When many people think of inheriting a magical kingdom, they almost inevitably picture being in grand parades, attending lavish banquets, and regally sitting on an awe inspiring throne. As is usually the case, reality is very different from fantasy. The majority of Ranma's work day was spent behind a desk in his office. If Ranma wasn't in a meeting with one of his Secretaries or one of the Senators, then he either was making decisions about bills or he was researching the facts behind a bill.
Nemesis had a diverse political history because of the former nationalities of its first colonists. Thus Nemesis's government was a rather unique system. Ranma was the Prince of Nemesis and thus he had supreme control over Nemesis's foreign relations. He also held executive authority on all domestic matters which included a royal veto which could only be overridden by a ¾ vote of the Senate. As the Chancellor, Seto was the number 2 man in power. That meant that Seto kept the Senate in order did whatever tasks Ranma gave him, and would sub for Ranma if the Prince was ever incapacitated.
Over all Ranma was shaping up into a decent Prince even though there were still a lot of facets about the Nemesian government that confused him. Ranma was up and in the office at 0700 hours every day working. Back when Ranma first saw his office and the paperwork that was stacked up he had been extremely nervous. Now that Ranma had been working for a few days the job wasn't as daunting as it used to be.
However, this didn't mean that Ranma let his power go to his head. Ranma's memories of Genma and how it felt whenever Genma did something that affected him without telling him were forever burned into the Prince's mind. There was no way that Ranma would ever allow his subjects to view him in that light. To insure that his subjects didn't seem him in that light Ranma had adopted a strict hands' off policy in domestic affairs. As long as the citizens paid their taxes and didn't bother their neighbors Ranma wasn't going to bother them.
At about 1030 hours Ranma finally finish all the paperwork in his to do box. The Prince was just about to pull out a textbook on mid-level magic when his door rang. Ranma let out a small sigh as he put the book down and said, "Come in." Knowing his luck Ranma figured it was probably one of the office gofers carrying more paperwork for him to go over. Instead of the office gopher, Teletha walked into Ranma's office and stood in front of his desk. Ranma looked at Teletha and said, "What can I do for you Tessa?"
Teletha started to play with the end of her ponytail and she softly said, "Ranma I have something to report about your mage power armor." The petit secretary was a little uncomfortable with the informality that her Prince insisted on, but she didn't let that interfere with her duties. After Ranma gave Teletha a 'tell me more' look she said, "The principle behind your 'Black Prince' armor is revolutionary. While most of the data is still being analyzed by my magologists, there are some principles behind the armor that we can use now."
Ranma politely interrupted Teletha and said, "I don't need the details right now Tessa. Just tell me what the end result is."
After Teletha blinked her eyes and checked her notes she said, "The end result Ranma is that we can revive several military projects that were canceled do to technomagical restrictions of the time. Most prominent of these projects is Project G. That project is concerned with creating a large scale multifunctional bipedal weapons platform." Teletha caught the look in Ranma's eye and quickly added, "It's a 'Mech' or a fighting robot."
Now that Ranma knew what Teletha was talking about he said, "Okay Tessa. If you want you can revive Project G. I'll tell Tamahome to authorize a grant to fund the project. Don't worry; I'll make sure he understands that the grant has to be large enough so that you can complete the project." After hearing that Ranma would take care of things Teletha politely left Ranma's office pleased that she wouldn't have to deal with Tamahome.
The Secretary of Finance was infamous throughout Nemesis for his penny pinching ways. Many of the senators were unhappy with the fact that Ranma had kept Tamahome in the cabinet as they were hoping to see the man go. However, Ranma had been decided to keep Tamahome on staff for a very good reason. The man insured that Nemesis didn't have a national debt and that was one bragging right that Ranma wasn't about to let slip through his fingers; especially when Crystal Tokyo was spending money like drunken sailors.
About the only real problem with Tamahome as the Secretary of Finance that Ranma could see was the occasional report that Seto sent him about how some senators were whispering nepotism. Initially Ranma had been confused by Seto's report since Tamahome wasn't a member of the Black Moon Clan. Luckily a quick search of genetic records on his office computer had explained everything. Tamahome was related to Ranma, but the relationship was about 9 generations back. It turned out that Tamahome's ancestor was Nabiki's oldest son. Ranma still hadn't sorted out how he felt about the fact that Kasumi was his great-something-grandmother.
