AN: By popular demand, and I admit an ever increasing intrigue to where
this story can go, I bring you the continuation of SDM. These first few
chapters will most likely revolve around the Tenchi cast, however I am
suspecting that the Ranma cast will gradually become more involved over
time.
Spring of Drowned...Miyah!
Chapter 2: Want to be Friends?
Ranma let herself be led into the house by the hand, nervous about meeting the people that lived here. After four months without human contact and being scared of her own voice the formerly over-confident martial artist had actually become quite shy, unless she was in a fight. The platinum- haired girl seemed to give off a feeling of comfort and protection that Ranma was hard pressed to deny. It felt good to be near this person, something she hoped to find the reason for.
When Ranma and Ryoko stepped into the house they were greeted to the sight of three people slowly standing up from behind an overturned couch, all were posed as if ready to dive for cover at any moment. A young girl, a teenaged boy, and a middle aged man looked wearily towards them. A fourth person, an old man, stood in the corner seemingly indifferent to what was happening. Ranma however noticed that the old man's eyes had locked onto her the second she came in. He seemed to recognize her in some way.
"Is it over?" Tenchi asked as he finished standing up straight. "Who's your friend Ryoko?"
"Yeah it's over Tenchi; Ryo-Ohki here laid her highness out with one kick. Ryo-Ohki is my partner from the my space pirating days, I thought she died when she crashed into those mountains 700 years ago, right before Yosho sealed me in that cave." Ranma was visibly shaking her head back and forth.
"Crashed?" Tenchi asked hesitantly.
"Oh yeah, Ryo-Ohki's really a space ship. How else did you think I got around?" Ryoko asked. The other occupants of the room noticed that this news seemed to be as great of shock to Ryo-Ohki as it was to them. She had turned to face the platinum-haired woman with an incredulous look while still shaking her head.
"Miyah!" Ranma said in a frustrated tone, to flustered to concentrate on speaking.
"She seems to not remember a lot of that though, I am going to take her down to Washu and see if she can help her." Ranma noticed that the small pink eyed girl with the twin ponytails that had been hiding behind the couch had slowly been making her way closer to her. Ranma couldn't recall ever having seen a cuter kid. She reached out and nervously touched Ranma's arm and ran her hand down the smooth soft fur. Her eyes got a sense of wonder while Ranma had to admit that it felt good having someone run their hands through her fur.
The girl stepped back with a wide smile on her face. "Hi I'm Sasami. Do you want to be friends?" One part of Ranma wanted to chuckle at the little girl's gesture, but to her surprise it was vastly outweighed by an unfamiliar sense of warmth she felt at the offer. Ranma in that moment realized how lonely his/her life had been for the past ten years. She found herself nodding emphatically to the girl. "Great!" Sasami exclaimed before hugging Ranma around the waist. "I'm going to make you a special welcome home dinner!" Ranma's eyes widened in wonder. 'Home,' Ranma thought with a hushed reverence in her mind. Ryoko smirked at this, Ryo- Ohki was always a soft touch, and maturity wise would probably get along with Sasami great.
"Ok, We'll finish the introductions later, right now I've got to get Ryo- Ohki down to Washu's Lab, she's going to really flip, and she'll make my life more miserable than she already does if she finds I was wasting time up here before going to her." With that Ryoko seized Ranma's hand again and pulled her down the hall and into the closet.
[Washu's Lab]
Ryoko led Ranma around a corner and came to a stop in front of where Washu was working on a...device....of some kind. She looked up at the sound of footsteps before quickly looking back to her work. After a brief moment her head jerked up in shock and she stared at Ranma.
"Ryo-Ohki! You're alive!" The diminutive scientist yelled before running over and hugging the girl who was once again valiantly trying to shake her head.
"Miyah!"
"Ryo-Ohki why aren't you communicating telepathically? Washu stepped back and pulled a scanning device out of nowhere. "Oh you seem to have a chaotic energy field that's been applied to you preventing you from linking to myself or Ryoko. Don't worry Ryo-Ohki Washu-chan will fix you right up." The scientist hugged Ranma again. "It's like the whole family is together again." Ryoko smiled at this and for once didn't ridicule Washu about it. Washu pulled Ranma quite forcibly down the corridor until she came to a stop in front of a large vertical chamber, shoving Ranma in before she could even get out a startled 'Miyah' she sealed the door and entered a series of commands on a keypad beside the door. A glowing green disk started to descend from the top of the tube reaching the bottom it then slowly moved back up the tube to its original location.
