Mirrors Multiplied

Part Twelve
Who Ever Said Fixing The Past Was Easy?

by Jared Ornstead
aka Skysaber

To disclaim or not to disclaim, that is the question. Whether tis nobler
to suffer the meticulous indignities of outragious copyright law, and by
our suffering not offend them, or to face with manly courage those who
would leash lawyers and cornucopias minions of hell upon us for our
courage. Bringing to pass small good save for that we have not bowed down
o'r noble heads to the blade of spiritual execution.
Ahhhhhh! I must have them BOTH!!!

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

That Universe That I Perversely Haven't Named

Attention Flag.
Passive receptors have detected anomaly.
Dedicate 00.00005173 percent reserve processing power to investigate.
Substance identified.
Food.
Kasumi's nose twitched in her sleep.

Dawn's rosy chariot raced her brother Apollo into the sky, winning as
always and painting the sky with a gorgeous mixture of colors that her
brother would banish in his usual fit of pique.
Life was not normal in the Tendo household. In the guest room a generous
slab of fat and lard snored on one of the futons, exhausted from the
previous day's journey. In other places the change was more profound.

Kasumi's passive receptors kept sending her alert messages. At first she
merely disregarded the information. But repeated scans determined that
there was not only food, but it was quite *good*. When the brain stem got
ahold of the information her mouth went ahead and began to water. Finally
getting a physical response, her nose became encouraged and redoubled its
efforts.
A quiet corner of Kasumi's brain kickstarted with a neurochemical shout
of glee. Usually the higher functions were online and the background
processors didn't get much work. Finally having something to do, the
quiet corner researched and analyzed.
Working by scent alone that part of the brain determined first the
existence of tasty edibles, then went on to catalog their exact distance,
composition, flavor, and the fact that there was a fresh rose on the tray.
The brain stem smoothed its way into the analysis and reflexively flexed
Kasumi's hands. If there was food, she had to have cooked it. Right? But
a quick scan of the data paths revealed that no food-making commands had
been sent or obeyed within the past several hours.
The nose screamed that the food was fresh, and *good!*
Having no ready conclusions, the back corner of Kasumi's grey matter
sighed, nudged the higher functions, passed on its information, and shut
itself down.
Kasumi blinked and opened her eyes, raising her head up off her pillow.
The door to her room was closing, though audio tracts did a swift review
and no sounds had been detected then or now. Rapid diagnostics and a
bird's song assured her that her ears were working perfectly. The morning
visitor had merely made no noise.
Her nose sent another scream, wanting vindication. Obediently, Kasumi's
eyes tracked over to her desk. There, by her bed, was a breakfast tray, a
note, and a flower in a vase.
Her stomach, a sluggish organ but a powerful one all the same, chose
right then to clue into all those alert messages the nose had been
sending and soon became ravenously hungry.
Kasumi slid out of bed, engaging a valuable sub-program that would
direct her left arm to feed her while she examined the rest of the tray.
She picked up the letter as the first bite reached her lips. The paper
was momentarily forgotten as a wash of taste sensations nearly
overwhelmed her.
A hand flew to her cheek.
"Oh dear!"
With a guilty glance around to make certain no one was watching Kasumi
leaned into her plate and began to inhale her meal.

