Note: The characters in this story don't belong to me. They belong to other people, and I am perverting them for my own use. And by other people, I mean corporations with lots of money. Way more than I'll ever have. So no lawsuits, ok?

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Chapter One: Here’s Ranma (Again)

Or

No Need for a Really Bad First Impression

Yosho Masaki strode into the home his son-in-law owned, a thoughtful look on his face. He entered the living room, looked around briefly, and, seeing no one, continued into the kitchen. There he was greeted by a wonderful smell, and the sight of a young girl, about eleven years of age, leaning over a hot stove. Her companion, a small animal by the name of Ryo-Ohki, noticed his arrival and alerted the young girl to his presence with a cheerful sounding, "Miya!" "Grandfather! Konnichiwa!" She said cheerily as she turned and saw Yosho.

"Konnichiwa, Sasami. It smells wonderful in here," he commented, returning her smile. "Is everyone here?"

"Hai, I think so, Grampa," she said scratching her head in thought. "Tenchi just got in from the fields, and his father has been home for a little while now. Everyone else has been here all day, except for Ryoko. She went out to buy some sake, and hasn’t come back yet."

"Well, I’d hoped to tell everyone at once, but I suppose she’ll have to find out later," he mused thoughtfully.

"What is it, Grampa?" Sasami asked curiously, noting for the first time he had a letter in his hands. The Masaki patriarch smiled at the blue haired little girl, but didn’t answer directly.

"Can you get away for a few moments, Sasami?"

"Sure! It needs to simmer for a little while, anyway," she told him, nodding.

"Good. Can you gather everyone in the living room for me, please?"

"Hai!" she said quickly, smiling again. She tilted her head down, and the cabbit, who’d been quiet until now, hopped atop her head with a happy ‘Miya!’. Giggling, the child dashed from the room.

As Tenchi Masaki entered the living room of the Masaki home, he noted that all the current residents of the Masaki home, save one, were gathered in the living room in front of his grandfather Looks like a family meeting, he mused as he took a seat beside his father. I wonder where Ryoko is?

"So," remarked Tenchi’s father, "What’s going on, dad?"

"Yeah, Grampa," Tenchi leaned forward, running a hand through his close cropped brown hair, his dark eyes concerned, "What did you want to talk to us about?" he asked. A little red-haired girl, approximately Sasami’s age, piped up.

"Well, This had better be important! I can’t leave my experiment for long," she said irritably. Off to the left, a young woman with long purple hair made a shushing noise in the little red-head’s direction.

"Hush, Miss Washu. My brother wouldn’t waste our time with nothing. This will be important." she said. Washu snapped her fingers, and a black hole appeared in mid-air, and out of it, a very large and menacing gun dropped into her hands. Quickly, she grabbed it, flipped the safety, and as the gun began to hum, pointed it at the purple haired young woman.

"What was that, Ayeka?" cackled Washu. Ayeka sweatdropped, and held her hands up in the classic ‘please don’t shoot me’ pose.

"My apologies, Washu-chan," she said hastily. Washu snickered, and pulled the trigger. A very large flag, with the word ‘ZAP!’ written all over it burst explosively out of the barrel. Ayeka flinched as it came out, and Washu chuckled lightly again, and tossed the gun into another conveniently appearing black hole.

"Much better," she said lightly. Yosho smiled slightly, then cleared his throat.

"Ladies, I hate to interrupt, but I have news. My grandson will be coming up to stay with me, in the shrine, and…" at this, the final occupant of the room spoke up.

"Oh My! Honorable Grandfather, Why is Tenchi going to the shrine? Doesn’t he like staying with us anymore?" The blond woman who’d spoken seemed near tears.

"Ano…, I’m not going anywhere, Mihoshi," Tenchi soothed her quickly. "Let’s hear Grampa out before we jump to conclusions, OK?"

"Hai," Mihoshi chirped, brightening nearly instantly.

Tenchi sighed. It was a good thing the blond Galaxy Police officer was possessed of such a sunny disposition. With her mercurial temperament, if she had been easy to anger…well, He preferred not to think about that. His mind was reeling badly enough over the implications of his grandfather’s abbreviated thought.

