say some more but Washu had covered her mouth.

"Not now." Washu hissed, glancing at Ranma worriedly who was sitting like a cat and looking at them curiously.

"Mmph?" She questioned.

"Ranma is in a very dangerous mental state at the moment." Washu whispered quickly. "Any sudden moves could set him off."

"Mew!" Ranma cried happily and tackled them to the ground.

Being freed from Washu's hand, Mihoshi was able to voice her opinion on Ranma curled up in her lap purring. "Awww."

"I suppose that's the best case scenario." Washu picked herself up.

"He's so cute like this." Mihoshi gushed and stroked her hand through Ranma's hair, causing his purr to increase. "He's just like a kitty, can I keep him?"

"Absolutely not." Washu deadpanned.

X x x x x x

Rolling to the opposite side to get his face out of the sunbeam streaming through the patio door, Ranma snuggled deeper into his futon, not wanting to get up. 'How embarrassing!' He groggily bemoaned his wretched fate at waking up from the neko-ken in Mihoshi's lap.

Predictably, everyone in the house had finally found out the reason for his fear of Ryo-Ohki, and Ryoko had been quite merciless in her teasing. He had been ready to start a fist fight over it, knowing full well that as limited as he was, Ryoko was impossibly beyond him. Noike saved him the embarrassment of having Ryoko beat him with a pinky when she was able to stop Ryoko with just words. Noike was certainly someone that he was respectful of. Maybe she was a master of some kind of verbal martial art he could learn?

Worse than Ryoko and her harsh tongue was that Mihoshi had also told the blatant lie that he was absolutely adorable when he purred and how he liked to cuddle. Waking up enough to open his eyes, he simmered at that thought. 'I do not purr.' Shifting in his blankets, he stared up at the ceiling, a scary though occurring to him.

'I hope Washu isn't recording that stuff.' He gulped, Washu would be able to hold that over his head for decades. 'No wait, it's centuries now.' Ranma still was getting used to the idea of ages in space. Since the average lifespan for someone without body enhancement was around two hundred years.

Hearing Tenchi shift in his bed, Ranma looked upwards to see the other teen rising up into a sitting position. Ranma's futon was positioned with the long side towards the patio door out to a balcony. "Morning." Ranma greeted, rubbing at his face. Tenchi always got up early in the morning before going out to till the fields. As part of his training, he had to go out, and help as well. Honestly he didn't mind the work; it was actually very relaxing in a way.

"Morning." Tenchi returned. "I'm really sorry about how Ryoko acted last night."

"Don't worry about it." He waved a hand over his head negligently, wanting everyone to forget that Ryoko had been able to get him angry. But mostly he wanted to ignore just how weak he was at the moment, and how he didn't like having to rely on others.

Tenchi nodded slowly as he slipped his legs out from underneath the covers. "Well better get started."

"Yea." Ranma agreed.

X x x x x x

Straightening up, Ranma wiped the sweat from his forehead, and sighed. 'I hate carrots.' He had placed a great deal of them in a wicker basket designed to be carried on the back, and finally he was done for the day. Nearly all of them would go to Ryo-Ohki, who would likely finish all the carrots in the field if given the chance. Slinging the basket on to his back, he started off for the home to get breakfast.

He couldn't let his guard down though, training down his strength required constant vigilance. If he wasn't controlling himself at the moment, he would be bouncing several meters in the air with each step. Or he would be thrown off balance by the swinging of his arms. Deciding to make it even harder, he began a light jog, a light jog that would be a dead sprint for any normal Earthling.

Sliding to a stop on the hard packed dirt path to the store room at the side of the house, he had a moment of trouble adjusting his strength down, before depositing his load of carrots inside. Entering into the home through the door next to the kitchen, he caught Sasami and Noike inside preparing breakfast.

"Ranma." Noike immediately narrowed her eyes at him and warning signs went off in his head.

"Yes?" He asked slowly.

"Shoes." Noike pointed a finger downwards.