*****

Universe C, Future, Flashback

The Masaki shrine had seen worse days. Between space pirates, bounty
hunters, royal princesses, mad geniuses and the occasional spaceship that
looked like a cat they managed to get in a fair amount of trouble.
It was one of those rare peaceful days. Tenchi, often at the center of
all this trouble, reluctant suitor of from anywhere to two to five women
(depending on whom you asked) and occasional savior of the universe had
just finished washing his mother's tombstone and was headed back to the
house, bucket in hand.
Ayeka, royal princess of Jurai and one of the most prominent of Tenchi's
love interests, was out hanging wash in the yard. Ryoko, space pirate and
general villain extraordinaire (retired) was sitting on the rooftop and
was actually contemplating helping out when Tenchi walked into the yard.
Finding a better option, Ryoko made ready to pounce upon the boy in a
space pirate neck squeeze (not related to the more famous and popular
Amazon Glomp, trademark and patent pending), when the boy yelled out and
flew across the yard, screaming, upside down and helpless...
...only to be caught and stopped in time by a hastily materialized
energy net.
Washu exited the house holding a remote control box. "Well, here I was
just performing testing of my latest invention, the Universe Stabilizer,
when all of a sudden there crops up a need." She pointed both fingers to
her cheeks. "I'm such a GENIUS!!"
Ayeka and Ryoko came rushing over. "Washu, what is it?"
The self-proclaimed greatest scientist in the universe began typing on
an invisible keyboard in mid-air. "Something has happened to alter our
past. Fortunately I was researching a problem related to this when it
happened, or my device would not have been available in time to be of
assistance."
The force affecting Tenchi released and the boy fell heavily to the
ground. He sat up rubbing his head and asked. "What is it? What's
happened? Huh?" His query trailed off and he looked up in surprise and
wonder.
Achika, his mother, had exited the building with a load of wash. Looking
around herself at everyone she asked. "Tenchi, who are all these people?
Are they friends of yours? And why do you look so different? Where are
the Chinese clothes that you usually wear? You know you remind me so much
of your father when you wear them."
Tenchi stammered. "M... Mom?"
Noboyuki, Tenchi's father, rushed out of the building at the sound of
her voice. His gape of surprise froze there and became stuck even as an
unseen wind seemed to blow dust from his body.
In two seconds the man had disappeared utterly, wiped clean in a
cleansing wind.
"Father!" Tenchi screamed out, staring at the spot where it had happened.
Achika, not having seen Noboyuki at all, came rushing over to her son.
"Tenchi, what's wrong? You know your father isn't here anymore. He died
saving us all, you know that."
Tenchi stammered, not quite grasping it. He pointed. "But... but, I just
saw him right there!"
Achika turned swiftly to the spot. "Ranma? Ranma, are you there? Oh,
*please* let it be true!" She ran over to the location, cupping her hands
to shout. "Ranma?!" She pivoted back to face her son. "Was he in boy or
girl form at the time?" Not waiting for an answer she ran off again,
crying. "Ranma! Come back, we need you!"
Washu grabbed Tenchi by the ear. "C'mon, we need to do some talking."
Soon the four of them were in Washu's lab. The scientist plugged her
remote unit into a power charger and addressed them while punching keys.
"I think we can clearly assume that the universe has been changed
somewhere in our past, and it would seem to focus around Tenchi's father."
"But, dad..." Tenchi couldn't get it.
Washu directed a *look* at him. "Tenchi, it would appear that in this
present, your mother did not marry the man you know as your father."
"What!?!" Boy, princess and space pirate cried out simultaneously.
"But what happened to Noboyuki?" Ryoko asked.
"It would appear that he did not fit this version of reality and was
erased. The same would have happened to Tenchi had I not been able to
stop it. Unfortunately, my machine did not have the power to save two
people at once."
"Then why are we still here?" Ayeka inquired.
Washu keyed another control, looking back over her shoulder at the
princess. "Because our fates are all tied to Tenchi's. If this temporal
effect is able to rewrite him to the Tenchi of this new timeline, all of
the rest of us will follow.
"Would that really be a bad thing?" Ryoko asked. "I mean, Tenchi's mom
seems alot nicer than his father."
Washu leveled a look at her daughter. "It would be bad because we have
no way of knowing if any of us will still know him. You heard his mother
ask if we were strangers. Are you willing to give up every chance you
might have of marrying him?"
Could any decision be more clear?
Ayeka nodded primly. "I will talk with Tenchi's mother and ask how she
first met this 'Ranma.'"
Ryoko rose with feline style. "I'll find out more about this boy-girl
thing. She's got to have some notes about it someplace, maybe in a diary."
Washu nodded. "I'll keep Tenchi here under surveillance. We haven't got
much time, so get back here quickly, both of you. I'll finish my work on
a time travel machine and try to get you back to the critical juncture.
Temporal irregularity is a difficult thing to straighten. It's as easy to
make things worse as better, but we haven't got much time to get our
plans right. Just hurry back with the critical information and we'll
worry about the rest if we have to."

