*** Earth  0.000,0.000

At the Imperial Academy, a special early morning meeting was taking 
place.  Seated behind a small desk in one of the sublevels of the 
Academy, a figure with his face concealed in shadow gazed at his four 
assistants with a coldly speculative look, not liking what he saw.  All 
four of the Wolf Pack wore varying degrees of bandages on their faces 
and limbs.  Only Hiei was meeting their leader's gaze as he sat back in 
his chair and regarded them all coolly.

"I sincerely hope that you're going to tell me that you have dealt with 
the matter of Akane Tendo," the partially hidden figure said mildly.  
The four shuffled their feet nervously, and even Hiei looked distinctly 
uncomfortable.  Their leader sighed and tapped the fingers of his hands 
together.  Naka was the only one smiling, but he always smiled, even 
though he was studying the floor with as much interest as several of his 
teammates were.

"There was an unexpected complication, Boss," said Hiei in his best 
attempt at diplomatic tones as he could currently manage through the 
thick bandages covering his face.  His stance shifted uncomfortably.  
"She had help."

"Yeah, Boss!" blurted out Hayate.  "There must have been a bunch of 
Nabiki's people waiting for us when we ambushed Akane.  We coulda dealt 
with the bitch alone."

"More?" inquired their leader mildly.  "How many more, Hayate?"

"Four, maybe five guys.  It all happened so damn fast!" said Hayate 
nervously.  Kena grimaced and put his hand to his face, adjusting his 
grip at the last moment so his broken nose was not touched.

"I-it wasn't quite as Hayate said, Boss," said Hiei, sending a withering 
look at his smaller companion.  "Kena can tell you who it was better 
than I."

"I will overlook your failure to report information to me accurately for 
this one time only, Hayate," said their leader coldly.  "Do it again, 
and the consequences will be dire.  Do I make myself clear?"  He paused 
a moment.  "Unless, of course, you wish to challenge me for leadership.  
Any of you?"  All four of the Wolf Pack, even the powerful Hiei, quickly 
shook their heads, fear evident on all faces but Naka's.  He still wore 
his usual smile, but his gaze remained lowered.

Their leader shifted his attention to the suddenly-sweating Kena.

"Report, Kena," the shadowed figure said mildly.  "Who, pray tell, took 
down half of you so quickly?"

"It was that new guy, Boss," squeaked Kena nervously.  "It was Ranma 
Saotome."  He pulled out one of his balisong knives and nervously began 
flipping it around in his hand, making a staccato clicking sound.  "He 
surprised me when I went to deal with him."  The memory of that loss 
burned like a fire within him, alongside the very real fear of his boss 
for his failure.

"Are you trying to tell me that one of the toughest martial artists at 
this Academy was defeated by that book-loving, wimp of a cadet, Ranma 
Saotome?" their leader asked quietly, continuing to tap his hands 
together by the tips of his fingers.  "I've seen Saotome fight myself, 
only just last week.  He shouldn't have been able to last five seconds 
against you, Kena.  The man's a weakling scholar, not a warrior!"

There was a brief pause, as their leader collected himself from his 
brief outburst of anger.  Hayate and Kena tried to hide behind the stoic 
Hiei, and Naka simply stood his ground and smiled his usual smile.  
Their boss fixed each of them with a penetrating stare.  Hayate and Kena 
redoubled their attempts to conceal themselves behind Hiei's bulk, Hiei 
continued to radiate his stoicism, but Naka's smile lost a little bit of 
its luster.

"Shall I take care of Ranma Saotome for you, Boss?" asked Hiei in a  
dangerous and quiet tone.  "I would consider it an honor if you would 
give me that task.  There is no possible way that he could be able to 
stand up to my strength in a face-to-face fight.  He struck me from 
behind before, a coward's attack.  I will enjoy breaking all of his 
limbs in repayment."  Hiei stretched out his arms and closed his hands 
into fists, the tendons making slight cracking sounds.  Even the 
foursome's shadowy leader looked mildly impressed at the sight of such 
raw, physical power.

"You have my permission, Hiei, to deal with Saotome as you see fit," 
said the shadowy figure.  "Wait a short while though, and allow yourself 
to heal.  If he has been hiding his true level of skill from us all, 
then it would be best if you fought him at your prime.  Only that 
accursed Tendo girl has ever managed to defeat you at full strength, and 
I doubt that mousy little Ranma Saotome is as great a fighter as she."

Hiei smiled, bringing his hands together in a thundering salute to his 
chosen leader, one massive hand grasping another equally massive fist.  
He bowed deeply in respect.  "This task will be my pleasure, sir.  The 
coward Saotome will fall by my hand.  Have no doubts on that."

"Do not fail me in this task, Hiei," said the shadowy figure quietly.  
"I intend to run this Academy once all possible challenges to my power 
among the student body have been neutralized by the four of you.  After 
Ranma Saotome and the two Tendo sisters have been... dealt with, then I 
fully intend to take over Nabiki Tendo's complete organization.  But 
that day will not come until those three learn their place in the new 
order that I seek to establish on this campus.  So do not fail me, Hiei.  
It would be a grievous error on your part."

Hiei went down to one knee, bowing his head low in supplication.  The 
other three quickly did the same.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Quantum Destinies
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By Jurai Knight (sthesken@earthlink.net)

Ranma 1/2 and its characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.  This story 
is inspired by her works and the stories from some of my fellow fanfic 
authors.  Among these are D.B. Sommer's "Shampoo 1/2", Jim Bader's "A 
Very Scary Thought -aka- Nabiki 1/2", and John Biles' Elseworlds series.  
All C&C is welcome.

Other chapters of this story may be found at this website, or you can 
email the author for them:

The Quantum Destinies Homepage
http://home.earthlink.net/~sthesken/fanfics/qd.html


The list of worlds reoccurring in this chapter:
Earth  0.000,0.000 - The world of Scholar Ranma (Baseline cluster)
Earth  +1.614,+1.502 - The world of Martial Ranma (Ranma 1/2 cluster)


What has gone before in this story (or at least what will help you 
understand what is going on):

On a parallel Earth that diverged from the standard Ranma timeline over 
five hundred years ago, the Empire of Japan rules almost half the world 
and has done so for almost a century.  A young scientist named Ranma 
Saotome, through a device of his invention, is now possessed of the 
skills and memories of a martial artist version of himself, and he used 
those skills to fight Akane Tendo to a standstill.  Kodachi Kuno escaped 
from an Earth being torn apart by civil war by transferring her mind to 
this one.  Changed by her experiences, she dealt with the bullying White 
Lily and earned an enemy for herself in her new life.  Kodachi sought 
out Ranma, who was a friend in her old life, but ran away at the last 
moment in tears, confused at her feelings.  Her older brother Kuno saw 
this and assumed Ranma to have seduced and cast aside his innocent 
sister.  Seeking vengeance, he ran into Nabiki and learned Ranma's name.  
Finally, on the way home, Ranma assisted Akane against a foursome of 
martial artists brought together by a mysterious figure and learned more 
about the other Ranma in a strange dream.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 3 - Parallels and Permutations

     History is the sum total of things that might have been avoided.

