Notes: in the last chapter I made a time frame error, I said ten thousand years when I meant to write one thousand years. Most historians agree that if King Arthur was real he existed between eight hundred and twelve hundred ad, although many historians seem to think that he was nothing more than a great warrior and not a king. Got to love the discovery channel.

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Ranma was deep in thought as he walked back to the tendo dojo for breakfast. He was thinking about all his experiences in his life and cursing himself for his childish behavior. As he neared the dojo, he decided that even though he was leaving and not going to mention it to anyone because it would be safer for all those involved that he needed to take care of one loose end. Even though he swore on his honor never to reveal Ryouga's weakness, he had come to realize that by keeping the secret he was allowing the pig-boy to dishonor everyone at the tendo dojo.

As he walked in thought the front door Ranma chirped out, "I'm back."

Kasumi peeked out from the kitchen and asked, "Was the doctor able to help."

Ranma nodded happily and said, "Yeah, he was. I would have been back sooner but we started talking and time kind of got away from us."

Kasumi smiled and said, "Well I left your breakfast in the kitchen just sit down at the table and I will bring it right out."

Ranma smiled happily at the prospect of an uninterrupted breakfast, looking around as kasumi brought in his breakfast he asked, "Hey Kasumi where is every one?"

Kasumi smiled and said, "Well I was going to wait until you got back to serve breakfast but your father insisted that we go ahead and eat without you. Right now your father is with my father running an errand for me. Nabiki and Akane left for school already."

Ranma nodded as he ate his breakfast surprising kasumi. Kasumi was surprised because Ranma was not eating like a starving animal. Deciding not to comment on Ranma's newfound manners, she walked back into the kitchen to finish doing the dishes.

As Ranma casually ate the last of his breakfast, he glanced at the clock, seeing that he had just enough time to wash up before he left for school he gulped down the last of his meal and left for the furo.

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Ranma walked to school lost in thought, "What should I do? I really do not want to get married, especially when every time I look back the fondness I used to feel for all my fiancées erode away. Knowing what I know now there is no way that I will ever marry Shampoo. One I do not love her and two I have come to realize that she annoys me; at this point, I really do not care about her own feelings on the matter. Hell the only reason why she ever started to chase me was so that she could kill me. The thing is she does not see anything wrong with that, I know that I should not judge another culture's rules but I fail to see how some one can be so driven to kill you one moment and ready to jump my bones the next. If anything, I pity her for her laws she will never no love other than obsession if she does not see the errors of her ways. Yesterday I probably would have helped her but as of today I will wash my hands of the girl, well maybe after I leave, I do not want to tip off Cologne. "

"Then there is the matter of Uchan, my so called cute fiancée. Honestly, one small slip of the tongue and bam instant devoted temperamental fiancée. She probably would not be so bad if she did not try to use what I thought was a friendship against Akane. Well I am not really being honest with my self; I suppose that I have led her on. I mean I do accept free food from her and expect her to listen to me on occasion, but hell any one with half a brain would know that I had next to nothing when it comes to social skills. I grew up practically isolated from the rest of society, sure I went to school every now and then but I never stayed in one place longer than a few months."

"The real problem is what do I feel towards Akane, I am sure that I used to have strong feelings towards her. However I think that I was just deluding myself because of her initial offer of friendship. The girl just has way too many problems for me to even attempt to ever get close to her. I do have to take some responsibility for it though, I allow myself to be placed in compromising solutions all the time and it just feeds her anger and mistrust. Maybe if I had been stricter with the others we could have worked things out. Unfortunately as it stands now too much has happened, I have allowed her to hit me too often and now it has just become reflex to divert her attention from her own feelings. Maybe if she trusted me a little more we would not have as many problems, but that is in the past."

"It looks like I will just have to walk away from this mess and start over. I wish that it didn't have to be this way, unfortunately I really don't have much of a choice."

Ranma broke out of his reflections as he walked through the school gate. Looking around the schoolyard Ranma paused, the schoolyard was surprisingly empty. Kuno was not around and there were no other students lagging around to place bets and watch the usual excitement. Ranma shrugged and made his way to the classroom. As he entered, the room Ranma glanced around, Uchan was sitting at her desk doing her best attempt at a dreamy smile, while Akane seemed to be rather upset at something. From her glare Ranma supposed that it had something to do with him, unfortunately he could not figure out what he might have done. Deciding that what ever it was he would eventually figure it out Ranma just shrugged and took his place as the teacher walked in.