*****
Universe C, Past

Katsuhito arrived on the scene just moments ahead of his daughter.
Dropping to one knee he bent to examine the tracks. When Achika ran up
behind he held out a hand.
"Stop!"
Her father so rarely spoke with urgency that even the slightest hint
brought total and instant obedience from his daughter. She watched as he
traced hints of footsteps across the yard, following a slight pattern
until he would up at Orchid's discarded rainment. Finally he lifted the
slashed garment and motioned Achika over to him. She came over
immediately.
Katsuhito held the garment for his daughter to see, waiting for her
reaction. Swallowing her fear Achika examined it visually.
"Well, what do you see, daughter?"
Achika gulped. "Two cuts across the chest area, both very deep."
"Anything else?"
She shook her head helplessly.
Her grey-haired father lowered the garment, adjusting his glasses. "Very
well Achika, now what do you *not* see?"
Suddenly it came to her. "Blood!" The daughter cried happily. "There's
no blood! That means she must still be alive!"
Katsuhito had hold of his daughter's arm. "Not necessarily." He replied
sadly. "Achika, what I am about to say may seem a little strange. Come
with me to the holy tree of our shrine and I shall make it clear to you."
Achika remained in a daze until they arrived at the very root of the
tree, where it stood overshadowing its own small lake.
Her father walked calmly across the stepping stones. Standing beside the
bark he turned to face his daughter. "Achika, for years I have pondered
whether to tell you of this. Now, because of my hesitation Orchid may
have been caught helplessly in the middle of something she did not belong
in." He lowered his face gravely. When he raised it a new fire had lit
behind his eyes.
"Achika, your ancestors were not from this world. They were from a far
away planet named Jurai. A great warrior, named Yosho, abandoned their
royal family and came here seeking peace. Whether or not he found it is
of no great concern, what is important now is that Orchid may have
suffered for his having done this. You see, the royal family of Jurai is
not without its enemies."
Achika's gaze was attentive, she did not interrupt. Her trust
overweighed her concern.
Katsuhito allowed the moonlight glinting off the lake to momentarily
frost his glasses. "You and I practice a sword art that is unknown on
this planet, refined by generations of Jurain Knights and warriors who
lived hundreds of years to perfect its technique. Other than you and I,
and Orchid, none other has had training in this art here on this planet.
It would be impossible for another to be familiar with its practice and
be native to Earth. Yet when I was viewing evidence of the battle where
Orchid was taken one of her attackers was clearly using this form."
Achika regarded her father. Never in her whole experience had he said an
untrue word. She did not believe he would begin now. She trusted him in
every thing that he said.
Her father nodded, accepting this and acknowledging it without word.
"Now daughter, when I said our family was not without its enemies, you
must believe that we have powers of our own as well. Spaceships and
military have their place, but they are easily circumvented. Our family
has remained the ruling force in the galaxy because the bloodline of
Jurai's royal family carries with it power far beyond the norm. With it
we can perform feats like no other. There exist many weapons that only a
descendant of Jurai's bloodline can employ. I speak of this to you now
because of the danger. For the weapons that cut down our Orchid were of
this type, and of the type employed only by the most dangerous of space
pirates. There is one other thing. The maiden who distracted you from the
house wore on her brow a band of Jurain craftsmanship."
Achika's gaze hardened. Unkind thoughts about the woman who had led her
away so that Orchid could be trapped were prominent and forceful.
Katsuhito nodded. "Those that cut down Orchid were of Jurain bloodline,
as we are. Nor can it be denied that they had with them a space pirate of
enormous power, equal to one I had thought safely locked away. That is
something that I shall look into. But for now I see the need to begin
another stage in your training. You must learn to use this Jurai royal
power. I had hoped you would never see the need, but it seems that this
hope was vain. Once before the family of Jurai was divided against
itself, and the universe suffered as a result. But Orchid was a soul
without ill intent. And any who would callously destroy her must in turn
be resisted if the galaxy is to remain a place worth living in. We must
arm ourselves. Then we will seek out the cause of this evil and
extinguish it."
Achika nodded with fervent commitment.
"Come here, child." Her father offered a hand. She came forward
unhesitatingly and accepted it. He made her to stand by the tree and then
addressed the wood.
"Funaho, begin memory tapes. From this time forth you are to answer
questions that my daughter will put to you. Let her know the history of
Jurai." Katsuhito met his daughter's eyes. "That will be enough to start
you."
With purposeful stride Katsuhito marched off through the hologram the
tree had begun forming in proof of its otherworldly origin. There was a
certain cave he had to revisit. A cave where a space pirate had been
hidden. A space pirate whose methods had been *exactly* duplicated in the
attack on Orchid.
If the pirate still slumbered perhaps it was time he awoke Ryoko to
question her about her rivals. There was no way those who had ambushed
Orchid would escape his punishment. Even if it meant alliance with a
pirate.

