Ami and Ranma walked down the road to Okonomiyaki Ucchan's so that they could order and pick up dinner for everyone. The parents had asked Ranma to go get dinner as Kasumi was too surprised from Akane's atavism to cook. Besides, it gave the adults a chance to get Ami away from Akane and help the poor girl calm down. Ranma had picked the restaurant he had because he wanted to check on how Ukyo was doing with her curse in regular life.

Soon the duo reached Okonomiyaki Ucchan's and Ranma opened the door. They had arrived between rushes because there were just a couple of people sitting in a few booths finishing up their meals. Ukyo looked up and smiled when she saw Ranma walk in. She also spotted Ami and wondered who the kid was that Ranma was looking after. With her usual cheer she called out, "Hey there Ran-chan! How can I help you?"

Ranma smiled as he walked towards the griddle. "Good to see you Ucchan. I came over to place an order so that everyone at the dojo plus a few guests could have dinner."

That threw Ukyo for a loop. "Usually, you guys call ahead when you want to order dinner. Is there an issue with the dojo's phone?"

"The phone is fine. However, there was an incident and Mr. Tendo thought it would be good for me to take his niece Ami here out to get dinner for everyone and not hurry about it. Besides, I wanted to see how you're coping with the chemical attack at school."

Ukyo let out a small groan as she muttered. "Really? You guys are having another adventure now? It's barely been a week since the attack! Just give me your order so I can start cooking and then we can talk more." She got the order from Ranma and had to finish up a couple of called in orders. A full Saotome and Tendo family meal required the full grill top to cook.

While Ukyo finished up her orders, Ranma looked around and noticed some changes to the restaurant's layout. Several tables had been removed increasing the spacing between tables. Said spacing was enough that a donkey could easily walk through. There were also almost a dozen spray bottles on warmers hidden throughout the restaurant in both the customer area and the prep area. Near each bottle in the customer area were hidden one of Ukyo's outfits. Ranma had spotted part of a sleeve sticking out of one hiding spot and then spotted the other hidden compartments. He also spotted thermometers added to every bucket Ukyo had. Each thermometer had a red tape on the same temperature which Ranma knew was the triggering point for the curse.

His observations had not gone unnoticed by the proprietor. Ukyo chuckled and said, "I've had to make some adjustments since the attack as you can tell. Cold water traveling uphill to hit someone seems funny until it happens to you."

"It happens."

Ukyo nodded her head as she got the ingredients for the order ready. She was just grateful that so much of her work involved hot liquids instead of cold liquids. Keeping the restaurant open was hard enough for her without the curse acting up. She then said, "I haven't told you before Ran-Chan, but thank you so much for getting those extra classes set up for everyone at school. They've been a big help in letting me cope with everything."

Ranma nodded his head and replied, "No problem, Ukyo. Someone needed to step up and since no one else was doing it I figured I couldn't mess things up worse. Sorry about not checking in with you sooner but between the physical therapy classes I teach, school, and Snarf's extra lessons I don't have much free time. I hope the physical therapy classes haven't been taking too much time from the restaurant for you."

As Ukyo was flipping the okonomiyaki she answered. "It's been taking more time than I would like. Between that and the lower seating capacity my profit margins are lower than I'd like. Still in the black, but not as much padding for a rainy day as I'm used to having in my monthly budget. Thinking of focusing more on to-go orders to make up for the lower seating capacity, but I need to do a cost analysis first and going to a consultant for that would be expensive. Then there's the fact that the consultant might find that it wouldn't be profitable for me to do the shift so I will have spent the money only to prevent potential loss. I don't mind the idea of saving myself from making a poor business move, but those costs are high."

A thought came to Ranma. "Nabiki has been taking some AP courses in business and I think she mention having done marketing and accounting last semester. Maybe you could talk to her about doing a rough study to see if it's worth getting a professional's services? You could probably get her to agree with a couple of meal coupons or something."

Ukyo started to box Ranma's order as she spoke. "Really? Do you think Nabiki could help?"

"I don't know for sure Ukyo. I have black belts in martial arts and not business. I know Nabiki has an interest in business and has been studying it. How helpful she could be and if it is worth getting her help is something you'll be more suitable at figuring out than I am."

"Well thanks for the attempt at help Ran-Chan. Here is your order ready to go. I just need the yen and its yours."

Ranma handed Ukyo the money for the order and handed Ami several bags to start her training. He took the rest and got the door for the preteen. Once they were out, he asked Ami. "Are you ready to go to the dojo?"

