Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½, or anything else you may recognize. Not a dime is being made of this story and is for entertainment purposes only. Enjoy!

A/N: I'm probably gonna catch some flak for this chapter, but it's been planned out since I originally planned out the story. Well, not the length in time between chapters, but I just didn't have the ambition to do any writing. Especially with some of the flames I got, all I'm gonna say is if ya don't like it don't read it. Constructive criticism is great, I love it, but leaving an ANONYMOUS review asking whether or not I've even read Ranma is just BS. I pointed out that this is an AU and that the characters will be OOC. They had to be to set up the story how I wanted it.

Important: 'Bout the whole charge about attempted murder on a royal family member, if I remember correctly, and I'm not saying I do, all the Lords and Ladies of Jurai are pretty much royalty just far removed from the throne. That's where the title Lord or Lady comes from. Also, the trees are the Royal trees, and I believe Ayeka said that the royal family members are called to bond to the trees when it is time. Again, not sure, but I think that's how it works.

Geez, I'm finding myself having to explain a buncha stuff here. Okay, pretty much right away yer gonna meet crew for the ship, which you'll never see in the Tenchi series. At least on Juraian ships. I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and say that normally there is a crew, especially on a ship as large as the Emperor's, but when Ayeka and Sasami ran away they left most of work to the tree itself and her guardians as they didn't want to be caught. Since they spent most of the trip in cryostasis there wasn't much need of a crew, but if the people are gonna be awake and actually be productive, as the leader of an entire world would need to be, I'm gonna assume he needs a crew on his ship.

Oh yeah, just realized one of my mistakes with story continuity. I know there's a few, but this ones minor so I don't need ta do anything but tell ya. Ranma's tree is Kaikou-oh instead of just Kaikou. It took thinking about Funaho and Funaho-oh before I realized that. I know there's a few other mistakes that I'll have to go back and fix once the story is complete, like the fact that Tenchi's ability was Top Secret and nobody should have found out about it. Dun know if I'm gonna fix that, or say that there was a leak in intelligence. For now just assume it was a leak.

BTW, thanks ta everyone who reviewed and left constructive criticism or encouraging reviews! You guys are the best.

Chapter 7

"My Lord, we just received a priority message from Jurai," a nameless communications officer reported.

"What is it," Azusa asked peevishly. He was getting quite sick of dealing with Ranma and couldn't wait to get to Earth so he wouldn't need to deal with the brat anymore.

"They've finally broke Seiji and gotten the requested information. It seems that Lord Ranma's mother was a maid in the castle 18 years ago. When Seiji learned of the birth of the child he had the child sent to Earth to hopefully die and the woman killed and her body disposed of," the officer reported with an audible gulp.

"Have someone inform Ranma of this," Azusa began only to be interrupted by a 'ahem'. "Y-yes dear?" Now, nobody would dare call the Emperor of Jurai a coward, especially to his face, but it is well known that either of his wives can easily put him in his place. Women can train their men quite easily in 4,000 years.

"I believe Misaki or I should inform Lord Ranma of the news," Funaho 'suggested'. "After all, it appears nobody else on this ship would care to." Azusa looked around at the crew and found that his wife was more or less correct, the only crew members that looked eager were the few females he could see, and they tended to keep them far away from Ranma as much as possible after an incident involving honey, feathers, whipped cream, and a lot of cherries. It should also be mentioned Ranma wasn't a willing participant and was seen attempting to run away the entire time.

"Very well," he replied gruffly. It grated on his nerves that his wives got along so well with the boy, but he supposed it was only natural considering they wanted to engage him to Sasami. Now he just needed to figure out a way to trick Ranma into fighting his great grandson, because he knew that Ayeka and Sasami wouldn't be willing to come home right away. Oh he'd have to bargain until they agreed to wager on a battle, and he had Seriyou lined up as Ayeka's fiancé and willing combatant. He knew that would be a battle that his great grandson would win without much difficulty if the boy could create the light hawk wings though.