*****
The Universe I Haven't Identified Yet

Dear Kasumi
Since you've been so kind in making my father and myself comfortable our
first time in town I'd like to thank you by pampering you for a day.
Sleep in if you like. I've got your list of chores. You may rest assured
that they'll all get done.

Ranma

Kasumi returned the letter to her lap and looked at the now-empty tray.
The vase was one she knew they didn't own, and she couldn't remember
seeing anything like it in catalogs or stores. It seemed like colored
glass inside and out, but whenever the light caught it just right dancing
figurines of incredible detail could be seen etched within the strata of
the perfectly formed glass.
Several minutes of playing with it, holding it steady and triggering the
light display again and again, had yet to show the same figures. It was
like a hundred scenes had been cut one on top of each other, each
requiring a minute difference in the light to set it off from all the
others.
Kasumi knew that Nabiki would place its value at something like seven to
eight times their entire family's combined assets. Kasumi knew that it
was irreplaceable.
The maker's mark on the bottom said simply 'Ranma.'
Taking the sole, yellow rose that had been in the vase with her, Kasumi
left the vase behind and went downstairs. Sounds of scrubbing encountered
her as she came to the top of the stairs. When she was halfway down Ranma
looked up from where he'd been cleaning their floor with a brush and a
bucket of warm water. He tilted the headband he'd tied on to keep the
hair out of his eyes and smiled up at her.
A part of Kasumi's mind was screaming. 'Handsome, and useful too!'
Instead of acting anything out she merely smiled radiantly back at him.
Her cocked his head adorably, remarking on her smile. "But soft! What
light from yonder stairway breaks?"
Kasumi suppressed a giggle, ducking her head and blushing. Remembering
her Shakespeare she mumbled. "It is the east."
"And Kasumi is the sun!" Ranma freely modified, coming theatrically up
off his knees, gesturing grandly with an arm. "Arise, fair sun, and kill
the envious moon!"
Happily embarrassed, the girl put a hand to her cheek and ducked her
head.
Ranma verbally pounced on the opening, pointing with a grand sense of
show. "See! How she lays a hand upon her cheek?" Her brought both fists
before him in a gesture of hopeless longing. "Oh, that I were a glove
upon that hand, that _I_ might touch that cheek!"
He returned from quoting before Kasumi had a blush that would betray
her. Eyes twinkling in mischievous delight he nodded simply. "Good
morning."
Kasumi decided that she liked this young man. Well, more than she'd
thought she'd liked him already.
While she was still being demurely embarrassed Ranma paused, allowing
her the time, then addressed her. "If you'd like, I've drawn a
western-style bubble bath for you. You don't have to worry about cleaning
up after. I've got the bathroom to clean and this gives me a good excuse
to scrub the tub."
With mild surprise and a completely new sense of wonder Kasumi swept off
to the bathroom. A tub simply mountainous with a bubbly white froth
greeted her. Face shining with delightful anticipation Kasumi reached a
hand up to the throat strings of her nightgown.
The garment slid down and she stepped into the tub. Even the temperature
was just right.

