Chaotic Rebirth

by Trugeta

The Great Freeze is drawing nearer, Pluto's carefully hatched plans are short from bearing fruit. Just a desperate plan concocted by descendants of Queen Serenity might offer a chance to save billions. The Price? Betraying one of their own, Ranma Saotome.

7. Chapter 7

Title: Chaotic Rebirth

Author name: Trugeta

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Marvel and VIZ as well as Naoko Takeuchi and many others. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Note further that I don't own any of the trademarks mentioned in this story. Also, the OCs used in this story are a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is not intended and purely coincidental.

This story takes place after the failed wedding in the Ranma series and the defeat of Galaxia in the Sailor Moon Series. It's an AU, and reviews are welcome and appreciated.

Chapter 7

Ami Mizuno, Senshi of Mercury and the brain amongst the ranks of the Sailor Senshi was the first to appear at the concerted meeting place, a copse in the outskirts of Juuban that was quite remote. It was deep at night, 1:16 a.m. to be exact, and just the full moon overhead provided some illumination in these spooky woods.

The chance of a run-in with someone was almost zero, and the small clearing they had chosen as one of their meeting places for group teleports hadn't seen a human being in years.

That was not lest due to the fact that this particular copse held the reputation of being haunted ever since the Youma menace had started, and it had been a rallying point for enemy forces until Beryl had been defeated. But due to occasional Youma appearances that still occurred from time to time the reputation still held true, which was just fine with the Sailor Senshi. They dusted the Youma with experience born from countless encounters and kept their rallying point clean.

Sailor Mercury sat down on a large tree trunk and made as usual optimal use of the time she spent waiting and began to analyse the data she had on the power spike. "It's Silver Millennium energy alright, but the concentration is… immense. Who-or whatever it is, it could be even stronger than Usagi…" Ami muttered and ran her right hand through her cobalt blue hair, a thoughtful frown on her face.

"What could be stronger than dumpling head, and how is something being stronger than her impressive?" asked a yawning voice from behind her.

"Mars, you nearly gave me a heart attack! Since when do you sneak up like Pluto?" Mercury demanded, her frown deepening.

Mars snickered and stepped to in front of her fellow scout. "Since I've seen how much fun it is. I even teleported in a good half kilometre away to test it.

"I'm sure it'll drive meatball head crazy. So what about that energy? Is it dangerous?"

"Is what dangerous? Whatever it is, it interrupted a very promising date," Sailor Venus complained the moment she had appeared, a pout on her beautiful face.

"Is that all you ever care about, V?" another voice asked exasperatedly.

"Of course, Mako-chan. I was just getting serious with this really cute guy when my stupid communicator went off. And that guy was soooo hot..." Venus sighed with hearts in her eyes.

"Feh. Men can't be trusted. I'll never know why you pine after those primitives…" Mars added her own two cents.

"You never know what you're missing out on until you've tried it," Minako retorted, and it was plain obvious to which 'it' she was referring. "And just because your last boyfriend sucked doesn't mean you have to sulk for months, Rei. Not all men are idiots, my new prospective boyfriend sure isn't," Venus added with a dreamy look on her face.

"Tried what?" another sleepy voice asked, interrupting what Rei had wanted to say.

"Why, Moon, getting seduced by a hot boy, of course," Venus replied with a saucy grin.

Moon just stared at her through sleepy eyes and slowly shook her head. "I'm not awake enough yet to listen to your latest exploit, V. I wanna get to those coordinates, do my job and get back to bed."

"But he was so handsome and strong..." the Senshi of love sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, they're all sooo handsome till they turn out to be the next enemy. And anyway, the world doesn't revolve around boys, and this energy reading is a thousand times more important than your new boyfriend of the day, V," Mars retorted with a slight growl to her voice.

"Is it that time of the month for you or are you just feeling catty?" Venus shot back with a growl to her voice.

"Ouch," Makoto muttered. "Low blow alert."

"No, it isn't," Rei retorted heatedly. "It's just that I don't want to hear about your exploits, not after the last debacle I went through. That idiot wanted nothing but to get into my panties, and here I'd thought there was more to Akio. That said, I have yet to meet a boy that's not hell bent on laying a girl in the course of their first meeting," she added with a scowl.

"That sounds like a challenge for the Senshi of Love!" Venus exclaimed enthusiastically, striking a pose. "It's just that you had a stroke of bad luck, Rei. We will find you a decent guy yet!" she added reassuringly, her smile radiant.

Mars stared wide-eyed at a Sailor Venus who was practically bouncing at having the opportunity to play matchmaker. "What have I done?" she muttered despairingly and shot a praying look to the heavens, which disregarded her prayers as usual.

Venus hadn't heard her, or had, more likely, just ignored her. After all, she was a woman with a mission. "We'll go boywatching as soon as this crisis is over, Rei, just you and me. The day I, Sailor Venus fail in all things pertaining to love will be a cold day in hell! We shall get you a decent boyfriend yet!"

"Can we get this back on track again?" Ami sighed exasperatedly, a bit perturbed that her friends were behaving so immature despite being the world's saviours several times over.

"Rei and Ami are right," their leader said to the surprise of the others. "We need to check this person or thing that's emitting that energy."

"W-What? Usagi is agreeing with Rei? Run for the hills, the world is coming to an end!" Minako exclaimed with wide eyes, making warding gestures.

"Very funny," Usagi replied with a sour face, deftly ignoring the smug look one Rei Hino was wearing. "What about Pluto and the Outers?"

"They'll join us at the coordinates. It's easier for them to use one of Pluto's portals," Ami explained.

Usagi nodded her head in acceptance. "Good. Then let's teleport over, I want to get to bed and grab something to eat, not necessarily in this order."

Her fellow Senshi chuckled, and seconds later they were off.

-.-

The Senshi had just teleported into the area of Ryugenzawa, a safe distance away from their target, when a voice suddenly spoke up. "Good, you're here."

The group whirled around as one, looks of surprise and anger on their faces as they caught sight of the Outers and the someone who had given them a surprise yet again. "Don't do that, Pluto!" Moon yelled, stomping her right foot onto the soft forest soil.

"Sorry, Princess," Pluto said, but everyone could tell she wasn't sorry in the least. If anything it was amusement that glittered in her unfathomable red eyes.

A cool breeze made Setsuna's green mane billow behind her back and it seemed to whisk away her amusement. The Senshi of Pluto visibly schooled her features and focussed on their leader. "I have intel on our target. Her name is Ranko Tendo, and she—or rather her actions—single-handedly destroyed Crystal Tokyo."

It took a few seconds for her words to sink in, but once that had happened and the significance had been understood pandemonium reigned. Sailor Moon remained uncharacteristically calm and ignored the shocked and angry exclamations of her team mates and looked Pluto square in the eyes. "How?" was her simple question.

The Mistress of Time sighed. "It's rather complicated, Princess. The gist of things is that her clan made a deal with a Demon Lord that would grant them favours once the child is born, and it's her child that'll destroy our carefully hatched future," she explained, her red eyes shining with barely repressed anger.

"Is this the reason why Usa," Moon visibly struggled for composure, "disappeared?"

The Princess of Pluto nodded her head. "Yes, Princess. There is a good chance that Small Lady will exist again once we have eliminated this threat to Crystal Tokyo. I know you do not like a situation where you have to sacrifice lives—and especially someone else's child—to save our own, but this is the child of an Elite Demon Lord and a human we are talking about. We cannot afford to be merciful," the greenhaired woman reasoned.

The fellow Senshi watched as Moon's thoughtful expression slowly changed into a troubled one. "You are right, Pluto, I absolutely hate it. Even though I have not given birth to Usa yet and hope I won't for some time either," that elicited chuckles, "I am her mother. I can hardly imagine something more crushing than a mother losing a child," she sighed and closed her eyes for a moment to get a handle on the intense pain she was feeling.

"I agree, Princess. But we have to consider what we are fighting for. The glorious future of the human race in exchange for an unborn demon child," Uranus argued, her hands planted on her hips.

Ami sighed and massaged her temples. "The well being of the many outweighs that of the individual, that's what it boils down to. The question is, do we have the right to decide who lives and dies, especially if this pertains to an innocent?" she asked, looking from Haruka to Michiru and finally Setsuna.

Pluto let a laboured sigh escape her lips. "Ethics always are a hot potato, to use a simple term. But let us view them as what they are—a guideline provided by society to govern behaviour. Don't get me wrong, I don't say we should jettison our morals, though we should take into consideration that it'll be one single person that will lay waste to the future we have always fought for.

"This person," her red eyes searched and found Usagi's blue ones, "has already cost us a beloved team mate and friend, a daughter and to some a sister," her eyes came to rest on Hotaru, who wiped away a few tears. "Shouldn't we value the lives and futures of the many higher than the life of one unborn demon spawn? Shouldn't we tweak the guidelines in this one case to save Small Lady and Crystal Tokyo?"

"Yeah, we should," Uranus immediately spoke up with conviction before anyone else could speak up. "I miss Small Lady—as do all of us—and we have simply come too far, have suffered and sacrificed too much to fail now. Could it even be needful to imprison or kill this Ranko Tendo to prevent a repeat? I mean, who tells us it won't happen again?"

The Moon Princess frowned, as did all Inners and Hotaru. "This is a bit extreme, don't you think?" the Senshi of the Moon commented.

"Not necessarily, Princess," Neptune said, coming to her lover's aid. "We had to make some tough decisions in the past to save this world, and we really might have no choice but to make another one if we want to prevent a repeat," she reasoned with determination shining in her eyes. "It's as Haruka said," she interlaced her fingers with that of her lover, "we've come too far to be stopped like this."

"This is a moot point," Setsuna interrupted before a full blown argument could ensue. The Senshi of Pluto ran the fingers of her right hand through her hair and focussed her red eyes on Sailor Moon. "It would not work. Ranko Tendo is a nexus of chaos—which is why I have so little info on her—and removing her from the picture would have grave consequences. No, the only course of action available to us is to capture her and force an abortion," Pluto summarised.

"Is this really the only way, Setsuna-mama?" Hotaru asked with sympathy for Ranma shining in her violet eyes.

The Inners were of the same opinion, and it was Moon who expressed said opinion. "Can't we ensure that the child won't do what leads to Crystal Tokyo's destruction? I mean, we know how it'll happen, right?"

Pluto shook her head. "No, Princess, we don't. The child will be a nexus of chaos itself, and just using the Timegates gave me a huge headache. The possible timelines have multiplied from three possibilities that would all have led up to Crystal Tokyo's emergence to billions upon billions of possibilities. None of those held Crystal Tokyo or something even remotely similar. Sorry, Princess, but the child is too great a threat. Especially after everything we have gone through to reach this point."

The other Senshi looked back at Moon, waiting for her reaction. It was most noticeable that their Princess was unusually quiet and introspective. Small Lady's loss had hit her hard, it had changed her, but to do that to another woman, to inflict such a loss upon said woman would be a tough choice to make.

The Moon Princess sighed after long moments of contemplation. "Very well. I trust your judgement in the matter, Pluto. We'll capture the girl and do what's necessary. Now move!" she commanded.

-.-

Ayame Kagote and her team had appeared on the scene at about the same time as the Senshi, however, on the other side of the forest and farther away.

They were equipped with stun weapons that would only disable but not hurt their target. Not a word was spoken, the team knew its duty as they spread out to fulfil their job. Ranma Saotome would be theirs.

-.-

The arrival of the Senshi in the area had been noticed by two teens who were standing next to a campfire as well.

"Ryoga, didcha notice that too? That energy spike?" a nervous redhead asked.

The lost boy nodded from his position to Ranma's right. "Uhuh, was hard to miss. Dunno what that was, but they seem to be strong. What are we gonna do, got any plans?"

"How 'bout we look at who they are and what they want, and if we ain't likin' it we perform the Saotome final technique. I told gramps and Shinnosuke that I might hafta leave at some point, and I wanna keep 'em outta trouble," Ranma replied, gratitude for the two men who had offered her a home for the last two months visible in her eyes.

"Works for me, Ranma. Would you still be able to fight your way out? I mean, in your condition and all…"

Ranma bristled for a moment, but she deflated just as fast. "To be honest, dunno. Have no idea what those guys want, but I doubt they're gonna consider the safety of my child if they're hostile. But I should be good enough to give 'em a few surprises," the pregnant girl smirked. "Ranma Saotome don't lose after all," she intoned as she redid her hair into a pigtail to minimise the risk of having her hair used against her.