"Ah…Grampa?" he asked hesitantly. Yosho smiled at his grandson.

"Yes?"

"How is it possible for you to have another grandson? Dad, did you and mom…" Tenchi turned to his father.

"Not us, Tenchi. You were our only child," Noboyuki assured his son quickly, making a warding off gesture with his hands. A lazy, lecherous grin appeared nearly instantly. "It’s too bad, though. You could use the help around here, with so many pretty ladies to please and all…"

"Dad! Not now!" Tenchi snapped wearily, noting out of the corner of his eye that Ayeka was giving his father a positively evil stare. He almost smiled at that, but shook his head to clear it, turned back to his grandfather.

"Grampa?" He asked.

"It isn’t something I enjoy discussing, Tenchi, but your mother had a younger sister. Nodoka," Tenchi’s eyes grew wide at that.

"WHAT?!!" He, Ayeka and Sasami exclaimed in unison.

"All right!!" Washu grinned. Tenchi already felt sorry for the cousin he never knew he had. He could almost HEAR Washu’s gleeful thoughts about ‘another guinea pig’. Yosho, however, ignored this.

"Yes. Shortly before your mother and father were married, Nodoka approached me with her intention to marry a man she loved, a wandering martial artist, by the name of Genma Saotome. I agreed to meet the young man, and found him…somewhat lacking," he said, nodding seriously. Noboyuki snorted.

"Achika and I were in the next room that night, Dad," He told Yosho dryly. "You might as well tell Tenchi the truth. You hated his guts. Not only that, but you dragged Nodoka out back and the two of you had the mother of all screaming matches. You called the guy every name in the book," he said reprovingly.

To Tenchi’s extreme surprise, Yosho looked chastised. It was extremely unlike him to show any human failings, At least, Tenchi mused sourly while rubbing his head absently, during my swordplay lessons, anyway. He looked at his grandfather expectantly, and was not disappointed.

"I may have mishandled the situation," he admitted. Off to one side, Tenchi heard Ayeka’s muted gasp of surprise. She must be as new to his sudden humility as I am, he judged. Yosho went on, "In any case, I forbade her to marry him, as I had some prior experience with the martial arts master that was training Genma, and thus had reason for my…misgivings. Not surprisingly, Nodoka defied my wishes," The old man sighed. Tenchi raised his eyebrows at this, and turned to his father, who apparently knew something about this situation.

"Not surprisingly may be the understatement of the decade, Tenchi. Nodoka was just as beautiful as your mother, but she was a real hell raiser, where your mom was a real lady. Nodoka was stubborn, opinionated, and, a little pushy. But she was also one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, aside from your mother. Ryoko reminds me a bit of her, actually," Noboyuki grinned at his son, then trailed off thoughtfully. Tenchi nodded to himself. Having it explained like that made perfect sense to him. Ayeka’s expression turned sour.

"She must have been real trouble if she was anything like that monster woman," she grumbled. Yosho inclined his head at her comment.

"Yes, She was," He said candidly. "But I wouldn’t trade a minute of it. She was a wonderful daughter, and I made the biggest mistake of my life telling her that her husband wouldn’t be welcome in my home," Tenchi and Ayeka gaped.

"Grampa, How could you?" Sasami said in a tone of shocked amazement.

"I did what I thought was best," he shrugged tiredly. "Although I do regret the rift that the incident created between us," he said quietly. Tenchi looked up at that.

"So…Her son is coming here?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Yosho nodded, waving the letter he still carried briefly. "Nodoka has swallowed her pride and come to me regarding a problem that her husband has created in Ranma’s upbringing. She wishes for him to be able to get a fresh start, away from his father, and I wanted to make some small amends for the years I haven’t seen my sole surviving daughter, so I agreed to take him in. What I was hoping to ask was for Ranma to be able to stay here," Yosho said calmly. "I think he’d rather be comfortable than stay by himself in the shrine," he explained. Tenchi’s mind was awhirl with the implications. With just him and his father and a household of girls, he was often without someone to talk to, and just have male companions his own age. Even if the Masaki house had more than its share of things that should remain secret, the prospect of having someone he could hang around with, without the girls vying for his attention having a problem with it, nearly made him salivate.