Nabiki slept the sleep of one reluctant to wake. The problem with being
a person of strong emotional control was that the body knew that you did
it. It also knew how much effort it took and that the only precious
jewels of rest were to be had in slumber. There was rarely a moment to
relax while awake.
This meant that the body did not want to relinquish sleep a minute too
early, and even then it did so grudgingly. Somewhere this morning it
found an extra margin of comfort and so slept in an extra half hour.
That extra margin of comfort snuggled up closer to Nabiki and went back
to sleep herself.

There might come a day when the opening of Nabiki's eyes could be felt
on the stock exchanges around the world. But today was not that day.
Waking blearily and with much regret Nabiki pulled the pillow in tighter
to her body and wished the sun could be paid off.
The pillow moved slightly.
The surge of adrenaline had a difficult time piercing Nabiki's veil of
semi-consciousness. Mornings were typically rough for her, and her brain
was reluctant to allow them. Emergency signals that would have sent a
more high-strung person grasping for ceiling tiles merely caused Nabiki
to reluctantly crack an eye open.
She was sleeping with a redheaded girl in her arms.
Recognizing the girl from the night before Nabiki dismissed it as a
problem and went back to sleep.
Orchid stretched and yawned. Nabiki's room was soft and quiet, and most
importantly the last to waken on most mornings. But the Tendo daughter
had school, so the redhead stirred just a little. Nabiki's eyes cracked
open. Orchid gave her a daughter-to-mother style peck on one cheek, then
relaxed and blinked intelligently at her.
Nabiki came awake more easily than was her wont. Uncharacteristically,
she smiled at her unexpected guest and gave her a sisterly squeeze before
clamoring out over her.
Nabiki felt good. She felt rested. She felt... LATE!!! As the panic
began to set in she found she had another set of hands. Her pajama top
disappeared even as she was pulling off her panties, articles of clothing
were handed to her, some just appearing on her body as she fought to get
on other things. Nabiki's hair was brushed out and combed even as she
fought to get on her socks, then her bookbag was in her hand as she
rushed downstairs.
Nabiki paused on the first step, looking back to the entrance to her
room. The girl was standing there. Following an impulse she couldn't have
understood even the night before Nabiki rushed over and gave the girl a
hug, then led her by the hand downstairs, noting absently that the demure
girl was wearing one of her old dresses, filling it out cutely and with
an overdose of charm.
Nabiki led the girl into the kitchen, Kasumi was closing the last lunch
box with a soft smile of supreme happiness.
"Hey, sis. You okay with setting another place for breakfast?"
Kasumi looked back over her shoulder, noting both girls with a happy
gleam. Then she giggled. Nabiki's eyebrows shot up.
Kasumi leaned back against the counter and hugged herself, speaking with
her eyes closed. "I wouldn't mind at all, Nabiki. But I had nothing to do
with breakfast. I just got done enjoying Ranma's *wonderful*
consideration. He got up very early and did everything for me. I had a
bubble bath and watched the sunrise and got to relax and read in the
garden while Ranma did my whole day's chores. There's a note explaining
that he'll be gone most of the day. I'd been wondering why there was the
extra packed lunch and a place at the breakfast table, though."
Nabiki smiled. This Ranma was turning out to be friend almost as fast as
they'd grabbed him as a love interest. He'd even helped her with some
financial work last night. The three girls migrated to the breakfast
table just as a shriek lit up the morning from upstairs.
"AARRGHHH, I'M LATE!!"
With a mild look of concern the demure redhead drifted upstairs. She
drifted back down in only a moment holding a confused and disturbed
Serena's hand. The youngest Tendo was fully dressed and all prepared for
the day.
Nabiki blinked. "Say, sis. Did you fall asleep in your uniform again?
Usually it takes you almost an hour under warp drive to get ready."
Serena directed a strange look to the redhead to her right but couldn't
find anything to say. They joined the others at the table and had a
relaxed meal, just the girls.