                                       -Konrad Adenaur

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


The arrival of dawn found Ranma already waking up.  Yawning, he looked 
over at the small clock next to his futon and saw that the time read 
6:29 in the morning.  Surprised at waking before his alarm for the first 
time in a long while, Ranma rolled over and tapped it off.  For some 
reason, waking up had always been hard for him, but not today.  He 
yawned once more, stretching his body lazily, feeling faint twinges that 
were the remnants of the previous day's bruises and injuries.

Ranma sat up in bed, still stretching.  He barely remembered his head 
hitting the pillow last night, even with his superior abilities of 
recall.  His bruises were greatly faded from the day before, his health 
restored by a restful night's sleep.  He stretched his arms out once 
more, feeling only the ghosts of pain.  A smile on his face, he felt 
energized as he anticipated the infinite possibilities awaiting him with 
a new day.

Slowly making a fist and relaxing it, Ranma recalled the many strange 
events of the previous afternoon with crystal clarity.  Even now, his 
memories of the fight with Akane Tendo left a vague tingling along his 
nerves, and Ranma found that to be unsettling.  Remembering the fight 
against the four young men who had been menacing Akane, he also felt a 
sense of satisfaction at their defeat.  All of these new feelings were 
almost as odd as his dreams during the night had been.

The spirit, or perhaps more accurately the coalesced memories of the 
other Ranma, had visited him in his dreams like a phantom, bringing a 
few explanations that left Ranma feeling less than fully satisfied.  He 
felt that there was so much more to know about just that one life; he 
had only barely scratched the surface.  The curse from Jusenkyo was a 
surprising revelation, especially when he had felt it happen to him in 
his dream.

Ranma sprang out of bed, momentarily pausing in a one-armed handstand, 
and landed on his feet with a light thump.  He stood in front of his 
mirror, dressed only in his boxer shorts underwear, and did a few 
martial arts stances.  There was really no reason why he couldn't take 
up the Anything-Goes School, Ranma thought with a smile.  After all, it 
wasn't as if he was going to have to fight anyone.  It would just be 
good training for his body.

A flash of lightning lit up the skies outside, followed immediately by a 
short downpouring of rain.  Ranma looked out his window and frowned.  It 
looked like he should bring his umbrella today, he thought, ignoring any 
possible portents in the event.

Ranma began to dress for the day.  He pulled a clean uniform from his 
closet, recalling briefly the dressing down that he received from his 
mother over the several small tears in the material from his scuffles 
with Akane and the Wolf Pack.  Luckily, he now owned six, and she would 
have a week to mend the damaged one.  As Ranma dressed, most of his 
thoughts were focused on dealing with Akane's disturbing new level of 
interest in him, and he thought that perhaps avoiding the issue entirely 
was the best course of action for himself.  Unfortunately, he was also 
still feeling the love of the other Ranma in his memories for the other 
Akane, and they were getting mixed in with his own feelings, confusing 
him about how he really felt about his own.  He hoped that the effect 
was only temporary.

Ranma snorted lightly, remembering Akane's demands yesterday for him to 
fight her.  I am _not_ going to fight with that uncute tomboy, despite 
what she may think, Ranma mused.  If she's looking for some sort of 
stupid challenge for her martial arts skills, then she can just look 
somewhere else.  I have much more important things to deal with in my 
life, like where the hell are the trousers for this uniform?  Ranma 
quickly rummaged through his closet until he found them hanging towards 
the back.

Struggling into the dark blue trousers, Ranma hopped around on one foot 
as he pulled them up.  A clean, white shirt went on and was tucked in 
quickly, followed by him pulling on some clean socks, and his jacket.  
He fumbled with the collar for a moment as he looked at himself in the 
mirror.  With a smile, Ranma walked out of his room.

All was quiet for several moments.

Ranma peeked his head back into his room, grimaced at forgetting his 
bookbag in his rush and picked it up.  I just need to get myself 
something quick to eat, and I'm out of here, he thought as he snagged it 
up from the floor.  Now how am I going to avoid Akane Tendo for an 
entire day?  Hmmm, I suppose I could just lock myself in my lab space 
for the day.  After all, I'm ahead in all of my subjects.  Yeah, that's 
what I'll do.

Ranma grinned as he walked down the stairs.  The day was looking up for 
him now that he had solved the Akane Tendo problem for the moment.  He 
was sure that a longer term solution would present itself to him 
eventually.  Ranma ignored another rumble of thunder from outside.  Odd, 
he thought with slight puzzlement, stopping in the hall and peeking out 
the window to watch the rain still coming down.  There wasn't supposed 
to be any rain at all this week.

"How are you feeling this morning, Ranma dear?" asked Nodoka, hearing 
him moving around in the hall.

My mother has ears like a bat, Ranma thought in amusement.  He knew that 
he was not being extraordinarily noisy, so he was surprised that she 
heard him.  He set his bookbag down in the hallway by the front door and 
went into the kitchen.

"I'm feeling better today, Mother," Ranma replied, sitting down at the 
small table in the kitchen.  He smiled reassuringly at her.  "You were 
right.  A good night's sleep was what I needed."

"So how is your project going?" asked Nodoka, sliding a bowl of rice and 
a small plate of fried eggs and bread in front of him.  Ranma felt his 
mouth watering from hunger, and he also felt the strangest urge to eat 
quickly, in case someone might try to take it away.  He shook his head 
to clear his thoughts, before thinking for a moment on how he should try 
to answer her.

"I had a major breakthrough on it yesterday, and it has me pretty 
excited," Ranma finally said, beginning to quickly wolf down his 
breakfast after speaking, while his mother's back was turned.  She 
turned back and blinked at how much he had eaten while Ranma went on.  
"I want to confirm my test results today before I tell Pop, I mean 
Father, about it."  Ranma contented himself with a slower eating pace 
while Nodoka watched him, sipping her tea.

"You and your father get so wrapped up in your theories and work 
sometimes," Nodoka said, clucking her tongue.  "There's much more to 
life than science, Ranma.  When are you going to get a girlfriend?  
Should your father and I plan to arrange a marriage for you?"

Ranma suddenly paused in his eating and coughed, getting such a strange 
look on his face that it gave Nodoka pause.  She looked at him with 
surprise evident on her face.  "Is something wrong, Ranma dear?"

"Uh, no," said Ranma, though he was greatly surprised that she mentioned 
such a thing after what he had just experienced.  He smiled in a 
disarming fashion.  "I don't think an arranged marriage would be such a 
good idea right now.  I'm sure that I can find a nice girl on my own 
that you'll like."