"We will return soon," Funaho told him with an annoyed tone. She didn't like it when he was gruff with her and she certainly made her displeasure known to him every time he was. With the Juraian life span adding two weeks to an existing punishment of sleeping on the couch was like adding a day to a normal human. So Azusa was now spending just over 2 years on the couch instead of just under. Misaki gave Funaho a nod of agreement before following her towards the guest room that Ranma was most likely in. During the first few days of the trip Ranma hadn't really made any friends on the ship due to…some odd behavior. He seemed to jump around the ship non-stop singing a strange song that's only words were, "Never gonna be a girl again!" Nobody quite understood this, and it got under just about everyone's skin, well, Misaki thought it was cute, but she was the only one. In fact, he had only just settled down yesterday and the crew was still quite wary of him.

Knock, knock

"Yeah, come in," Ranma called out. When Funaho and Misaki entered they saw Ranma putting his shirt on, which caused them both to stop for a moment and admire his muscles before they were covered by Ranma's typical chinese clothes.

"Good morning Ranma," Funaho said regally while Misaki squealed and hugged him until he turned blue. Unfortunately, from Ranma's standpoint, Misaki didn't let go. She only loosened her grip while seating him on the bed.

"Good morning Lady Funaho, Lady Misaki, whatcha need," Ranma asked warily. He'd heard Seriyou bragging about being able to fight Azusa's grandson, and he was worried that he'd be asked to fight once Seriyou lost. Not that Ranma held any notions that he'd lose, but he only fought in the defense of himself and others, never as the aggressor.

"Ranma, we have some news that's just come from Jurai, and it's not good," Funaho told him seriously. Ranma's face immediately became an emotionless mask as he applied the soul of ice. He knew that this information had something to do with him otherwise they wouldn't have put it like that even if they told him.

"What is it," Ranma asked not aware that Misaki had been forced to let go due to a slight aura of cold surrounding him.

"We've found out what happened to your mother," Funaho began before bracing herself. She had no idea how he was going to take this, "According to the report we received Seiji has confessed to sending you to Earth after you were born and murdering your mother."

"Where's her body," Ranma asked with a slight edge to his voice. He had never known a loving parent and now his only chance at getting to know one was taken away by an arrogant Juraian noble.

"They are working on retrieving her right now, and unfortunately they didn't tell us where he said he…put her body," Funaho attempted to say delicately.

"What are they going to do with him," Ranma growled. He'd let go of the soul of ice by this point and a corona of red was surrounding him and scorching the bed.

"He's to be put to death after your mothers remains are found," Funaho replied trying to drown out Misaki's whimpers. Apparently she'd gotten slightly burned when she touched Ranma's aura.

"Let me have a piece of him first," Ranma growled practically feral, "He killed my mother! I want first crack at his punishment."

"I will see what I can do," Funaho told him in an attempt to calm him. She had never seen Ranma angry before and if this was the tip of the iceberg as it appeared to be then she never wanted to see it. Once Ranma's aura was pulled back inside himself Misaki immediately latched on again before practically shoving his head against her chest and stroking his hair like you would to a child. Ranma gave Funaho a puppy dog eyed look in hopes of getting free, unfortunately he wasn't very good at that look, so she just ended up laughing at him quietly. Soon they had extracted a promise that he'd talk to them if he needed someone to talk to and they left Ranma alone to go over what they had told him in the comfort of solitude. Seiji, you will pay for what you did to my mother and me, I dun care how long it takes me, I will make you pay for your crimes, Ranma silently vowed to himself.

(Break)

Two and a half months later, just above Earth

"I dun told ya, I ain't gonna learn ta use a weapon," Ranma said quite agitatedly.

"It is the legacy of Jurai, you must learn it, all guards, and even the royal family, are required to learn the basics of it," Azusa pressed. They'd been going back and forth over this issue for the last week or so any time they talked for more than two minutes. Azusa wanted Ranma to learn Juraian sword techniques while Ranma was very vocal in his refusals.

"Besides, I already got the basics of swords down," Ranma protested, "Pops…I mean Genma made me learn it so I could defend against it."

"Whatever earthling sword style you know is nothing compared to the might of the Juraian style," Azusa growled.