The machine made a sound like some sort of oven timer before the doors cracked open and out stepped a slightly dazed Ranma.
"Ah good the chaotic energy has been integrated into your system and your link with me seems to be back, Ryoko?"
"Yes it's there." She then sent Ranma a question. {So what happened to you?}
Ranma startled at the telepathic comment, but then realized that if she could talk back to them this way, she could finally explain to these nice, if weird, people their mistake. Concentrating she felt the links in her mind and she sent back {I'm Ranma Saotome, I'm not Ryo-Ohki}
Washu chuckled at this, {Oh I think you are, why don't you send us what you remember and we can start sorting out how you have forgotten yourself in the intervening years.}
So Ranma sent, and with the speed of telepathy it wasn't a half-hour later before both Washu and Ryoko were very intimate with the facts of Ranma's life to this point. Had Ranma been more experienced at this type of communication she might have edited out certain parts As it was Ranma gave them a show that put 'this is your life' to shame.
Ryoko was trying to choke back bitter tears, the hope of having her long time partner back, gone again. Drowned in a pool 700 years ago and she had to experience having her hope taken away again. Washu simply wore a somber smile. She grieved more for the lonely and painful life that Ranma had lived through. Having too much experience with that herself, she felt empathy towards Ranma immediately. Besides she knew something that Ryoko didn't. Maybe she could cheer her daughter up.
"Don't cry daughter, Ryo-Ohki lives." Washu stated, causing the former space pirate and Ranma to turn towards her.
"What do you mean Washu?" Deliberately leaving off the –chan."
"If you were paying more attention to the link you would understand."
Ryoko concentrated for a moment and Ranma got a funny sensation that passed as soon as it came. "What...How, and if it is her why doesn't she have any of her memories and all these others?"
"It's simple really." Washu said suddenly standing on a podium in professor's robes and a diagram of the springs with lots of unusual calculations scribbled over it. "The chaotic energy matrix stored in the water of the spring literally captured the essence of Ryo-Ohki in it, which was released and imbued into Ranma when he fell into it. Ranma may not have Ryo-Ohki's memories, but she certainly has her 'spirit' She's far more Ryo-Ohki than just her physical form. No, what was Ranma's and Ryo-Ohki's essence have blended quite seamlessly. While she doesn't nor will ever have Ryo-Ohki's memories, I expect her core personality to be a rather interesting blend of the two. Having watched his/her memories from both before and after his dunking, I think it's fairly obvious."
Ryoko stood there in silence as she reviewed what she had been shown, and what she had felt through the link, and then smiled broadly. She might not have her old friend back, at least not in the way she thought, but she was pretty sure that she had a new one that her friend lived on in. She reached over and in a rare show of emotion (for anyone other than Tenchi) hugged the brown furred girl.
Ranma's mind was still swirling from all the information she had just received, but she still had enough presence of mind to gingerly return the hug. 'I hadn't even realized how much I had changed'
Washu looked at her laptop before turning back to the two girls, "By the way, it looks like Sasami is almost done with dinner." By the end of the sentence she was addressing and empty room. She smiled, 'yes I do believe things are going to work out. Now to start to work on eliminating the Neko- ken and some of those pesky inhibitions that Ranma seems to have picked up.' This thought was of course followed by a patented Washu cackle of evil.
Chapter 3: Cabbit ½ or ½ Cabbit
Ranma and Ryoko appeared at the table just as Sasami was setting down the last plate. The others were already seated around the table waiting patiently. Before digging in Ryoko spoke.
"Everyone, it seems I was wrong, this isn't my old partner Ryo-Ohki, her name is actually Ranma, but she's going to be my new partner right?" Ranma found herself smiling despite herself and nodding. She then saw the scowling bruised face of Ayeka and cringed a bit.
"Miyah." Ryoko turned to her for a second then to Ayeka
"Ranma says she's sorry for hitting you, and she's right she should have just let me kick your butt." Ranma was somewhat miffed at needing an interpreter, especially one that seemed to need to add her own comments, but she supposed it was better than struggling to say everything. It was unnerving having such an intimate connection to Ryoko and Washu.
"Ryoko." Ayeka growled in a low voice. Tenchi quickly spoke up to head off a fight.