"But Ranma dear," said Nodoka seriously.  "You are getting to an age 
where we should be planning for your future.  I don't know what sort of 
strange ideas that you might have picked up on your journeys; but in the 
Empire, an arranged marriage is expected for someone of our station.  
After all, the Saotome family is descended from samurai, landless though 
they were, and many of your ancestors have served some of the greatest 
of the Noble Families.  Besides, your father and I were an arranged 
marriage after all, and look how happy we are."

"But-" said Ranma.  Nodoka's steely-eyed gaze prevented him from 
speaking further.  At least it's not going to be to a Tendo, he thought, 
attempting to remain cheerful.  Just what I needed in life though, some 
woman to tell me what to do, like Mom does with Pop.

"This isn't something that's necessarily going to have to happen 
tomorrow, Ranma," said Nodoka firmly.  "But I want you to keep it in 
mind.  A marriage involves family honor, after all.  Now that you've 
been home for a while, I was thinking about discussing it with your 
father."

"Uh, all right," said Ranma with a hint of concern in his voice.  I'm 
sure that Pop will set her straight, won't he?  He went back to eating 
the last of his breakfast, but with his appetite gone due to the shock, 
it was an effort.

Nodoka watched Ranma as he finished eating.  He got up from the table 
and gave her a kiss on the forehead before he walked out of the kitchen.  
She watched him walk out into the hallway, slip on his shoes and pick up 
his bookbag, and then leave out the front door.  Nodoka smiled when he 
came rushing back into the house a moment later to pick out an umbrella.

I swear that that boy is getting to be as eccentric as his father, she 
thought, turning around to busy herself with getting Genma's breakfast 
ready.  Maybe I _should_ talk with Genma soon about arranging a wife for 
Ranma.  He might have some ideas.  After all, it's never too early to 
start planning for the future.

                   ******************************

Akane and Nabiki walked alongside each other down the street, underneath 
umbrellas.  Nabiki wore her usual thoughtful look on her face.  Akane's 
face, healed enough to remove the few bandages she had worn the night 
before, was quite unlike her usual frown.  Instead, she wore a pleasant 
smile.

"All right, Akane," Nabiki said finally, unable to contain her curiosity 
anymore.  "What are you so happy for?"  Akane would say nothing at 
dinnertime last night, only humming happily.  Nabiki found the change to 
be rather disturbing.

"I've finally found the man that I've been looking for, Nabiki," said 
Akane happily.  If anything, her smile got even wider.

"Oh?" replied Nabiki, somewhat sarcastically.  "So who is this paragon 
of martial arts fighting skill?"

"Promise that you won't laugh?" asked Akane, uncertainty showing on her 
face briefly as she looked at her sister.

"Would I do such a thing?" Nabiki replied.  There was a brief pause as 
Akane said nothing, and Nabiki shrugged.  "All right, I promise."

"It's Ranma Saotome," said Akane, a blissful look on her face.

                   ******************************

Ranma sneezed.  He looked up at the storm clouds that were still lightly 
raining on him and shook his head.  I hope I'm not coming down with 
something, he thought with mild concern.  I haven't been sick since I 
was a little kid.  But, why else would I sneeze?

Ranma continued down the rain-slickened streets, the Academy almost 
within sight.

                   ******************************

"You've finally lost it, Akane," Nabiki replied, her voice laden with 
sarcasm.  "You've been beating him up quite easily in your class for 
what, six weeks now?  And today you expect me to believe that he's 
turned into some sort of martial arts superstar overnight?"

"Ranma finally showed me how much of a man he is yesterday, Nabiki," 
said Akane, beginning to get angry.  "You can ask anyone in my physical 
training class!  Ranma was able to fight me to a standstill!"

Nabiki looked at Akane with one of her patented "I'll believe it when I 
see it" looks.  "Uh huh, sure, sis."

"Fine," huffed Akane.  "Be that way about it.  When Ranma gets to the 
Academy this morning, I intend to finish the fight.  Then you'll see the 
real Ranma Saotome."

As they neared the gates of the Imperial Academy, a lone figure stood 
solemnly, holding an umbrella in one hand and armed with a bokken in the 
other.  The distinctive dark-blue uniform of Whitehall Academy rested on 
his frame.  Rain dripped from the lowered tip of the weapon, as it 
projected beyond the protection of his umbrella.  A look of noble 
determination was upon his face.

Cadets passing Kuno eyed him in speculation, but none cared to approach 
him.  The manic look on his face did not invite casual conversation.  
Those of Nabiki's organization already present on campus waited to talk 
to their leader, certain that she would know who this stranger was.  
They were convinced that Nabiki knew everything when it came to people.  
Why?  Because frequently she did, and this time was no exception.

Vengeance shall soon be mine, Ranma Saotome, Kuno thought with cool 
malice.  Today I shall teach you what it means to treat my beloved 
sister as you have so obviously done.  And my skill with this weapon 
shall be how I instruct thee.  Kuno raised the point of his bokken a 
small amount and resumed his waiting.

"Who do you suppose that is?" Akane wondered, as they passed by the 
stoic-looking Kuno standing outside the gates of the Academy.  She 
peered at the armed figure through the light rain in curiosity.  After 
all, she lived to find new opponents for herself.

Tatewaki Kuno, thought Nabiki, instantly recognizing the young 
aristocrat by his mannerisms and weapon, even before she was able to 
clearly see his features.  A slight smile appeared on her face.  He said 
that he would teach Ranma a lesson in public, "for all to see his fall."  
This promises to be interesting.  Nabiki gently nudged Akane gently in 
the ribs.  "I think he's here for Ranma."

"What makes you say that?" Akane demanded.  When they got closer, she 
turned to size up Kuno.  Hmm, kenjutsu, obviously.  I wonder if he's any 
good?  From his stance, he appeared capable to her.  She paused at the 
gate area to observe Kuno.

Nabiki continued on into the courtyard just beyond the gate, a few of 
her operatives immediately rushing up to meet her.  She silenced their 
imminent questions with a wave of her hand.  They contented themselves 
by simply clustering around her.

"Ladies, I feel a new betting opportunity about to begin for us today," 
Nabiki said cheerfully.  "Keep your eyes upon yonder armed nobleman when 
Ranma Saotome arrives.  There's going to be a fight today, and that 
means money for us.  Are we clear?"  Her assistants all nodded and 
scattered to lay the groundwork for betting among the groups of cadets 
already on campus.

Far from ignoring Akane's earlier statements about Ranma's new skill, 
Nabiki had added it to what she already knew about it from other 
sources.  If Ranma had really become as good as people were now saying, 
then things were going to get very interesting around the Academy.  
Fighters tended to draw other fighters seeking to test their skills.  If 
my instincts are right, then this is only the beginning, thought Nabiki 
with a pleased smile.

Nabiki had done some checking on the two combatants in question.  By all 
accounts, Ranma had indeed fought Akane to a total standstill.  The 
pompous Kuno, despite what she thought of as mere boastfulness about his 
skills, was a near master-level fighter with his chosen weapon and truly 
was undefeated for the past three years.  His duelist ratings, very 
well-documented on the Imperial Datanet, left no doubt as to that fact.  
Dozens of young noblemen had fallen to his skill with a bokken already.