"Eh hehheh." He laughed nervously and backed out of the room to kick off his filthy shoes outside.

"Go get changed and you can help set the table." Noike suggested, already moving past his slip up. He knew why she was suggesting that. It was important to do everyday activities right now to help adjust.

Quickly replacing his filthy work clothes with fresh ones, white pants and a white with green trim sleeveless shirt, he went back down to help out. That was something else he had needed to get used to. Everyone was expecting to help out around the home, the two princesses included, from what little Ranma knew of royalty he hadn't expected that. Even Ryoko, who did her level best not do anything, usually ended up helping out with her limited domestic abilities. Just not anything to do with preparing food.

"Oh ho, you're almost adjusted to that level already?" Washu commented while taking a seat. The red head seemed to be the only one exempt from physical chores, though it seemed she ended up doing various other things.

"Keh, if it was just a technique I would have had it learned in a day." He boasted. Returning to the kitchen to put the extra plates away.

"Miya?" Ryo-Ohki's innocent notice of his arrival caused a full body shiver to run up his body.

"Morning Ryo-Ohki." He nodded towards the cabbit girl.

"Ryo-chan, can you bring this out to the table?" Sasami held out a plate of food. Ryo-Ohki nodded enthusiastically and went about the assigned task. Watching the small furry girl leave, he breathed a small sigh of relief before noticing that Noike had caught it. Ignoring the teal haired female, he headed back out to sit down for breakfast.

X x x x x x

Dropping to sit on the top step, Ranma gazed out at the valley far below as the sun slowly set behind the house. He hadn't stopped moving today except for meals and Washu had thankfully allowed him to avoid dealing with cats. He finally met Tenchi's grandfather who lived up at the shrine, which came with the added surprise that he was barely older than everyone else but used a disguise field to look like an old man.

'Just don't think about how old everyone is.' He repeated and rubbed at his temples. Letting his eyes travel down the length of the steps, he found Noike slowly made her way up them. 'Must have just got back from town.' Noike and Sasami had taken a trip into town in the small blue truck they had.

"What's up?" He asked when she got close.

"Bringing Katsuhito-san his mail." She indicated a small pile of letters. "You?"

"Taking a break." He answered as Noike took a seat a respectable distance from him.

"You shouldn't push yourself so hard to adjust. Yes you need to work hard but it should be something you get use to naturally."

"Seems to be working so far." He was now at fifty percent, and having worked all day long had normalized himself.

"Nobody is going to think less of you if you don't adjust in record time."

"But they will think more of me." He grinned.

"Is that why you haven't slowed down since getting here? The most relaxed I've seen you was when Ryoko took advantage of you."

"She didn't take advantage of me." He protested and crossed his arms. "I could have left anytime I wanted."

"Well if it was consensual, you better not let Seto find out that you were sharing a drink with Ryoko like that."

"She said she wouldn't force me to marry." He hastily pointed out. Sure Ryoko was attractive, but he wasn't stupid, she was one of the most dangerous individuals on the galaxy, and was not shy about using force when angry, which was often.

"Oh, she would never force you." Noike giggled. "But mother has ways of getting what she wants."

"In that case I should tell her a definite no for adoption." Already having one mother who might just be insane, he didn't want to become subject to Seto as her child if that was true.

"That's too bad, I was looking forward to a little brother－ or sister."

"No more sister part." He pointed out.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that－ curse?"

"You really want to know?" Ranma looked at Noike doubtfully. Most people just wanted to know what it did, not how he got it.

"Of course." Noike simply inclined her head to one side.

"Alright－ well it all started with my old man and this trip to China to train in martial arts. We traveled to a few places, nothing all that memorable, but then we came to Jusenkyo. Which looked just as average as any other place, a bunch of small pools and bamboo poles sticking up from them. My old man jumped up on to one of them and challenged me so I also went over the pools."

"There was this guide there, I guess he was trying to warn us but we didn't listen to him. I got the first hit in and Pop went into this big spring. Next thing I know he's jumping out as a giant panda and hitting me into another. That's when I got the curse." He finished.