As the teacher walked in he was stunned, the schools MVD (most valuable delinquent) was already in his seat with his book open and looking right at him. The teacher was not used to this type of behavior from the pigtailed martial artist and almost decided to make a run for it. The only thing that stopped him was his hope that Mr. Saotome had turned over a new leaf. Gathering his courage, he boldly stepped forward and began class.

For once in his life, Ranma realized the usefulness of an education. His past life was mostly responsible for this, unfortunately being a reincarnated king from roughly one thousand years ago, offered almost no assistance except for the drive to educate oneself so that he would be better prepared. Ranma now saw that his father was wrong in not pushing an education, after all a warriors mind is just as important of a weapon as a warrior's fist.

Therefore, Ranma sat through the first half of the school day in his seat paying attention and asking questions when he did not understand something. The teachers were starting to get annoyed with him thinking that he was playing some sort of game. Akane was getting upset because Ranma was trying to be a better student than her and Uchan was just sitting there daydreaming thinking that his newfound study habits were an attempt to show her affection. After all if Ranma became better educated than he could assist in her restaurants finances.

Finally, lunch came around and much to Ranma's satisfaction, it was still his most favorite part of school, with the exception of gym class which ran a close second. Grabbing his bento Ranma flipped out of the window and made his way over to a more isolated spot than usual. He was hoping that his hangerons would not find him right away giving him some peace and quiet to enjoy his lunch. Sadly that was not going to happen, five minutes later he heard the familiar ring of a certain bicycle of doom. Sighing in frustration Ranma leapt up into the tree and narrowly avoided having his head used as a kickstand. Looking down he growled out, "What do you want Shampoo?"

Shampoo was slightly taken aback by her husbands tone, he seemed annoyed with her but that could not be right. Because he loved her, and they were going to have many Amazon babies that would be the envy of all the others back at the village. With confusion evident in her voice she asked, "Ranma go out on date, yes?"

Ranma looked down at the bubbly great granddaughter of his wicked half-sister and said, "No, Shampoo. I will not go out with you today or tomorrow and most likely, I will never go out with you. You need to understand that I do not love you and I will never allow myself just to be used as breeding stock for some backwards culture. I want you to go back to your village and leave me alone."

Shampoo looked up at her Airen and frowned, this was not in the script. She was supposed to fling her affections at him and eventually his defiance would crumble away leaving him obedient like every good male Amazon. Shampoo stated to let out her battle aura and growl out, "You be good husband and take wife out now of I get angry."

Ranma sighed and thought, "So much for the direct approach. I wonder what I can do to get her out of my hair." With a sudden bust of inspiration Ranma nearly cackled wickedly, fortunately he was able to refrain from doing so aloud. Clearing his throat, he calmly said in a soft voice so that he would not be overheard by any ease droppers, "Shampoo my love please remain silent, I need to ask you a favor. One week from today, I want to meet with you in Okinawa so that we can elope and return to your village. I just need time to get my affairs in order. You must not tell anyone else where we are going not even your great grandmother, for now let our love be a secret. Leave now and don't look back." it was all Ranma could do to keep from erupting in laughter at his own speech as he watched Shampoo's determined charge into the distance.

Ranma left his position in the tree and started to make himself comfortable again when he noticed his two other devoted fiancées making themselves over his way. Briefly, Ranma wondered if he was ever going to be able to finish his lunch. Sighing he prepared himself for whatever offence he had committed.

Akane was upset, she was getting irritated with her unwanted fiancée, he was always trying to outdo her and she felt like she was being cast aside from the other students. Ranma was a better martial artist; he could cook and was self-reliant. He also was a more attractive girl and his girl forms pictures always sold for twice as much as her own. She had always had a strong feeling of pride at being the best and most desirable but now she felt like an old hag. Usually when she was hurting she would just instigate an argument with Ranma and he would say something stupid giving her just cause to wallop him a few times. Today when she needed him this morning, he was nowhere to be found and she had left early for school thinking maybe he had a challenge or something. Unfortunately for her, Ranma was nowhere to be found until class started and she had been steaming that he had been off with one of his hussies this morning, after asking around she finally had been informed by Nabiki for four thousand yen (Family discount) that Ranma had taken off early that morning to go see doctor Tofu. What was binding her britches though was Ranma's latest attempt to show her up again, he was actually paid attention in class and took notes. While she was no super genius or ace student she still maintained a 'B' average and was proud of the fact that she was smarter than her Baka of a fiancée.