In the end the fact that Tamahome was distantly related to Ranma didn't really matter. The connection was so far back that no one really considered the two related. Besides, it was the senators from New Hollywood and New Washington who were whispering those claims. Everyone just knew that those cities existed in an entirely different universe by themselves. Although it did leave Ranma wanting to know one thing: why did his branch have the Eclipse while the other branches of the Tendo or the Ono families didn't have the sigil.
"Achoo, I wonder whose talking about me," Kasumi said as she rubbed her nose. The eldest Tendo sister was standing just outside of Zenpukuji temple in Juuban as she rubbed her nose. Ever since Ranma's heritage came out two weeks ago things had changed in Nerima. However, the changes were rather superficial compared to the big splashes Ranma's leaving had caused. Kuno no longer considered Ranma to be a foul sorcerer and was now claiming that Ranma had traveled into the past to test Kuno so that the delusional kendoist's love for the fierce tiger Akane could be proven. There was a rumor at the high school that Akane was in a relationship with Nabiki. Basically, it added a new dimension to the regular insanity.
Out of everyone who knew about Ranma's true heritage, Kasumi was the most affected. How could she not be since he was her descendant? That's was why Kasumi was so far from home. She was visiting different shrines and temples trying to something to help her handle this fact. So far Kasumi hadn't had any luck finding someone or something to help her. Kasumi pulled out a small piece of paper and crossed the Zenpukuji temple's name off and said to herself, "That one's out. It looks like the next shrine on the list is the Hikawa Shrine."
As Kasumi walked towards the Hikawa Shrine she wondered for the umpteenth time why anyone would want to know about the future. In her opinion, knowing what could be was a major pain. The that she was going to/had a child whose line would found/had found a country was driving Kasumi nuts. By this point Kasumi was really starting to doubt that she'd ever be able to settle how she felt about this situation. After all, it wasn't like there were other people there who met their offspring before said offspring are born.
Kasumi's melancholy mood was interrupted when she heard the sound of someone hitting the ground. The eldest Tendo sister quickly spotted the girl that had fallen on the sidewalk thanks to her honed instincts and senses from being the NWC's unofficial nurse. Kasumi quickly glided over to the downed girl and quickly checked to make sure the girl was alright. After Kasumi was sure that there wasn't any serious injuries she asked, "Are you alright?"
Usagi instinctively looked up when she heard Kasumi's voice. There was just something in Kasumi's voice that Usagi couldn't help but obey. As Usagi got back to her feet she said, "I'm fine, I just tripped that's all." Once Usagi was back on her feet she noticed that her locket was gone and cried out, "Oh No! Where is it? Where's my locket?"
As Usagi was panicking about her missing locket Kasumi noticed something shiny from the corner of her eye. Kasumi reached down and picked up a golden five star locket from the bushes. Once the locket was out of the bush it opened revealing the Ginzushou. Usagi was completely shell-shocked since she was the only person who was supposed to be able to open the locket. Kasumi didn't notice the look on Usagi's face and she simply closed the locket back up. She then handed the locket back to Usagi and said, "Please be more careful with this. That gem's too priceless to be lost because of carelessness."
Just when Usagi thought that things couldn't get any stranger she saw the sigil of the Moon faintly appeared on Kasumi's forehead. Usagi could barely believe it. The sigil on Kasumi's forehead was very dim compared to the one that appeared on Usagi's or Chibiusa's foreheads when they were in princess mode, but was the same sigil. But it made absolutely no sense! The only people who should have the sigil were her and Chibiusa.
With the sigil on Kasumi's forehead refusing to go away, Usagi tried to decide what she should do. The only thing that Usagi could think of was that she needed to have Ami scan Kasumi. Hopefully the Mercury computer could figure out what was going on. Since Ami was waiting at the shrine Usagi said, "My name's Usagi Tsukino. Thank you for helping me. What's your name?"
Kasumi smiled and said, "My name is Kasumi Tendo and your welcome. If it's not too much trouble, do you know the way to the Hikawa Shrine?"
Usagi smiled when she heard that Kasumi was heading towards Rei's shrine since that made things so easier. In her usual chipper voice Usagi replied, "I'm heading over there myself. One of my friends is the shrine maiden there and I was going to visit her. Come, I'll show you the way to the shrine." Kasumi was carried away by Usagi's usual charm and quickly decided to follow her.
During the ten minute walk to the shrine Usagi kept Kasumi busy talking. While the two were talking Usagi was discreetly checking Kasumi's forehead to observe the sigil. Despite Usagi's expectations, the sigil didn't fade away. In fact, the sigil seemed to be getting slowly brighter. At least it would make it easier to convince Ami to scan Kasumi. When they got to the shrine Usagi turned to Kasumi and said, "Why don't you wait here and I'll go get Rei so she can show you around?"