"I don't understand how that works. You fall into some water and come out as something else?"

"It's a magical curse or something that's like magic－ maybe some really advanced technology I have no clue. But if something drowns in a spring there, then whoever falls in takes that form." Ranma explained.

"That's really morbid." Noike commented. "And that was how long ago?"

"Most of this past year." He answered and closed his eyes briefly, remembering what it was like to change bodies. This was the longest he had ever stayed in one body other than when Cologne had inflicted him with the cat's tongue pressure point. For such a long time it had been part of his life that it felt weird to know it wouldn't happen ever again.

"How did your two roommates take it when you told them?"

"Er- heh heh－ um, I didn't tell them." He admitted.

"You－ haven't－ told－ them?" Noike's silver eyes narrowed into slits.

"I was going to send them some mail explaining it." He gulped.

"Is that so?" Noike quickly brought up her own wrist computer.

"What are you doing?" He asked rapidly, holding a hand over the keyboard part so she couldn't enter in any commands.

"I was going to see if either of them were available so you could explain the situation."

"No need for that!" He said hastily, turning it off.

"Go ahead then."

"Uh." He glanced nervously down at his left wrist where a gray band of fabric marked the normal space portion of his computer. "I'll do it tomorrow."

"You better." Noike rose to her feet and lightly tapped him on the head with the mail for Yosho. "Or I'm sure we could arrange for them to visit."

"I will" he nodded, agreeing that telling them at least that he wouldn't be their roommate anymore was the right thing to do. Of course how he should go about doing that was another question.

X x x x x x

After breakfast the next morning, Ranma approached Washu for help with solving the problem of telling his former roommates about the curse. Since he wouldn't be running around all day again, he had taken a bath, and then met Washu in the main atrium of her lab. She was sitting on her midair cushion rapidly typing on her computer and motioned for him to sit down on one of the many floor based cushions while she finished something.

Washu finally spoke up after close to five minutes. "Did you need something? I thought you were taking it easy today?"

"Uh－ I kinda told Noike that I'd talk to Corina and Adilynn today. I was thinking on how I should really break the whole curse thing to them and I thought that maybe if I used some kind of disguise thing like Yosho has, it would make it easier. You seemed to be the kind of person to go to get something like that. So－ do you?"

"First off you should call him Katsuhito, just good habit. Second, I'm sure I have one lying around that you can borrow. I take it that you wanted to appear female?"

"Well yea just to start."

"Let's see what I got." Washu typed something on her computer and a round black portal appeared above her waiting hand to spit out a long thin strip of fabric. "Here you go."

"What do I do with it?" It felt like some kind of flexible metal.

"Snap it against your wrist."

Doing as instructed, the metal conformed and locked on to his wrist. "So how do I use it?"

"Push the button on the top and think of the image you want to create." Washu answered with a strange amused tone to her voice. Pressing the nearly invisible button, he tried to picture his girl form from memory. There was a tingle that ran over his skin and when it stopped he opened his eyes.

"Wow, this is just a disguise?" He asked, it actually felt completely real, and he even seemed to have lost height. As far as he could tell, he was back in his girl form. Hitting the button again, he imagined going back to male form, and he watched this time as his body seemed to morph with the same speed as Jusenkyo.

"Just give it back when you're done." Washu turned back to her computer to start back on whatever it was she was working on before.

"Thanks again." He headed out of the lab, the wooden crab over the door knocking loudly. Exiting out into the living room, he found Sasami, Mihoshi, and Ryo-Ohki watching the large viewscreen television with Ryoko up in the rafters reading some manga.

Slipping past Ryoko up the steps, he noticed that Ryo-Ohki had ducked into Washu's lab. He didn't think on it too much before heading up to the top floor locking himself in Tenchi's room to get some privacy. Since Tenchi was off with his grandfather up at the shrine he didn't think he would have to worry about Ayeka or Ryoko coming in trying to find him here.