Ami looked down at the sidewalk for a moment and then said, "I guess so. I'm just trying understand everything that happened today. How do you stay so calm given everything that happened?"

With a shrug Ranma replied, "You get used to it kid. I mean when I first got my curse in its original form I freaked out for a bit. Then I realized there wasn't anything I could do about it at the time so I started to try and cope with it. You just have to deal with it all one day at a time and keep a goal in mind as you work through your issues."

The duo started to walk back to the dojo as Ranma continued to talk. "Your goal doesn't even have to be a realistic goal so long as you have something to work to. My goal at first was finding a cure for my curse which wasn't going to happen. Jusenkyo doesn't give up its hold on people. You either have your curse changed or you have to give up your birth form as Akane showed. I don't regret chasing after that goal because chasing it allowed me to develop the maturity to handle some hard truths."

Not exactly what Ami wanted to hear since there seemed to be no easy way to deal with the 'family inheritance' as her mother put it. She could at least take comfort in the fact that one could learn how to cope with the insanity. Ranma's words brought another question to her mind. "What's your goal now Ranma?"

"I've got many goals now kid. I want to help my fellow students cope with their curses. I want to master magic so I can merge it with my martial arts. I'd like to find the reborn princess of Saturn since we were supposed to be friends in our past lives. I'd like to get it sorted out exactly who is supposed to be the future Mrs. Ranma Saotome. But my overriding goal is being able to restore Thundera and allowing my sleeping subject to live there once again. All my other goals need to be tied into that overarching goal even though it will be years if not decades before I will be ready to restore Thundera."

Akane awoke to find herself on a futon in the old bomb shelter built under the house. She was so sore and hungry. As Akane started to get up she discovered that her wrists were shackled and chained to the floor. She tried to move her shackles so she could look at the locks and found the outside of them burning hot to the touch. Akane looked around and saw some ofuda attached to the chains. On the Ofuda was written 'burn demon if not contained'. Why would something like this affect her?

Then from behind her Akane heard the surprisingly gruff voice of her father harrumphing and signifying that he was not happy at all. Akane turned around and saw her father sitting in a chair with a carryout meal in a bag next to him. The hard look in his eyes made her feel two centimeters tall. There was cold fury in Soun's voice as he spoke. "It's about time you woke up daughter. Now you will sit there and stay silent. Words cannot express just how disappointed I am at you right now or the trouble you have caused for everyone."

Akane couldn't believe what was going on and blurted out, "Father what is."

She was cut off by Soun calling out. "Sit!" The subjugation beads activated slamming Akane face first into the stone floor. Akane hissed out in pain as the parts of her touching the outside of the shackles and the chains felt like they were burning. Soun got up and slowly walked over to his youngest forcing himself not to run over and help her. He hated himself, but the only option for now was extreme tough love or Akane might have to be put down. A berserker hanyo was a threat to society and the veneer of a rationalist worldview that no one could tolerate. Akane's only saving grace right now that everything she had done had been done in private and within the 'family'.

"I said you will be silent Akane! You messed up big time and now it's time for you to pay for the consequences of your actions. Between your temper and Jusenkyo's magic you managed to awaken the latent yokai blood in your veins. I suppose that congratulations are in order as you no longer have to worry about transforming with hot or cold water. You can thank your sister later for testing this fact. I'm no master at magic, but it seems that you somehow managed to burnout Jusenkyo's magic to transform yourself meaning you are technically cured of your curse. It only took you sacrificing half of your humanity and attempting to brutally assault your own cousin!"

"Let me be perfectly clear to you Akane. I love dearly as my daughter, but you are currently on your absolute last chance to avoid being locked up for the rest of your life or being put down as a rabid animal. This bomb shelter will be your room until we can acquire some sort of talisman to help seal your yokai blood so you don't turn into an enraged berserker every time you get mad. Until we have that talisman you will not leave this room except to visit the restroom under escort. To those not in the know you are having a very rare and unexpected delayed reaction to the chemical attack. We publicly don't know how long this reaction lasts or how serious it will be. I can tell you right now that it will end once we get that talisman."

"Even when we get you the talisman and we can let you out of here there will be new rules and restrictions placed on you. If the talisman sealing your yokai blood ever breaks you will go right back in here until a new one is acquired. The beads of subjugation you are wearing will never be taken off. They can only be magically removed by me and when I died someone else will put a new set on you becoming your handler. If somehow the beads are broken while you have your talisman get back into this room until a new set of beads can be put on you. If the kami really are out for us and both your talisman and the beads are destroyed then you must head in here immediately and lock yourself up until replacements can be procured."