Ryoga's grin turned wolfish and he adjusted his bandanna. "That's what I wanted to hear."

-.-

Two opposing groups with the same goal were rapidly closing in on the two martial artists, but it was the Senshi who reached them first. "Give yourself up, Ranko Tendo. I'm Sailor Moon, and we know what happened! We cannot allow that you destroy all we have worked for! In the name of love and justice, we will free you from the demon that seeks to prevent Earth's glorious future!" Moon exclaimed with her twin long streamers of blonde hair waving in the wind as she was striking a pose.

"What she said!" the others—save for Pluto—exclaimed, striking poses as well.

Sweatdrops were running down Ranma's and Ryoga's faces, and they looked at each other with weirded out expressions. "What the hell!" they yelled together, giving Sailor Moon disbelieving stares.

"Hey girlie, dunno what kinda stuff you've taken," Ranma replied snidely after she had recovered from her facevault, "but I dunno whatcha talkin' 'bout. I ain't carryin' no demon, and I ain't destroyin' whatever future."

"What she said! I thought you were super-heroines, the idols of millions, so why do you go and molest my friend?" Ryoga demanded, cracking his knuckles.

"Hunky!" Venus exclaimed immediately after giving the lost boy a once over, licking her lips.

Jupiter had stars in her eyes as well. "He looks just like my sempai!"

Michiru and Haruka bonked the boy-crazy girls on their heads while Ryoga sweatdropped. "We ain't got time for that! You two can chase boys later if you must!" the couple exclaimed in irritated unison.

"Go ahead, spoil my fun will ya," Sailor Venus whined, her lips forming a pout.

"Get to the friggin' point already! Whatcha want from me, meatball head?" Ranma demanded from the apparent leader, Moon, her hands planted on her hips, blue eyes flashing.

"How did you call me?" Sailor Moon demanded, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"I believe she called you a meatball head, meatball head," Mars snickered.

Moon laced her fellow Senshi with a burning glare and focussed on Ranma. "The foul demon clearly speaks out of you, Ranko Tendo! In the name of the Moon we shall free you!" she exclaimed, striking yet another pose.

Ranma on her part looked disbelieving, and caught Ryoga's eye. one look told her that he was as weirded out as she. Hadn't the situation been so serious she would have erupted in pails of laughter. "She could give Kuno a run for his money, and why does she keep on calling me Ranko Tendo..." the redhead muttered, shaking her head as she suppressed a shudder at the horrible thought of what horrors could occur if those two ever teamed up, "Are you finished yet?"

"We have no time for this," another voice soke up. Pluto, as Ranma noticed. "By your leave, Princess…" the Senshi of Time commented in Sailor Moon's direction, who inclined her head, "I would suggest we capture her now instead of wasting valuable time."

The Senshi of the Moon nodded. "Venus, bind her. We have to exorcise that demon spawn. Calling me meatball head… hah!"

'Okay, that takes it to a whole new level. I better be extra cautious,' Ranma thought grimly, her expression tense, preparing herself for the inevitable seeming fight as inconspicuously as possible. The redhead gave Ryoga a sign, and the lost boy prepared himself as well.

Venus launched her attack just as the martial artists had assumed loose stances. "Venus Love Me Chain!" she yelled, and her chains flew straight at Ranma.

The redhead waited until the last possible second before jumping high into the air, somersaulting forward. The eyes of the assembled Senshi grew wide briefly as Ranma landed a good ten metres away, but then they joined in without missing a beat.

All too soon the area was literally swamped with the Senshi's attacks—with the Senshi limiting themselves to non-lethal attack variants—and the real fight was on. Ranma and Ryoga managed to evade the first wave of attacks with relative ease simply by dodging and weaving around said attacks.

This was to equal parts due to the fact that the Senshi were not in their Super forms which they had deemed unnecessary against two normal humans and because of just how good martial artists' Ryoga and Ranma were. Underestimation went a long way in a fight, especially if one party held superior fire power and was convinced of its victory, and this fight was no exception.

Ranma simply loved nothing more than to be underestimated, for the sweeter was the look of surprise on the opponents' face when they were about to be knocked silly, or in this case, plain simply evaded with careless ease.

The Senshi exchanged unnerved looks amongst their ranks at the apparent ease with which Ranma and Ryoga were avoiding their attacks—with the exception of Pluto, who stood at the sidelines and observed the going-ons with an unreadable look on her face—until Moon demonstrated her leadership skills. "They may have avoided us the first time around, but we will succeed in driving the demon spawn that has infested you out of your body, in the name of love and justice!" she exclaimed loudly, her voice strong and commanding.

Ranma quirked an eyebrow at Ryoga as she avoided Sailor Uranus' attempts at involving her in a hand-to-hand fight as well as a Moon Spiral Heart Attack, Mercury's Shabon Spray Freezing and a Deep Submerge thrown her way. "'Demon Spawn?' What the hell are they talking about?"

"No idea, Ranma," Ryoga shrugged as he dodged his share of attacks. "And I doubt that they'll tell us, they're too hell bent on subduing you," he added sarcastically. Then he chuckled. "It's all your fault, as usual."

An amused chuckle came from the pregnant girl. "Can't help that I'm popular," she replied with her best 'butter wouldn't melt in my mouth' look while dodging a Crescent Beam Shower and the water-based attacks of Mercury and Neptune. Moon and Venus kept firing their long range attacks into the general direction of where the two martial artists were running to, further into the forest so as to make them a more difficult target. This was made easy due to the fact that the Senshi were used to blast upon mostly unmoving—or at least slow moving—Youma until they crumbled to dust. Ranma and Ryoga were neither slow nor unmoving, and the Senshi's attacks missed them by miles as they zigzagged through the forest.

"Why do we keep on avoiding their attacks and running away?" Ryoga asked with a scowl as he ran beside Ranma in an erratic pattern, not liking their current tactic one bit.

That was also the question a certain Hotaru Tomoe aka Sailor Saturn was asking herself. The devastating nature of her attacks made it a given that she were not to participate in the melee, and the quiet girl that could lay waste to a planet watched as her comrades and 'parents' tried to capture the elusive young woman known as Ranko Tendo. Her Haruka-papa had tried to engage the redhead several times in close combat, but the ease with which her papa had been avoided had spoken volumes about the redhaired woman's abilities.

'She could have dispatched of papa easily, yet she didn't. she could also have attacked the others, and seeing her skills I don't know if they could have kept up. Should this Ranko have an energy attack or something they could have been in real trouble. So why doesn't she act offensively? What am I missing?' Hotaru asked herself as she narrowed her violet eyes thoughtfully, a frown on her pale face.

The answer to this question was just now given to one Ryoga Hibiki. "Because I don't want to hurt them, Ryoga," Ranma replied in answer to his question. "They may be misguided, but they're well meaning from what I know. All but at least one," she added with a scowl. "I may have to fight them eventually, but not now."

"But…" Ryoga began and smashed a tree-trunk to smithereens that had been uprooted by a missed Deep Submerge. they had a lead of about half a kilometre now, and all the roofhopping they had done came in handy as they hopped from branch to branch like chimpanzees on crack.

"No buts. We gotta stay ahead of 'em until we can get away. They rely far too much on their magical attacks which makes it easy for us to avoid them. Think you can get us lost?" the Saotome girl asked with a grin as she landed on the ground, running straight towards a clearing that led to a river that'd hopefully put more of a distance between them and the Senshi. she had the theory that they could only teleport if the target was in sight, thus getting out of their sights by 'getting lost' seemed a promising course of action.

Ryoga inclined his head and chuckled as he ran beside her. "Yes. Amusing, isn't it? Now is one of the few times where that damned family curse of mine will be useful. Just a bit more forest and this river, then we should have enough of a lead so I can get us lost properly."

"Oh, but you won't get away," a voice suddenly said from their immediate right.

Both martial artists scattered just in time to avoid two Dead Screams in quick succession, the magical attacks knocking down one tree respectively.

"Pluto." Ranma cursed with gritted teeth as she dusted her clothing off, eyeing the Senshi of Time apprehensively. of all the Senshi she was the most dangerous to her child.

"You know her, Ranma?" Ryoga asked from his defensive position to the left of his friend as he surveyed the fuku-clad woman warily.

"Yes." Ranma spat. "She's behind it all. You have no idea how gladly I'd pound her into the ground, but I've to think of Senny first," she added, giving Ryoga a meaningful look, a look that communicated that he should get them lost regardless of where to.

"You'll have no chance to do either, Ranko Tendo. It is now time to end this," Pluto said coldly, and moved her staff in front of her.

Ranma looked alarmed. In a flash she had closed the distance to the lost boy. "Ryoga, get us lost now! Don't matter where we end up, just do it!" she yelled urgently.

The lost boy had never seen Ranma this panicked before, and he grabbed the redhead's hand without hesitation, emptied his mind and stepped forward. The last he saw was a swirling vortex of fuchsia coloured energy forming at the tip of Pluto's staff, then they were gone.

Ayame and her group, who had just appeared on the scene watched as astonished as the Senshi as Ranma and Ryoga simply vanished into thin air.

The agent of the Saotome Clan and her team hadn't been detected due to their equipment that blocked the scans of the Mercury computer, and they made it back into the forest without incident. Their mission had failed, but the Senshi hadn't gotten Ranma either. There would be other chances to retrieve her, and she'd protect Ranma better next time.

-.-

A group of very astonished Senshi checked the area for any signs of the two martial artists, and Ami, always the scientific one, consulted her Mercury computer to find an explanation. "This is most unusual!" she muttered as she interpreted the data. "The sensors are picking up ki-energy in massive concentration, and an unknown phenomenon. There's no trace of them anywhere though. They're gone, and I have no way of telling where they disappeared to."

The reactions to this varied. The majority of the Senshi save one was disappointed that they hadn't been able to take care of the threat. Pluto was said one, and she was trying hard not to smirk, for she had seen Ryoga's curse at work many times before, even if not firsthand.

There was a good chance that they'd end up at the Tendo Dojo, one of Ryoga's anchor points. Yes, this had gone over well, and the situation might even resolve itself today. And as usual, it couldn't be traced back to her.

"If we're done here I'll teleport back. Got to get back to that handsome boy…" Makoto said with a suggestive smirk.

"D'oh, she'll never change!" Moon sighed.

"Nope, never!" Makoto exclaimed with a grin and teleported away.

"Princess, our usefulness here has expired, and we should return to our homes. I'll be at the Timegates to watch for traces of Ranko Tendo, and I suggest you," she waved her left hand at the group, "rest and be prepared." Pluto said. 'I'm pretty certain I won't be able to track Saotome for the longest time, he's bound to be cautious now. But his father and the other idiot will do my work for sure,' she added as a thought.

"Umm, okay. Who's up for a midnight snack?" Moon asked.

"You and your stomach…" Mars shook her head. "Is that placeholder between your ears ever thinking about something other than food?"

"Stop being so mean, Rei!" Usagi cried. "Or I won't return the manga I still hold captive from you!"

The Outers soon excused themselves as the quarrel degenerated into a shouting match until Mercury and Jupiter grew fed up and dragged their fellow Senshi with them and teleported away.

-.-

Ranma was feeling very weird. It felt akin to the times when she had suffered from morning sickness, just not to that extent. The cause of this feeling was the unusual way of transportation or whatever one wanted to call Ryoga's mode of involuntary travel. then, as soon as it had begun the queasiness left her, and the redhead dared to open her eyes again.

Acting on instinct she threw up her Umi and expanded her ki to cover the two of them. wherever they had ended up, who said either the Senshi or her clan weren't there, waiting for them? Shielded from view Ranma looked around, and her Umi guttered out from shock, her eyes going impossibly wide when she recognised the area they were in.

Her eyes took in the scenery as she stood on the shore of a lake, a lake she had seen once before in her life, several years ago, and Ranma marvelled at the mountain range in front of them she knew to be the Grand Tetons and shook her head in wonder. "How can this be?"