After Kasumi agreed to wait Usagi ran up to the shrine and hurriedly told the Inners about Kasumi. Actually, she told Rei that there was someone outside who wanted to visit the shrine. When Usagi got over to the room where the rest of the Inners were waiting for her she walked over to Rei and said, "Rei, there's a lady outside who wants to look at the shrine. Why don't you go show her around? The meeting can wait for a little bit."
Rei really wanted to insist upon the meeting, but she never voiced it. There was just something in Usagi's eyes that made Rei not want to argue with her. Besides, if her grandfather found out that she had left a visitor waiting he'd probably read her the riot act. The man may be a bit of a pervert, but the old priest took his responsibilities seriously and insisted that Rei do the same. So Rei left with a little bit of customary grumbling for show and a warning to Usagi to not read her manga.
Once Rei was out of the room, Usagi walked over to Ami and said, "Ami please scan the guest that Rei's showing around the shrine. I saw the symbol for the royal family on her head." Naturally Ami was shocked and a little skeptical about Usagi's claim, but she agreed to do the scan anyway.
Suddenly Ami cried out while still looking at her monitor and startling everyone in the room, "It's the Queen!"
The Crystal Palace was set up so that the royal family and the Scouts all had their own private outdoor areas. Currently Usa and Minako were in Minako's private garden sunbathing in the nude. While Minako was calmly sipping a Pina colada and watching home videos on her portable TV, Usa was scrunched up on her lawn chair sporting a full body blush. It was just so embarrassing in Usa's mind to be doing this.
Minako glance over at Usa and slapped the princess on the shoulder. In a commanding voice the warrior of love said, "Stop covering your body Usa! Put your hands at your sides so that your nipples are exposed and spread your legs just a little bit. We can work on the innocent look later. Right now you need to learn to be able to show off your body without showing any signs of embarrassment. And start paying attention to the screen while you're at it. I'm giving you a quiz on positions after this is over."
As Usa reluctantly did as Minako instructed she wondered how by the Goddess she had let Minako talk her into this. It was bad enough that Minako had her nude sun bathing, but did she have to add in the videos as well? Seriously, who wants to watch homemade porn with their aunt as the star? Unfortunately for Usa, that was exactly what she had to do for the next hour.
Once the hour was over Minako mercifully allowed Usa to get dressed and return to her quarters. However, before Usa left Minako's room Minako called out, "Don't forget Usa. Wednesday we go over oils and massage techniques." It took all of Usa's willpower to not break out in a nuclear blush as she hurried out of Minako's quarters and raced over to her own. As soon as Usa got to her room she locked the door and dove onto her bed.
Usa just didn't know what to make of 'Operation Cleopatra' as she mentally dubbed seducing Ranma. The analytical part of the princess's mind could understand why the Scouts had come up with this plan. However, Usa's heart just wasn't into the plan. It wasn't the idea of bedding Ranma that was Usa's problem. Actually, the raven haired prince had been featuring quite prominently in Usa's dreams, particularly the more risqué dreams.
The problem Usa had with 'Operation Cleopatra' was because of who she was. Like her mother Usa wanted to have a boyfriend. In Usa's opinion Ranma was definitely her first pick to be a boyfriend, but Minako's plan seemed to be ruining things for the princess. How could she have an honest relationship with a man she respected if she was basically whoring herself out to him?
At this moment Usa reached under her mattress and pulled out a small instant photograph and looked at it. The photograph was a picture of Ranko and Chibiusa smiling with ice cream cones in their hands and ice cream smears over their faces. Even though both people in the photo were masks, Usa couldn't help smiling. Ranma had been her friend, not the daughter of Neo-Queen Serenity's friend, but Usa's friend. Usa looked out her window to where she knew Nemesis was in the sky and softly said, "I wish I could talk to you Ranma. Why can't things be simpler?"
Rei was thanking her ancestors that she hadn't freaked out as soon as she met Kasumi. What was meatball head thinking not telling her about the fact that Kasumi had the sigil for the royal family on her head? If it wasn't for the fact that Rei didn't want to look like an idiot and be extremely rude to Kasumi, she would have dragged the older woman inside to demand an explanation. Luckily, Rei was able to politely convince Kasumi to inside. As soon as both of them were inside where the other Scouts were waiting Rei called out, "Usagi! Would you care to explain why Kasumi has the mark of lunar royalty on her forehead?"