It was late morning. Genma and Soun sat out on the porch in deep
discussion, arms and legs folded in utmost consternation as the clouds
passed overhead. Genma was speaking.
"I don't know what to do about the boy, Tendo. He's been unreasonable
ever since we began this training mission."
"Hmm?"
"Well, you know that I set out with the intent to teach him all of our
martial art's secret techniques. So no sooner did I have him away from
his mother than I began training him in the dreaded Cat Fist."
"How did that go?"
"Failed utterly, Tendo. The training calls for wrapping the pupil head
to foot in fish sausage and dropping him into a pit of starving cats.
When he comes out he is supposed to know the Cat Fist. Well, I got the
cats and wrapped the kid alright, but when I dropped him in there was
this flash of light and silence. After about an hour I got brave enough
to open the pit."
"What did you see?"
The bald man raised glinting eyes. "A sight so horrible it shocked me to
my knees, my friend. Inside was Ranma, sitting on a burlap sack, petting
a cat in his lap. There were close to a hundred felines in there. They
hadn't eaten in DAYS. I'd expected them to turn on him like a swarm of
piranhas, the book even says so. But no, he'd somehow unwrapped himself
and given equal portions to each cat. They were purring, Tendo. My son
didn't have a mark on him."
"So did he learn the technique?" Soun asked.
Genma hung his head. "No, Tendo. When I tested him his reflexes and
strength were no greater than they'd been before. He didn't launch a
*single* attack at me! At first I thought I'd overestimated the amount of
fish sausage to use. The following day I dropped him in wearing half the
amount, but still he managed to defy me and distribute it to satisfy the
cats. So next I bound him hand and foot with strong chains and greased
his flesh with fish paste. Yet when I again opened the door he had
managed to free himself and avoid harm."
Genma clenched his fists and wept in anguish. "I explained to him for
hours, for DAYS how a martial artists should willingly undergo hardship
in order to master the art. Again I left the cats without food of any
kind for days. I thought that when I threw my son in bound in unbreakable
bands of fish jerky, steeped in fish oil and garnished with a light
repast of smelt and dried sardines that it would prove irresistible. I
even went so far as to add a dab of a special combination of cat nip and
caviar to the inside of his arms and legs."
"What happened?" Soun was solemn.
"At first I thought I'd been successful. There was a terrible
caterwauling from the inside of the pit. There followed sounds of combat.
I was *certain* that the dreaded technique would be ours. It took only
minutes for the sound to die down, and I opened the pit just seconds
afterwards, ready to greet my son and congratulate him on his mastery.
All around him the hundred or more cats had been killed." Genma raised a
steady glare toward his friend. "But my son was lying on the sacks,
unharmed. He was *whimpering*, Tendo. My own son crying over such a
little thing!"
"Still, if he learned the technique..."
"That's what I thought, too. So I tested him, but he was not the least
bit better than before. Thinking perhaps that the technique was to be
performed bound I retied him, but he was not able to block any of my
kicks or punches, even when I tried my best, holding back nothing in
hopes of shocking him into using the Cat Fist. In return he couldn't lay
a finger on me. The training was all wasted."
"Hmm, what did you do?"
Genma laughed a bit. "What else could I do? I'd borrowed cats from every
person I knew to train my son in that technique. It didn't matter that
the alley cats were dead, but many of the others were pets. I grabbed
Ranma and hightailed it out of there before my neighbors came searching
for their animals." He sobered and directed his gaze toward his friend in
a no nonsense way.
"When we had gotten away I took a job as an assistant zookeeper. My
thought was that maybe Ranma was too highly trained a martial artist to
gain the most powerful technique from a bunch of wimpy house pets. So I
got a position as feeder for the great cat cages."
Soun looked at him in horror. "What did you do?"
Genma grinned. "What do you think, Tendo? I repeated the training using
lions pumas, tigers, leopards and jaguars. There was a great open cage
where they were all fed. First I arranged excuses to get them all nice
and hungry, then I opened all the intervening doors and threw Ranma in
with the food."
Soun was startled. "Waitaminute! You mean *you're* the one in that
article from ten years ago 'Crazy Man Throws Son to Lions'?"
Genma nodded formally. "Yes Tendo. Unfortunately some tourist witnessed
the training." He adjusted his glasses. "Still, I'm not sure it would
have succeeded anyway. The boy was able to escape my most clever bonds.
I'd never even seen him do it. I'd just fling him in with a slab of steak
on each side and the next thing I knew he'd be out without a mark on him.
Once I even caught a redheaded foreign woman cleaning the fish paste off
his face. The tigers didn't get so much as a lick."
"Still, it must have made him formidable, able to escape all those cats."
"I was going to attack him and test it but he and the woman disappeared.
I had to abandon the search to evade the police. Luckily I'd used a false
name when getting the job. But months later when I'd finally tracked him
down he'd improved, but not by enough to impress me. After all that work
somehow he'd managed to evade learning the most dreadful technique in our
art. From that point on I was disappointed in him."
"Hmm, so what did you do?"
"I continued with the training, of course. But the boy had become
hopelessly corrupted. Kind, polite to ladies, he's even so well-mannered
that he refused to steal in the interests of perfecting his art!" Genma
wept at the shame of it all.
"Hmm, hardly the kind of training *we* went through. Is he even a master
of Anything-Goes?"
"No boy who could work so hard to avoid training could master our style,
Tendo." Genma wiped tears from his eyes.
"Makes it hard to inherit the dojo. What do you say, Saotome?"
"Hard to say, Tendo. Maybe he could just be breeding stock while one of
your daughters carried on the tradition."
"No, none of them have achieved true mastery. It's sad. We all had such
high hopes. But if you don't have a son worth marrying then no matter how
much they like him they *aren't* going to marry him."
"Hmm." Both men pondered. Genma swarmed to his feet, clenching his fist
he cried toward the heavens. "Oh, the agony of having such a worthless
son!"