She rubbed her eyes, eyes that were still wide with shock as she stared at Jenny Lake in the Teton National Park. she knew that this National Park was located in the US—western Wyoming if memory served right—where her father and she had stopped to train in their foray through the US national parks, but she knew that that just wasn't possible as they had just left Ryugenzawa, Japan.

She glanced at the sun that was obviously just about to rise, the ambient temperature being about twenty degrees Celsius at her estimation—which was normal for late July—and reconsidered that just maybe it was true after all. This really was the Grand Teton National Park in the United States, this mountain range, this lake and the surrounding forest she'd recognise any day.

"How can this be?" Ranma muttered yet again in obvious wonder as she waved her right arm at the scenery while she absently stroked her belly with her left hand. "How can we be in Wyoming?"

"Wyoming? As in the United States?" Ryoga inquired confused, "Isn't this one of the parks outside of Okinawa?"

A startled Ranma glanced into Ryoga's serious face that was devoid of any humour, and realised that he wasn't having her on. The absurdness of the situation was just now beginning to trickle in, and Ranma resisted the urge to slap her forehead. she had said he should get them lost regardless where to, but she'd never have expected that Ryoga could get them truly this lost. It was just so very improbable that she couldn't help herself, she burst out into fits of giggles.

Ryoga bristled and was about to demand whom or what she was laughing about, but remembered that this was a pregnant woman and not the Ranma he knew. having not the foggiest if behaviour like this was normal he settled on an annoyed look with his arms crossed across his chest and waited until the redhead had recovered.

"Only me, I swear," the redhead in question panted with her hands on her thighs, slightly hunched over.

Ranma slowly straightened herself up a minute later and turned her eyes away from the amazing landscape and faced the Hibiki. "I had no idea you'd get us this lost, Ryoga, but good that you did. They won't find us here, and they can't get a lock on us as long as Senny doesn't tap her powers. thanks, you saved our hides."

Ryoga carefully hid his surprise. "You're welcome. And this... This really isn't Okinawa?"

Ranma giggled and smiled. "No, silly. This is Wyoming, the Grand Teton National Park to be exact, and yeah, I'm certain. I have been here six years ago after all. Hmm, we 'left' Japan at about two a.m., this region of the States is about sixteen hours behind. That means,"

"It's seven in the morning," Ryoga and Ranma concluded at the same time.

"Yeah," Ranma mused with a frown. "It's dead at night in Japan, it wouldn't make any sense to try to get there now. It would be too suspicious."

Ryoga nodded his assent, and his eyes narrowed in thought. "Maybe we should set up camp here to get some rest. Five to six hours should be good, then we can try to get back to Japan."

Ranma nodded with a grin, camping was something she hadn't done in a long time and she'd love to have a chance to do it again. Then a thought hit her and she said, "I don't have any camping gear."

The Hibiki youth cleared his throat and pointed at his backpack, "Don't worry, you can use my stuff. What, why the surprised look? Didn't expect me to share? Come on, Ranma. You're pregnant, and to be honest, much less of a jerk."

The redhead decided to file away this comment as a compliment seeing as she was much too tired to invest the energy necessary to be angry. "Come, I'll lead us to where pops 'n' me camped all those years ago, no one will stumble on us there."

Ryoga nodded his assent. If Ranma really knew her way around here it was the prudent course of action to trust her. "Lead the way, Ranma."

"Oh no," the redhead said with a shake of her head that made her hair move counter to the motion and grabbed his hand, "I have seen where you can take us, and I don't intend to be lost here by myself. I'm not really in the shape to redo the training trip, so I won't let you out of my sight."

Ryoga—who had started to bristle because Ranma had taken his hand until he had remembered that this wasn't the 'normal' Ranma—resigned himself to his fate. "Got it. Would you lead the way now?"

The redhead giggled at his impatient and grumpy tone and began leading them into the woods. After about half an hour of hiking off the normal tracks they finally reached the spot Ranma had had in mind, a heavily forested area between the Hidden falls and Teewinot Mountain.

The martial artists found a suitable spot far away from the main hiking routes and Ranma sat down on the trunk of an uprooted tree. Ryoga threw her a water bottle from his backpack and the redhead caught it with a thankful smile. She knew she needed to drink a lot—she had explained the reasons why to Ryoga who had then immediately insisted she take as much as she wanted—and had done so during their hike with her co-traveller's 'friendly assistance'.

Now she was gulping down yet more water—which would inevitably lead to her having to follow nature's call even more often than usual—and watched as Ryoga swiftly began to empty his backpack.

The pregnant young woman watched in impressed silence how the lost boy began to set up camp with an ease that stemmed from years of practise, and a slightly worn but still sturdy looking four man tent was the result of his efforts not three minutes later. Ryoga gave his work a pleased once over, a grin playing on his face. "It's done, ma'am," he said with a cheeky grin.

"I should sock you a good one for your cheek, but I'm way too tired and Senny is giving me hell," the redhead muttered, yawning widely. She threw him the still quarter filled bottle and Ryoga caught it with one hand, giving it an inspection before gulping down the remaining water.

Ranma snorted upon his satisfied nod. "You're turning into a mother hen, you know that?" she teased.

"So? Someone has to ensure you don't botch up, Ranma," Ryoga teased back. "Now let's catch some sleep, you can use my sleeping bag, I'll use the spare."

Ranma yawned again and rubbed her belly in an effort to nudge Senny to assume a more comfortable position. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

Ryoga chuckled as he watched the redhead disappear into the tent. "I like her better this way. Wonder if there's some way to prolong a pregnancy," he wryly mused and followed Ranma into the tent.

The pregnant girl was already sound asleep and softly snoring with her mouth hanging slightly open when Ryoga entered the tent, and he marvelled at the changes Ranma had undergone, been forced to undergo. Yes, Ranma Saotome's life was officially more of a hell than his, but he'd try to help ensure that their lives wouldn't turn into a frozen hell.

-.-

Nine hours later

Shielded from view two martial artists—who had been trying to get back to Japan for three hours now—began looking around, and their eyes widened in unison when they finally recognised familiar surroundings. "Let's get inside, Ryoga. But quietly!" she whispered.

The lost boy nodded from his position beside her, and the duo moved stealthily from the garden towards the house. Chance seemed to favour them for a change, for just as they were about to risk opening the door which might have exposed them the door was opened from the inside and a familiar person clad in a black mini skirt and beige tank top stepped out. Seizing the chance Ranma and Ryoga slipped inside.

"Nabiki!" Ranma whispered, and she saw the middle Tendo girl's eyes go wide for a moment. "Pretend you're stretching, then return back inside after a minute or so. We'll be waiting for you in your room."

A recovered and very curious Nabiki nodded imperceptibly and did as Ranma had suggested, her thoughts being that things were likely taking a change for the weird with Ranma back.

-.-

The two cloaked martial artists had made it to Nabiki's room without incident, which was not lest due to the fact that Ranma knew exactly which floorboards to avoid.

Ranma and Ryoga had made themselves at home on Nabiki's bed, and both anticipated the middle Tendo daughter's arrival impatiently.

With really nothing to do the two remained alert, and their keen senses picked up on a conversation between Nabiki and Kasumi from downstairs.

"Are the fathers still not back from their pub crawl, sis?" Nabiki asked, her voice holding a derisive undercurrent to it.

"Unfortunately. Their… habit is slowly but surely getting out of control, and I fear we will be the ones paying for their… failings," Kasumi replied in a disappointed tone.

"You are right, sis. I'll talk to them as soon as they're back and halfway sober. This can't go on. I don't accept that none of us will be able to go to university just because the fathers," Nabiki laced the term with sarcasm, "are hell bent on becoming the drunkards of the year."

"The wording might be a bit harsher than I'd have phrased it, but you're right. I'm sorry that you have to be the one to talk sense into them, but they would never listen to me," Kasumi said with a deep sigh, and Ranma and Ryoga could hear the sadness in her voice. "I have to buy groceries while our money is still sufficient, Nabiki. Breakfast is on the table, and Akane will be back in a few, she's gone jogging."

"Okay. I'll come up with a plan on how to pound some sense into the fathers. Until later, Kasumi." Nabiki said, and Ranma and Ryoga could hear her footsteps on the stairs.

Looks were exchanged between the teens. "Am gonna rip pops a new one if he's really wasting all the Tendos' money on fuckin' drinks," Ranma growled.

"I'll help." Ryoga promised darkly.

"With what?" a curious voice asked from the door.

"Wringin' the necks of the stupid fathers!" Ranma growled viciously. "And Ryoga is gonna help."

"Err, hi, Nabiki-san," Ryoga raised his right hand in greeting.

Nabiki's attention was completely focussed on the redhead on her bed, and she nodded at Ryoga in a distracted way.

The redhead that occupied her bed looked oddly changed, although Nabiki couldn't pinpoint in what way. "You said you'd be on a year long training trip with your relatives. So what brings you here? And I can already tell I smell a very juicy story here." the middle Tendo daughter said, sat down in her office chair and lent back with steepled fingers.

"You can say that again…" Ryoga muttered, and received a bop to the head from the redhead for his comment.

"Hey!" Ryoga protested, rubbing the sore spot on his head.

Ranma simply smirked in reply. "Women in my situation get freebies, you said so yourself. Now live with it."

Ryoga grumbled something that sounded like "No fair," in reply and lent back against the bed-frame with a mock-scowl.

The redhead smiled mock-sweetly at Ryoga and then turned her head to look at Nabiki who had watched them with growing incredulity, and Ranma's look turned hopeful for some reason. "Err, Nabiki, is there any chance I could get sumthin' to eat? I'm really starvin' here!"

Nabiki stared at Ranma for a few moments, shook her head in mirth and began to chuckle. "Some things never change. We have some leftovers from breakfast, my breakfast, in fact. You know…

"… your way around here," she said to the empty space where Ranma had stood seconds before.

Ryoga chuckled. "That's so typical Ranma."

"Indeed, Hibiki. So what happened to Saotome? He'd never call himself a woman," she mused, now very thoughtful. "So whatever happened, it is serious, isn't it. Is he locked again?"

"Let her tell the story, Nabiki-san. It's not my place to say," Ryoga replied and crossed his arms across his chest which conveyed the message that he wouldn't divulge information at all.

Nabiki shot him a look that communicated her displeasure. "Fine, be that way. Come then, it's time to grill her. I want to hear about the newest insanity in Saotomes life." she replied, got to her feet and walked out of her room.

The lost boy shrugged and followed the Ice Queen of Furinkan High.

-.-

Little later three teenagers were seated around the living room table. Ranma had claimed the cushion at the head of the table prior to Ryoga and Nabiki joining her—the sliding door to her right—and Ryoga and Nabiki had chosen the seats to the redhead's sides. Ryoga kept his stoic silence, and the middle Tendo sibling was impatiently waiting for Ranma to finish her breakfast. Engaging in small talk in hopes to get the tight-lipped Ryoga to spill the beans had achieved naught, and reading a manga when one couldn't properly concentrate on the contents was hardly fulfilling.

"Ahh, that was good!" Ranma finally exclaimed with a content sigh, rubbing her belly carefully before undoing her pigtail. Then she shook her head repeatedly, which made her hair move counter to the motion. "That's better," she muttered with a content sigh, having long since gotten used to wearing her hair open outside of fights. Wearing it in a pigtail or even a ponytail felt icky for some reason, and she had long since filed it away as one of the oddities of a pregnancy.

That action in and on itself caused alarms to go off in Nabiki's mind, and her brows climbed into the hairline. Normally Ranma wouldn't be caught dead acting so feminine, and that he did unsettled her. "What the hell happened to you, Saotome? Are you locked again? Spill!"

Ranma fidgeted in her seat and played with her hair. "Err… You could say that. But that's just part of the story," she hurried to say when Nabiki slapped her forehead. "First off, I gotta say that you were damn right, as usual. Stupid trustin' me ignored your warning and ran righto into a trap."

Nabiki sighed and had an 'I told you so'-look on her face. "Figures. Your relatives were a bit too eager to convince you that meeting them was a chance you couldn't pass up, and their request that you be a girl for it set me on edge from the very start. So what did they do to you?" she inquired, making an effort to keep her voice even.

"Something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy!" Ryoga growled heatedly before Ranma could reply. "Should I ever encounter that bastard of a grandfather of hers I'm gonna grind him into paste!" he vowed, moving his hands as if crushing someone to a pulp.