Walking gracefully up to Ranma like a two thousand pound rhino, Akane asked, "What do you think you were doing today?"

Ranma stared at the girl wondering what she was smoking and if she would share it so he might know what she was talking about.

"Well, Ranma I'm waiting."

Ranma shrugged and said, "Well this morning I hurt my neck and went to go see Dr. Tofu about it, by the time I came back you had already ate and left for school. Lately I had been thinking about putting more effort into my studies and decided that today was as good as any day to start participating in class."

Akane let out a frustrated "Hmmmf" her had was twitching for an excuse to call out her mighty hammer; unfortunately, Ranma had not yet put his foot in his mouth.

Urkyo had chosen this moment to make her presence know and said, "Ranchan, I brought you lunch. I made you your favorite today."

Ranma sighed, for some reason he was not as hungry as his usual self. Infact he had problems just finishing his lunch that Kasumi made. He figured it had something to do with reclaiming Excalibur but was going to ask Merlin about it later to be on the safe side. Looking at his so-called 'Cute fiancée' Ranma said, "No thanks, I already ate."

Uchan frowned this was not her Ranma; her Ranma was always ready for something to eat. Brandishing her battle spatula she said, "Ok I am going to give you to the count of three to tell me what you did with my Ranchan or I am going to have to get physical."

Narrowing his eyes Ranma scowled, the girl just decided because he was not hungry that he was an imposter. In a low growl Ranma said, "Urkyo, I am not hungry that does not mean that I am an imposter, it just means that Kasumi made me a larger lunch than usual thinking that I was going to miss breakfast. Fortunately I was able to eat this morning after I got back from seeing Dr. Tofu, so I am quite full at the moment."

Urkyo let her posture return to a less menacing stance and sighed in relief.

Akane heard this exchange and was suspicious, she had decided to make Ranma lunch this morning and brought it with her as a surprise. Someone must of tipped Ranma off and told him because there was no way that he could be full already. She decided that there was only one course of action left to her. In a moment her mallet materialized in her hands taking a few powerful strides forward she yelled, "Ranma No Baka, I made you lunch and you dare say that you are full." With that, she brought mallet-sama to bear and was waiting for the usual sensation she received as Ranma was pounded, as he deserved.

Ranma took a brief second to ponder his actions. On one hand he could just let her hit him and she would leave him alone for awhile, on the other hand he could disable her and hit her sleep point leaving her out for a few hours. Either way he would get some peace and quiet. Not feeling like being used as a punching bag for one girls own insecurities Ranma slid away from the mallet and ducked behind Akane. He hit her sleep point and caught her as her form sunk down to the ground. After a moment, he hit a few other pressure points to guarantee that she would be out until the end of the school day. Looking back at the stunned expression of Urkyo Ranma said, "I am not in the mood for shenanigans today, I am going to go set her on the cot in the nurses office, see you later."

Before leaving the nurses office Ranma took out a pen and paper and wrote down, "Ryouga is p-chan, next time you see him if you don't believe this dump the respective water on him to find out. Signed a friend." Ranma left the office satisfied he did not tell her directly and was going to leave a note on her desk in her room and in Nabiki's room as well just to make sure she read it. Frowning Ranma decided that it was time for him to leave; he had already tipped too many people off because it was difficult for him to maintain his old appearance. As the late bell rung, Ranma was walking out the doors of the school to go gather his pack from the Tendo's. As he approached the school gate his danger sense went off, rolling to the side he saw Kuno standing there wearing a very familiar looking Dogi and brandishing a real katana.

"Hold foul demon, I have grown weary of your ensnarement of my loves. Today you shall kneel before your betters as I bring your wretched life to an end, for I am the blue thunder, hand of Kami-sama and your executioner." With his speech over Kuno lunged forward with greater speed and skill than he had ever shown before.

Ranma found himself hard pressed to stay in the fight, Kuno's speed and skill had doubled and was threatening to overwhelm his defenses.

Kuno snarled with glee at seeing his nemesis on the ropes he knew it was only a matter of time before he would smite his unworthy opponent.

Ranma was dodging near frantically as blades of steel and air whizzed around his form, he knew that he had to do something otherwise he would be finished. Unable to get any distance away from his foe to fire off a Moko tabisha Ranma racked his battle hardened mind for a solution. Sighing in defeat he knew what he must do. With a flick of his wrist he summoned Excalibur to his hand and brought it up just as kuno was about to land a decapitating blow.