Activating the disguise, he marveled again at how realistic it was. From the change in height to how the body felt, Washu's disguise field was perfect. Hearing soft thumps coming up the steps, he deactivated the disguise just before Ryo-Ohki in her small animal form hopped through the door.

"Hi, you looking for Tenchi?" He asked. Ryo-Ohki shook her head the negative and with a big leap landed on his shoulder. Shivering from the contact with a creature that his mind pegged as feline, he was able not to freak out. "Washu put you up to this didn't she?" The answer was a nod and he picked her up by the scruff of the neck to set her down on Tenchi's desk.

"I need to talk to some friends about something important, so just sit tight." At Ryo-Ohki's nod, he activated the disguise again, earning a curious look. "It's just a disguise." He sat down at the desk and she nodded again.

"Well here goes nothing." He didn't know if either of his roommates would be around, since he hadn't memorized their schedule. Bringing up his wrist computer, he dialed the room number.

"Hello, room twelve." Corina answered the call, sitting at the table in the room. "Oh hey Ranma, how is everything?"

"I'm good." He answered, silently thanking Washu for how good the disguise was. "Is Addy around?"

"I'm here." A sleepy Adilynn sat down at the table looking like she had just woken up.

"I wanted to tell you both something." Nervously tugging at his pigtail, this would have been much easier to do in person, but at least he was safe from any kind of violent reaction with the great distance between them. "When I get back I won't be able to be your roommate anymore."

"Eh? Are you getting a big head? Hanging out with royalty getting to you?" Corina joked.

"No, it's not that. I've been lying to you, and it's all Seto's fault for registering me as a girl. But you see, I'm really a guy." Dropping the disguise, the two girls on the opposite side of this part of the galaxy looked confused.

"You were using a disguise field this whole time?" Adilynn asked.

"No I was really a girl, but it was this curse that Washu got rid of. It made me turn into a girl if I got hit by cold water and then back with hot."

"So you were a shapeshifter and now you're not." Corina summarized.

"Yes." He nodded.

"I can live with that." Corina smiled reassuringly. "I mean, I can understand why you wouldn't want to simply blurt it out."

Ranma noticed that Adilynn sat with a pensive look on her face before speaking. "You should have told us sooner."

He bowed his head. "Sorry."

"You did see us naked." Corina added.

Bowing his head lower. "Sorry."

"Then again, you were a girl at the time, so I guess it's alright." Adilynn finally said.

"Thank you." He breathed out a sigh of relief. "And Addy, Washu said she'd be contacting you sometime."

"REALLY?" The dark haired girl was up next to her viewscreen in an instant and the one on Ranma's wrist expanded to twice it's size. "Washu-sama is going to contact me?"

"She said you were quote, interesting." At his answer Adilynn squealed girlishly and started to do a victory dance around the room.

"So when are you going to be back at the Academy?" Corina asked, avoiding attempts by the shorter female to grab her and make her dance as well.

"A couple weeks. I'm not really sure and unless I want to get a ride with－ Mihoshi." He shivered at the idea of being in a cruiser with her. "I have to wait for Seto to stop for a visit."

"Wow, the Devil Princess is your chauffer. How did you get so high up so fast?" Corina asked with an amused smirk.

Chuckling nervously, he hadn't thought of the situation like that. But Seto was sort of acting like his driver at the moment. "Just lucky I guess." He answered while scratching at the back of his head. "So what's up over there? Anything interesting going on?"

"That other Earthling, Seina, he's actually living with Kaunaq-sensei, Kiriko-sensei, and Elma-san while he's going through body enhancement adjustment. All three of which are apparently trying to get into his pants. It's not as glamorous as who you're staying with but there's even a rumor that Kaunaq-sensei's father, the owner of the clothing brand stopped by."

Ranma had of course heard of the Kaunaq clothing brand, it was one of, if not the most common brand in the galaxy. The owners of it were absurdly rich. He would miss that about having two smart roommates, simply by being around them he picked up things. Thinking on Seina's situation he had to laugh at the other Earthlings predicament.