"Ranma, Huh?" Tenchi mused. He wasn’t sure if it was a good idea, as the extraterrestrial origin of many of the household’s occupants would be a difficult thing to hide. He wondered what sort of person his cousin was. As he was thinking, Mihoshi piped up, running her hand through her curly blond hair.

"I…I think it’s a good idea," She said hesitantly. "He is in some sort of trouble?" she asked.

"Of a sort," Yosho said carefully, with a wry smile. "His father has only created some of his problems, but enough have occurred, that Nodoka fears he is on the verge of a breakdown if he remains in the situation,". Ayeka frowned at that, then placed her hands in her lap, considering the intricate embroidery of her kimono.

"If we can be of any help to him, we should. As Yosho’s grandson he is a member of the Juraian Royal Family too, after all," she said finally, looking up. Tenchi winced at the added phrase.

"Well, I guess so," he concurred. "Although I think that the fact that he belongs to the royal family shouldn’t mean anything. He’s family. That’s all," Tenchi asserted. Yosho nodded, smiling at Tenchi’s general kindheartedness. He looked to Noboyuki, and saw him nodding as well.

"I haven’t got a problem with it," he shrugged. "This is a big house, after all,"

"Well, then…" Yosho began, but trailed off at a sudden wailing. He looked to the source of the noise, and saw Ryo-Ohki, standing in Sasami’s lap, back arched, and fur standing on end. The cabbit leapt off of the little girl’s lap and bounded over to Washu.

"MIYA! Miya Miya Miyaaaa!!!!" The frenzied spaceship yowled. Washu knelt down and picked up the frantic animal.

"What is it, Ryo- OH!" Washu’s emerald eyes went wide. Tenchi was on his feet in an instant, the Tenchi-ken in hand.

"Washu-chan? What’s wrong?" he asked urgently. Washu was already moving toward the door.

"Ryoko’s in a fight," The short redhead tossed over her shoulder as she began to run. "With someone approaching the shrine. She’s drunk," Tenchi groaned, but quickly followed. A moment later, the Masaki living room was empty as the rest of the household followed.

# # #

Ranma sighed and wondered if he’d managed to piss off a Kami or something.

"Listen, Lady," he said, with rapidly eroding patience, raising his hands placatingly. "I really don’t wanna kidnap you. I’m just on my way to my Grampa’s place. OK?" The wild looking blue-haired girl scowled, and, weaving slightly, took a step forward, gathering energy in her right hand. Ranma backflipped, shedding his backpack as he went, landing in a defensive stance. "Look, Dammit, I don’t wanna fight you!!" he howled, frustrated. Ryoko grinned slightly, with the manic air that only the drunk can muster.

"Sure, buddy. Heard it all before. Still been kidnapped twice though, and I’ve had enough of seeing the inside of intergalactic bad guy’s spaceships," she growled, and closed her hand around the energy ball, which, with an odd snapping noise, changed to a gleaming gold energy sword. Ranma frowned at the spaceship remark. It was certainly possible, he admitted to himself. His own experience with the fantastic was evidence enough of that. But then, She WAS drunk. Well, he’d have to sort that out later. Then he saw her sword. It was difficult to impress Ranma Saotome, but showing him a technique he didn’t know definitely did the trick.

"Hey, how’d ya do that?"

"Shut up and FIGHT!" she snarled.

Ryoko’s alcohol drenched blood howled in her veins as she rushed the intruder and began slicing the air with her sword in a furious attack pattern. Her opponent instantly began a series of evasions, dodging every swing of Ryoko's sword, matching her tempo and inhuman speed precisely.

I can't believe this! Ryoko thought hazily. How can a human be this fast? Even drunk, I should have gutted him by now!. She abandoned the energy sword and began another attack by throwing a series of punch and kick combinations at him, but to no avail. Angrier, she switched again to energy blasts, but he was able to avoid all her attacks with minimal effort. Ryoko was getting frustrated.

"Why aren’t you fighting back?? Come on, you coward!!" the intruder sneered at her in a condescending manner.

"Feh. As if I need to fight a slow girl like you. This is barely a workout!" he taunted. Ryoko responded with an obscenity that made him blush, and increased tempo to her attacks.