"So ah Ranma, It's nice to meet you I guess you'll be staying here as well?" Ranma went to turn to Ryoko to ask but suddenly she wasn't there. Turning back she saw her wrapped around Tenchi and purring.
"Oh course she'll be staying here Ten..chi. In fact we do e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g together." Ryoko said huskily as traced her finger along Tenchi's chest. This caused Tenchi to blush crimson and Ranma to choke on the mouthful of rice she was eating and start vehemently shaking her head.
"Miyah, Miyah!"
"R.y.o.k.o." Ayeka growled a little louder.
Ryoko simply laughed and disengaged herself from Tenchi. "Oh relax, I was only kidding." She said mischievously. "Besides," gesturing to Ranma, "She's only into girls." This last was followed by a wink at Ayeka that caused her to stop growling and start making warding gestures in front of her. It also caused Tenchi's father to sputter and get and inordinately silly grin on his face. Through it all Yosho ate his meal seemingly unaffected except for a ghost of a smile and Sasami smiled cheerfully happy that her new friend seemed to be enjoying her dinner so much, especially the sliced carrots.
Ranma sighed as she entered the elaborate bath house, amazed, even though she had been warned about it. Sitting down on a stool she then spent the next 45 minutes scrubbing her fur and hair with more shampoo then she had ever used in her life. Rinsing off it felt good to be really clean for the first time in months, it was just impossible to get totally clean bathing in streams and lakes. Standing up she walked over and stepped down into the steaming pool.
A resounding "MIYAH!" was heard throughout the Masaki house.
Ranma looked down at he..himself. He was male again! How had this happened? His fur seemed to have thinned and lightened making him look more beige than the rich brown of before. Looking down at his reflection in the water his hair was still a bluish white, but it had shortened to its original length and no longer seemed to defy gravity. His ears had shortened considerably as well and now looked more elfin than the rabbit like ones that he had a moment ago. He didn't know what just happened, but at least he was male again!
Suddenly Washu appeared out of nowhere cackling about guinea pigs and before he could protest she grabbed him and they disappeared from the bath. A shocked group left standing at the doorway.
[Washu's Lab Sometime Later]
Ranma shuddered as Washu finally released him from where she had strapped him down to the table. It had been a horrifying four hour experience that rivaled the Neko-ken for trauma and puncture marks.
"Well now Ran-Ohki, I think I can explain what happened and," she snapped her fingers causing a bucket of water to appear above Ranma's head splashing him and returning him to female form. "How it operates." Ranma was somewhat puzzled at the name and somewhat irritated at the water, but she wanted to find out and she also knew it wasn't wise to complain to Washu-chan. Washu once again appeared in her academy of science robes and went into lecture mode. "It would appear that the chaotic energy matrix of the spring water not only imbued you with Ryo-Ohki's essence, but also stored your original form in a subspace field as a energy construct triggered by the application of sufficiently excited molecules in a liquid state. I am a Genius!"
Somewhere a cricket chirped.
Washu sighed. "You turn back to normal in hot water." She demonstrated by another bucket over Ranma's head. Ranma looked down on himself and then back at Washu, question evident.
"Miyah!" {What do you mean normal?}
Washu actually seemed nervous for a split second before resuming her usual cheery tone. "Well since the chaotic energy matrix was integrated to enable your telepathic link with me and Ryoko to operate, it overlaid your original template with your new one causing it to be a fusion of the two. It will be quite interesting to see what you are capable of in this form."
Ranma took a minute to digest this before briefly scowling at a once again nervous looking Washu. He sensed through the link that she was actually upset at what she had done, and once again demonstrating how much he had changed he reached out and hugged the diminutive scientist.
Washu was startled for a moment before eagerly returning the hug. Her eyes misted a bit. It had been so long since anyone had shown her genuine affection. After a moment Washu broke the hug and smiled up at Ranma.
"Thank you for that Ran-Ohki-chan."
Ranma looked at her in question.
"Well, you're both." Washu said with a hint of longing in her tone that Ranma caught both telepathically and by ear. Several bits and pieces of conversations between Ryoko and Washu as well as mutterings that Washu had made suddenly clicked in Ranma's mind.
"Miyah." {It fits....Mom?}
This time Washu's eyes did more than mist when Ranma pulled her into a hug. The newly dubbed Ran-Ohki's just might have become more than a little moist as well.
Sitting on the roof watching through her link with Ranma Ryoko smiled through her tears.