"In any case, you must stay calm and try harder than ever to not lose your temper in public. A person in your situation is subject to much more draconian off the book punishments when they commit a crime as we cannot have a hanyo showing up in court on daytime tv. If you ever go into a blood rage again like you did when your atavism triggered and you maim someone, I will not be able to protect you at all. In such a situation Akane you will have to be put down permanently."

"To help us avoid this fate I will be signing you up for anger counselling sessions once your talisman arrives. I had long hoped that you would have gained enough control of your temper that such measures would not be needed given the shame such lessons would bring on us. However, better we suffer the shame of this then the dishonor of you going into a blood rage and having to be killed. Now eat your meal in silence and someone will be down to let you visit the restroom before bedtime."

Soun passed Akane her cold meal and turned his back to her. He then said as an afterthought. "Perhaps this bit of news will help you keep your temper. Your engagement with Ranma has been terminated due to your failings. At least the Saotomes are willing to renew the engagement agreement with one of your sisters in your place. I will also be changing my will so that either Nabiki or Kasumi inherits the dojo so you don't have to stress about teaching the Tendo School of Anything Goes. You can now just focus on preventing your temper from getting yourself killed."

He then left the room and closed the bunker door behind him. The bunker was then locked, bolted, and a thick wooden beam put in place over it. Three ofuda were placed on the beam to help keep Akane locked within. Soun walked with the last of his strength into the dojo and came before the family shrine. He lit incense and then fell to his knees in tears.

"Please ancestors, kami, anyone that might be listening to me. Help me save my youngest daughter from herself. I beg of all of you do not let her cross that final line. Doing my duty in that case is not something I think I could do. Even if I could muster the strength to do what would have to be done, I know I could not live with myself afterwards. For the sake of my other daughters, I ask you not to take their youngest sister and their father from them."

Over and over again Soun repeated his plea not expecting an answer. Genma placed a hand on Soun's shoulder and spoke. "Don't worry old buddy. We'll do everything we can to keep Akane from reaching that point. If the worst should happen you will not have to find the strength to do what would have to be done. We both swore decades ago that we'd be there for each other to help when the other is facing a challenge that they cannot handle alone. You helped me when I needed to face Nodoka's situation and carried me through when I couldn't find the strength to do what had to be done. I will not back down for you."

Soun looked up at Genma and saw a resolute look on his old friend's face. Part of Soun was happy Genma was stepping up for him. Another part was worried he had misunderstood Genma. Yet another part was afraid he had understood Genma all too clearly. Soun knew he needed clarification and asked, "What do you mean old friend?"

Genma looked Soun in the eye and said, "I supposed this is something that has to be said so that there is no misunderstanding. If Akane crosses the line in a potential future bloodlust you will not be putting her down. Having a parent burry their child is already hard enough and asking a parent to slay their child is too much for anyone to demand. I will step in to put her down myself taking on all of your loathing and the 'could haves' along with the 'if only' that you would otherwise crush yourself with."

There was fear and uncertainty in Soun's eyes as he looked up at Genma. "Old friend, I cannot ask you to do this. I'm the member of the city government so it is my responsibility if the worst does come to pass. I also do not think I would be able to forgive you for killing one of my daughters even in such hypothetical situation."

The portly martial artist sat down next to his sworn brother and said, "If the kami are indeed so cruel as to make such a thing come to pass then I will not ask for your forgiveness. I would not be able to grant it if I was in your position with Ranma even though I know in such a situation you would be making the same offer I am making now to me. I will pay the price Soun if personal hatred towards me is the price that must be paid to insure you keep living. May I never have to pay it, but I will if necessary."

It was Ami's fervent hope when she first woke up that morning that yesterday had just been one terrible dream. The henshin bracelet on her wrist immediately told Ami her hope was in vain. Everything came flooding back to her. Tessaiga deciding for some reason that she should be its next wielder. Next there was the discovery that she was a reincarnated princess of a world science was convinced was never capable of sustaining life. Then to crown all the bizarreness was Akane turning into a monster after she got mad and attacked Ami. Shivers ran down Ami's spine as she remembered the look of utter bestial hate on Akane's face at that time.

That demonic look on her usually cheerful cousin's face had haunted Ami's nightmares and would no doubt do so for weeks if not months to come. She headed to the bathroom, put out the occupied sign, and washed away the nightmares. She then got ready for the day and left so that Nabiki could use the restroom.