This is way too familiar, Ranma thought wearily. If this gets any more familiar, any minute now, she’s gonna pull a mallet on me. He resumed studying her attacks, wondering if he was going to be able to put her down without hitting her. Not stinkin’ likely. She’s pretty fast, He observed, But not too controlled. Or skilled, really. There’s a distinct pattern here… He watched for another moment, as he continued to avoid the relentless barrage of attacks. Hmm. I think she knows about all the openings she’s leaving. She must be about as strong as she is fast, otherwise, she’d make more of an effort to tighten her style. She must not be taking me very seriously. He grinned suddenly. Well, I’ll fix that. Abruptly, in the middle of one of the girl’s blindingly fast rushes, He made no move to dodge. Instead, he jumped at her, and shouted his favorite attack name.

"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!!" Matching actions to words, his hands blurred as he unleashed a barrage of half strength punches. His face burned at the necessity of attacking this girl, but she really wasn’t giving him a choice.

Ryoko shook off the assault with little effort. It didn’t hurt her much, but…Kami, he’s fast. How can a native of this backwater planet be that fast? She thought, amazed. But still…

"Hah!" she crowed. "That was nothing! Sasami hits harder than that!" she sneered. The black haired boy smirked slightly.

"So do I," he said smugly. "But you’re just a girl, so I can’t go all out…" he began, but Ryoko’s yell interrupted him.

"Bakayarou!!!" she snarled, her wounded pride pushing her faster than ever before. She left the ground and flew toward him, as he was distracted for a moment by the physical impossibility of the flying girl, Ryoko rocked him with a haymaker that could have leveled a building. He opponent went limp in mid-air, and grunted as he impacted with a tree behind him. Ryoko floated in place, laughing her ass off. Her laughter trailed off as the boy shook off the devastating impact and a trifle unsteadily, got to his feet, wiping a thin trickle of blood from his lip.

"Not bad," he admitted. Ryoko looked outraged, but a little impressed.

"Okay," she admitted, "You can still stand, So I’m impressed. But… Not BAD?" she looked offended. "its way better than that, pal," Ranma wanted to argue, but, contrary to his nature, he decided to concede the point.

"OK," he nodded grudgingly. "You’re pretty good. But I’ve been hit harder that before,"

"Oh yeah?" Ryoko growled. She rushed him again.

Instead of dodging or giving ground, Ranma planted his feet. As the blue haired woman rapidly closed, Ranma grimaced. Well, I guess I ain’t got no choice, he thought wearily. Sorry, Pop. I know ya don’t like me using these, but…

"Fierce Tiger Opening Gates Blow!!!" He roared, swiftly forcing Ryoko’s attacking arms apart and employing his father’s Yamasenken attack. Startled beyond belief, Ryoko flew backwards and impacted with a tree in much the same manner as he had moments earlier. Ryoko stood, slowly, grinning a little.

"You’re pretty good for a human," she told him, grinning nastily. Ranma matched her ugly grin.

"And you ain’t bad, for a girl," he sneered. Ryoko smiled craftily, and assumed a fighting stance. Ranma did the same, and prepared to fight, but just as he got ready to attack, Ryoko vanished right in front of him. Startled, he looked around, his opponent nowhere to be found. Suddenly, Ranma sensed a strong energy surge.....from above. When he looked up, startled by the unexpected direction the attack was coming from, it was too late for him to take action as a ball of light quickly fell straight down towards him. Thinking quickly, He threw his arms into a blocking gesture, summoned his ki, and let the energy come to him. Moments later, it was over, and his clothes were slightly singed. He just stood there, motionless. Ryoko tapped him on the forehead, and he slumped to the ground, still motionless.

"Hah. Never underestimate a Space Pirate." slurred Ryoko, weaving to the path. Suddenly, an unsteady voice rang out behind her.

"Big deal! I can do that too! By the way, Turning your back on someone you haven’t beaten ain’t very smart, lady!" Ranma snarled. Ryoko turned, and Ranma was standing again, looking battered and very put out. He placed his hands sideways to his chest, gathering a sphere of ki between his hands. It began to grow steadily. "I won't be beaten!" Ranma yelled. "I'm Ranma Saotome, Master of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts, an’ I don’t LOSE!!!". He then threw the energy sphere as he shouted his customary battle cry, "Moko Takabisha!!!!".