"So it's bad," Nabiki mused, putting her hand to her mouth. "How bad?"

"Very on one hand, but not at all on the other," Ranma replied cryptically.

"Now that was very informative, Saotome," Nabiki grumbled.

Ranma giggled, which set Nabiki even more on edge. "Wasn't it?" she asked innocently. "Okay, you want me to spill?" the redhead inquired with a mischievous look on her face.

"Oh, you just have to make her angry to spill the beans," Ryoga grinned. "Worked for me."

"Did it now?" Nabiki pondered, a small smirk slowly spreading on her face.

"Ryoga," Ranma grumbled.

"Yeah?" the lost boy in question inquired innocently.

"Shut up," the redhead finished, giving him a lidded stare.

That byplay between the two rivals—or was it former rivals?—and the fact that Ryoga limited himself to a smirk instead of an angry retort told Nabiki a lot. Something very serious had to have happened that it had even changed the dynamics between Ranma and Ryoga, and she was dying to find out what. "Spill already, Saotome," she uttered in a tone that would have sounded pleading, had Nabiki known how to plead.

Ranma's eyes sparkled. "10,000 Yen!" she exclaimed, holding her right hand out.

"..." was all Nabiki managed, her mouth hanging open in surprise.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," the Saotome teen replied and grinned like a Cheshire cat.

Nabiki chuckled and shook her head in amusement. "I guess I deserved that. So, what did happen to you?"

All humour faded from Ranma's face and her eyes clouded. "Nabiki, you must promise that you ain't tellin' anyone what I'm gonna tell you. Especially no selling the information. You must swear on your honour."

Ryoga looked the mercenary girl dead in the eyes, and Nabiki noticed that his former shyness around girls was gone. Whatever had happened, it had also quite obviously matured the lost boy. Intriguing. "Please do it, Nabiki-san. Ranma is facing overwhelming odds here, and no one deserves what he… what she has gone through. No one," he emphasised.

'She?' Nabiki thought. 'First he called Ranma 'he', then he corrected himself and called him 'she'. Plus, he seems to have forgiven Ranma and seems to actively support him. Could it be… oh my Kami-sama!'

When all colour drained from her face Ranma could tell that Nabiki had somehow figured out what had happened to her. "You were raped?" Nabiki whispered, her face pale.

The redhead shook her head. "Not directly, at least. But yeah, I'm pregnant. The macho, loudmouthed jerk Ranma Saotome, manly martial artist all around is pregnant. Funny, eh?" she said with sarcasm.

Akane, who had just come to a stop a few metres away from the open sliding door clad in sportswear that clung tightly to her shapely body, had only heard the last few words Ranma had spoken. She looked at the redhead with growing fury. "You!" she yelled making everyone's head whip to her, "You dare return here after proving that you are indeed the pervert I always claimed you are? You dare return here after impregnating some girl? Which one is it? Shampoo? Ukyo? Kodachi? Or yet another fiancée? PERVERT!" she growled, but one could also hear hints of disappointment and sadness amongst the anger.

Ranma met the smouldering gaze of her ex-fiancée calmly. "Nice to see you as well, Akane. But I was just talking to your sister, and it would be impolite of me to leave her question unanswered," she casually replied and ignored Akane's fuming as she turned her head back to the flabbergasted older Tendo sibling—Akane's legendary fury would likely snuff out courtesy of her next comment anyway. "Where was I? Oh yes, I remember. No, Nabiki, I wasn't raped. But the result is the same still. I am pregnant."

A loud thump could be heard from behind them, and three heads turned around to discern the source. "W-What? How?" Akane exclaimed from the ground, a look of stark disbelief on her face, "That's impossible!"

Nabiki closed her eyes and rubbed her temples as if trying to fend off a gigantic headache. "While little sis' semantic left a lot to be desired she did ask the million yen questions," she commented dryly. "So what did happen, Saotome?"

Akane pushed herself to her feet and made move to grill Ranma with an angry expression on her face, but a commanding voice stopped her cold. "That will be enough, Akane." Nabiki scolded in a calm voice, her face devoid of emotions. "We have virtually no facts, just the information that Ranma is pregnant—or rather her statement that it is so, which Ryoga indirectly confirmed. It's not prudent to jump to conclusions how this condition came about. the practical solution would be to listen to Ranma's account."

"B-But," Akane sputtered, disbelief written on her face that her sister would stop her from questioning the redhead. She wanted to know if it was true now, wanted to know if her ex-fiancé for whom she still had feelings was indeed pregnant, and if that were the case from whom.

"Akane-san," Ryoga began as he got up from his low cushion and stepped towards the baffled and angry girl, "Please calm down. Ranma has not done anything perverted or untoward, I can vouch for her."

Seeing Ryoga defend Ranma and calling the gender-changing martial artist 'her' stopped Akane cold and made her very apprehensive. "W-What? Why are you defending Ranma, Ryoga-kun?"

Ranma surveyed her ex-fiancée from her spot and shook her head in a sad way when her mood suddenly changed. "She ain't seen me for months, and the first thing she does upon seeing me is jumping to conclusions from titbits of information she overheard 'cause of which she's about to strangle me," she said and looked at the ground.

"And here I thought something had changed in the six months after our break-up. But some things obviously never change." she added sadly before Akane could say anything, and she looked the other girl straight into the eyes with a genuinely sad expression and absently rubbed her belly.

Akane's head swivelled towards the redhead and the cobalt-haired girl bristled, falling back into well known behavioural patterns. "Why would I have to change, you…" she began.

A bored voice interrupted her. "We have heard it all before, so be quiet and sit down, little sister. You know nothing about the backgrounds—and neither do I—so sit and listen." she commanded in a voice that communicated that she wanted to have all relevant information as soon as possible—preferably yesterday.

The youngest Tendo girl snapped her mouth shut and did as she had been told in face of her middle sister who obviously meant business, taking the place next to Ryoga's cushion with a disgruntled "Hmmmph."

Ranma looked at Nabiki with an intrigued expression. "Not that I mind, but why did you intervene on my behalf? Akane and me had thousands of quarrels, but you never intervened, not in my favour, at least." she said with a wry smile.

"When you two were affianced it was none of my business what you were quarrelling about as long as it didn't grate on my nerves too much," Nabiki replied with a shrug. "Now you are no longer affianced and things have changed. There is no engagement between the two of you that could explain why you—an apparently pregnant woman—ended up with a head injury. And I doubt your marital status will change with you being pregnant, Ranma. Or is there a father to consider?"

Akane watched Ranma like a hawk without trying to look it, and she, like the others was witness as the redhead slowly shook her head in apparent disgust. "A father? Don't be obscene. And be glad my morning sickness is over," she replied with a green face.

"But you're right, I am not interested in a relationship—with anyone. I'll have my hands full with being a single mother, and I simply have no interest in the stress a relationship would bring," the redhead added.

"Stress?" Akane interjected sarcastically. "Who created the most stress around here?"

Ranma looked her ex-fiancée in her brown eyes and smiled self-ironically, much to the larger girl's consternation. "That would have been me," she admitted. "But things change, they have changed, and I have no interest to expose my daughter to how things were. I don't say it's your fault, Akane, but I simply don't want a relationship—with anyone.

"So," she looked at Nabiki with a curious expression and did her best to ignore Akane's hurt look, "how much will it cost me that you intervened on my behalf?"

The middle Tendo sister smirked. "Maybe the 10,000 Yen you mentioned," she jested. "But now to matters at hand… I want to know all the facts, Ranma, which is another reason I stopped little sis. A needless quarrel between you two would have been way too time consuming. And by the way, you have my promise. I swear on my honour to not divulge anything you have told and will tell me."

Ranma carefully hid her surprise that Nabiki had actually given her her word of honour without demanding something in return behind a neutral mask. "Okay," she managed, a hint of the thankfulness she felt visible in her blue eyes. Her face suddenly changed into a mask of seriousness as she sorted her thoughts. "So you want the full story, and you want it now… very well. The audience seems to be complete, so…"

"Hello, I'm back!" Kasumi exclaimed as she appeared in the entrance door. she was clad in a beautiful yellow sundress that reached down to her shanks and was stunning as ever, her arms laden with shopping bags. "Oh, we have guests… Ranma!"

The Saotome girl moved as fast as her pregnant form allowed and was just in time to catch the falling shopping bags that had fallen from Kasumi's numb fingers. "You should be more careful with those, Kasumi-oneechan," she smiled as she held the bags in her hands, peering into them before placing them onto the ground. "Especially considering that this yummy Rocky Road ice cream could have gone to waste, and that would have been a shame."

"O-Oneechan?" a surprised and secretly pleased Kasumi asked, and the oldest Tendo sibling totally forgot the reason why she had dropped the groceries—the appearance of an oddly changed Ranma.

"Yeah. That's how I see you, and have for quite a while now. If I had an older sister she'd be just like you," Ranma replied with a smile that reached her eyes, making them sparkle.

Akane looked at Ryoga while Kasumi and Ranma shared a hug. "What has happened to Ranma, Ryoga-kun? Is he really pregnant, and if he is, how, why and when did it happen?"

Ryoga sighed. "It is as Ranma said, Akane-san. He… She is really pregnant. But I can tell you one thing, it's not her fault."

The second time this day Akane had been steamrolled by Ryoga's behaviour. "It… It is true? But why… why are you defending him then? Doesn't it prove that he's a pervert? And I thought you hated that jerk and what he did to me. All the girls hanging from his arms, always new fiancées… What has changed, Ryoga-kun?" she asked in a tone that communicated she wanted to understand while Kasumi and Ranma were chattering.

The lost boy sighed. "I always claimed that I had seen hell 'cause of Ranma's deeds. Well, I ain't seen half of the hell that Ranma's been through lately," he said in such a serious tone that it made the hairs on the back of Akane's neck stand up. "It's bad, very bad, but she is not to blame. Please keep that in mind when she tells you what has happened to her."

"'Bad'? What has happened to Ranma? Is he really pregnant?" Akane asked with an evident hint of worry in her voice.

"We'll come to that, Akane," Ranma's voice commented from behind them. The redhead had just brought Kasumi up to speed as to why Ryoga and she were at the Tendo dojo, and was now ready to tell her story, but first she wanted to see if she could get her hands on some of the yummy Rocky Road ice cream she had got a glimpse upon. "Let me help to carry the groceries into the kitchen and I will tell you, 'kay?"

Akane nodded dumbly and watched as her ex-fiancé carried the groceries into the kitchen, Kasumi following. In watching him… her more closely for the first time she noticed that several physical changes had happened to Ranma.

One could indeed see the hint of a belly—which couldn't just stem from the consumption of too much food, not with Ranma's metabolism—and the redhead's hips seemed to be… wider while her waist was practically non-existent. The redhead seemed to be a good deal bigger in the chest area as well, that, and she seemed to have grown a few inches, making her nearly as tall as she herself.

The youngest Tendo sibling's brow furrowed in thought. 'What the hell has happened that could be so bad that Ryoga would become Ranma's friend? Is he... she really pregnant? Is that why Ranma looks so changed and acts so differently? Could it be?' she pondered.

The subject of her ponderings and Kasumi returned from the kitchen a few minutes later, the latter wearing a pleased expression that suggested she had gotten her ice cream, and both were carrying assorted tea equipment. The redhead balanced a trayful of cookies in one hand while Kasumi carried a large teapot, and the girls placed their respective nourishments onto the low living room table.

Between the two of them the table was set in no time, and not a minute later everyone was enjoying tea and cookies. Ranma—who had retaken her cushion—nibbled a cookie and took a deep breath when the small home-baked treat had fallen prey to her sweet tooth. Then she launched herself into the emotional and troubling story of what had happened to her in these past months since she had left the dojo…

-.-

Incidentally two ageing martial arts masters had just returned to the house when Ranma had begun her tale, and even though neither had heard Ranma's voice in quite some time they recognised it right away as it carried through the open sliding door.

Genma moved a finger to his mouth and cloaked himself with the Umi. Soun understood and hid his ki as well as himself in the shadows behind the property wall while his old friend moved closer to the living room.