Based on that, Nabiki decided that Kuno was the definite favorite in 
this contest.  Her sister was an excellent fighter, and Ranma would have 
to be equally capable to battle her to a standstill.  But Kuno had gone 
up against some high-quality competition.  The only question now was 
what odds to give on Ranma to encourage some bets on him.  Nabiki 
doubted that many would bet on such an obvious underdog like Ranma 
Saotome.

Uh oh, thought Nabiki suddenly.  I forgot about Akane.

                   ******************************

"Hi there," said Akane brightly.  "I'm Akane Tendo."  She walked over to 
Kuno and stood next to him.  The young aristocrat looked her over once, 
grunted briefly in disinterest, and then returned his eyes to scanning 
the street for Ranma's arrival.  Akane wasn't used to being so casually 
and quickly dismissed by a boy, and her eyes narrowed in irritation.  
She also felt a subtle tingling in the air when she got near Kuno, a 
feeling that only Ranma had previously engendered in her on their first 
meeting.

Kuno was lost in his thoughts.  One of the many commoner girls that 
attended the Imperial Academy had just approached him, but as one of the 
lower-born she was beneath his notice.  Her name did not even register 
upon him, so he briefly acknowledged her presence with a glance and a 
grunt, before returning his attention back to his more important task.  
But there was a subtle itching at the back of his mind.

"If you're here looking for a fight, why not try me?" Akane said loudly, 
irritated at being ignored.  She was determined to teach this arrogant 
stranger a lesson in respect with her fists.  She dropped her umbrella 
and bookbag and raised her hands, the light drizzle already beginning to 
dampen her short hair.

Kuno looked back at Akane and froze, as if truly seeing her for the very 
first time.  To him, a choir of angels seemed to sing behind his back, 
and Akane appeared to blaze for a shining moment with light to his eyes.  
The effect quickly faded, but Kuno knew in that moment that he had to 
have this girl standing before him.  As he thought her a mere commoner, 
he was certain that she would, of course, be willing to submit herself 
to his desires.  That she was apparently a fighter as well would also 
make his taming her all the sweeter.  Kuno bowed slightly to her but did 
not remove his eyes from her face.  She is magnificent! he thought in 
wonder.

"Such a beautiful rose to find in such an unlikely place," murmured Kuno 
softly.  "You have fully captured my attention, fair maiden," he said 
more loudly.  "Hear now and know joy, Akane Tendo, for I am Tatewaki 
Kuno, the rising star among the nobility of our great and powerful 
Empire, undefeated in a multitude of battles, the proud heir to the 
noble House of Kuno, and your new love, at your service.  My heart is 
now thine, and if a fight with me is what you seek then my sword arm 
shall show the strength of my newfound love for you.  Prepare to be 
conquered, fair Akane."  Kuno dropped his umbrella and pointed his 
bokken at Akane in a dramatic gesture.  Lightning flashed across the 
skies behind him.

Akane blinked.  A faint blush briefly appeared on her cheeks, and she 
was suddenly uncertain how to respond for a very brief moment.  Violence 
seemed to be the easiest answer, so she attacked.  Her initial punch was 
quickly blocked by Kuno's weapon, and the battle was joined.

He's good, Akane thought, ducking under Kuno's swing.  Her return kick 
was swiftly blocked by the pommel of his weapon.  Akane felt her blood 
begin to sing within her.  Battle against a strong opponent was what 
Akane lived for, and Kuno was giving her what she craved.  He's very 
good, she realized.

She has talent, noted Kuno approvingly.  He dodged aside from a high 
spinning kick from Akane and forced her to retreat with a quick series 
of thrusts with the point of his bokken.  She is but merely a female 
though, and no woman could ever defeat Tatewaki Kuno.

                   ******************************

Nabiki quickly got busy taking bets on Akane's fight with Kuno, cursing 
herself for not remembering her little sister's passionate addiction to 
combat sooner.  If Akane ever saw a likely male opponent, then a fight 
challenge was usually only moments away.  The action between the two of 
them was going on fast and furious each time she looked up, but Akane 
was holding her own against Kuno.

"I bet five hundred yen on the new guy!" shouted one male cadet, pushing 
his way up to her and waving money.  

"Gotcha covered," said Nabiki with a grin.  She quickly wrote out a 
receipt with a well-practiced move and pocketed the money before moving 
on to the next one.  Around her, other members of her large organization 
present on campus were doing the same.

                   ******************************

Akane managed to finally duck in under Kuno's guard and brought a swift 
uppercut up under his chin.  He managed to shrug it off, but the brief 
hesitation in his movements allowed Akane to hit him solidly several 
more times.  He slashed out at Akane with his weapon, and she danced 
away from him.  It had been a long time since Kuno had felt himself to 
be so challenged, and he found himself enjoying it a great deal.

She is quite formidable, Kuno thought with pleased surprise.  His 
initial admiration for Akane's skill and strength continued to grow with 
each passing exchange of blows.  Each strike that she managed to land 
only seemed to increase his lust for her.  I must have her!  She is so 
unlike the many soft women of the nobility.  So few of them would even 
dream of demonstrating such strength.  This Akane Tendo is truly a 
paragon of feminine might, a veritable tigress!  I must prove myself 
worthy of her!  Kuno swiftly lashed out at Akane and managed to score a 
hit upon her arm.

Akane grunted in pain as she maneuvered around the young nobleman.  That 
last was the most solid strike that Kuno had hit her with, the earlier 
ones were more glancing.  She smiled mirthlessly, showing teeth, as she 
leaped up and attempted a high kick.  If only this was Ranma that I was 
fighting like this, she thought, in a brief moment aside.  Akane simply 
wasn't feeling quite the same level of excitement fighting Kuno that 
Ranma had brought out in her during their fight.  It was close, but the 
magic and raw passion just didn't seem to be there.

Ranma came around the corner at that moment and saw all of the commotion 
in front of the gateway to the Academy.  He stopped, not quite believing 
his eyes.  The drizzle had lessened to almost nothing, but bright 
flashes and loud thunderings from the sky spoke of more rain on the way.  
Before him, fighting fiercely, were Akane Tendo and a figure that he 
knew almost instantly from his new memories.  Tatewaki Kuno, what is he 
doing here?  And why is he fighting Akane?

Kuno suddenly noticed a figure standing by the gateway, letting his 
attention wander briefly.  That's him! Kuno thought with a sudden rage.  
Ranma Saotome had finally arrived, and Kuno found himself caught on the 
horns of a dilemma: finish his conquest of the fair Akane Tendo now, or 
leave off and thrash the villainous Ranma Saotome as he felt the 
pigtailed boy so richly deserved?  Decisions, decisions....