"Everything is quiet. Just students going to class." Corina finished. "What about you? Anything interesting happening on Earth?"

"Actually, nothing really happens around here."

"Oh I get it, you're not supposed to talk about it."

"No it really isn't all that exciting here."

Corina just winked. "You don't have to say anymore. But I better go get Addy, she's dancing out in the hall. See ya."

"See ya." Ranma answered as the call cut out. Leaning back on the wooden chair, he ran a hand through his hair. "All that worry for nothing."

"Meow?" Ryo-Ohki chose that moment to hop over to his chest.

"ACK!" He flailed his arms as the chair fell over backwards. "Did you have to do that?" He asked, looking at the amused looking cabbit sitting on his chest. Ryo-Ohki just nodded.

X x x x x x

Without his former roommates hanging over his head, Ranma was able to finish off his homework with the help of Pein. Sitting in the living room with Ryo-Ohki curled up at his side, he closed up the book on galactic law, and put it back in his satchel bag. Thankfully most of it was similar to what he knew or supposed laws were on Earth, and even better it was all general information since depending on what kind of job he got he would then focus on a certain area. Picking up the memorization book that Minaho had sent to him, he probably should have started with this one, but he had needed to send in a short essay.

He wasn't the only one in the room, Ayeka, Ryoko, and Sasami were watching something on the tv. Noike was in the kitchen last he checked and Mihoshi was talking Tenchi's ear off, the Detective was giving him space since she did seem to respect his classwork time.

"Do you want some tea?" Noike asked.

Looking up from his book, the teal haired woman was placing a cup on the table in front of him. "Thanks."

"Want any help?" She asked while sitting down next to him and being sure to pet Ryo-Ohki.

"Not unless you know a way to instantly memorize everything I see and hear." He answered, bringing up the index page to see if there was a chapter titled that.

"Don't worry so much about the homework. Anything you end up doing will have on the job training just for that. As long as you make an effort at the classwork, nobody will care if you fail every assignment."

"Then why bother with it?" He had been in normal school long enough to know that teachers cared about correct answers not attempts.

"To get you started thinking like law enforcement and getting used to a routine mostly." She answered.

"I still do not see why grandmother thought it prudent for you to attend that academy." Ayeka added her opinion. "Surely Jurai's own military academy would have been a better choice."

"Why bother with any school at all? The pirates life is the best." Ryoko snickered. "Take what you want and follow no rules."

"You're deplorable." Ayeka hissed.

"It's a good thing no one listens to you." Ranma taunted Ryoko, earning a glare, and a growl from the cyan haired pirate. The information he had learned about space pirates was that they were generally only after cargo, not people. But the big time criminals had no compunction about killing innocents and Ranma would never stand to be labeled among their number. No matter if simply traveling the galaxy and doing as he pleased sounded very tempting.

"No fighting, it's nearly dinner time." Noike stepped in before he could challenge Ryoko to a spar, or possibly get Ryoko and Ayeka to get into a fight, that would be fun to watch.

"Hmmph." Ryoko vanished and a soft thump from above indicated that she had gone up into the rafters. Ayeka gave him an affirmative look that showed just how pleased she was that he had rebuked Ryoko.

The conversation shifted to something Mihoshi had done on her latest patrol and he was largely forgotten, giving him time to read. When the phone in the other room rang, Sasami left to get it. Since this seemed to be a rare event, everyone stopped talking to wait for the blue haired girl to return.

"Who was on the phone Sasami?" Ayeka was the first to ask.

"It was Grandmother, she said she would be stopping by to visit tomorrow." Sasami answered and Ryoko promptly fell off her perch to face plant on the floor. All heads turned to the sudden noise.

"Why doesn't that old hag just stay on her own end of the galaxy?" Ryoko demanded angrily, standing up, and trying to act like she had intended to fall flat on her face.

Noike chose to ignore Ryoko's comment. "When will mother be arriving?"

"She didn't give an exact time, but sometime in the morning." Sasami told her adopted aunt. "And she invited us to the Mikagami for lunch."