Ami decided to held down to get some breakfast. She was surprised to hear the sound of bacon being fried. There was also a very enjoyable smell coming from the kitchen. This piqued Ami's curiosity so she wandered over to the kitchen and stuck her head in.

Kasumi and Snarf were both hard at work preparing a warm homemade breakfast. Snarf was frying the bacon while Kasumi was taking out some freshly made blueberry muffins. There was also a big kettle cooking on one of the burners with several bowls of different shredded cheeses. Ami stepped in and said, "Good morning. Everything smells good so I'm curious as to what's for breakfast."

Snarf looked up and smiled. "Good morning, Lady Ami. Kasumi and I are trying to make an approximation of a traditional Mercurial breakfast dish to cheer everyone up over the regrettable parts of yesterday and to give you a taste of your soul's inheritance. This is one of the simpler meals to be sure and it tended to be the choice of Mercurial guards and the lower levels of Mercurial society. However, I do recall that your past life tended to prefer this dish for breakfast when she didn't have any formal meetings during breakfast."

"We've had to do a fair number of substitutes, but the dish is the best we can do given the circumstances. I don't recall what the Mercurial name for the dish was offhand. But, Thunderans called it Mercury Breakfast Porridge. It is a girts based porridge sweetened with honey with several types of cheeses and crushed fried bits of a boar. Kasumi was kind enough to figure out what cheeses and bacon would be good substitutes for the Mercurial varieties in the authentic dish. She also thought that the muffins would be a nice touch to add to the meal."

Ami thought it was a wonderful idea. She was still getting used to the idea that reincarnation was a provable fact or that someone could identify her past life. The fact that she had been the princess of another planet was still the hardest part of her past life to wrap her head around even though there were several good contenders. Ami then left to do some of her homework before breakfast was served.

It was about twenty minutes later that everyone in the household besides the obvious exception was sitting down to eat breakfast. Soun had a couple of bites of the Mercury Breakfast Porridge interpretation and smiled. "This is pretty good Kasumi. Different from our regular meals and I cannot say how close it is to the original dish. But I can say you made a very enjoyable breakfast."

Kasumi smiled and said, "Thank you father. However, I really couldn't have done this without Snarf's help. He is the one with access to the recipes from that time period."

"Oh Snarf," the furry little guy said as he looked down at the table. "I was just doing what I could to help. If you want, I can work on translating more of the different recipes from throughout the Silver Millennium. I will need help in figuring out appropriate substitutes for many different ingredients though."

"I wouldn't mind helping you Snarf," Kasumi said cheerfully. "It would be a fun project to work on from time to time." That got a round of approvals from the permanent residents of the dojo.

Ami listened as Soun talked occasionally about an interesting article in his newspaper. Genma and her mother were talking about an upcoming medical conference her mother would be lecturing at. Ranma was reading a binder of some sort of sword style training while Nabiki was reading the business section of the newspaper. Kasumi was enjoying a successful meal while Snarf was already worrying about some upcoming project.

It was a very different atmosphere than Ami was used to. Things were quieter at home with it just being her mother and her. Breakfast was usually alone time for Ami reheating whatever her mother had prepared for her. She didn't begrudge her mother for having to head to work so early normally. Her mother had taken that shift at the hospital so that she could be home in the evening to help Ami with her homework. The feeling of family and energy here at the dojo made her normal situation just seem emptier and lonelier in contrast.

Soun spoke up towards the end of breakfast. "I'm glad that we were all able to enjoy this meal." He paused to look at the breakfast sitting on a tray to give to Akane once breakfast was over before continuing. "This family has gone through several surprises all at once yesterday. Some of the surprises have been pleasant and some have not been so enjoyable. One of those surprises has affected a long-standing mater of honor involving the families here."

Nabiki cut in at this point. "Not it!" To emphasis her point she put her arms in front of her in a "x" sign.

Ami turned to her cousin and asked, "not what?"

Nabiki looked at Ranma and then at her father. "It seems obvious to me that you want to transfer the engagement given Akane's mess up. Well, I can tell you right now I don't want it to be me! We already tried that for a week and while I didn't take it that serious at the time; I got enough of a taste of what being engaged to Ranma entails. I don't want to go into that mess again."

She turned to look at Ranma and said, "No offense Ranma, but you deal in too much chaos for my taste. I like you as a brother and I won't mind helping you in the future however I can for a very reasonable price. Being your wife is just unreasonable to me at this time."

