Well I had several doubts about last chapter, I had thought that I was going a little overboard on Ranma reliving his life, and then I figured that it was necessary. Thanks for the reviews, if anybody has any suggestions on how I could do something a little better feel free to let me know. Oh yeah I don't own Ranma or Tenchi. Many thanks to James Axelrad for proof-reading this story.

-----------------Masaki house --------------

Nabiki sat in silence at the table along with Katshuhito, Sasami and Nodoka, Washu was currently in her lab with a much-sedated Ranma. The vision of horror that she had been subjected to not even an hour ago was warring on her conscience. Nabiki had almost been able to catch Ranma before he flung him self into the pit; she remembered clearly that her outstretched arms brushed against the small boy as he fell. Time had seemed to slow to a snails pace as she tried to lower herself into the pit in an attempt to rescue Ranma from himself. Thinking back on the situation she counted the seconds of the event, it had taken her fifteen seconds to reach him. Whereas it only took him two seconds to cry out in pain three more seconds to start screaming and then ten seconds of the most blood curdling screams she had ever had the misfortune to hear. It took five more seconds for Washu to show up and sedate Ranma so that he would not have a chance to slip into the neko ken.

As she sat thinking about the situation she could not help but feel rage and anger against Genma, but that was to be expected. The surprising thing is that she felt almost as much rage to the so-called goddess of Ranma's people. She thought, "Are the gods really that petty and cruel that they would subject a child to such torture. Even though Ranma was not really a child, he was effectively one now. He had been forced to endure this training once before, now he has to relive it. What shocks me the most thought is the fact that he was able to do all the necessary steps to set up the training, it was almost as if he had done it before." Slightly shaking her head she thought, "No, that's not possible. No parent is that sadistic. Wait a sec, there was a movie that Ranma had practically begged me to rent awhile back. He couldn't rent it because he had been banned from the store after my loving sister malleted him through several shelves of movies effectively shutting down the store for a week while repairs and re-orders to replenish the damaged stock was filled. What was the name of that movie…? Oh yeeah it was called Unleashed, it was a new Jet li movie. That night was kinda fun; I tortured Ranma for an hour with a long drawn out photo shoot before I let him watch the movie. He was forced to watch it in my room because my sister wanted to watch some romance movies. There was a line in the movie that caught my attention, Danny as Jet li was called in this movie was raised to be a fighter/attack dog by the man that called himself uncle in the movie when asked how he trained Danny said, "Like my dear old mum used to say, get them when they are young enough and the possibilities are endless."

Those thoughts seemed to become relevant to Ranma's current predicament; it seems that Genma had indeed gotten Ranma when he was young enough. That movie gave her a small amount of hope though; Danny was able to overcome his teachings. With her almost completely melted heart, Nabiki hoped that the same would hold true for Ranma.

Katshuhito sat silently drinking his tea. He arrived at the scene mere moments after Ranma had been sedated. Once he had reached the scene he knew what had happened, the Neko-ken was an old technique, created by Happossi's grandfather; it was one of the many reasons that he had been exiled from Jurai. The more he learned of his grandson's life the more his blood boiled in rage, the only thing keeping him at the shrine was that his newly returned daughter needed his support. He was afraid that if he left her she might consider committing seppiku in an effort to amend for the mistakes that she had no control over. He thought, "I will stay here for now but the moment the life's of my daughter and grandson are safe, not even the gods themselves will dare to stand in my way to avenge my family. Happossi went too far, soon he will try to make a move, I must train the bastard is very good at fighting, it was only with Tsunami's blessing that I was able to defeat him last time."

Katshuhito gazed around the room trying to analyze everyone's mental state, Nabiki seemed to be visually upset but hopefull as well. Sasami was silent, he suspected that Sasami knew a lot more than she was letting on, it was apparent that she was distraught over the entire mess. His daughter seemed to shift between despair and self-loathing. He knew that it was going to be difficult to get her out of her depression, too many things have happened. Katshuhito knew that Nodoka's recovery was dependant on Ranma's recovery, the woman would continue to punish herself until Ranma recovered no matter what she was told. On the plus side, he could not help but swell in pride over the strength that his newfound grandson possessed, even reduced physically and mentally to a child Ranma was still inhumanly strong and fast. At breakfast, everyone had been curious about what Ranma was like before and had wanted to know many of the small day-to-day events that occurred. What was surprising was that Ayeka and Ryoko have temporarily ceased in their constant fighting over Tenchi until there is some resolution concerning Ranma. At this time Katshuhito noticed that Sasami had gotten out of her seat, he watched as his sister gave his daughter a brief hug before taking of in the direction of Washu's lab. Seeing his daughter get even more depressed at the gesture Yosho decided to quietly get up and lead his daughter into the other room so he could comfort her.