Kuno stood in slight shock, the foul Saotome summoned a blade out of nowhere, and somehow he knew this was an example of his true colors. Drawing his blade back, Kuno prepared himself to launch off a series of slashes that would mow down his opponent.

Ranma stood defiantly with his blade locked with Kuno's katana, staring into the blunder's face he said, "I'll give you one chance to walk away, if you leave now I won't hurt you. However if you choose to stay and fight make no mistake I am done playing Mr. nice guy."

Kuno bellowed in rage how dare this upstart whelp soil his sword by using an inferior western sword. It's mere presence was not even worthy to be in the presence of the honorable blade of the Kuno family. Stepping back Kuno freed his sword and without hesitation moved forward once more attempting to strike his opponent.

Ranma was starting to get irritated, swinging his sword with one hand Ranma improvised a combination of anything goes and western swordplay into action.

While Kuno's swings were arcs that used momentum, Ranma was able to parry the blows away. After a few moments of analyzing Kuno's movements Ranma started to lash out. Sending a small amount of ki into his sword Ranma went on the offensive and was quickly driving Kuno back, even with Kuno having help from the Dogi that he was wearing.

With one final swing of his sword, Ranma shattered the Kuno blade and pressed the tip against Kuno's neck. With a snarl Ranma said, "Accept defeat and swear on your honor that you will cease attacking me as well as give up your pursuit of your pig-tailed goddess and I will let you live. Continue to attack me and I will smite the entire Kuno clan off the face of the earth."

A dark wet spot appeared on Kuno's pants and continued to grow as the youth stood in place shaking. For the first time in years sanity washed across his mind, and he did not like what he saw. In order to save his family he had to give up attempting to kill Saotome and lose one of his loves. Hindsight was twenty twenty as he realized that he was attacking an honorable opponent without a valid reason. He knew he was on thin ice and was slightly shocked that this had not come sooner. With a sigh he said, "I shall cease and desist in my dishonorable actions, today I have seen that you are truly honorable and that I have made a great error. I would like to atone for my actions and offer my self to your mercy."

Ranma withdrew his sword wearily and said, "Just go home and leave me alone, if you are serous about changing your ways than perhaps we can become friends, but for now I just want you to leave me alone."

Kuno regained his composure and gave a small bow before turning around and walking away.

Once Kuno was out of his sight Ranma sighed and leaned up against the wall, he was relieved that his bluff had not been called. He may have killed in the past but in his current life, he did not like even approaching that barrier unless it was absolutely necessary.

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Ranma crept silently across the roof top he had just delivered the two letters giving away pchans identity and now was retrieving his pack and what little possessions that he had. By leaving he was going to loose his mother but it was for the best, he knew that morally he could not live up to her standards of manliness. Who knows maybe in the future he might be able to patch things up, at the moment he was doubt full but decided to leave her a letter discussing part of the reason he was leaving as well as stating his displeasure of her actions. After consideration he decided to pull out a pen and pad of paper and added to the letter a few highlights of his child hood. It was his hope that she might understand and make an effort to change herself for the better. Since he had the pad out he decided to write a quick note to Kasumi, he knew that Merlin had feelings for her and it was very likely that he would see her again just wrote a simple goodbye and thanks.

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After finishing his letters and depositing them where he knew the proper people would find them, Ranma crept into his room and gathered his stuff. As he started to climb out of the windowsill he turned and gave the room a once over. It held a lot of memories not all of them bad, in many ways this had been his home and he would always think of it as such.

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Ranma wondered around Nerima for a while saying goodbye to his usual haunts while cloaked in the umi sen ken. It was more for sentimental reasons but he also had to kill some time before Dr. Tofu was done with clients. After a few hours down memory lane Ranma took notice of the time and made his way over to the clinic.

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Ranma arrived ten minutes after Tofu's last client left, taking notice of the empty office he made his way to the back and headed up the stairs to Tofu's apartment. Knocking at the door Ranma was greeted and ushered inside to a table.

Sitting down Ranma asked, "Well what's up doc."

Merlin chuckled, neither Ranma nor Arthur was known for making jokes but it appeared that Ranma's knew memories where helping him form a sense of humor, even if it was a little lame. After taking a sip of tea he said, "Well I have set you up with a place in Juban; I have also made arrangements for you to attend school." Silently praying for good luck he continued, "Unfortunately, I was unable to get you attending in your proper grade, you will have to repeat your first year."