Soun sighed and said, "Very well Nabiki. I was hoping that both you and Kasumi would be open to considering this matter." He then turned to Kasumi and said, "Kasumi, would you be willing to accept the engagement given Akane's actions and Nabiki's firm denial?"

The eldest tendo daughter closed her eyes and considered the situation. When Ranma had first showed up she had been eager to pass the engagement on to Akane. Her only experience with long term curses at the time was the tomfoolery curse that a witch had put on Dr. Tofu with her presence as the trigger. Why the witch thought that she was the doctor's crush was beyond her. Dr. Tofu was almost twice her age now and had been more than twice her age when the curse had been cast! That had been aggravating enough that she hadn't wanted to get mixed up with another long-term curse.

There had also been the fact that Ranma was three years younger than her and Kasumi did not have the best of opinions of teenage boys. She knew that there were plenty good teenagers who should be called young men. It was just that one too many stupid 'harmless' acts of 'boys being boys' in high school had put all males under 20 years old in a verify before trust category for Kasumi. Ranma's introduction all those months ago had put her on the defensive.

That had all been months ago and Kasumi needed to consider things based on current circumstances. Ranma's curse hadn't proven to be as annoying as it could have been even when he turned into a girl. Sure, there had been moments that made her want to shake her head. Those moments were generally not as often or as terrible she had first suspected they would be. The Thunderan form Ranma now possessed was also easy on the eyes. Even the inhuman parts of his new form were attractive in an otherworldly manner.

The three years age gap remained and nothing could be done to change that, but it would become a smaller issue as the two of them got older. Her main concern on that matter was Ranma's maturity and her initial fears had been misplaced. Ranma still had lots of maturing to do, but he was not nearly as bad as a boy his age could have been. He also understood the duties he was under and was working to make himself able to fulfill those duties.

On the other hand, there was the fact that several other girls were after Ranma and the misadventures he got into made hers look tame by comparison. Things had been crazy enough just observing from the sidelines. Did she really want to jump into the center of that mess?

Maybe she should look at it another way. What was she giving up by becoming Ranma's fiancée? It wasn't like she really had much of a life for herself outside of the home. None of her friends from high school kept in contact with her being busy with their own lives. Not that she had many friends from high school between her own misadventures and petty jealousy over her looks. In a couple of years if she hadn't found someone, she probably would have gone to her father to arrange a marriage for her before she became a Christmas cake.

When she considered that line of reasoning her answer became obvious to Kasumi. She opened her eyes and firmly said, "I am willing to take up the role of the Tendo participant in the Tendo-Saotome engagement pledge."

Soun gave his daughter a slight bow and said, "Thank you for stepping in like this Kasumi." The other adults at the table soon joined in on congratulating Kasumi for her choice. Ami was just watching the show at the table while Nabiki was breathing a sigh of relief.

Ranma was sitting still in his spot trying to come to terms with what had happened. Soun's shift in the engagement had completely blindsided him. Akane's actions had shocked him, but he never figured that the Tendos would do something like this in response. If anything, he expected someone probably his father, to comment that Akane now being half-human meant that she was an even better match for him. How was he to take this change?

On the one hand, Akane and him had been engaged for months now and that fact had been very familiar to him. The two of them had their ups and downs, but there had been a bit of an understanding between the two of them. Or at least Ranma thought there had been an understanding between them. Girls were impossible to understand even when he had been a girl himself. He wouldn't call it love, even a complete white-belt at relationships like him could tell that what the two of them had wasn't something so deep as love. Maybe respect and friendship were better descriptions of what Akane and he had together.

On the other hand, all the respect and maybe even their friendship that Akane had for him had been destroyed when pork-butt's little game had finally been discovered. Trying to restore what they had would have either taken months if not years or several very terrifying misadventures. Neither option had been something Ranma was looking forward to facing in the future.

Shifting the engagement to Kasumi left him wondering what to do. It wasn't like he had a compelling reason to fight the change and a large part of Ranma was glad he wouldn't have to put in the effort to claw out some sort of understanding with Akane anymore. But what did he really know about Kasumi? How was everyone else going to react to the switch in the engagement? What headaches was he now going to face?

Author's note: I was wondering if the readers over here would prefer it if I shifted Senshi of Thundera from being listed as a Ranma 1/2 Thundercats crossover to a Ranma 1/2 Sailor Moon crossover? I made the initial decision since this story focuses on Ranma and he is aligned with the Thundercats in this triple crossover.