Seconds later Genma had huddled against the wall, his senses trained on every word the boy said, and the balding man grew progressively paler throughout the story, and his horror grew. 'Those bastards! They brainwashed the boy, he'd never go through with something like that! I've heard enough, I hafta fetch Tendo, and then we gotta make good on our plan!' he thought furiously.

The father of Ranma moved stealthily over the compound in search for Soun and found his friend hiding behind the property wall. Genma jumped over the wall in one swift move that belittled his mass and landed completely soundlessly beside Soun, and dropped his invisibility. "Tendo," he whispered, and Soun's head whipped towards him, "It's true. I heard it from the boy himself. The boy... he is pregnant. Everything Agent Meiou said is true."

Soun had tears streaming down his face. "The boy... The poor boy! He's really carrying Satan's spawn... But what do we do, Saotome? What can we do to help him?"

"We'll do what the Agent suggested. Spike Ranma's food with the potion," Genma replied with determination in his voice. "We only gotta convince Kasumi to make some soup, and it will be without risk, Tendo."

Soun inclined his head, the tears miraculously gone. "It seems we have no other choice, Saotome. I'll distract Kasumi once the food is prepared so that you can spike the food. It has to be done."

"I caught a glimpse upon the boy, Tendo. He seemed to glow, seemed to enjoy this... unnaturalness," he scoffed, his face twisting in revulsion. "The Agent was right, he is under some devilish spell that has altered his mind, that forces him to endure it. My son would never carry a baby. Armageddon would come knocking at the door before that ever happened!"

Soun nodded grimly. "You are right, Saotome. We'll make it so. Hopefully we'll be able to save Ranma's soul."

Genma's face was solemn. "It's a father's duty to look out for his children. Now I'll hopefully be able to make up for my mistakes."

The two men embraced briefly, clapped the other on the shoulder and readied themselves to carry out their plan.

-.-

The reactions to Ranma's story—which had included everything that had happened to her up till now, including why she, a born boy had finally gotten used to being pregnant—varied. They ranged from shock to disbelief and everything in between.

"They really asked that of you, Sao… Ranma?" Nabiki inquired, a carefully neutral expression on her face.

"They did," Ranma confirmed, wearing a neutral expression of her own. "Hadn't they been so stupid about it I might even have done it of my own free will instead of them leaving me no choice. You know," she chuckled dryly, "what happened was just par for the course for my life, but hadn't I faced this challenge we all might have been doomed. I saw that friggin' asteroid… and it's huge. If it's just my little girl that stands a chance to do something about that big rock then I'll gladly pay the price to save my precious people."

"Precious people?" Nabiki inquired, her eyes showing interest.

Ranma smiled. "Yeah. You three, Ryoga here, Pops despite his faults, even Mom and grandma," she added with a slight scowl, "Your father, Ukyo and Konatsu. Heck, I even view the Amazons and the old freak as worth saving. But I couldn't stand the thought to lose any of you, and I had to act," she finished with emotions shining in her eyes.

The redhead's spilling of her heart left nobody untouched. Respect, feelings of friendship and a common bond towards Ranma—who was going through this pregnancy partially for them as well—bubbled up in each of them, and the young Saotome's motives for doing what she had done were understood in their entirety.

"You… You are really pregnant, Ranma, eh? How far along are you?" Kasumi asked softly, tracing the other young woman's figure with her eyes.

Akane and Nabiki, who had been about to ask further questions themselves looked at the redhead with interest.

"Five months now, Kasumi—or more precisely, nineteen weeks," Ranma replied and softly stroked her belly.

"And why has your vocabulary improved this much, Ranma?" Akane wanted to know. "I mean, we all know that you were not the best with words, and that's understated."

Ranma's head swivelled to her ex-fiancé, and she dealt the cobalt-haired girl a neutral stare. "Someone deemed my vocabulary unacceptable for a descendant of the Serenity line and decided to intervene."

"Your family?" Nabiki inquired.

"Yes," the redhead replied with a look as if she'd just bitten into an extremely sour lemon. "They put me through an intensive course, but I didn't show that my language had improved to spite them, but their lessons stuck.

"And li'l Senny convinced me to use big words outside of prospective fights, and I can't refuse my li'l girl anything," she added with a wry smile.

"How does being pregnant feel? What is it like?" Kasumi inquired next, curiosity shining in her brown eyes.

A contemplative look appeared on Ranma's face. "Hard to describe. Strange and trying, but also very nice at the same time. The first three months were hell, plain and simple. Morning and evening sickness, tiredness and whatnot, but it got better as soon as I came into the twelfth to thirteenth week."

Ranma's face gained an introspective look, and the corners of her mouth turned upwards as a small smile spread on her face, her audience watching her spellbound. "You know, you can feel that there's a new life growing in you, and you can't stop to feel awed. I feel it every time she grows, y'know, it's like your innards are stretching—which they are—" she added with a wry grin, "you feel the little tyke in you and you know, yeah, that's my kid.

"She can be one heckuva pain in the neck—and other body parts, really—waking me up at odd times in the middle of the night, and I don't exaggerate when I say the first three months were some of the most trying in my life," she admitted with a grimace. "But I experienced one of the biggest rewards in the sixteenth week of my pregnancy. A reward, but at the same time another pain in the neck..."

"Yes?" all three Tendo sisters—even Akane, who was giving Ranma the benefit of the doubt for now—urged. Ryoga had captured the tray of cookies and listened with one ear while munching away on the cookies, he knew most of it anyway.

"The sixteenth week... That was when I felt her for the first time," Ranma said with a serene smile. "I was lying in bed when suddenly I felt something in my belly. I thought my bowels had gone crazy, but it happened again a few minutes later, and bowels normally don't kick to the outside."

That elicited chuckles. "Wow," was all Akane and Nabiki could think to say.

Kasumi's brows had furrowed in thought. "The sixteenth week... That's rather early, Ranma-chan. But I believe it is because you didn't have an ounce of fat on you."

Ranma sighed wistfully. "Oh yeah, those were the days. My belly was all flat 'n' and most of all quiet... All gone, all gone. But I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world," the redhead contently sighed, rubbing her belly.

Kasumi smiled. "I'd never have thought to hear those words out of you, imoutochan. But given the circumstances and all the hormones and changes in your body and mind it's perfectly understandable. Hmm, the medical explanation as to why you were able to feel her this early would probably be that your adipose tissue was practically non-existent. You are simply too lank, Ranma-chan."

"Makes sense," Ranma mused, absently playing with her long hair with her right index finger while her left hand had slipped under the black hoodie sweater she was wearing. "Woulda never thought that I'd ever be a mother, heaven help," she chuckled, "but now it has happened, and I'm gonna be that little girl's mom. Dunno why, but it feels… right. But am I ever glad that those changes you mentioned are reversible, Kasumi. If anything I wanna be half and half. I'll be her daddy just as much as her mommy," she added with a smile.

Akane didn't know how to react. the story was just crazy enough to be the truth, and she believed her ex-fiancé. Ryoga had been right, it hadn't been Ranma's fault, so she was no pervert. She didn't know on the other hand if she should feel jealous that Ranma, a boy-turned-girl and self-proclaimed manly martial artist was experiencing what it was like to be pregnant, or if she should be relieved that it wasn't her who had a bun in the oven.

She settled for relief in the end when she considered their ages. "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions, Ranma," she managed.

Ranma just favoured her ex-fiancée with a stare that served to communicate her displeasure. "The completely wrong conclusions, Akane."

A long-suffering sigh rolled off the lips of the youngest Tendo sister. "I know, Ranma. It's just... I'm so used to expect the worst of you that it became a reflex. I know it's no excuse, but Kuno gave me a hard time ever since his 'pigtailed goddess' had disappeared, and when I thought you'd done something perverted before coming back, especially getting one of the other girls pregnant... I just snapped. Sorry."

The stare didn't waver in the slightest, and it became obvious that Akane wouldn't get off the hook easily. "Akane, we haven't seen each other in six months. Prior to that you broke off the engagement—for good, as you said. So why did you fly off the handle when you suspected I'd done something perverted. I, who I am not your fiancé any more?"

Akane squirmed in her seat, and finally she sighed. "I don't know. Maybe... Maybe I hoped that there was still hope for us... I mean... You know what I mean."

It was Ranma's turn to sigh. "You still can't admit it, Akane."

"Can't admit what?" the girl with the cobalt-blue hair asked, her face getting red.

Ranma rolled her eyes. "That you like me."

The redhead held her hands up to forestall any denials. "It's okay, Akane. Really. I had a lot of time to think, and came to the conclusion that the two of us wouldn't have worked out anyway."

Akane bristled. "If it wouldn't have worked out then because of you, you insensitive macho jerk!" she exclaimed, her anger getting the better of her.

"Maybe," Ranma conceded with a self-ironic smile, and her answer threw not just Akane for a loop. "You see, I realised that I'd been exactly what you always accused me of, at least partially. I was loud-mouthed and brass, a macho and all that-"

"You have grown up, Ranma." Nabiki interrupted thoughtfully, her right thumb and index finger stroking her chin. "Six months ago you'd never have admitted your own shortcomings."

"Being pregnant kinda changes your perspective, Nabiki." Ranma replied with an ironic smile. "But that what would have destroyed our eventual marriage, Akane, was the lack of trust in our relationship.

"Don't look at me like that, Akane. You always accused me of doing something 'perverted' with the other girls, but nothing ever happened, and not from lack of trying on their parts. Yet you always accused me of perversities, didn't believe me capable of staying true to you. In short, you didn't trust me."

"She's got a point there, sis." Nabiki mused thoughtfully. "Ranma was never unfaithful to you, even though the situations she placed herself in and her rather severe case of foot-in-mouth often made it seem so. I can vouch for that."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence, Nabiki." Ranma replied with an inclination of her head and a smile, and her head turned towards Akane. "Trust, Akane. It's what was missing, and now it's too late. I loved you once, but now I cannot offer you more than friendship."

Akane swallowed hard. "Is it because of the baby?"

"Partially," Ranma admitted. "But the gist of things is, I don't want to be in a relationship at the moment. I have been chased, drugged, poisoned and Kami knows what, and I need a break. I'll concentrate on my little girl and the things we have to do, everything else will come, eventually."

Akane sighed and blinked a few tears away, but she had heard the finality in Ranma's voice. she couldn't blame Ranma, for she, Akane Tendo, had ended the engagement a good six months ago herself, which meant it was her own fault that her chances of a marriage to Ranma had been squandered. if only she had done things differently. If only...

"Don't dwell on what ifs, Akane. It's in the past, and it's not your fault what happened. We were both too young, too immature and insecure. Heck, we still are," Ranma smiled.

Akane chuckled wryly, the chuckle being a mixture of a sob and a laugh. "Just speak for yourself, Ranma," she managed in an attempt of humour.

Then, a heartbeat later Akane got up from her seat and slowly walked towards the other girl. "Hi, I'm Akane Tendo," she said in a slightly quavering voice as she stood to Ranma's left, "wanna be friends?"

Ranma got out of her cushion as well, a warm smile on her face. "I'm Ranma Saotome," she said, standing in front of Akane with eyes shining because of the tears in them, "And I'd like that very much."

Seconds later the two girls carefully embraced, big smiles on their faces. "If I can't be your fiancée I'll try my best to be your friend." Akane said with a smile on her face, and chuckled. "But something like that can only happen to you, baaaka."

Ranma slowly turned her head up to her ex-fiancée—who was still a few inches taller—and her frown changed into a smile upon seeing Akane's grinning face. "Yeah, s'pose so. I know I'm way too forgiving for my own good, but thanks for not callin' me a pervert or nothin' now that you know my story, Akane. I 'preciate it."

"You are welcome, Ranma. I now know why you did it, and I know that you'd never have done it just to be a mother. Never. But I don't know if I'd been strong enough to make that decision had I been in your stead," Akane mused.

Ryoga, who had watched the going ons in silence, chuckled. "Yeah, that's what I said as well. Takes a lot of balls, even though she has none at the moment," he said with a snicker.

"If you like yours intact you'd better keep your trap shut." Ranma suggested sweetly, the index and middle finger of her right hand making a scissoring motion.

That shut the lost boy up nicely, and the girls chuckled when a wide-eyed Ryoga protected his crotch like a soccer-player.

"Ranma," Kasumi said tentatively, "Can I… May I…"

The Saotome girl caught on faster this time, having heard the same stammering from Ryoga before. "Sure." she said and lifted up her hoodie sweater after she'd reclaimed her cushion.