Ryoko was so surprised that human, although obviously skilled, could launch an energy attack, that she made no move to avoid it. The ki attack collided with Ryoko, blasting her back into the trees. Getting up, she closed her eyes and vanished, reappearing in front of Ranma. Before Ranma could react, he was hit by a ridiculously powerful uppercut, sending him sailing into the air. Ryoko quickly flew after Ranma and prepared for her next attack. As she approached, Ranma twisted in midair, and launched another attack. However, while not as skilled as Ranma, Ryoko proved to be no slouch at mid-air combat, and the two traded blows as gravity returned them to earth.

# # #

Tenchi and Washu led the way, dashing down the path as the others followed in their wake. As they ran, they came to an area that looked as though it had recently seen a fight. Tenchi looked around wildly for a moment, taking note of the trampled grass and broken tree branches, as Washu grimaced. With a growl of irritation, the pint-sized genius summoned her subspace computer. As the rest of the group arrived, Tenchi turned to the diminutive scientist.

"Washu-chan? Can you find them?" Looking at the little red-head, he noted that her face was at once ashen and relieved, and she was looking up. Wordlessly, the number-one genius scientist in the universe pointed, nearly straight up. Ryoko and a boy about his age were falling toward the trees, exchanging punches and kicks as they fell. Tenchi sweatdropped as Washu began to estimate the trajectory of their fall.

"This way. Hurry!" Washu said tersely, and started swiftly after the two combatants. It was a measure of how alarmed the galactic genius was that she made no wisecracks or sly comments as she usually did. Tenchi shook his head once and followed.

They came to a clearing in the forest, just in time to see the boy jump away from Ryoko, and assume a combat stance. Ryoko did the same and the two stared at one another. Tenchi was about to intervene, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back to see Ayeka, Mihoshi and Sasami standing with his father and grandfather, whose hand he’d felt. He blinked, and his grandfather shook his head.

"No, Tenchi," Yosho said sternly. "Only interrupt if one of them is in mortal danger," He instructed, the said, "You, too, Washu," The little scientist acquiesced silently, nodding and relaxing as she saw that Ryoko was in no serious danger. Tenchi looked at his grandfather for a moment. Yosho was gazing a Ryoko’s opponent with an appraising eye. There was something he was missing about all this… He shook his head and settled back in the trees, watching the battle.

# # #

Ranma grimaced as he took stock of his options. He was pretty battered, but strangely, he was having the time of his life. His fights in Nerima had ceased being enjoyable quite some time ago, but this, this was great. Not that the girl seemed to think so, though. Not for the first time, he wondered why they were fighting. The blue haired girl had seemed very angry at first, but now seemed to be fighting for her wounded pride. He decided to try and end it peacefully.

"Give it up, Lady," he called. "I gotcha beat," His brain caught up to his mouth a moment later. THIS IS PEACEFULLY?!! It screamed in chagrin. The girl, if possible, seemed even more offended than before.

"Ha!" She taunted. "That’s my line! You look like you can barely stand up! You take one more hit, and you’re toast!" Ranma smirked.

"I ain’t gonna take another hit. You will though, if ya keep attackin’ me," he told her confidently. She laughed.

"You’re bluffing."

"Try me," Ranma smiled. He hated to do this, but she was pretty damn tough, almost as tough as Ryoga. And, while he didn’t have a problem fighting girls anymore, he was unwilling to batter her with repeated Amaguriken attacks like he usually did with Ryoga. That left a single option. The blue-haired girl grinned nastily, and Ranma could sense the ki within her, while different than his, was slightly warm.

"All right then," she growled, "I will!" She rushed him, and he dodged. He began moving faster than ever before, and not a single one of Ryoko’s attacks came near him. She got more and more upset, and her ki grew hotter. When Ranma judged her ki to be the right temperature, he began to dodge in a familiar, (To him) spiral pattern. As he was reaching the center, he spoke to her, grinning, but still maintaining his ‘Soul of Ice’.