Akane took advantage of that moment of distraction to punch Kuno solidly 
across the jaw.  Her other fist came around a single moment later to 
rock his head back in the opposite direction.  Stunned by the savage 
attack, Kuno fell backwards.  Akane finished him off, knocking him 
unconscious with an axe kick dropped across his stomach.  The young 
aristocrat lay still, and Akane stood up, feeling somewhat disappointed.  
Another weakling male, she thought, frowning.

Her face lit up with a smile when she saw Ranma standing nearby.  Ranma, 
she thought with a sudden rush of desire.  Now you can finish your fight 
with me and claim your reward.  I've waited so long for a man like you.  
She hurried over to him.

Uh oh, thought Ranma.  She spotted me.  He had been trying to edge 
around the fight, but the press of the crowd prevented him from making 
very much progress.  Ranma made a valiant attempt to escape through the 
crowds, but Akane managed to get a firm hold on the back of his collar.  
He tried to shrug her off, but it was no good.

"Hello, Ranma," said Akane softly, feeling her face blush with a 
familiar excitement.  Her heart was still racing a little from exertion 
during the fight with Kuno, and Ranma's presence kept it going and was 
even speeding it up.  Now that the preliminaries are over, Ranma and I 
can have our own bout, she thought with a smile.  Akane felt a faint 
tingling wash over her nerves in his presence, a slight taste of the 
sensations that had come over her during her fight with him yesterday.

"Uh, hi, Akane," said Ranma lamely.  He grabbed hold of her hand and 
managed to pry it from his collar.  "Nice fight."  He winced inside at 
making such a stupid-sounding comment.  Akane was staring at him with a 
promise of imminent mayhem mixed with lust in her eyes, and he frankly 
found the combination to be quite disturbing.  She reached out a hand to 
brush the front of his uniform lightly, and he moved a half-step back.

"Did you really think so?" Akane asked him happily, linking her hands 
behind her back in a demure pose.  The stance thrust her chest forward a 
little bit.  She smiled brightly when she noticed the effect that she 
was having on Ranma and took a half-step forward.  "I would have far 
preferred to be fighting with you, Ranma."

Yikes! thought Ranma, with an internal grimace of fear.  This was much 
worse than he imagined.  He tried to keep his eyes on Akane's face with 
mild difficulty, as she stepped a little closer.  All girls have an 
agenda, Ranma remembered his double saying in that strange dream.  He 
moved another half-step back.  His thoughts were becoming rather 
confused from the remembered feelings of love from the other Ranma 
towards the other Akane.  It was getting to be a mild struggle to fight 
the attraction he felt for her.

"Kuno looked tough," Ranma finally said, purposely ignoring her comment.

"He wasn't anything that I couldn't handle," said Akane softly, her eyes 
dancing with amusement.  She had never felt this giddy around any boy 
before.  It only added to the strength of her desires to fight with 
Ranma, to have that intense surge of emotions and wondrous passions fill 
her once more.  A seductive smile appeared on her face.  "So are you 
ready to fight me for real today?  I promise it to be an unforgettable 
experience."

"Uh, no thanks," said Ranma, backing away from Akane and waving his 
hands in negation.  He kept moving backwards at a pace matching hers.  
"I've got a lot of work to do down in my lab, so I really should be 
getting to it.  Maybe after classes."

"But Ranma," said Akane.  She started to walk more quickly towards him, 
and Ranma took off at a full run, dodging through the press of cadets 
with great agility.  Akane tried to pursue, but she was held back by the 
crowd.  The old anger that Ranma used to fill her with bubbled back to 
the surface like a geyser.  "Ohhh, damn you, Ranma Saotome!"

                   ******************************

Over by Kuno's fallen body, Nabiki finished counting the last of her 
winnings.  By a little judicious oddsmaking, she managed to overcome her 
initial wrong guess about the level of Kuno's skill compared to Akane's.  
It cut into her profits more than she cared for, which didn't leave her 
feeling very charitable towards the young nobleman, currently lying 
unconscious on the wet pavement.

"Help me carry this idiot over to the Academy infirmary, will you, 
Yohko?" asked Nabiki.  The other girl bent down and lifted Kuno up, and 
between Nabiki and Yohko they got him up onto his feet, sort of.  Yohko 
grunted with effort as the two girls got under Kuno's shoulders to carry 
him.

"Man," said Yohko.  "He weighs a ton.  Why are we doing this for him, 
Nabiki?"

"Well, let's just say that I'm trying to preserve a potentially 
lucrative business contact and just leave it at that," replied Nabiki.  
She hefted her half of Kuno's weight, and the two girls trudged to the 
Academy building with him suspended between them, his feet dragging 
behind them.

                   ******************************

Ranma finally reached the door to his lab.  Man, what is with that Akane 
Tendo?  He rummaged in his pocket for his keys.  She just gets done with 
one fight, and she's eager to begin another?  How did I ever get myself 
tangled up with a borderline psycho like that?  He pulled his keyring 
from his pocket.

Ranma unlocked the door to his lab, flipping on the main light switch.  
The fluorescent lights flickered on slowly, snapping into full 
luminosity one by one.  He closed the door, relocking it behind him, and 
set his bookbag down by the door.  Ranma breathed in a deep breath and 
let it out slowly.  Here he felt safe.  Here he could continue to 
explore the new frontier that he had finally breached.  Here he did not 
have to deal with the likes of Akane Tendo.

Ranma walked over to the area around his workbench, running a hand along 
the cloth covering it, a smile on his face.  He flipped on the main 
power bar and let the equipment begin to warm up as he started to remove 
the tarps covering everything.  He felt a sense of expectancy wash over 
him at another chance to see what other secrets were held behind the 
quantum barriers.

The monitor blinked on, and Ranma sat down and began tapping away at the 
keyboard.  The screen cleared, and printed out:

*SELF-CHECK COMPLETE

*ALL LOGIC COMPONENTS ARE FUNCTIONING WITHIN DESIGNATED PARAMETERS

*QUANTUM FLUX COIL IS FUNCTIONING WITHIN DESIGNATED PARAMETERS

*NEURAL INDUCTION SENSORS ARE FUNCTIONING WITHIN DESIGNATED PARAMETERS

*SYSTEM HAS 5 QUANTUM COORDINATES STORED IN STABLE MEMORY

*TIME DURATION OF RECENT TEST RUN:  60.00 MINUTES

*SCAN FOR NEW COORDINATES:  

Ranma typed "NO" on the keyboard and hit the enter key.  The screen 
cleared once more.

*PLEASE INPUT QUANTUM COORDINATE FILE DESIRED:

Ranma sat back and thought for a long moment, one finger tapping at his 
temple as he gazed at the screen.  I suppose I should simply take them 
in order of discovery.  As they progress out across parallel time, it 
would enable me to see if there are any patterns to the changes.  It 
will be interesting to see how each of these new experiences compare to 
my first live test run.  Excitement filled Ranma as he bent down and 
typed away for a few more moments at the keyboard.  The monitor cleared 
and read:

*QUANTUM COORDINATE FILE #0000001 LOADING INTO ACTIVE MATRIX...