"Wow, you're actually wearing a bra!" Akane exclaimed in surprise, retaking her own seat beside Ryoga.

"She has to, imoutochan," Kasumi replied in Ranma's stead as she got up from her cushion. "The breasts of pregnant women can swell to very large sizes—and have obviously done so in Ranma-chan's case—and the back strain would be unbearable without the proper support."

"You can say that again," Ranma agreed with a frown. "Seems to me they're getting larger by the day, and I can't tell ya how much of a pain that is."

Akane winced in sympathy, her eyes wandering to the redhead's mid-section. "Ranma, may I as well after Kasumi…"

Ranma smiled. "Sure. She kinda likes it. You just have to place one of your hands below my navel and exert soft pressure with your fingers, kinda as if you were playing the piano or something."

Akane nodded with a smile. She watched curiously as her older sister—who had knelt down to Ranma's left—placed her right hand on Ranma's slightly swollen belly the way the redhead had suggested, and the oldest Tendo sibling began to softly apply pressure with her fingers in intermediate motions.

Few seconds later Kasumi felt a strong kick, and Ranma, who had her eyes closed, smiled. "She likes it, oneechan." she said as she felt more kicks.

The oldest Tendo girl smiled as well, and Akane shook her head in wonder. "Who'd have thought that a jerk like you, who always claimed he was soooo manly would end up a mother?" she mused teasingly.

The other teens chuckled and Ranma sent Akane a glare. The redhead switched to pouting when she realised it had no effect, but her pout finally slipped off her face in favour of a grin as she started chuckling. "Sure as hell not me." she admitted wryly.

"We're back!" Soun and Genma exclaimed in unison as they entered the house a good five minutes after their initial eavesdropping, and incidentally just as Akane was about to take her turn. the two martial arts masters had used Genma's Umi to further eavesdrop on their children, and had deemed immediate interference needful as soon as Ranma and Akane had declared their friendship instead of their wedding date.

Ranma hurriedly reinstated her modesty and redid her hair into a ponytail, for she had no wish to tell the fathers anything. Least of all her own father, who would likely get a coronary if he heard the news—and as many faults in character as the old panda possessed, he deserved to see his grandchild, eventually.

Kasumi had retaken her own seat prior to the father's arrival in the living room, and everything looked inconspicuous, just like a get together of five teenagers. Akane was sipping her tea, Ryoga, Ranma and Kasumi were nibbling cookies and Nabiki was reading a manga.

"Were you kicked out of the bar of the day, or why are you this early?" Nabiki drawled in a condescending tone to draw the fathers' attention on her as she casually placed her manga on the table—or more accurately one father, for Soun had excused himself in favour of a visit to the loo.

Genma bristled. "We had to… Ranma, my boy!" he exclaimed as he caught sight of his offspring who was—apparently—engrossed in a discussion with Kasumi pertaining the possible ways of how to improve the cookie recipe further. "Already back from the training trip?"

Ranma excused herself from her discussion with Kasumi and turned her head towards her father. "Something like that, pops." the redhead replied vaguely. In her mind it was too risky to induct the fathers in what had happened. The sisters, Ryoga and she had agreed that keeping quiet was the best course of action for the same reasons Ranma's clan had given: it was risky if too many people knew.

"Good, good, boy. Why don't you change back while I go to the kitchen to check if there's some food left?" Genma suggested.

"Changing ain't possible at the moment, pops," Ranma replied casually and sipped her tea, her face giving away nothing.

"Don't tell me you got yourself locked again, boy?" Genma queried with an angry shake of his head as he plopped down in his usual seat at the shogi board, seemingly forgetting about food in favour of reading Ranma the riot act. "Haven't I taught you anything?"

"Nothing that came without a price, a price I had to pay more often than not," Ranma retorted with a growl to her voice, her narrowed eyes giving him a warning to not even start this particular tirade.

Genma got the message loud and clear and limited himself to a laboured sigh. "So ungrateful... how long this time?"

"A few months," Ranma replied calmly, but her calmness was belied by the flashing of her eyes. "And if I hear the words 'ungrateful boy' one more time I'm going to have to blast you with this."

Two silver-blue spheres of writhing energy appeared in each palm, and Genma decided to swallow the retort that had been at the tip of his tongue. The balding martial artist limited himself to a huff.

"Kasumi, when pops mentioned food I realised that I'm still hungry as well. Would you be so nice to make sumthin'?" Ranma asked and batted her lashes for effect.

The oldest Tendo daughter giggled in face of Ranma's cute act and placed her cup onto the table. "But of course, Ranma-chan. I'll prepare some rice and soup, it won't take long." she assured and got up from her cushion.

"Thank you, Kasumi-oneechan," a smiling Ranma replied with a grin.

"You're welcome," Kasumi replied with a wink and walked towards the kitchen.

"So, why are you back so early, hmm?" Nabiki asked, fixing Genma with an inquiring stare that made the balding man sweat. "If you aren't back by morning you two normally don't return before mid-afternoon. So, what altered your routine?"

"I'll have you know, we fought off a gang of thugs. That criminal scum was about to start a riot at the bar we were enjoying our drinks at, and being the martial artists we are we stood our ground instead of satisfying our base urges!" Genma exclaimed and struck a heroic pose. "And the bartender was so thankful that he gave out round after round after we had disposed of 'em thugs. We would have insulted the good man had we rejected his offer!"

"Indeed, Saotome!" Soun agreed, who was just coming back from the loo, "Hello Ranma, my boy. It's good to have you back. Did your father already tell you how many thugs we defeated single-handedly? It had to have been at least twenty!"

Ranma and Ryoga shared a look and scoffed, and Soun's two present daughters looked distinctly disbelieving as well. "Interesting, daddy. Your story would be a lot more credible without the panty that is still sticking out of your back-pocket." Nabiki commented dryly.

"The old perv must have dragged them on a panty-raid after their pub crawl. and that completely negates their supposed good deed," Akane groused. "Really, daddy, sometimes you're such a shame!"

"Your old man is at least just sometimes a shame, mine is one all o' the friggin' time," Ranma commented dryly.

"I don't think there's much difference, Ranma. They're both pretty useless," Akane replied with a scowl at the fathers.

"WAAAAAH, my baby daughter is mad at me!" Soun cried.

Genma smirked inwardly, his old friend had just given him the perfect opening. "There, there, Tendo, old boy, I'm sure at least one of your daughters still respects you. Kasumi! Could you bring us some sake?"

"Of course, Uncle Saotome!" Kasumi replied from the kitchen.

The oldest Tendo sibling frowned unseen to Genma and Soun as she retrieved the sake. She hated the drinking habits of the fathers with growing passion, but she just couldn't jump over her own shadow. she was the obedient daughter and perfect hostess and had been just that for too long a time to change. Hopefully Nabiki would be able to pound some sense into them.

Kasumi adjusted the pot to a slow boil and sighed silently. she pasted an oblivious smile on her face with a conscious effort and walked out into the living room where she served the fathers. Genma and Soun immediately clinked bottles to their supposed victory and gulped the beverage down.

Genma placed his empty bottle on the ground with a satisfied grunt moments later. "See, Tendo, Kasumi will never let you down," he said sagely.

"Indeed, Saotome," Soun replied, and smiled at his oldest daughter who had retaken her seat upon a wink from Nabiki and smiled back at her father in her oblivious way.

"I'll go get us some beer now, Tendo, so that we may properly celebrate the return of my wayward son. Be right back," Genma exclaimed as he got up.

"Daddy, that's something I have to talk to you about. This can't go on…" Nabiki began, receiving moral support from the four other teens.

Tuning out the voices Genma walked towards the kitchen at a normal clip, ready and willing to sacrifice everything to safe his boy even if this meant bringing great pain to him…

-.-

Genma Saotome was currently standing in front of the stove in the Tendo kitchen. An unusual position for him for sure, but he wasn't here to cook. now that would have been completely beneath him, it was a woman's job to cook after all.

Carefully so as not to make too much noise Genma lifted the lid from the pot filled with bubbling Miso soup, and the bulky man retrieved the flask he had received from Agent Meiou and poured it wholly into the pot after firming his resolve yet again.

It was fortunate that the boy had said he was hungry, for he would most probably follow old habits and sample the soup. He had used to do so on their training trip as well when he had cooked for them, and old habits died hard, Genma should know. Once that had happened and the pain had set in he would dispose of the soup in the chaos and they would be safe.

A sigh escaped his lips as he thought about the pain it would bring the boy, but it couldn't be avoided. The demon spawn had to be exorcised at all costs, or the schools would never be joined. And that was completely unacceptable.

The Saotome patriarch ruthlessly suppressed the guilt he felt at having to cause his boy even more pain and retrieved the beer he kept for special occasions from its hiding place. Today was a special occasion alright. It was the day he would thwart one of the plans the Clan of his wife had concocted, and to that he would gladly drink.

Setting his face into its usual impassiveness Genma carried the beer under his arm and joined his old friend at the table. He sounded out right away that Soun had had to endure much, and was prepared to do the same in an instant.

As things looked that would be what was asked of him, for Nabiki's glare and Kasumi's—satisfied?—smile made him shiver in unpleasant anticipation. "Uncle," the middle Tendo began sugary sweet, "I already got daddy's promise that you two will stop acquiring any more tabs, and I clinched what'll happen if you don't. Now, I expect you to give me your word as well," she outright commanded.

Genma was sweating profusely under Nabiki's stare, but he found comfort in the motto that a martial artists' path was fraught with peril. It was a sacrifice alright, but seeing that they were persona non grata in more pubs than they could count anyway it might be a good idea to lay low for a while until things had quieted down.

The Saotome patriarch was about to answer, but was unexpectedly saved from an unlikely source. "Akane-san," came a voice from the sliding door, "Have you seen my Shampoo? The ghoul said she had some deliveries to make in this area, but she still hasn't come back."

"No, Mousse, not today. Sorry," Akane replied. "Maybe she's somewhere praying that Ranma here will come back to her."

Mousse scoffed. "That fiend. I'll never know what she sees in him. All he does is make her cry… Did you just say 'Ranma here'?" he suddenly exclaimed when what Akane had said hit him, and the Amazon placed his glasses on his nose.

"Yup, she did. Hiya duck-boy, how's life treatin' ya?" Ranma asked casually.

Mousse's face that had been completely calm and relaxed a few seconds ago contorted in a vicious snarl. "You made my Shampoo cry, Saotome! For weeks and months she pined after you, bemoaned the day you left when she could have had me! But what did she do when I wanted to comfort her? She sneered at me, said I'd never be even half the man you are, changed me into duck-form and locked me in the cage! You fiend, for that I'll make you pay!" he exclaimed heatedly.

Every person in the room aside from Ranma and Ryoga dove for cover, seeing as they knew what Mousse would do in his rage. The Amazon boy went for one of his standard attacks and predictably tried to trap Ranma in his chains, but surprisingly Ryoga stepped into the weapons path and caught the chains with careless seeming ease.

Mousse looked from Ryoga to Ranma and sneered. "What's this, Saotome, you too much of a girl to fight your own fights? Pathetic!" Mousse sneered.

"Better shut your trap, Mousse. You have no idea what she'll do to you if she gets angry," Ryoga retorted in a deadly serious tone. "I should know."

"'She'? Bwahahahaha! Has Saotome now finally gone all girl? Hah hah hah, I just see it now… It's true! An even bigger rack you got there, Saotome. Got yourself a nice guy lately…"

That was as far as Mousse got. An angry snarl escaped Ranma's lips and her eye-colour changed from blue to silver in a flash, the change being accompanied by a sensation of the ambient temperature suddenly dropping several degrees and the very air crackling ominously.

The redhead might have gotten used to the concept of being half-and-half in the last half year, but taunts to her male half still tended to make her volatile. Very.

An angry Ranma was bad enough in and on itself, but added to this fact was a distinct feeling of angry power coming from said redhead which backed her anger. Said angry power slowly manifested in the physical spectrum as a silver aura flaring around her and the display of power caused the hair band that tied her hair into a ponytail to snap, making the redhead's hair wave in an unseen breeze so that it looked like a halo. Silver eyes glared at the Amazon boy, and Ranma's beautiful face was scowling.