This is going to be somewhat of a special name between Washu and Ranma; the others will still refer to him/her as Ranma.
Spring of Drowned...Miyah!
Chapter 2: Want to be Friends?
Ranma let herself be led into the house by the hand, nervous about meeting the people that lived here. After four months without human contact and being scared of her own voice the formerly over-confident martial artist had actually become quite shy, unless she was in a fight. The platinum- haired girl seemed to give off a feeling of comfort and protection that Ranma was hard pressed to deny. It felt good to be near this person, something she hoped to find the reason for.
When Ranma and Ryoko stepped into the house they were greeted to the sight of three people slowly standing up from behind an overturned couch, all were posed as if ready to dive for cover at any moment. A young girl, a teenaged boy, and a middle aged man looked wearily towards them. A fourth person, an old man, stood in the corner seemingly indifferent to what was happening. Ranma however noticed that the old man's eyes had locked onto her the second she came in. He seemed to recognize her in some way.
"Is it over?" Tenchi asked as he finished standing up straight. "Who's your friend Ryoko?"
"Yeah it's over Tenchi; Ryo-Ohki here laid her highness out with one kick. Ryo-Ohki is my partner from the my space pirating days, I thought she died when she crashed into those mountains 700 years ago, right before Yosho sealed me in that cave." Ranma was visibly shaking her head back and forth.
"Crashed?" Tenchi asked hesitantly.
"Oh yeah, Ryo-Ohki's really a space ship. How else did you think I got around?" Ryoko asked. The other occupants of the room noticed that this news seemed to be as great of shock to Ryo-Ohki as it was to them. She had turned to face the platinum-haired woman with an incredulous look while still shaking her head.
"Miyah!" Ranma said in a frustrated tone, to flustered to concentrate on speaking.
"She seems to not remember a lot of that though, I am going to take her down to Washu and see if she can help her." Ranma noticed that the small pink eyed girl with the twin ponytails that had been hiding behind the couch had slowly been making her way closer to her. Ranma couldn't recall ever having seen a cuter kid. She reached out and nervously touched Ranma's arm and ran her hand down the smooth soft fur. Her eyes got a sense of wonder while Ranma had to admit that it felt good having someone run their hands through her fur.
The girl stepped back with a wide smile on her face. "Hi I'm Sasami. Do you want to be friends?" One part of Ranma wanted to chuckle at the little girl's gesture, but to her surprise it was vastly outweighed by an unfamiliar sense of warmth she felt at the offer. Ranma in that moment realized how lonely his/her life had been for the past ten years. She found herself nodding emphatically to the girl. "Great!" Sasami exclaimed before hugging Ranma around the waist. "I'm going to make you a special welcome home dinner!" Ranma's eyes widened in wonder. 'Home,' Ranma thought with a hushed reverence in her mind. Ryoko smirked at this, Ryo- Ohki was always a soft touch, and maturity wise would probably get along with Sasami great.
"Ok, We'll finish the introductions later, right now I've got to get Ryo- Ohki down to Washu's Lab, she's going to really flip, and she'll make my life more miserable than she already does if she finds I was wasting time up here before going to her." With that Ryoko seized Ranma's hand again and pulled her down the hall and into the closet.
[Washu's Lab]
Ryoko led Ranma around a corner and came to a stop in front of where Washu was working on a...device....of some kind. She looked up at the sound of footsteps before quickly looking back to her work. After a brief moment her head jerked up in shock and she stared at Ranma.
"Ryo-Ohki! You're alive!" The diminutive scientist yelled before running over and hugging the girl who was once again valiantly trying to shake her head.
"Miyah!"
"Ryo-Ohki why aren't you communicating telepathically? Washu stepped back and pulled a scanning device out of nowhere. "Oh you seem to have a chaotic energy field that's been applied to you preventing you from linking to myself or Ryoko. Don't worry Ryo-Ohki Washu-chan will fix you right up." The scientist hugged Ranma again. "It's like the whole family is together again." Ryoko smiled at this and for once didn't ridicule Washu about it. Washu pulled Ranma quite forcibly down the corridor until she came to a stop in front of a large vertical chamber, shoving Ranma in before she could even get out a startled 'Miyah' she sealed the door and entered a series of commands on a keypad beside the door. A glowing green disk started to descend from the top of the tube reaching the bottom it then slowly moved back up the tube to its original location.