"I dun know, Sensei Katsuhito was regarded as the best swordsman since the samurai," Ranma said before leaving the bridge. He wanted to get his last few things packed before they landed so he wouldn't need to worry about it. Luckily he had perfected Mouse's hidden weapons technique in the last few months so he could store his things in stuff space and wouldn't need to worry about lugging it about unless he wanted to wear it for weight training like he used to. Ranma was glad that he'd told Azusa he'd fight Tenchi only if necessary. What Ranma meant and what Azusa believed Ranma meant were two different things. If Tenchi was physically abusing or restraining the Princesses then Ranma'd do something about it, but if they were all living together peacefully then Azusa was out of luck getting Ranma to fight. Well, unless his great grandson challenged Ranma, then there was no way he'd back out of the fight.

The twenty minutes or so that he had to wait for his turn at introductions seemed like forever to Ranma, but finally he was transported down the dock that Azusa was standing on. With a quick cursory glance Ranma saw that Seriyou was floating in the lake, apparently he lost spectacularly. One face made Ranma stop for a full minute before he sputtered in shock.

"SENSEI," Ranma shouted looking straight at Katsuhito. He'd learned quickly never to call Katsuhito anything but that or a derivative of it, it was painful to do so.

"Hmmm, do I know you," Katsuhito asked curiously.

"I studied under you 10 years ago," Ranma said with a bow, "Does the name Ranma Saotome ring a bell?"

"Ah, now I remember," Katsuhito replied with a look that made cats envious before several things came together in his mind, "How did you manage to find yourself on Jurai?"

"I followed one of my rivals, didn't know he could get himself lost that far though," Ranma snorted.

"Let us continue this later, it looks like my father wants us to hurry along," Katsuhito suggested seeing Azusa ready to burst a blood vessel finding out that Ranma now had a sure fire way out of the lessons he wanted to force on the boy.

"Sure thing Sensei," Ranma replied excitedly. Out of all of his past sensei's Katsuhito was by far his favorite. He had treated him like his own grandson for the time that he was there, even though he worked Ranma hard and taught him many things. It was probably the best two month stretch Ranma had on the road.

"Eh hem, as I was saying, you may stay if, and only if, Tenchi can beat both of your suitors," Azusa said aggravated.

"I dun think so," Ranma said from his spot beside Azusa, "'Member what I told ya? Only if I had ta, and from what I see these girls are treated pretty well here, if anythin' I feel sorry for your great grandson instead of the girls."

"So Sasami, what do you think of your future fiancé," Misaki asked happily. She didn't think that introduction could've gone much better.

"WHAT," everyone from the Masaki home shouted in shock. They had assumed that both suitors were for Ayeka and she would need to choose one of them, not that one was for Sasami as well. Before anyone else could make a comment Ranma walked over to Sasami and kneeled down so he was eye to eye with her.

"Hi, the name's Ranma. Anyway Sasami, I dun think ya gotta worry about the whole marriage thing right now, seein' as your still young it'd be a while anyway," Ranma pointed out when Sasami looked nervous. "The only, and I mean only, reason I agreed to come here was to be more like a bodyguard and friend, not a fiancé. Had enough of those back in Nerima," Ranma muttered the last part before continuing, "They said ya needed one and it's a martial artists duty ta protect those that need it."

"Really, you want to be friends," Sasami asked with huge glistening eyes, when Ranma nodded she threw her arms around his neck surprising him. "YEAH," Sasami shouted in joy. This made Ranma chuckle before he hesitantly returned the hug. He wasn't quite used to physical displays of emotion, but Misaki had been doing her best to help him with that. Or at least that's what he assumed given how he had more hugs in the last three months than in his entire life, Amazon glomps excluded.

"Father, why don't you stay for a few days," Katsuhito suggested hoping to change the topic before anyone blew up. He knew the people in his home well, and he figured it wouldn't take much for them to jump down Ranma's throat over this 'engagement'. Besides, he knew that his father would want another chance to convince him to take the throne, as well as catch up with his daughters, and it was only polite to invite him after all. A quick look at Funaho and Misaki from Azusa told him that if he didn't accept he would be in even more trouble than he was now.

"Thank you Yosho, I think we will," Azusa ground out eventually.