*PLEASE STAND BY...

*MATRIX LOADED: FILE #0000001.  DETAILS?

Ranma typed out "YES" for a response, and the screen began to print out 
more information on the file.

*FILE #0000001 - QUANTUM DIVERGENCE POINT OCCURRED:
      2 YEARS
      2 MONTHS
     12 DAYS
      3 HOURS
     56 MINUTES
     51 SECONDS AGO.

As Ranma watched, the counter kept increasing the seconds count.  Hmmm, 
he thought with an intrigued smile.  That would be a few weeks before I 
had my dream.

*SET CYCLE INTO ACTIVE MODE:  YES

*SET TIME DURATION FOR TEST:

Ranma thought about it.  The first test run had been for an hour, and it 
had been a success.  The memory transfer appeared to take place very 
quickly, so the time set might not matter.  Unfortunately, he had a lot 
of ground to try and cover today, so he couldn't be overly generous with 
his time for each one.  With a grin of anticipation, Ranma set the timer 
for thirty minutes instead of sixty once again.  The computer screen 
cleared, and the familiar double sine wave patterns appeared.  The 
system was ready to initiate synchronization.

*WAITING FOR SIGNAL FROM NEURAL HEADSET

Ranma settled himself into a comfortable position on the couch and 
placed the headset over his head.  The thrill of discovery tingled 
inside him from the prospect of seeing another life that he could have 
lived, seeing another possibility.  As he relaxed back onto the couch, 
the faint background hum of the resonator was a familiar tickle running 
along the inside of his skull.  I wonder what this life will be like?

The last thing he remembered was the soft computer-generated voice 
making its solemn pronouncement, "Initiating upload cycle."

                   ******************************

*** Earth  -0.002,+0.003

Ranma found himself sitting in a darkened laboratory as lightning 
flashed outside the small windows.  A notebook was in front of him, 
filled with schematics for some sort of computer design.  It was a 
completely unfamiliar design to him, but it tingled on the edge of 
comprehensibility.  He was wearing casual clothes and a white lab coat, 
instead of any sort of uniform.  I don't attend the Academy here?  
Curious.

Ranma looked up and saw a cloth-covered figure resting on an operating 
table in the middle of the room, surrounded by a multitude of tools and 
electronic components.  I really hope that isn't a dead body, thought 
Ranma solemnly.

While waiting for his alternate self's memories to be made available to 
him, Ranma screwed up his courage, swallowed once, and walked the short 
distance to the table.  White cloth covered a shape that gave every 
indication of being a corpse.  A flash of lightning lit up the skies 
beyond the window that was almost immediately followed by a loud crash 
of thunder.  Ranma lifted back the cloth as yet another bright flash of 
lightning occurred outside.

Beneath the cloth was revealed the face of an adolescent Japanese girl 
with reddish hair, apparently asleep.  Her features were unfamiliar to 
Ranma, which worried him a little.  The rush of memories from his 
alternate should have occurred by now, unless there was some variable 
factor of which he was still unaware of.  Tentatively, Ranma poked his 
right index finger against the cheek.  He let out a sigh of relief when 
he felt warm flesh at his touch.

A hand suddenly came down on his shoulder, and Ranma came close to 
expiring from heart failure on the spot.  He turned around and saw his 
father looking at him with a smile.

"Can't get enough of looking at her, Son?" asked Genma.  "This is a 
stunning achievement that you've done.  The Empire will record your name 
forever in the history books as one of the inventors of the world's 
first artificially-intelligent android."

Ranma's alternate life's memories came crashing in at that moment, 
filling his awareness.  He had received an invitation to study with the 
occasionally erratic scientist and genius, Professor Kyuusaku Natsume, 
at Mishima Heavy Industries.  Ranma remembered the invitation from his 
own life, but he had finally rejected it in order to pursue his own 
goals of creating the resonator.

In this timeline, he apparently accepted, as there was no memory of ever 
even having such a dream in this life.  He had a well-equipped lab space 
here in the Ministry of Science, fully funded by Mishima.  Old Man 
Mishima loved Ranma like an adopted son for all of his efforts on the 
company's behalf.  Anything Ranma requested was delivered to him within 
hours, a heady thing to realize.  The only thing missing in his life was 
a companion, and Ranma was surprised to realize that that was why his 
counterpart had encouraged the Professor to make the prototype android 
female.  He shook that thought off.

"It is quite an achievement, isn't it?" said Ranma with pride.  I never 
knew I had such a tremendous talent for computer technology, he thought 
as he pulled the sheet from the figure.  My alternate managed to improve 
the original neural network designs created by Professor Natsume just 
before his death in that car crash that killed him, his wife, and their 
son.  Ranma felt a single tear roll down his cheek at the memory of the 
funeral.  Professor Natsume had taught Ranma's counterpart almost 
everything he knew about cybernetics and computers.

At least in this timeline, his work was completed, thought Ranma with a 
large feeling of pride.  This was my alternate's tribute to him, as well 
as solving the need for an organic component in the central processor.  
NK1124, Nuku Nuku.  An entirely new line of android companions for the 
very wealthy that could also double as bodyguards was created, to 
challenge Genom Corporation's solitary preeminence in the field of 
artificial people.  Old Man Mishima gave my alternate NK1124 as a bonus 
for a job well done.

Nuku Nuku was dressed in a skintight, white silk jumpsuit and boots, 
which hid none of her rather impressive figure.  Her designation number 
was stenciled into the fabric in bold, blue letters and ran down the 
length of one thigh.  Ranma could not easily bring himself to stop 
looking at her.  She's gorgeous, he thought with a smile.

So many differences for such a small amount of time, Ranma thought with 
a smile.  Changing one event changed my entire life.  He never attended 
the Imperial Academy in this life, nor did he ever need to.  Mishima 
Heavy Industries was willing to fund his research whims until the end of 
his days after his successes in helping bring the NK Project to a 
profitable conclusion.  He received an honorary induction into the 
Ministry of Science as well.

"I didn't mean to take you away from your work, son," said Genma 
pleasantly.  "The new Science Minister needed a report from me, so I 
just stopped in to say hello.  Your mother wants you home for dinner 
tonight as well, so don't get too caught up in your work.  She told me 
that she would have a surprise for you, so be prepared.  I'll be back to 
pick you up for the train ride home at five."  With a wave, Genma 
departed.

Alone in the lab, Ranma's attention was drawn back to the silent figure 
lying on the table.  According to his counterpart's memories, he was 
currently working on upgrading her central processor unit and neural 
network.  A command phrase appeared in his thoughts.

"Wake up, Nuku Nuku," Ranma said softly.  The girl's eyes blinked open, 
jade green in color.  She stretched her arms out to the sides in a way 
that did marvelous things to her chest, in Ranma's opinion.  He smiled 
at the android girl.