"Last chance," he commented teasingly. "Stop now and ya won’t get hurt," She snarled back at him and he wanted to laugh. This was the first fight he’d been able to have fun in for quite a while. He was a bit irked that he had to unleash one of his more powerful attacks, but this girl was a hell of a fighter.

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you," he commented. Almost at the center, he raised his voice and called, "HIRYU…"

# # #

Washu was analyzing the fight on her computer, when The energy readings shot off the scale. She looked up as the wind suddenly began to increase dramatically.

"Unbelievable!!!" she cried in amazement.

# # #

Ryoko hadn’t noticed the winds yet. Ranma was impressed. She had really good focus, but that wouldn’t be enough to stop what he was about to do. "…SHOUTEN…"

Sasami looked at Washu in alarm. Washu had never, to her knowledge, sounded that perplexed. That could only mean Ryoko was in trouble. Despite Yosho’s admonition, she darted forward to try and help her friend, oblivious to her sister’s startled exclamation.

# # #

Ranma smiled. It had been a great fight, but he was going to win. He prepared to administer the final touch, careful to regulate his aura so the attack didn’t injure his opponent, just knock her out.

"…HA!!!!!!" he cried, connecting with Ryoko’s ki with a powerful uppercut. The wind, while merely gusts before, erupted into a full blown hurricane.

Ayeka saw Sasami rush into the clearing at the same moment as the hurricane roared to life. Horrified, the First Princess of the planet Jurai could only watch as raging windstorm swept her baby sister into it’s powerful embrace.

"SASAMI!!!!!!!!!"

# # #

Ranma was about to keel over from the effort of generating the Hiryu Shouten Ha, when he heard the terrified scream. He glanced in the direction of the voice, seeing that his fight had attracted an audience. He turned his head just in time to see a little girl, no more than twelve, flung into the air by his attack. All she had time for was a terrified squeal before she was flung to the heavens. The blood drained from Ranma’s face, his fatigue forgotten. He charged toward the force of nature of his creation, and jumped into the hurricane to save her, all the while, his brain screaming at him, Myfaultmyfaultmyfault…

Tenchi was shocked. Sasami was in trouble, and he hadn’t the slightest clue how to save her. Despite that, he was about to try, when his grandfather again placed his hand on Tenchi’s shoulder. Tenchi whirled on the older man in anger.

"We’ve got to help her!"

"It’s already being taken care of, Tenchi. Look," Said Yosho, gesturing to the clearing. The boy who had just created the hurricane was running toward it, panic written on his face. Tenchi gaped in amazement as Ryoko’s opponent leaped into the raging windstorm. He looked around dazedly. His gaze fell on Washu, who was looking at her spectral computer with a stunned expression.

"Little Washu?" he called, "What’s the matter?" he asked, not really sure he wanted to know. Washu looked fascinated and dismayed all at the same time. Her mouth worked for a moment, nothing emerging.

"Look," she finally managed to say, beckoning to him. He walked to her and looked at the computer screen. He was startled to see a writhing, ethereal dragon pictured.

"What is it?"

"This… is a 1/32 scale depiction of the windstorm," she murmured, sounding faintly annoyed. "How did he DO this??" Tenchi blinked.

"A-A Dragon?" He uttered, astonished. Washu nodded.

"Yep," she said cheerfully, regaining her ordinary, if slightly demented demeanor. "He shaped it somehow, to look like this. I detected an energy surge coming from him as he used it on Ryoko, but I’ve never seen this kind of energy before, It’s unbelievable! Someone’s just joined you as one of my number one favorite guinea pigs, Tenchi!" Even for a Juraian prince with intergalactic powers, this much information was proving to be a bit of an overload. Tenchi sat down heavily. Suddenly, another thought occurred to him.

"Is Ryoko ok?" he asked worriedly. Washu snickered.

"Well, she’ll probably have the mother of all hangovers when she wakes up, but other than that, the attack doesn’t seem to be designed to kill an opponent, just defeat them," she said thoughtfully. Then her voice took on a gleeful air. "But she’ll never live this one down, Heheheheh!" Tenchi shook his head as Washu laughed. Why didn’t he know anyone normal?