The machine made a sound like some sort of oven timer before the doors cracked open and out stepped a slightly dazed Ranma.
"Ah good the chaotic energy has been integrated into your system and your link with me seems to be back, Ryoko?"
"Yes it's there." She then sent Ranma a question. {So what happened to you?}
Ranma startled at the telepathic comment, but then realized that if she could talk back to them this way, she could finally explain to these nice, if weird, people their mistake. Concentrating she felt the links in her mind and she sent back {I'm Ranma Saotome, I'm not Ryo-Ohki}
Washu chuckled at this, {Oh I think you are, why don't you send us what you remember and we can start sorting out how you have forgotten yourself in the intervening years.}
So Ranma sent, and with the speed of telepathy it wasn't a half-hour later before both Washu and Ryoko were very intimate with the facts of Ranma's life to this point. Had Ranma been more experienced at this type of communication she might have edited out certain parts As it was Ranma gave them a show that put 'this is your life' to shame.
Ryoko was trying to choke back bitter tears, the hope of having her long time partner back, gone again. Drowned in a pool 700 years ago and she had to experience having her hope taken away again. Washu simply wore a somber smile. She grieved more for the lonely and painful life that Ranma had lived through. Having too much experience with that herself, she felt empathy towards Ranma immediately. Besides she knew something that Ryoko didn't. Maybe she could cheer her daughter up.
"Don't cry daughter, Ryo-Ohki lives." Washu stated, causing the former space pirate and Ranma to turn towards her.
"What do you mean Washu?" Deliberately leaving off the –chan."
"If you were paying more attention to the link you would understand."
Ryoko concentrated for a moment and Ranma got a funny sensation that passed as soon as it came. "What...How, and if it is her why doesn't she have any of her memories and all these others?"
"It's simple really." Washu said suddenly standing on a podium in professor's robes and a diagram of the springs with lots of unusual calculations scribbled over it. "The chaotic energy matrix stored in the water of the spring literally captured the essence of Ryo-Ohki in it, which was released and imbued into Ranma when he fell into it. Ranma may not have Ryo-Ohki's memories, but she certainly has her 'spirit' She's far more Ryo-Ohki than just her physical form. No, what was Ranma's and Ryo-Ohki's essence have blended quite seamlessly. While she doesn't nor will ever have Ryo-Ohki's memories, I expect her core personality to be a rather interesting blend of the two. Having watched his/her memories from both before and after his dunking, I think it's fairly obvious."
Ryoko stood there in silence as she reviewed what she had been shown, and what she had felt through the link, and then smiled broadly. She might not have her old friend back, at least not in the way she thought, but she was pretty sure that she had a new one that her friend lived on in. She reached over and in a rare show of emotion (for anyone other than Tenchi) hugged the brown furred girl.
Ranma's mind was still swirling from all the information she had just received, but she still had enough presence of mind to gingerly return the hug. 'I hadn't even realized how much I had changed'
Washu looked at her laptop before turning back to the two girls, "By the way, it looks like Sasami is almost done with dinner." By the end of the sentence she was addressing and empty room. She smiled, 'yes I do believe things are going to work out. Now to start to work on eliminating the Neko- ken and some of those pesky inhibitions that Ranma seems to have picked up.' This thought was of course followed by a patented Washu cackle of evil.
Chapter 3: Cabbit ½ or ½ Cabbit
Ranma and Ryoko appeared at the table just as Sasami was setting down the last plate. The others were already seated around the table waiting patiently. Before digging in Ryoko spoke.
"Everyone, it seems I was wrong, this isn't my old partner Ryo-Ohki, her name is actually Ranma, but she's going to be my new partner right?" Ranma found herself smiling despite herself and nodding. She then saw the scowling bruised face of Ayeka and cringed a bit.
"Miyah." Ryoko turned to her for a second then to Ayeka
"Ranma says she's sorry for hitting you, and she's right she should have just let me kick your butt." Ranma was somewhat miffed at needing an interpreter, especially one that seemed to need to add her own comments, but she supposed it was better than struggling to say everything. It was unnerving having such an intimate connection to Ryoko and Washu.
"Ryoko." Ayeka growled in a low voice. Tenchi quickly spoke up to head off a fight.
"So ah Ranma, It's nice to meet you I guess you'll be staying here as well?" Ranma went to turn to Ryoko to ask but suddenly she wasn't there. Turning back she saw her wrapped around Tenchi and purring.