"Ranma," squealed Nuku Nuku happily.  She launched herself at him from 
off the table, catching him up in a warm hug.  She was a little shorter 
than him, so her head was able to rest quite comfortably against his 
shoulder.  Ranma put his arms around her and felt odd about the whole 
thing, maybe even a little sad.  I have all the research materials that 
a scientist could ever ask for, but I had to build myself a woman to 
love in this life, he thought with shocked realization.  Maybe this 
isn't as good a life as I originally thought.

The pleasant feel of the android girl in his arms kept distracting him 
from feeling too morose though.  She was so cute, and looked and felt so 
much like a real girl, that it was extremely difficult to think of her 
as artificial.  And, surprisingly enough, this Ranma loved her very 
deeply, even though she was a machine.  It was a rather sobering 
realization to him.

Ranma looked down into a pair of concerned-looking green eyes.  Her eyes 
were at about the level of his chin.

"You feel sad, Ranma," she said.  "I can tell from your body posture and 
muscle movements.  Tell Nuku Nuku what's wrong."

"Do you, uh, love me, Nuku Nuku?" asked Ranma uncertainly, already 
knowing the answer but feeling that he had to ask anyway.

"Of course I do, you silly," she said with a smile.  "You are the only 
man in the world for me.  Let Nuku Nuku show you."  She pulled his head 
down into a kiss.  Their lips touched, and Ranma felt waves of emotion 
fill him from the depths of his alternate's mind.  Her fingers ran 
through his hair lightly as the kiss deepened, and he tightened his arms 
around her.  She even smells like a real woman, Ranma thought idly.

Ranma pulled his head back, gently breaking the passionate kiss, his 
very first.  Nuku Nuku smiled up at him with warmth and trust glowing in 
her eyes, before snuggling her body against his and resting her head on 
his shoulder once more.  She feels so real, he thought in amazed wonder.  
His initial doubts about her began to fade, and he became even more 
impressed with the level of sophistication of her construction.  She 
_was_ a real woman, in everything that mattered.

"Ranma?" asked Nuku Nuku against his chest.  "When will you tell your 
parents about you and me?"  Her voice had gone soft.  Ranma saw a few 
brief memories of his alternate's attempts to do just that, but never 
quite finding the courage.  His mother was beginning to pressure him to 
find a wife, to carry on the Saotome name.  How could he tell his mother 
that he had fallen in love with his own creation?

"I don't know," said Ranma quietly.  Sadness filled him.  "My mother 
wouldn't understand.  She wants me to marry, but I don't think that she 
would appreciate you as much as I do."  He felt her hug him tighter, 
warm against the cold sadness that filled him from her obvious 
unhappiness.

"Nuku Nuku understands," she said softly.  She looked up at him with 
tears in her eyes.  "Perhaps I could be your mistress?  I don't need to 
be your wife.  I only want your love."

"That would be acceptable to you?" asked Ranma, surprised.

"Of course," she replied brightly, her tears fading.  "I only want to 
love you.  I owe everything that I am to you."  She snuggled against him 
once more, looking content.  Ranma looked around the well-equipped but 
sterile lab, a far cry from the humble one that he had in his own 
timeline.

"I do love you, Nuku Nuku," Ranma said, feeling the truth in his words, 
at least as far as his counterpart felt.

She looked up at him with a smile, before kissing him once more, her 
mouth opened slightly.  Ranma felt her tongue brush against his lips 
during the kiss, and he wasn't sure what to do.  His hands stroked down 
the back of her head, and Nuku Nuku leaned back against the table.  She 
moved her hands into a light grip on either side of his head, gently 
caressing his hair as she kissed him.

This is certainly much better than any of my Academy classes have ever 
been, was Ranma's only thought.  He concentrated on learning more about 
the best ways to kiss, and Nuku Nuku appeared to be more than eager to 
teach him what pleased her.

The brief time went by quite pleasantly for both of them.

                   ******************************

*** Earth  0.000,0.000

"Retrieval cycle complete," the computer voice spoke.

Ranma blinked rapidly and inhaled deeply several times, an echo of the 
passions that he had just been experiencing slowly fading in his mind.  
The quiet solitude of his lab now surrounded him as he slowly removed 
the neural interlink headset.  What an experience, thought Ranma.

Sitting up, Ranma brushed his fingers against his lips, imagining that 
he could still feel the android girl's lips touching him there.  In his 
mind he could see many of the elements that went into her construction, 
some of them quite revolutionary concepts.  They were the legacy of a 
man who died on both worlds, but on Ranma's own world Mishima Heavy 
Industries never completed the NK Project.  He remembered reading about 
it in one of the publications of the Ministry of Science, but the exact 
details were never revealed for corporate security reasons.

Ranma got up and splashed a little water on his face from the sink in 
his lab.  He rinsed out the mug on the small shelf below the mirror and 
filled it with water.  Raising it to his lips, he toasted his reflection 
with a smile.  May your life in that other timeline be a very happy one, 
Ranma Saotome.

                   ******************************

Kuno awoke to the feel of a cool cloth on his forehead.  He sat up with 
a grunt of pain to see Nabiki seated next to him, calmly flipping pages 
in one of her textbooks.  She glanced over at him.

"Finally awake, Kuno-dono?" asked Nabiki mildly.  "I was beginning to 
wonder about you."  She calmly set down her book.  Looks like your head 
is harder than I thought it was, she thought with an internal smile of 
amusement.

"Akane Tendo," murmured Kuno with a sudden smile.  He whirled to face 
Nabiki.  "I must have her!"

Hmmm, thought Nabiki with a slight frown.  Either his head isn't as hard 
as I thought, or perhaps Akane hit him harder than I thought she had.

"Nabiki Tendo," said Kuno solemnly.  "Loathe though I am to give more 
money into your greedy, grasping hands, I fear that I cannot live 
without my new-found love for the fair maiden, Akane Tendo.  I need 
your... help."  The last was spoken through gritted teeth.

Correction, Nabiki grumbled in her thoughts, Akane didn't hit him hard 
enough.

"My sister isn't really anything that I can sell, Kuno-dono," said 
Nabiki neutrally.  His description for herself she filed away to raise 
the eventual price for any future services that she gave him.  Although 
selling Akane _is_ an intriguing notion, she thought with an internal 
smile.  "I'm not exactly sure what aid I can offer you in this."

"Anything!" cried Kuno in desperation.  "A lock of her hair, some simple 
photographs, anything that I might treasure until I am able to prove the 
strength of my love for her!  I shall conquer her with that strength!  
But until that day I require some small tokens of her to enable me to 
carry on."

Nabiki's thoughts briefly whirled over the possibilities.  A wealthy 
fool of an aristocrat was practically begging to throw a great deal of 
money at her for pictures of her younger sister and a lock of her hair.  
This was the sort of thing that Nabiki lived for; things did not get any 
better than this.  The thought of all that profit brought a cool smile 
to her face.