Immediately after Rei said this everyone turned to look at Kasumi and at the same time Kasumi said, "Uh Rei? What do you mean about me have the mark of lunar royalty?" Rei quickly pulled out her compact and opened it so that Kasumi could see her reflection. When Kasumi saw the golden crescent moon on her forehead she stuttered out, "What? How can I have this mark? I don't go on the crazy adventures like everyone else!"
Before anyone could ask Kasumi what she meant by crazy adventures Ami said, "There's a good reason why you have that sigil. I ran a scan on your soul after Usagi informed me about you having that mark. After several other scans to confirm the data came back positive as well I've found why Kasumi has the sign of the lunar royal house. She's Queen Serenity's reincarnation."
Since all the other Inners except for Rei had heard Ami's previous outburst all they did was look at Kasumi as if they were trying to see Queen Serenity in Kasumi. On the other hand, Rei looked at Kasumi in total shock with her mouth hanging open. After being stared at for a few seconds, Kasumi started to get nervous and she said, "Who is this Queen Serenity?"
At this point Luna crawled out from under the table, hopped onto the table, and started to explain things. "Hello there; my name is Luna. Right now I'm sure that you're feeling very confused about what everyone is talking about. My dear, Queen Serenity is you. Or rather, Queen Serenity is who you were in a previous life. Everyone in this room, including you, lived in the past in a kingdom that existed before record history. The young women you see before you were sent into the future to be reborn by your past life. We never imagined that your soul would have been reborn in this era as well."
It was said throughout Nerima that Kasumi could handle any kind of craziness that might occur and come out smiling like everything was normal. However, what most citizens of Nerima forgot to consider was that Kasumi usually wasn't at the focal point of the craziness. Do to the preexisting stress from finding out about Ranma, Kasumi started to back up and called out, "No way! There's absolutely no way that I'm the reincarnation of Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium!"
Luna looked at Kasumi and said in a motherly voice, "I never told you the name of the kingdom that Queen Serenity ruled over. None of us told you the name. How could you know the name then if you weren't the reincarnation of the Queen like we said you were?"
Once Kasumi realized what she had said and the truth about Luna's words she fell on her knees and started crying. Through the sobs Kasumi said, "Why is this happening to me? Akane's the one in the family that's supposed to deal with these situations not me! I'm just supposed to help calm her down and get her through the craziness. First I find out about Ranma's heritage, and now this. What's next, a mystical family blood feud?"
Usagi quickly walked over and wrapped her arms around Kasumi. Even though the current situation was freaking Usagi out, she wanted to comfort her new friend/previous lifetime's mother. Part of it was simply because Usagi was a very loving and caring girl. Another reason why Usagi did this was because she remembered how she felt when her identity as the Moon Princess was discovered. At least in Usagi's case she had the small buffer of already knowing that she was from the past because she was Sailor Moon.
After Kasumi managed to stop crying, the newly discovered queen moved to the couch and sat down. She then looked the Scouts and instinctively knew which Scout each girl was. When Kasumi looked at Usagi she was confused for a moment by the intense sensation of love that she felt. This confusion cleared up when a realization occurred and Kasumi whispered out, "You. You're my daughter Serenity."
Makoto confirmed it by saying, "Yes Kasumi. Usagi is Princess Serenity's reincarnation. I guess in a way that does make her your daughter since you're the reincarnation of Queen Serenity."
To the Scouts' surprise, Kasumi rolled her eyes and said, "Thanks Ranma. I guess since you're back in the 30th century I'm the one stuck with all the crazy luck. Kami and ancestors I'm begging you, please let the multiple romance and crazy rival curse be picked up further down the family tree."
Usagi blinked her eyes and said, "Uh Kasumi? Mother? What are you talking about?" The other Scouts were also starting to get a little confused as well. They didn't remember anyone named Ranma when they visited the 30th century.
Kasumi looked at Usagi and sighed. Then in her usual calm tone the newly discovered queen said, "I guess since your family you should know. A lady named Setsuna Meioh came by my family's house a little over two weeks ago. She was working for a country in the 30th century called 'Crystal Tokyo' trying to track down a friend of the family whose name is Ranma. It turns out that Ranma's actually the heir of another country in that time known as 'Nemesis'. Also, according to Setsuna I'm supposed to be Ranma's great-great-something-grandmother." By the time all of the shouts of shock and surprise regarding that announcement were over, Kasumi was wondering if she'd ever regain her hearing.