"Oh course she'll be staying here Ten..chi. In fact we do e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g together." Ryoko said huskily as traced her finger along Tenchi's chest. This caused Tenchi to blush crimson and Ranma to choke on the mouthful of rice she was eating and start vehemently shaking her head.
"Miyah, Miyah!"
"R.y.o.k.o." Ayeka growled a little louder.
Ryoko simply laughed and disengaged herself from Tenchi. "Oh relax, I was only kidding." She said mischievously. "Besides," gesturing to Ranma, "She's only into girls." This last was followed by a wink at Ayeka that caused her to stop growling and start making warding gestures in front of her. It also caused Tenchi's father to sputter and get and inordinately silly grin on his face. Through it all Yosho ate his meal seemingly unaffected except for a ghost of a smile and Sasami smiled cheerfully happy that her new friend seemed to be enjoying her dinner so much, especially the sliced carrots.
Ranma sighed as she entered the elaborate bath house, amazed, even though she had been warned about it. Sitting down on a stool she then spent the next 45 minutes scrubbing her fur and hair with more shampoo then she had ever used in her life. Rinsing off it felt good to be really clean for the first time in months, it was just impossible to get totally clean bathing in streams and lakes. Standing up she walked over and stepped down into the steaming pool.
A resounding "MIYAH!" was heard throughout the Masaki house.
Ranma looked down at he..himself. He was male again! How had this happened? His fur seemed to have thinned and lightened making him look more beige than the rich brown of before. Looking down at his reflection in the water his hair was still a bluish white, but it had shortened to its original length and no longer seemed to defy gravity. His ears had shortened considerably as well and now looked more elfin than the rabbit like ones that he had a moment ago. He didn't know what just happened, but at least he was male again!
Suddenly Washu appeared out of nowhere cackling about guinea pigs and before he could protest she grabbed him and they disappeared from the bath. A shocked group left standing at the doorway.
[Washu's Lab Sometime Later]
Ranma shuddered as Washu finally released him from where she had strapped him down to the table. It had been a horrifying four hour experience that rivaled the Neko-ken for trauma and puncture marks.
"Well now Ran-Ohki, I think I can explain what happened and," she snapped her fingers causing a bucket of water to appear above Ranma's head splashing him and returning him to female form. "How it operates." Ranma was somewhat puzzled at the name and somewhat irritated at the water, but she wanted to find out and she also knew it wasn't wise to complain to Washu-chan. Washu once again appeared in her academy of science robes and went into lecture mode. "It would appear that the chaotic energy matrix of the spring water not only imbued you with Ryo-Ohki's essence, but also stored your original form in a subspace field as a energy construct triggered by the application of sufficiently excited molecules in a liquid state. I am a Genius!"
Somewhere a cricket chirped.
Washu sighed. "You turn back to normal in hot water." She demonstrated by another bucket over Ranma's head. Ranma looked down on himself and then back at Washu, question evident.
"Miyah!" {What do you mean normal?}
Washu actually seemed nervous for a split second before resuming her usual cheery tone. "Well since the chaotic energy matrix was integrated to enable your telepathic link with me and Ryoko to operate, it overlaid your original template with your new one causing it to be a fusion of the two. It will be quite interesting to see what you are capable of in this form."
Ranma took a minute to digest this before briefly scowling at a once again nervous looking Washu. He sensed through the link that she was actually upset at what she had done, and once again demonstrating how much he had changed he reached out and hugged the diminutive scientist.
Washu was startled for a moment before eagerly returning the hug. Her eyes misted a bit. It had been so long since anyone had shown her genuine affection. After a moment Washu broke the hug and smiled up at Ranma.
"Thank you for that Ran-Ohki-chan."
Ranma looked at her in question.
"Well, you're both." Washu said with a hint of longing in her tone that Ranma caught both telepathically and by ear. Several bits and pieces of conversations between Ryoko and Washu as well as mutterings that Washu had made suddenly clicked in Ranma's mind.
"Miyah." {It fits....Mom?}
This time Washu's eyes did more than mist when Ranma pulled her into a hug. The newly dubbed Ran-Ohki's just might have become more than a little moist as well.
Sitting on the roof watching through her link with Ranma Ryoko smiled through her tears.
This is going to be somewhat of a special name between Washu and Ranma; the others will still refer to him/her as Ranma.