"Oh Ranma, let me introduce you to everyone," Sasami said excitedly before dragging him around to make introductions. "This is my sister Ayeka, and that's Ryoko, they fight over Tenchi all the time. The boy they're pulling on is Tenchi Misaki, and that over there with the bright red hair is Washu. She's the smartest person in the whole Universe! Mihoshi's inside getting cleaned up, you can meet her in a bit. And this is Ryo-Ohki, cute little thing huh?" Ranma just chuckled before reaching out to pet Ryo-Ohki. Unfortunately that's about the time she decided to say hi, coming out as, "Myah."

"C-C-C-CCCCAAAAAATTTTTT," Ranma shouted before jumping 40 feet vertically, through overhand on the house. Everyone standing around just kind of sweatdropped before hearing Katsuhito start a rant on how he couldn't believe that fat fool was stupid enough to go through with the training.

"What training Grandpa," Tenchi asked curiously.

"10 years ago Ranma and his father showed up here. His father wanted him to know the basics of swordsmanship so he could defend against it if needed. Before leaving I found a manual among their possessions detailing what that fat gluttonous fool was going to teach him next. It's called the Neko-ken and I have never heard of anyone surviving the training," Katsuhito explained, "It was designed to make the perfect berserker warriors. They were practically unstoppable, but they also cared little for ally or foe. It was banned shortly after it's conception due to the training methods and effects the training had on the student."

"What does this training consist of," Washu asked curiously. She'd seen plenty of cases of ailurophobia, but never one this strong.

"Are ya sure ya wanna know," Ranma asked from his perch on the roof. He made sure to keep the c-c…demon from hell out of his line of sight. "It ain't pretty," he warned, when everyone nodded he shrugged and said, "Don't say I didn't warn ya. It's pretty simple. First dig a pit, then put a lot of c-c…felines in the pit. Starve 'em for a few days. Then take yer student, wrapped in fish products, and toss them in. Repeat it 'til the technique is mastered."

"What kind of monster would do that kind of thing," Ayeka screamed.

"The person I thought was my pops, luckily turns out he ain't, but he raised me from a baby," Ranma told them.

"If he wasn't your father then what happened to your parents," Sasami asked innocently. Unfortunately that was still quite a sore subject with Ranma, but she didn't know that.

"Turns out my real Pops was from Jurai and him and his wife sent me ta Earth ta die so there wouldn't be evidence that he cheated on her," Ranma told them sadly.

"You're a liar, there are no nobles on the planet of Jurai that would behave in such a fashion," Ayeka yelled angrily in her naiveté. She was still considered a teenager by Juraian standards after all, and she hadn't had time to learn the darker side of politics and politicians. Before Ranma could retort Misaki was in Ayeka's face glaring at her making the stuck up princess back down.

"He speaks the truth," Azusa said quietly, but everyone heard, "Seiji confessed himself to shipping Ranma to Earth in the hopes that the child would die and murdering his mother and disposing of the body." Once the Emperor of Jurai had confirmed it Ayeka fainted in shock that a noble of Jurai would act in such a manner.

"Why would he do it that way," Washu asked intrigued, "It would have made far more sense to kill both of them in the same manner."

"It was probably in case he was ever caught. Murdering an adult has a harsh punishment, but to murder a child, well, let's just say the law was unanimously passed that people who killed children received no mercy whatsoever," Katsuhito interjected.

"What do you mean Grandpa," Tenchi asked. It wasn't often he heard about Jurai from his grandfather, and he had to admit he was slightly curious.

"Had Seiji killed Ranma first he would have been stripped of his Juraian abilities, which is a very painful process, then he would have had 'murderer of children' branded into his chest and put on public display, and finally after 30 days of humiliation, degradation, and abuse at the hands of the public he would have been executed by being drawn and quartered," Azusa explained as if he were talking about the weather.

"Isn't that a little harsh," Ryoko asked a little fearfully. She was rather glad that her crimes against Jurai had expired due to the statute of limitations because she assumed more than one child died during her attack.

"We do not tolerate the abuse or neglect of children," Funaho said coldly.

"Why don't we head inside and get some lunch," Katsuhito suggested trying to break the tension. "After lunch we can discuss things in more depth, like how this young man ended up on Jurai and engaged to Sasami." Everyone agreed so they all shuffled inside with Tenchi carrying Ayeka, well, everyone went inside except Seriyou who was still floating in the lake (face up unfortunately).

Again, thanks to everyone who reviewed!