--------------Washu's lab --------

Washu paced angrily around her lab; currently Ranma was laid out in restraints on a table. The cause of her anger was not the man turned child but the actions of her sister. According to Sasami and Nabiki, this was the only way to help Ranma recover but that could not be true. Science would surely prevail all she needed was time. With a bitter curse she thought, "Time, it all boils down to time. There just was not enough time to research a proper antidote for Ranma's condition. Now he is trapped in a younger body so his mind can heal, the problem is that he almost died today. If I had acted any later, he would have died. If I allow him to wake up he will probably try to continue with that training again, and I am not certain if he would live through a second attempt. If only he didn't have to go through this alone, if there was some one else with him he might be able to beat this." Washu was brought out of her musings by Sasami walking into the room.

Not bothering to turn around to address the girl Washu asked, "What can I do for you Sasami?"

Sasami looked at Washu's back sadly, she knew that their were many people that were upset with Tsunami. But she knew the truth; this was the only way that would give Ranma a chance. She knew it was not fair to him that he should have to relive his own life and act out his memories but the other option was worse. The only other thing that Tsunami could have done would have completely erased Ranma's mind and that was unacceptable. It was not that Ranma was needed, even though he was, it would have been a crime to do away with what made Ranma, Ranma. Ranma was a good person highly skilled and had an extremely gentle soul. Sure he was brash, arrogant and had many issues but that was secondary to his heart. Clearing her throat she said, "Washu-chan, I have something for Ranma, Tenchi and Lady Nodoka." Waiting for the redheaded scientist to turn around she continued, "It might help Ranma, but Tsunami isn't sure."

Washu was almost going to ignore Sasami at first because she was irritated with her sister and Sasami was the closest that she could come to displaying her anger. Shaking her head she thought, "What am I doing, this is Sasami, even if I am upset with my sister I can't possibly be upset with her she is just a sweet child. I might as well face the truth, I am just so frustrated that with all my knowledge I was unable to help the only thing I could come up with was a complete memory erasure and that would have been the same as death." Turning around with a sigh she asked, "What is it?"

Sasami felt the change in Washu's demeanor and was relieved a little. Smiling she said, "Tsunami thought that Ranma and Nodoka might benefit from being bonded with a tree. Though she is worried that it might not be enough to help, she was thinking that you might have some ideas of your own that might help."

At that point, in the conversation Ryo-ohki came into the room and leapt onto Sasami's shoulder.

Washu noticed Ryo-ohki's entrance and almost immediately, her mind was spinning. Turing back she said, "Thanks Sasami and tell my sister I understand. I will start working on Ranma's tree immediately and then I will get Nodoka's and Tenchi's ready, if you will excuse me I have work to do." Walking out of her lab and into another lab Washu sat at a desk and pondered her actions if she was to do this she had to tell lady Masaki and that was something that she really didn't want to do until Ranma had enough time to recover With a sigh she started to record thinking, "Well if I have to tell her I might as well buy some time with this, the message should reach her in about three weeks and by then hopefully Ranma will have healed enough to regain his true self."

----------Upstairs with Katshuhito and Nodoka ---------

The crown prince of Jurai led his distraught daughter over to the couch and sat next to her. Embracing her he said, "Daughter I know that this is hard for you, but you have to understand that this is not your fault."

Nodoka sat wallowing in self-hate and despair, looking at her father she said, "How can I not be to blame. He is my son. I allowed that bastard to take him on that training trip, I was the one that was too weak to fight when he took us. If I had been stronger I might have been able to defeat him, but I do not know. The memory is faint and I only have glimpses of what happened, right now I think that there were others that were there but I am not positive."

Yosho squeezed the woman's shoulder and said, "If anyone is to blame besides those three bastards it is I. If I had not sealed your Jurainian, powers you would have been able to over power them with the exception of Happossi. If nothing else, you would have been able to last long enough for me to be alerted about the situation. You must stop blaming your self, it is not healthy and it is not your fault. What else could you have done?"

Nodoka sat quietly thinking to her self, "He could be right, what else could I of done. From my hazy memories, I fought hard and even after them taking us, I fought every day. However, in the end, I still failed him, I could not protect him nor could I save him when it mattered. What am I supposed to do, I know I need to be strong for my son, but I can't help but feel disgusted with myself over the fact that I was almost willing to kill him because he was cursed. Father is right, though this is not my fault, every moment more of my memories return to me as the fog that has been clouding my judgment diminishes." Turning to face her father she said, "Father I know that there is little more that I could of done, but this is difficult for me. As I learn what my son faced I cannot help but feel pain for not being there for him. I love my son, but I don't know if I can ever make it up to him, when I saw him transform into a girl at the school the look she gave me sends shivers down my spine."

Katshuhito sighed, firmly grasped his daughter's arms, and said, "At the school, he was feeling the effects of that potion, that was not how he felt about you and you know it."