Ranma was sitting at his desk enjoying one of his rare breaks during the work day when Releena walked in. The Secretary of Foreign Matters approached Ranma and pulled out a small envelope. Releena waited for Ranma to acknowledge her and then she said, "This was left under the welcome mat for you." Under the welcome mat was a code phrase that the foreign department used for unofficial communications from Crystal Tokyo. Officially, Crystal Tokyo and Nemesis did not have diplomatic relations so any official correspondence had to be routed through a third party.
After Ranma accepted the letter he replied, "Thank you Releena." Ranma quickly dismissed Releena with a wave of his hand and a pleasant smile. Once Releena left the office, Ranma pressed a hidden button under his desk that locked the door and ordered the security cameras to falsify the record in his room. It was a standard practice for whenever highly confidential documents were handled. Ranma then opened the letter and began to read:
Dear Ranma Tohno,
Hi there it's me Usa! How are you handling being Prince? I'm sure that things are as annoying for you with the Nemesian Senate as things are for me with the Crystal Tokyo bureaucracy.
Look I'm probably going to get in trouble for saying this, but here goes. A lot of power and influential people over here are really nervous about you ascending to the Iron Throne. Now you've probably figured that a lot of my people would be nervous about you considering what your uncle did. However, here's the hushed up part that many of the movers and shakers in the Crystal Court don't want you to know. There's a plot to have you seduced so you won't attack us and I've been volunteered by these politicos to be your bed warmer.
In all honesty Ranma, the idea of bedding you isn't too bad. You're a handsome young man who has a great personality and a loving heart. And also, you're the best choice I have for a husband this side of the galactic core. However, I refuse to be pimped out to you because the Scouts of this era are afraid to you. Not only do I hate the idea of being used as a pawn in a power game, but I can feel it in my heart that such a plan would completely backfire.
By now I'm sure you're wondering why my parents don't stop this plan. Truth is my parents have very little de facto power in most things because of neglect and handing it over to courtiers and bureaucrats. Sure they could put a stop to this thanks to their legal positions, the Ginzushou, and the populous. However, neither of my parents is particularly suited to being an absolute monarch and they prefer to act more like figureheads.
There are many more things about this situation that I want to talk to you about Ranma. However, a letter is not the proper place to be talking about these things. We can sort these things out in a face to face meeting between the two of us. Sailor Pluto is loyal to me. She can discreetly send us back into past where we can met privately. I'm sure that any agreement we could make would be mutually beneficial; especially for Nemesis and your little supply problem. If you agree to this meeting, send me a copy of Plutarch's Life of Julius Caesar via the planet Kinmoku. If you don't agree, send me a copy of Plutarch's Life of Pyrrhus in the same manner.
Your friend,
Usa
Ranma was both elated and worried about Usa's letter. The fact that there was a plot to put her in his bed and she wouldn't mind bedding him was a little disturbing. However, the fact that she didn't want to bed him because of a palace plot and apparently wanted to date him put Usa back in the black. Besides, Ranma knew that eventually he'd have to take some woman into his bed so that he could have an heir. There already was a kilometer high pile in the palace's post office that contained nothing but marriage proposals.
While Ranma was a little leery about the sexual aspect of the letter, it was the mention of problems in Crystal Tokyo, the whispers of mutually beneficial deals, and the remark about Nemesis's supply problems that set off the danger bells in Ranma's head. Usa's letter was vague enough that almost any conclusion could be drawn from it. Thus, Ranma knew that he would have to think about this very carefully. Her offer was potentially too valuable to ignore.
Nemesis, and its Oort cloud farming stations, had one major problem: the territory was poor in natural metals. While transmuting elements into metals was possible, the process took a long time and was extremely exhaustive for the mages doing it. Also, transmutation did not provide enough of the various metals to meet the demands of the Nemesian population. Traditionally, Nemesis handled this problem by selling its bountiful crops to other systems and importing the needed metals.
Unfortunately, Prince Demand had managed over his reign to annoy most of Nemesis's trading partners. That was not good because they could find new sources of foodstuffs a lot easier then Nemesis could find new sources of metals. Despite Seto's best efforts, the monthly trade amount of metals had fallen below the monthly usage of metals. Ranma had been trying to get Nemesis's former trade partners that had stopped trading lift their embargos. However, it seemed that most of those worlds weren't that interested in resuming trade just yet.
For the next hour Ranma would read Usa's letter, think about what it said, and then reread it again. No matter how hard Ranma tried, he couldn't find a clue to what exactly Usa was hinting at. Finally Ranma closed his eyes and whispered, "I hope that I don't wake a sleeping giant."