"Now he's really done it. She's mad. Hope she leaves the house in one piece..." Ryoga muttered and shook his head in dismay.

"YOU FUCKIN' ASSHOLE!" Ranma thundered suddenly, making everyone in the room flinch. "HOW DARE YOU SAY SUCH SHIT! I'M GONNA KICK YOUR SORRY DUCK ASS STRAIGHT TO THE MOON!"

"Scary!" Akane whispered from behind the low table she was hiding behind with Nabiki and Kasumi. "Am I ever glad we made up."

"You should be," Nabiki agreed mirthlessly.

Kasumi nodded her assent. "I have never seen Ranma-chan this angry before."

Everyone in the room would easily agree to this statement. The fathers had upturned the shogi board and were hiding behind it, and the two martial arts masters exchanged uneasy glances due to the power Ranma was exuding. It was better if the boy never got wind of what they had just done—better for them.

Mousse, who was at present facing this angry Ranma, gulped. Maybe it had been a mistake to treat Ranma as usual. She seemed to have changed a lot, and it seemed that she was more than willing to make good on her threat. 'This is not good. I could always count thereon that Saotome would pull his punches, but this Saotome won't, as it looks. Should I lower myself and apologise?'

Before he had to make this difficult decision he was saved by Ryoga. "Calm down, Ranma. Do you want them to get a lock on us?"

That served to calm Ranma down faster than a bucket of ice water to the face. "Shit, I lost it again, huh?"

Six heads frantically nodded in stereo, sweatdrops rolling down the backs of their heads, and a part-time-duck profusely thanked his ancestors that he had been spared. "How about something to eat now?" Kasumi asked with a cheerful smile.

Face-vaults ensued. Then, slowly, Ranma began to chuckle. "Some things never change..."

-.-

Kasumi had gone to the kitchen after she had delegated some work. Akane and Nabiki would set the table with Ryoga and Mousse helping. The fathers had retreated to the cleaned up shogi board and were heavily cheating.

Ranma had volunteered to help Kasumi in the kitchen, probably with hopes to sample the food. The redhead had just gotten a spoon and wanted to sample the soup when she was suddenly whisked away from the real world. Blinking her eyes a few times she found herself in the other Tendo Dojo, staring into the worried eyes of her daughter.

"Mom, whatever it is you were about to do, it's very dangerous!" the silvery-red-haired girl exclaimed intently.

Ranma's face showed her confusion. "Huh? I just wanted to sample the soup..."

Neo-Serenity scowled darkly. "Then it must be poisoned! Every alarm went off, mom. That stuff would kill me!"

The redhead's eyes widened in alarm. "Send me back before Kasumi gets caught up in that shit!"

"Just think of the real world, momma. I love you," Ranma's daughter said with the hint of a smile and embraced her mother.

"Love you too, Senny," the redhead replied in a soft voice and raked her right hand through her daughter's soft hair for a short moment. She thought of the real world with a melancholic smile, sad that she'd to leave her daughter already, and her face twisted into an angry mask as she considered that she'd have to find and punish a would-be-murderer as her world blurred.

Ranma came out of her trance not a second later and blinked her eyes a few times. The spoon fell from her numb fingers and clattered to the ground with a metallic clank, and a look of disgust spread on her face as the soup that had been on the spoon spread over the kitchen floor.

Kasumi turned around. "Is something wrong with the soup, Ranma? Let me have a look."

The redhead whirled around and shook her head vehemently. "Doncha even come near that stuff, Kasumi. That stuff has been poisoned." she stated angrily, her eyes flashing silver.

A look of shock spread over Kasumi's face. "Are you sure? Of course you are. Oh my, who'd do something like that?"

"Someone who wants to kill my baby..." Ranma growled dangerously as she disposed of the soup.

"But the only one who was in the kitchen when I was not here was your father. Oh my!" Kasumi's eyes went wide. "Do you think he might have done it?"

Ranma scowled. "Ain't possible he'd do sumthin' like that normally, but considerin' what I've been through... Well, just one way to find out, really."

That said the redhead marched out of the kitchen, looking for all intents and purposes like an avenging angel. Kasumi, who didn't want to miss the spectacle that was about to unfold—it had been way too long anyway since the last Ranma situation in her opinion—followed the redhead on the heel.

Said pregnant Saotome girl planted herself in front of her father who seemed to sense that trouble was brewing. Splashing himself Genma turned into his panda-form and began to play with a beach-ball that had mysteriously appeared. # I'm just a simple panda, # read his sign.

"And I am not amused, pops," Ranma snarled through gritted teeth and her right fist smashed his sign to smithereens, silver lightning beginning to course around her body. Silver eyes fixed Genma in an unforgiving stare that promised to bring hell down on those that had wronged her—with her father being the prime suspect.

Her tone and obvious fury nearly made even battle hardened teens like Mousse and Ryoga cower—not to mention Soun and Genma, who were cowering in face of the angry redhead. "Kasumi," the said redhead turned to the older girl, "Could you please get some hot water? This jerk's got a lot to answer for if our suspicions are true."

"Of course, Ranma-imoutochan," the good spirit of the house said and returned to her domain.

Genma-panda repeatedly claimed his innocence, but Ranma's fist turned his signs into sawdust every time. "Sign all you want, pops, I will find out who tried to poison me. And if it was you…" she trailed off darkly.

"Poison?" everyone cried out in unison.

"Yeah, someone tried to poison me with the soup, and the effects would have been Bad," Ranma retorted, and everyone could hear the capitalisation. "Luckily I was warned." Ranma growled.

"Son, that sounds like something the Amazons might try," Soun—who had recovered his wits by now— suggested, ignoring the burning glare Mousse shot his way.

"There are several things wrong with that scenario, daddy. For one, Mousse had no knowledge that Ranma was back. Two, I doubt that he would have access to potent poisons."

Mousse angrily nodded his assent, and a serious Nabiki swivelled her head towards Ranma. "It was a potent poison, wasn't it, Ranma?" Nabiki inquired.

Ranma nodded, her eyes glinting with unbridled anger. "Yes, Nabiki. It would've killed a part of me.

She glared at Soun. "As much as Mousse is getting on my nerves, he ain't the one who'd try sumthin' like that."

"You're right, Saotome, I would never sink so low," he snarled, and his glare drilled holes in Soun's cranium. "Be glad Saotome is already on your case and has a prior claim, or I would have assessed your words as a slight to my honour."

Ranma inclined her head in a warrior's gesture of respect. "As I said, it can't have been Mousse. No, there's only pops who was in the kitchen when no one was there. He has no... What did they call it on TV? Alibi?"

"Yeah," Ryoga exclaimed. "Never liked you much, Mr. Saotome, but I respected your abilities as a martial artist. That you'd do something like that is... disgusting!"

# But I didn't do anything! # the panda protested.

"Son-in-law," a wizened voice exclaimed from the door, causing all heads to turn towards the speaker. "My senses didn't betray me after all." Cologne said as she pogoed into the room.

Kasumi had just returned from the kitchen with a steaming kettle in her hands. "Oh, hello, grandmother." she smiled at the Elder as she handed the kettle to Ranma.

Ranma took the kettle all too gladly, and she didn't notice that Cologne squinted her eyes as she poured the hot water over her pandafied father. A few drops of the scalding fluid reached Ranma's skin as well as Genma shook himself in an effort to get the incredibly hot water off of his skin.

Cologne ignored the cries of the balding martial artist as he hopped through the room. Her attention was solely focussed on the redhead, and her eyes went impossibly wide as her senses came to a seemingly impossible conclusion upon seeing the improbable. Ranma had not changed.

"Son-in-law..." she whispered in shock and fell off her staff in a supreme face-vault as her brain comprehended what her senses told her. "Ranma... You... You are... pregnant."

-.-

Mousse, who hadn't known said fact up till now sacrificed the juice he had been drinking to the kami of spit-take. "W-What?" he finally asked when he had stopped choking.

The fathers reacted slowly and made their exclamations of surprise a few seconds later, and unconvincing at that as their facial expressions—Soun's in particular—gave them away. They were so obviously faked that Nabiki's suspicions were raised. "So you two knew," she commented. "How? And since when?"

Genma vehemently shook his head in denial. "No, we didn't! That's a total surprise to us! How dare you get yourself knocked up like a weak girl, boy, I should... Urrk!"

"I ain't got the patience to listen to you wasting air," Ranma said coldly as she held her father suspended in midair, her right arm not even straining from his weight. "Ya tried to kill my daughter, and you can count yourselves lucky I ain't ripped you to shreds yet. Spill. Now."

"Son, we have got no idea what you're talking about. It's news to us that you're pregnant. Were you raped?" Soun asked in what seemed to be concern.

Ranma's face had progressively darkened throughout Soun's try at derailing her, and the redhead sneered at the master of the Tendo school. "Nice try. Old ghoul, you have something like truth serum or something similar on you? Don't matter if it hurts," she spat viciously.

Genma was sweating profusely. "Boy, you wouldn't do that to your own father!"

Ranma's head swivelled towards her father whom she still held in a vice-grip and her silver eyes drilled holes in Genma's cranium. "Without batting a lash," she retorted in a voice as cold a space.

"Son, calm down!" Soun pleaded, and it was obvious that he was a hairsbreadth away from having a crying fit.

Ranma's head turned towards the Tendo patriarch yet again and the redhead gave him a distasteful look, no trace of humour in her cold silver eyes. "I ain't your son and I ain't your daughter either. As it looks I ain't gonna be your in-law either, seein' what kinda shit you two idiots pulled. The serum, old ghoul?" she queried and dropped her father onto the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Cologne stepped off her staff and grinned nastily. her staff suddenly blurred and the Elder pressed several pressure points on Genma. "The paralysis points?" Ranma inquired with a raised brow.

The old Amazon inclined her head. "He will be paralysed for two to three hours or until the counterpoint is pressed. I believe the same is not needful for you as well, Soun Tendo?"

"N-No, Elder," Soun sighed and bowed his head, resigning himself to his fate.

"Good, Mr. Tendo," Ranma commented with an undercurrent of anger still in her voice. "Ryoga, would you please bind them? I'm sure Kasumi-imoutochan can help you get the necessary stuff."

Ryoga nodded his assent and got to his feet, and Soun got his next shock of the day when his oldest daughter stood up from her cushion as well. "What?" Kasumi asked sternly, her brows raised. "Didn't you think I'd do my imoutochan the favour she asked of me? My loyalty to you is not without limits, and its limits were reached today. Your friend did something incredibly stupid, and you had to have helped, father. Had you succeeded you would have killed Ranma's daughter. And that's something I can not forgive. Ryoga-kun, please follow me."

Soun was so baffled that he didn't even try to defend himself, and the numerous glares aimed at him made him bow his head in shame. Today had not been his day.

-.-

Little later both fathers were bound—Soun had been paralysed as well due to too much crying—, and Ranma was looking expectantly at Cologne. "You said you had a neat truth serum?"

"Yes. I've just the thing, Sonny boy. Or should I say Sonny girl?" she cackled.

"Whatever," Ranma waved it away as Cologne produced a flask. "And that's gonna hurt, yeah?"

Cologne grinned nastily. "Oh yes. The harder they resist the more it'll hurt. They can still lie, but the pain is unbelievable, and it gets worse with each lie."

"Good. Their tolerances for pain ain't that high to begin with. Whenever you're ready, Elder," Ranma replied, inclining her head in respect for the older woman.

"Elder, eh?" Cologne commented with a wry grin.

Ranma grinned as well, and her eyes changed back from silver to blue. "You stopped callin' me that annoyin' son-in-law, thus I can stop callin' you an old ghoul."

"Why did you stop calling Ranma 'son-in-law', Elder Cologne?" Akane inquired curiously, breaking the stunned silence she and the others had kept throughout the last few minutes.

Ryoga chuckled. "Bet there's a rule for that or something," he mused wryly.

The Elder of the Joketsuzoku chuckled. "In fact, there is. We have had cases like this before in the history of our tribe, cases similar to this. Should a Nyannichuan cursed man get pregnant the kiss of marriage is void," she explained.

"Just like that? There ain't no catch?" Ranma asked unconvinced.

"Not at the moment, Ranma, but there will be. You're a special case after all," Cologne replied with a cackle.