Nodoka sighed and started to cry, she sobbed out, "Father you don't understand, before that, every time I saw Ranko as he was introduced to me, she was always so nervous around me. Looking back, I can clearly see that she was looking at me with fear and pain. She always seemed so lonely and all I ever did was try to make her into the perfect woman. How could I of done that to my son, he kept the truth hidden from me out of fear."

Katshuhito hugged the woman and sat there quietly allowing her to regain some of her composure. After a few minutes, she seemed calm enough, once again looking his daughter in her eyes he said, "You have to stop blaming yourself over this. Right now, your son needs you; you have been given a second chance. Take this opportunity to help him, it will allow yourself to alleviate some of the guilt that you are carrying around. He loves you and you know it, quit doubting yourself or we might lose him as well as you. Daughter you must be strong for this, you and Ranma are in a lot of danger." As Katshuhito finished he crossed his fingers hoping that his daughter would start to heal. He was feeling so helpless all he wanted to do was hold her and make the pain go away but he knew that that was not an option. Getting up from the couch he said, "Nodoka I am going to go outside and train, would you like to go with me?" Pausing for a moment he added, "I think its time for me to unlock your heritage and birth right; you will probably need the strength for what is to come."

Nodoka nodded silently and followed her father out of the house.

--------- With Cologne and Shampoo ----------

The two warriors sat in the clearing waiting for the blind duck to return. Neither had much to say, they were currently trying to mentally prepare themselves up for an upcoming battle. Cologne knew that those at the shrine where she felt her errant son-in-law was residing were all extremely powerful. She had sent word back to the council telling them of this as well as asking for two more elders and two squads of Amazon warriors to assist them. Sure, she could give up and return home but she did not want the past year to be wasted, Ranma was too valuable. Hearing a rustling behind her she turned and said, "Happi I know you are there, come on out."

"Co-chan is that anyway to speak to your lover."

Whacking at the demented diminutive pervert she said, "When where you ever my lover?"

Shampoo who had been working at the soul of ice through meditation started to turn slightly green around the gills and said in Chinese, "Great-Grandmother I am going to check and see if I can find Mousse."

"If you find him stay away, I think he is going to betray us. I want to be sure before we act and I don't want him alerted to our presence."

At that, Shampoo quickly left the clearing.

Seeing Shampoo leave Happossi said, "So Co-chan, it seems that you have a slight problem."

"Whatever do you mean?" Cologne smugly shot back.

"I mean that I know how powerful those people at the shrine are. I know that there is no way for you to defeat them by yourself."

Cologne quirked her brow and asked, "What do you know about these people?"

Happossi grinned and said, "It started back when my grandfather…"

------------Nerima -----------

Tenchi, Ryoko and Ayeka had been walking around for the past hour, originally they were only going to wait for another half hour but after the time passed, they went by the dojo. Ryoko was the only one to go in, she had quickly teleported room to room searching for the woman but had no success in finding her. It was after that that they decided to search around the town to see if they maybe just missed her somewhere.

Walking down the street Tenchi looked behind him and noticed that both girls have been getting along very well lately. Deciding to break the silence he asked, "Um, Ayeka, Ryoko do you mind if I ask you girls a question?"

Both girls nodded and said, "Of course Tenchi-sama."

Tenchi shook his head while thinking," CREEPY. Hope they don't do this all the time, I think I would go crazy if both Ayeka and Ryoko answered me in tandem when they spoke." After banishing the more disturbing thoughts he asked, "You two seem to be getting along better and haven't fought once since Ranma came to the shrine."

Ayeka was the first to answer she said, "Lord Tenchi, we decided that some things are more important to us than fighting right now. Lord Ranma has been violated and needs our help. Besides, we both know that our fights tend to get a little destructive and with Ranma there he might get hurt."

Ryoko nodded at Ayeka's answer and added, "Plus we figured that if we can get along now then in the future we could get along as Co-wife's. Besides we like the little squirt."

At the mention of co-wife's Tenchi started to feel faint and almost ran into somebody. Not looking at the woman he said, "Sorry I was not looking where I was going."

The woman responded in a pleasant voice, "Oh my, are you alright? You look a little warm."

Tenchi was about to speak when he hear twin growls coming from behind him. Shuddering he said, "No, thanks for the concern but I am fine." At this time he looked at the woman that he had ran into. Quickly he pulled a picture out of his pocket and held it so that he could look at the woman and the picture at the same time. After a moment of rapidly looking back and forth, he started to feel the temperature rise behind him. Not wanting to make a scene he said, "Ryoko, Ayeka, I think I just found Kasumi."

The woman blinked and asked, "Excuse me but do you know me?"

Ayeka noticing that Tenchi was having difficulties, stepped forward and said, "Are you Kasumi Tendo?"