Ranma waited for the shoe to drop from the look that Tofu was giving him he knew there was more to it. He was slightly surprised when he did not object to repeating a year, he knew that his grades where deplorable and this would give him a second chance. After waiting a moment for Tofu to continue, he realized that the good doctor was waiting for him to respond. With a shrug he said, "Well I am not really over joyed at the prospect of repeating a year. I do recognize that my study habits and grades in the past have been deplorable and I need to do better, so I guess what I am saying is that I really don't mind going back a grade. It will also make it more difficult for anyone to find me."

Merlin nodded and braced himself for the next part. Locking eye's with the reincarnated king he said, "Yes it will, however. Look there is no easy way for me to say this with out you exploding on me but you are going to have to attend as a girl."

Silence

Crickets chirping

Ranma let out a sigh and said, "I must have been dreaming because I swore you just told me that I was going to be attending school as a girl." He then started to chuckle and said, "That was a good one; you had me going there for a minute." Looking over at his friend he saw no hint of a joke, his voice quivered a little and he said, "You are joking right?"

Merlin just shook his head.

"DAMMIT, I AM A GUY WHY IS EVERY ONE SO INTENT ON ME BEING A GIRL."

Merlin held up his hand and Ranma instantly started to calm down. Seeing that he had Ranma's attention he said "Let me explain. One it will help keep the others away from you. Two when you are a woman Excalibur sends out a weaker signal and it is easier for me to suppress. Three I have a way for you to stabilize your curse but it works by locking you in one form for twelve hours then it automatically will switch your form and you will be locked in your other form for twelve hours. This means that you will no longer change with water and not have to worry about compromising situations or changing at the most inconvenient times."

Ranma lowered his head and asked, "Why can't I just go to school as a guy then?"

Merlin shrugged and said, "Well if you want to spend your free time as a woman than ok it's up to you. You need to know though that once you put the item on it will not come off unless two mages take it off of you with your permission."

Ranma sighed as his last hope was taken away from him and said, "But I thought that you were the last mage left."

Merlin shrugged and said, "Yes I am however, the benefits that the artifact give you will make this worth your while. You will be able to gain stability and a sense of normalcy without the worry about being found out. There are a few ways to take your opposite form while you are locked though."

At that Ranma perked up and asked, "Really then why didn't you say so in the first place?"

"Well first of all, it is limited to so many times a day. Then you have to consider that the only way that you can change forms will be by pulling out Excalibur and when you do that you will be detectible to Morganna. You see the artifact is actually a ring that was originally owned by the first prince of Avalon, it originally made to summon armor but in the last few years of the princes life he was cursed and the mages of that time put a anti curse spell on it. When I first found you, I started to rewrite the spell and after several attempts this is the best I could do. The ring was made to be rewritten but I lack the power to fully charge this ring maybe in a few hundred years I can have it to where it can cure you."

Ranma slowly took in the information and resigned himself to being half girl begrudgingly. After another brief silence he asked, "So where am I staying?"

Merlin smiled and said, "Well, you are going to like this; you are only going to be a few blocks away from the high school. The best part is, when you arrived a year ago and I found out whom you where I bought two houses next to each other. I had them tore down and built a large house with an even bigger dojo than what the Tendo's have. Your room is all set up; I took the liberty of buying new clothes for you as well as student uniforms. Yes in order for your disguise to work you are going to have to conform to some of the rules I also suggest that you only practice in the dojo because I set up a spell that will mask your ki to the outside world. As long as you don't practice out in the open not even Morganna will be able to track you magically."

Ranma shrugged; since he was going to have to attend school as a girl, he knew that he would have to wear the uniform. "I guess I will have to dye my hair as well, because I doubt that the Tendo's are going to stop looking for me."

Merlin nodded and said, "Yeah I suppose that that would be a good idea, later after we turn Percival maybe I can make it a bit more permanent. So if you are ready I think it is time for you to put on this ring. It is five thirty now so if you put it on now you will remain a man until five thirty in the morning. After that, we can go and see your new home, and make no mistake it is yours. I might stay there once I close shop here but it belongs to you, don't worry though I will take care of the bills."

Ranma got a wistful look on his face as he mulled over the term home in his head with a smile he said, "Well what are you waiting for, let's get going."

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Notes: next chapter will have more action in it, I just did not want to sick Ranma on good old happi right away. Thanks for your reviews, by the end of the week I should have more updates on my other stories for you. Thanks for reading.