Ranma ricocheted off debris picked up by the storm, propelling himself toward the little girl like a crazed pinball, berating himself silently the entire way. I can’t believe I was so stupid! I got so caught up in the fight that I endangered someone else. Baka baka baka!!! Approaching his goal, he manipulated his ki to use the winds of the Hiryu Shouten Ha to carry him to the little girl. Drifting toward her, He gently grasped her around the waist. She flinched a little, and turned to look at him, her large pink eyes wide with terror.

"Easy," Ranma told her gently, managing to be heard above the roaring of the wind. "This ain’t no place for a little girl. How ‘bout we get you down from here, ‘Kay?" Sasami nodded her head her chin trembling a little, as he pulled her close, supporting her back. "Just hold on, and the storm’ll stop. Then I can get ya down from here, and…" He trailed off as the little blue haired girl tugged at his sleeve.

"I’m sorry," she said as he looked down at her, "But what’ll happen to Ryoko-oneechan when the storm stops?" Ranma was stunned. Was this his opponent’s sister?

"Well," he began slowly, "She’ll fall to the ground too. She’s pretty tough, I don’t think the fall would hurt her," he ventured.

"That’s right," she told him, looking relieved. "She’s really strong. I just wanted to make sure your storm wouldn’t take her away again. Tenchi-oniichan wouldn’t like that," Ranma let his breath out carefully. Apparently he had lucked onto the right answer. He blinked to himself. So this Ryoko gets kidnapped a lot, huh? He thought. Apparently this Ryoko and Akane had more than their tempers in common. Abruptly, the wind ceased. Sasami let out a terrified scream as her rescuer began to plummet to the ground, with her along for the ride. Ranma looked around quickly. There were no bodies of water to try to land in, like the last time he’d tried this, so he sought valiantly to improvise. As they approached the canopy of trees in the forest, he had an idea. He twisted in mid-air, angling his feet down toward the trees. Now, with just a little bit o’ luck, I can pull this off, He thought to himself, grinning. Fortunately, what his father called the ‘Saotome Luck’ seemed to be with him today. After falling through the leaves, he could feel his feet make contact with a particularly springy branch, and, using the branch as a starting point, he shot sideways, tightening his grip on Sasami as he flipped, mid air, to impact, feet first, on another tree. Propelling himself likewise, he used the densely populated forest to his advantage. Bouncing like a demented Ping-Pong ball from tree to tree, he robbed himself and his pint-sized passenger of enough momentum that they were able to land, neatly and safely, with a dramatic flip, in the clearing where Ranma had originally launched the ‘Hiryu Shouten Ha’. To Ranma’s surprise, the clearing was already filled with people, most about his age, with a pair of older men, as well. As he landed, he stumbled a bit, reminding himself that he’d had a guest on his little trip. He set Sasami down carefully.

"G-Gomen," he told her tiredly. "I didn’t mean for ya ta get swept into my attack like that," Sasami smiled brightly back at him, and, despite his gloomy mood over the past few weeks, he couldn’t help but smile back.

"That’s ok," she told him. "You saved me, and it was a lot of fun riding down. Arigato." Ranma grinned, his eyes drooping.

"Hey, no sweat. I just…" At that moment, the others in the clearing chose that moment to interrupt. Sasami was barraged by inquiries after her well being for a moment, then their collective gaze turned to Ranma. He yawned hugely, and said,

"Ah…Hi. I’m Ranma Saotome. Sorry ‘bout this…" And with that, his overtaxed system gave out, and he collapsed.

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

Next Time: Ranma is formally introduced to the other residents of the Masaki home as Nodoka attempts to resolve the Tendo/Saotome marriage dispute. What will they think of Nerima's trouble magnet, and why is Washu looking at him like that? Please look forward to it!

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

AN: 03/28/01-Ah… another updated chapter. Once again, thanks to Thermopyle, who refrained from killing me as he re-read this a whole lot to help me iron out my mistakes. And yes, Chapter four is on the way, and I'm writing at a decent clip this time. My target is the first week or two of April, but we'll have to see. Thanks for reading!!!

C&C amiguriken@hotmail.com