The woman blinked again and replied, "Yes. Can I help you?"

Ryoko who was now standing beside Ayeka held out a white envelope and said, "We were sent by your sister Nabiki, she told us to give this to you."

Kasumi looked at the three people and carefully took the letter. After reading it she said, "Oh my, well if I am supposed to go with you I think we should get going. Can you tell me what is going on; the letter was a little vague."

----------------------- With Nabiki -----

Slash

Step

Strike

Jump

Spin

Slash

Currently Nabiki was outside practicing, she had decided to practice because every one else left the dining room and was off doing something constructive. It was not that she did not want to practice; it was more of a feeling of helplessness that had her seated at the table. She was confused. The past few days had been mentally trying for even her and Ranma was making things worse. It was not his fault; it was just in his nature. This neo child-Ranma had many of the same traits and mannerisms of the old Ranma but the brashness of his speech was gone. Now it seemed that Ranma's more endearing traits were shining through.

Rationally she knew that Ranma was just being a kid, but the stuff he said confused her. Earlier that morning before everyone had left to implement the plan, Ranma had sought her out, and the conversation had her blushing until she got back and saw him dive into the pit.

------- Flashback -----

"Nabiki, Nabiki, where are you?"

Nabiki smiled as she heard the neo child, stepping out of her room she called out, "I am Right here by my room Ranma. It's first thing in the morning, I was just going to go down and see if breakfast was ready."

Ranma ran up to the older woman and started jumping up and down as if he was excited about something and said, "Nabiki, guess what."

Internally groaning Nabiki smiled and asked sweetly, "What?"

"I said guess, you're supposed to guess."

Mentally slamming her head into a wall she said, "Ranma I just woke up, it's too early to guess."

Ranma pouted for a minute before his smile returned and said, "Ah fine, well I'll tell you anyway. I was talking to Ayeka-san and she told me something. Do you wanna know what she told me?"

Nabiki shrugged, it was probably something silly or an old story from their home world. It was not that she was not interested it was that she really needed her morning cup of Joe to be fully aware. Holding back a growl of irritation she said, "Ok, I'll bite, what she told you."

After hearing the first part Ranma blanched, took a step back and begged, "No please don't bite me."

Nabiki did sigh at that remark and replied, "Ranma it is a figure of speech. It doesn't mean that I am going to bite you, it means that I am interested and want to know what you were told."

Ranma let out an enthusiastic sigh and said, "So are you sure you aren't going to bite me?"

There were times that Nabiki prided herself in her restraint and control; today was not one of those days. She did not want to smack him or anything bad but she had an overwhelming urge to bop the youngster on his head for pulling this before breakfast. Exasperated she said, "Come on Ranma, are you going to tell me or what?"

Smiling happily Ranma said, "Well Ayeka-san told me that I was a prince."

Nabiki, knowing this already from her conversation with, Tsunami just nodded and waited to see if there was any more before she continued downstairs.

Ranma seeing that he had his audiences undivided attention continued, "Well she then said that I might have to get married. That kinda grossed me out because I might get stuck having to marry some tomboy or something. Ayeka then told me that even though parents didn't always make their kids get married it happens. That got me to thinking, they can't force me to get married if I get married first. But I didn't know who I wanted to marry. There is Sasami-san she is really nice, then Ayeka-san and Ryoko-san, but I think they like my cousin. I like Washu-chan, though I don't know why she wants me to call her chan when she is older than me. But then I thought bout you, I like you the best so I thought that we could get married."

Nabiki was in shock, her eyes searched wildly for the end of all creation. Here Ranma was proposing to her, a jock that seldom expressed his feelings with words. Realization dawned on her as she noticed the color of Ranma's hair. Lightly giggling in amusement she asked, "So you decided to come up here and propose to me so that I can rule along your side, eh."

Ranma blushed and looked down at her feet and quietly said, "Yeah, plus I don't wanna have to marry some guy."

------ End flashback ----

Nabiki stopped in her routine to think about that. Ranma had asked her to marry him, sure, he asked because of many mitigating circumstances but he was extremely nervous when she asked for confirmation. She thought, "It's a shame that when Ranma regains his true self that he won't be as verbally open. Then again, which one is his true self? I only know the Ranma who spent years on the road being manipulated and abused, who is to say what a Ranma who had been loved might be like." Staring off into space Nabiki softly prayed, "Just don't change too much on me."

---------- Inside the house ------

Sasami walked towards Washu's lab to inform her that lunch was now ready, when she was stopped in her tracks by a loud cackling that seemed to emanate from all around her. Nodding over at Ryo-ohki she said, "Looks like Washu-chan has figured out a way to help Ranma."

--------Notes ----------

Even though it appears that Happossi is going to tell Cologne his story, remember he has an alterative motive and is most likely not going to tell her the full truth.