*****
That Place in the Future

Mr. Spock looked up from his instruments on the bridge of the Enterprise
to address the captain. "The disturbance was a temporal warp of unknown
intensity, reaching across time and space. It's impossible to pinpoint
its exact origin, or the point at which Orchid interrupted the transfer,
within the limits of our present technology. Our instruments are simply
inadequate for the task."
Kirk found a grin somewhere. "Yes. But we're aware of an artifact that
can track through time without our problems, even facilitate time travel."
"Captain, this course of action is extremely hazardous." The
black-haired alien warned.
"Yeah. Not to mention that playing around with time can erase our own
existence." The doctor added.
Kirk dealt with the objections with his customary aplomb. "Spock, Bones,
our mission was to investigate the near murder of a starfleet diplomatic
member. Now we've got a situation where that member has been kidnapped,
probably by the same force to cause to her injuries. I don't see how this
isn't covered under our mission assignment."
The doctor crossed his arms. "Yeah, except that diplomat also happens to
be your daughter."
Captain Kirk sat into his command chair, looking directly ahead. "We'll
catch up when we're off duty. Mr. Scott?" He keyed the communicator on
his chair arm.
"Aye, cap'in?"
"Prepare for warp factor seven."
"Kinne we go a wee bit faster, cap'in?" The Scotsman's voice trembled
with emotion. "The wee bairn mae be in trubl!"
The captain smirked. "Are you sure your engines can handle the strain,
Mr. Scott?"
There came a flood of rich brogue so thick even another Scotsman would
have difficulty understanding it. Followed by an emotion-laden, "Aye.
I'll nurse 'em if ye was uv a min' ta gu warp elev'n!"
The captain nodded, turning off the switch and addressing his navigator.
"Mr. Sulu, set course for the Guardian of Forever. Warp Factor Nine."