Ranma simply gave Cologne a half-lidded stare. "Story of my life. Go on."

Cologne cackled anew and hopped onto her staff. "Now as to why the kiss is void... You must understand that the tribe is a matriarchal society. A Nyannichuan cursed man who gets pregnant becomes a woman in the eyes of the tribe, because there's nothing that can bring a man farther away from being a man than a pregnancy, the most female thing in creation there is. Normally we would try to bring you into the tribe anyway by marrying you off to an Amazon male, but I can imagine your reaction if the tribe tried this."

Ranma's eyes changed colour again, the aura of power returning. "Oh yeah, I'm still a guy as well, and if the tribe would force me into anythin' they would pay the price," she promised coldly.

Cologne nodded gravely, her eyes indicating that she had understood the implications perfectly. "I figured as much. From now on you're a female cursed to turn into a man with hot water in the tribe's eyes, and I will have to relay this titbit of information eventually. I can keep them out of your hair by not relaying it for a while, but they'll want compensation eventually," the Elder concluded.

"Then we'll talk about this eventually, Elder. I have got other priorities right now," Ranma replied in a businesslike tone.

Cologne inclined her head. "We shall."

"What about the kiss of death, old mummy?" Mousse asked.

After he had received a bonk to the head and a warning from Cologne that he wasn't enjoying the same privileges as Ranma the Elder's face twisted into a smile, which was a truly dreadful sight to behold. "That has been taken care of long ago. Shampoo..."

"Hiya hibachan!" a bubbly voice exclaimed from the door. "Read your note and come over!"

Ranma slapped her forehead in dismay. "Will I ever get to question the two idiots?" she muttered with a sigh.

Her eyes flashed in annoyance and her head swivelled from the newcomer to the fathers. "Don't get your hopes up," she glared at the fathers, "postponed is not abandoned. I will get my answers yet."

"Airen!" Shampoo exclaimed as soon as she caught sight of Ranma. "Why panda-man and crying man bound?" she asked confused.

The Amazon shrugged a second later, deeming the unfavourable situation of the fathers irrelevant. "Don't matter. You is back! Too too good!"

This exclamation was followed by a glomping attempt. Attempt, because Ranma phased to the side before Shampoo could complete the motion. The purple-haired Amazon stumbled as her forward motion carried her into empty spot Ranma had occupied seconds ago, but her training enabled her to regain her balance in the blink of an eye.

Ranma's disappearing act had caused raised brows all around, and Shampoo sniffed as her head swivelled over to Ranma's new position beside Nabiki. "Airen no like Shampoo?" the Amazon queried in a hurt voice with her head turned downwards.

"I've always liked you, Shampoo," Ranma answered with a smile and the Amazon girl mirrored the smile happily while Mousse bristled, "As a friend."

Shampoo and Mousse face-vaulted while the Tendo sisters and Ryoga reacted with understanding nods, an understanding born from knowing the backgrounds, but the young Amazon warrior—who had no knowledge of the altered situation—played the tear card after she had recovered from her faceplant. "No like Shampoo more?" she sniffed.

Ranma didn't even flinch in face of the teary-eyed Shampoo, but the redhead let an empathic sigh escape her lips. "Look, I can't be your Airen. I can't and won't marry anyone," she glared at the still sweating fathers, "I've got other worries. Ne, Senny-chan?" she whispered with emotion-filled eyes and stroked her belly.

"Senny-chan? Who is obstacle?" Shampoo yelled angrily, brandishing her bonborries.

Ryoga took a few steps forward and stopped at Ranma's left side with his arms crossed across his chest, his volition to jump to Ranma's defence obvious on his face, but it was Akane who spoke up before him right as she'd reached the redhead's other side. "Shampoo, I'm saying this as Ranma's friend… Put those weapons away. This is my home and you are playing by my rules when you step through the door, holes you make or whatever. Senny-chan is no obstacle, and there's no need to get violent." the cobalt-haired girl said in a strong voice.

"Stash your weapons, great-granddaughter. There's indeed no need," Cologne exclaimed before an angry Shampoo could retort, the matriarch's voice holding a hint of command.

"But hiba-chan, obstacle is for killing!" Shampoo protested as she looked from Cologne to the other teens, an angry scowl on her face.

"If anyone tries to harm my Senny-chan I'm gonna kill 'em. Slowly, painfully," Ranma promised coldly, the conviction to follow up on that threat plain visible in her blue eyes that had narrowed to slits.

Ryoga nodded and cracked his knuckles. "And before they'll have to go through me first." he added with conviction, giving no further explanation as to why he, a rival of Ranma would help said rival.

"Thanks, man," Ranma managed as her gaze met Ryoga's, who simply shrugged and smiled. "You see, Shampoo," she continued in a businesslike tone, "you won't get to lay a finger on Senny-chan, and you won't even try if you want to be my friend. For those who try to harm my Senny-chan will pay the price."

Shampoo's eyes showed her surprise, and a few metres away the eyes of the bound and paralysed fathers visibly widened at the implied threat, but the old masters were completely ignored. they weren't worth killing anyway, yet they didn't need to know that.

"That's how you want to name her then?" Cologne asked with a raised brow.

"Who?" Shampoo asked, understanding naught.

"Her daughter, Shampoo. Ranma is pregnant," Nabiki said in a deadly serious tone.

"WHAT?" Shampoo exclaimed outraged, her beautiful face turning purple with rage. "Who did? I kill!"

"Get in the line, then," Ryoga grumbled, and made it a show to crack his knuckles.

"What I'd like to know, Ranma, how did that come about? You didn't strike me as the type who'd explore the other side this far," Cologne commented with a hint of mockery in her wizened voice.

Ranma sighed. "I think I can trust you, Elder. You might've been cruel to me on several occasions," she glared and mouthed 'Cat's tongue', "but you always helped me when I needed it."

"Do you think it's wise to reveal everything, Ranma? It may cause a panic," Ryoga cautioned with a frown on his face.

"That bad. I see," muttered Cologne, massaging her temples as if she was in excruciating pain.

"They deserve to know, Ryoga. They ain't always been what I'd call friends, but they ain't enemies either. You taught me much, Elder, 'n' maybe I can repay you somewhat. Before we start, do you have sumthin' on you that can mask magic?" Ranma asked.

"Too late for that, Ranma-san..."

Every head whipped over to the person who had just appeared out of thin air. It turned out to be a purple haired young woman in a fuku, incidentally one young woman that had been thought to have ceased existing.

-.-

Everyone—aside from the bound fathers, for obvious reasons—switched into stances, but Chibi-Usa held her hands up. "I am Sailor Chibi Moon, and I'm not here to fight, but to warn you, Ranma-san."

Ranma eyed the newcomer with suspicion, and her blue eyes were narrowed as she surveyed Chibi Moon. "You're one of those scouts who wanted to kill my baby. Why should I trust you?"

"Because you can't afford not to." Chibi-Usa let a laboured sigh escape her lips. "Look, the others will be here in about half an hour. I managed to find you sooner because I knew what to look for. We have to make a run for it..."

"How did you know what to look for?" Nabiki asked suspiciously.

"Because I'm Sailor Moon's daughter from the future, the Thirtieth century, to be exact. Look, we have got no time for this! We have to find a safe place, and that soon!"

"Maybe the village?" Cologne suggested.

"That would bring too much danger to your people!" Chibi-Usa said with a shake of her head. "Some of the others would do much to acquire what they have strived for so long, and..."

"She's right," Ranma interjected. "Some of the Outers might do sumthin' stupid."

"Yes, exactly!" Usa agreed. "We need something remote, like your fortress... Oops!"

"Fortress?" Ranma asked suspiciously.

Chibi-Usa waved her hands. "Nothing, nothing. Forget I said anything, that was just a memory flash from the future, heh heh! I mixed some things up, is all."

Ranma eyed her with that inquiring look she had perfected and was about to grill her for details when she was suddenly whisked into the dreamscape.

She immediately found herself hugged. "You are okay, mom, I'm so happy!"

"Thanks to you, Senny-chan," Ranma smiled as she returned the hug. "The soup was poisoned, and it'd have killed you for sure! But you whisked me right out of sumthin' important. Sailor Moon's daughter appeared outta the blue and said the other Senshi were 'bout to find us. Said we needed a safe place. I have to find out if I can trust her."

"You can, momma. Members of the Serenity line can't lie. That's why you had so much trouble in your life. It's inherited."

"Sonova..." Ranma cursed and palmed her face. "That explains soooo much."

"I don't know if that should be exemplary for my vocabulary, mom..." Senny said mock-earnestly, the corners of her mouth turned up in amusement.

The redhead snorted and ruffled her daughter's hair. "Wisecrack. So I can trust Chibi Moon... Now where to go?"

"You could try something, mom. It's a bit of a gamble, but if it's still intact it'd solve all our problems," Senny mused.

"What?" Ranma asked, nearly dying of curiosity.

Senny-chan grinned wickedly. "Someone sure is curious here," she said. "Okay, okay, mom," she relented in face of her mother's glare, "no need to get medieval on your poor, innocent daughter."

Ranma scoffed. "Innocent. As if. Fat chance of that considerin' your ancestry. I just hope you didn't inherit too much from pop's side. Fatass panda, tryin' to kill you..." she said with a sniff.

Her daughter hugged her and stroked her smaller mother's hair. "Everything's alright, mom. I'm well, and you can plot our revenge on him in our secret lair."

Ranma, who leant into the hug—it was getting easier and easier to let herself fall—looked up into her daughter's silver eyes. "Where's that lair? Usa slipped and mentioned a fortress. Is our lair a fortress or was she pulling my leg?"

Senny openly smirked, and one could see a lot of Ranma in that cocky smirk. "It's a fortress and more, mom. It's Lemuria. It was a secret command post my predecessor had built here on Earth in case things ever got ugly. I don't know what happened to the staff during the sol war, but there's a good chance it's still intact. I know where it is and how to activate it in case its still there."

Ranma nodded appreciatively. "Perfect. How do we get there?"

"Chibi Moon can teleport us. Can you memorise coordinates, mom?"

"Yeah." Ranma nodded.

"Good. It's in the Pacific Ocean, 46.0 km (28.6 miles) ENE of Hanga Roa, Ocean Islands, Chile. I suspect Lemuria is hidden underwater in the vicinity, thus we'll have to reach it by whatever is viable."

"Okay, dear. Pacific Ocean, Chile," she replied as she memorised the information. "Got it. I hope the next time I see you is under better circumstances. Love you!"

Ranma then concentrated on the real world and just heard Senny's reply on the edge of her perception. "Love you too!"

-.-

Ranma's return to the real world came as swift as ever. Glancing around she looked into several curious and expectant faces. "Sorry, just had a talk with my inner voice, 'n' she told me that I can trust you 'n' where we'll be safe."

"You trust her just like that?" Akane asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Senny said it'd be okay," Ranma replied with a shrug.

"Oh. Okay," Akane—who, like her sisters and Ryoga knew of the magical connection between Ranma and her daughter—replied with a nod of her head.

"Senny? As in your daughter?" Cologne inquired.

"Yeah. We share a magical connection that allows us to talk in a dreamscape of sorts. She told me where to tele... teleport to with Chibi Moon's help here. But first, have we got 'nuff time for the background story, Chibi Moon?"

Chibi Usa nodded her head. "If we go to a place where we can't be detected as easily it should not be a problem... but we'd need disguises. Pluto can't get a lock on you if you mask your magical outbursts, and I'm hidden from her anyway. So where to?"

"The best choice would be the Nekohanten. I can mask our presences inconspicuously once we are inside the building." Cologne spoke up.

"Before we leave, we should dye Ranma's hair black. Her red mop stands out way too much," Nabiki remarked.

"Already done!" Chibi Moon exclaimed and produced her transformational pen and made good use of it. Not a minute later Ranma sported black long hair and green eyes as well as fangs, making her look like a relative of Ryoga. That she wore typical girls clothing rounded off the picture and made her look like a normal girl. All in all it was well-done disguise, even more so because Ranma didn't wear it as if it was a disguise.

The former redhead didn't even grumble, she'd do everything to keep her little girl safe, and she was actually relieved when they left in groups in timed intervals. The ground was starting to get hot under her feet.

to be continued…