"No good can come of this." Ryoko spoke gravely and everyone ignored her again.

X x x x x x

The next morning, Seto contacted them at ten to say that she was now in orbit around the Earth, and would be transporting them up in an hour. Ranma was dressed in what he thought of as semi-formal attire, consisting of white pants and long sleeved shirt with a pale blue short sleeve overcoat with green borders, the bottom of which ended down to mid-thigh.

Everyone at the Masaki home had showed up to go except for Katsuhito. Ryoko had been forcibly apprehended by Washu who had the deadly space pirate tied up with some kind of flat rope and was leading her around by a leash. Ranma did not think it was a good idea to poke at Ryoko right now considering his own physical limitations. That Ryoko could be scarier than Cologne, Happosai, Taro, and all the Kunos combined didn't play into that at all.

Appearing on a grassy hillside to the far end of the interior of the Mikagami, they were high enough that it afforded a clear view to the other side. A large low table filled with food was positioned over a yellow blanket. Sitting at the table was Seto, who was lightly fanning herself, and a nervous looking Adilynn and Corina in their GP uniforms. Standing just off to the side were three attendants, ready for any order.

"Welcome everyone." Seto waved to them and rose to her feet. Ranma's roommates did the same, staring wide eyed at the assembled group.

"Grandma!" Sasami yelled and charged up to hug the woman.

"It's good to see you again Grandmother." Ayeka greeted with a bow.

"Who are your friends mother?" Noike asked.

"Ranma-kun would you do the honors?" Seto suggested.

"Um－ sure." Ranma felt attention shift to him. "This is Corina Taylor." He indicated the Seniwa native. "And this is Adilynn Doley." This time it was the more human looking girl. "They were my roommates at the Academy."

"It's nice to meet you." Both girls said together and bowed deeply at the waist. Similar sentiments were returned except for Ryoko who was still too angry to say anything.

"So what are you two doing here?" Ranma asked Seto more than anyone else, assuming that this had some ulterior motive, but not knowing what.

"Seto-sama invited us." Corina answered. "How are you supposed to say no to that?"

"Wa－ Washu-sama." Adilynn stared in reverence at the red head holding Ryoko's leash.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Doley-dono." Washu held out a hand to be shook. "I've heard a lot of impressive things about you."

The black haired girl moved her eyes to the hand and slowly put her own hand forward to take Washu's. Adilynn's mouth opened and closed repeatedly. "Th－ tha－ th－ thank you." She was finally able to say.

Washu jerked on her captive's leash. "Say hello Ryoko."

Ryoko's head turned away. "Hello."

"Good girl." Washu snickered.

Since Adilynn didn't seem to be able to move from her spot, Ranma decided to reintroduce himself to Corina who was doing a far better job of meeting such big name people. "Hi." He greeted. The height difference was less now, but she still towered over him.

"You're pretty short for a guy." Corina commented.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He pouted. "Just because everybody in space is tall doesn't mean I'm short. On Earth no one would say a thing about how tall I am." He crossed his arms irritably.

"You should prove that." Seto interjected.

"Eh?" Ranma raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure all three of you have been hard at work, surely you can take a day off to explore the planet. It would certainly be a good learning experience for Adilynn and Corina." Seto explained. Ranma stared at Seto, further confused on what the mint haired woman's angle was in all of this. Surprising everyone with a visit, throwing in his former roommates, and now suggesting that he play tour guide to them on Earth?

"I told you no good could come of this." Ryoko had been able to hop herself far enough away from Washu to whisper in his ear.

"Oh shut up or I'll tell Washu about what you said about her yesterday."

"Erk." Ryoko quickly looked over towards her mother who had heard the comment.

"I think it's a wonderful idea." Washu affirmed Seto's idea.

"Alright I agree with you." He told Ryoko and sighed.

X x x x x x

Author Notes

1 – Approximately eight months

2 - Ranma gave Airi's revisions for the Kamidake during this time.