*****
Universe C, Past

The lock to this particular cave was several hundred years old. The fact
that it still worked would have surprised one, unless that one also knew
that it was of a material likely to be immune to hacksaw blade and bolt
cutter for many thousands of years yet.
The trouble it took painting it to look old was well worth not having
questions posed about it, the old man felt. Turning the key and
repocketing it in his robe Achika's father started down steps he had not
traveled in 400 years, 300 years after he had originally imprisoned the
demoness in there.
The demoness, a space pirate named Ryoko.
The gate yielded under his ministrations, and the ancient warrior of
planet Jurai strode soundlessly down the tunnel, noting absently through
his passage that many of the traps he'd set anciently had been disabled
by accumulated grit and the nests of small creatures. If fact the tunnel
was unguarded all the way down to the seal room, where a huge stone hung
suspended in mid air, held there by invisible powers. Calmly tripping the
concealed release Achika's father retrieved the sword of ancient Juraian
power that had served as the key to keep the energy complex locked. A
wall opened from the seal chamber to the tomb, and the multiton boulder
settled to the floor, signaling the release of the binding powers.
The prison was unlocked. Katsuhito strode in, down the ramp of energy
tiles and over a floor laid in a mosaic intended to imprison the space
pirate forever. In the pool where her preserved body lay she was already
beginning to stir.
Katsuhito sat down to wait.

*****
Again that Unidentified Place

Four girls walked the familiar route from the Tendo house to Furinkan
high. Kasumi walked with flowing steps, an attractive elegance at odds
with the stark plainness of the regulation school uniform, but quite in
harmony with her gentle good looks. Nabiki moved as she always did,
motion outfitted to need. If there was cause to run, she would run, walk,
she would walk. But it was locomotion pure and simple, if spiced a
*little* bit by her sparkling spirit.
Serena flowed.
There were hardly any other words for it. She would be wherever she
wanted to be and hardly appear to put any effort into it. While there
were elements of her eldest sister's grace and the next oldest's
practicality, the whole blend was Serena's. It was as if her martial arts
practice had secretly flowed into all her other walks of life and she
hardly needed to exert herself to cover short distances, her body being
accustomed to vast ones.
Still the three Tendo daughters felt like flowers to Orchid's butterfly.
The redhead would flit here and about, sniff this daisy, smell that rose,
flit over to a window pot and exclaim with delight in her eyes at finding
mint there. A puppy got petted and a kitten fed milk. Now the young girl
had somehow produced a lollipop and was licking while her bright eyes
took in everything around her.
Heart bubbling, Orchid burst into song.
**

"The day-dawn is breaking
the world is awaking
The clouds of night's shadow are fleeing away.

The world-wide commotion
from ocean to ocean
now fleeing the light of the beautiful day!

(Orchid spun in place, coming to rest on a pillar. With a conductor's
wand she tapped the base of her stand and conducted a chorus of
songbirds, suddenly singing in human voices.)

Beautiful Day, of peace and rest.
Bright be thy dawn, from east to west!

Hail to thine earliest welcome ray.
Beautiful, Bright, and now joyful day!

**
The three Tendo girls looked on in joy at the bubbling girl suffused
with joy and light as said person hopped lightly down from her perch. The
cloud of songbirds now released to fly away in a glorious moment of gay
and colorful plumage.
After about a solid minute of standing and smiling their thoughts picked
up where they had left and they resumed their walk toward school. In the
depths of Nabiki's mind something logged that that was the first time
they'd heard the girl speak at all, but the rest of her was so filled
with warmth and energy that the matter did not seem very important.

*****
Universe C, Future

Tenchi swept into the Masaki home, princess and demon trailing behind.
"I didn't want this to happen, but I guess we had no choice. All I wanted
was for Ranma to leave my mother alone. How could I lose control like
that? I never wanted to kill him."
Sasami cocked her head, having just entered the room from her duties in
the kitchen. "...Ranma? I didn't know you liked manga like your father."
Tenchi recoiled. "I'm not a pervert like my father!" He did a
double-take and stared at Ayeka's younger sister. "Wait, what's manga got
to do with Ranma? How did you know about him anyway? You weren't here
when..."
Sasami looked puzzled at him and the two older girls who were staring at
her in return. "Wait right here!" She called, turning on one heel and
vanishing up the stairs. She came back just as quickly, carrying a manga
which she gave to Tenchi. "Here! It just came out, and it's very popular!"
Tenchi read dubiously for approximately a second before his eyes bugged
out and he shouted.
"WASHU!!!"

To be continued...

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Author's Notes:

To quote the estimable Saotome. "Here we go again."

To those who said I couldn't make this any stranger, I leave it to the
rest of you to judge. Have I?