"Perhaps I might be able to assist you in this, Kuno-dono," said Nabiki, 
nodding in an encouraging fashion.  "Photographs of my sister I can take 
for you easily enough, and a lock of her hair is also doable.  Beyond 
that I can't promise anything."

"Done!" said Kuno excitedly.  He took Nabiki by her hands, causing her 
to feel that strange, almost electric, tingling that she had felt at 
their initial meeting.  It was much like meeting Ranma had been like, 
and it caught her by surprise.  Kuno was too caught up in his fervor for 
Akane to notice the surprised look that briefly appeared on Nabiki's 
face.  "Despite your mercenary ways, Nabiki Tendo, I trust thee to 
maintain these dealings as a secret between us?  T'would not be seemly 
for a noble Lord of the Empire, such as myself, to be seen consorting 
with the likes of a money-grubbing woman such as thee."

Nabiki felt a strong sense of irritation burn across her mind like a 
flash fire, but she kept her features calm through long practice.  That 
arrogant, overbearing, half-witted, strutting peacock, she thought in 
anger.  But she kept these unexpected feelings hidden behind a mask of 
calm.  That she had felt herself attracted to such a man as Kuno somehow 
made it even worse for her.  You will pay for that remark, Tatewaki 
Kuno, she vowed.  Have no doubts on this.  Oh, how you'll pay....

"Of course, Kuno-dono," said Nabiki neutrally.  A predatory glint 
appeared in her eyes.  She intended to utilize all of her skills to 
wrest as much money as she could from this situation.  

Then a thought struck Nabiki, one that would allow her to deal with 
Akane's new and unexpectedly strong interest in Ranma.  "There is a 
slight problem, however," Nabiki said diplomatically, feeling gleeful 
inside.  "One that I feel you should be made aware of, Kuno-dono."

"Problem?" asked Kuno, his face falling into a frown.  "What sort of 
problem do you speak of, Tendo-san?"

"Well, my sister already happens to have another suitor for her hand," 
said Nabiki in a casual tone of voice.  "She speaks of him quite 
highly."

"Another seeks the hand of my one, true love?!" roared Kuno, as he 
grabbed Nabiki by the shoulders.  "Tell me the name of my rival that I 
might eliminate his interference!"

Wow, thought Nabiki.  That sure caught his attention.  She felt a little 
bit guilty about what she was about to do to Ranma, but she felt 
confident that it was for his own good.  Having someone like Kuno set 
himself between Akane and Ranma would only help her own case when she 
finally decided to ensnare the scholar for herself.  And with Akane 
dealing with her new suitor, Nabiki was sure that it would keep her 
distracted and away from Ranma.

"First, Kuno-dono, please remove your hands from my person," said Nabiki 
calmly.  "I'm afraid that you are wrinkling my uniform."

She watched Kuno release her, pleasant thoughts about the large 
stumbling block that she was about to toss in Akane's path filling her 
mind.  This is almost going to be too easy, she thought with an internal 
smile, holding out her hand.

"Two thousand yen for the name of Akane's suitor," Nabiki said 
pleasantly.  Kuno slapped two thousand-yen notes into her hand very 
quickly, and she closed her fist around them, feeling warm inside.  Once 
Kuno made his intentions known, Ranma was sure to feel even more 
disinclined to return Akane's affections.  This was for the poor boy's 
own good, after all.

"Well?" said Kuno impatiently.  Nabiki wrinkled her nose slightly, 
trying very hard not to laugh at the irony of the situation.

"Akane is interested in Ranma Saotome, Kuno-dono," Nabiki said calmly.  
There was quiet for the space of several very long moments.  Nabiki 
wasn't sure if Kuno had heard her, and she was about to repeat herself 
when he got an interesting look on his face.  It was as if an intense 
fury was being suppressed within him by only the slimmest of margins.  
That was perfect, as far as Nabiki was concerned.  Inside, she exulted 
at her spontaneous plan taking shape right before her eyes.

"That fiend, Saotome," murmured Kuno, gripped in the midst of his fury.  
"First, he seduces and callously discards my beloved, innocent sister.  
Now he seeks to keep me from my own one, true love.  I shall have 
VENGEANCE!"  He sprang from the cot that he was seated upon and quickly 
ran from the room.

Nabiki stared after the departed nobleman with a speculative look, a 
little surprised at Kuno's reaction.  I hope he doesn't hurt Ranma very 
badly, she thought, a little worriedly.  I was expecting him to try to 
win Akane, instead of wanting to beat Ranma to a pulp.  Sorry about 
that, Saotome.  I hope your new skills are enough to keep your hide 
intact.

                   ******************************

Akane sat in class, bored, softly tapping her pencil against her desk.  
A faint smile was on her face as she remembered the thrill of facing 
Ranma in combat yesterday, accompanied by a very light blush on her 
cheeks.  How could I have missed seeing his strength? she wondered idly.  
Ranma is far more than he appeared to be at first.  To hide such skill 
at martial arts, to pretend to be so inept and weak, takes a special 
sort of ability.  I wonder what other secrets he could be hiding from 
me?  Akane sighed dreamily at the newfound mystery of Ranma Saotome.

"Psst... Akane," whispered a female voice from behind her.  The 
instructor was currently writing a long diagram of a piece of classical 
literature on the blackboard.  Akane turned around, confident that he 
wouldn't be looking at the class for the next ten minutes, at least.

Behind Akane was Yuka Masami, one of her best friends at the Academy, 
despite Yuka's disinterest in the martial arts.  A pretty girl with long 
brown hair, Yuka wore the gray uniform of a Security cadet with a single 
stripe on her sleeve.  She smiled at Akane, and softly whispered, "Is it 
true, Akane?"

"Is what true?" Akane whispered back, looking puzzled.

"About you and Ranma Saotome, silly," whispered Yuka, still smiling.  "I 
heard that he managed to beat you up pretty good during sparring 
yesterday.  Is that what's got you looking so distracted today?"

"Well, he sort of surprised me with his martial arts skills yesterday," 
whispered Akane, feeling her face blush again.  "He's a much better 
fighter than I ever thought he was."

"Aaannnd?" whispered Yuka, drawing it out as she leaned forward on her 
desk.

"I-I think he's the one," whispered Akane, feeling embarrassed.  "Oh 
Yuka, I've never felt anything before like what I felt fighting Ranma 
yesterday.  It was magical.  Ranma Saotome showed me how much of a man 
he was yesterday.  He was actually winning when the coach ended the 
match."  A brief quiver of happiness ran through Akane at the memory of 
Ranma's skill and strength overpowering her.

"You'd better stake your claim soon then, girl," whispered Yuka with a 
smile.  "I've been hearing rumors that a few of the other girls started 
really noticing Ranma after the two of you fought yesterday.  Seems like 
you're not the only one who's taken a fancy to the new martial artist on 
campus."

"What?!" shouted Akane, shooting up to her feet.  The class came to a 
grinding halt around her, and the instructor glared menacingly at Akane.

"Akane Tendo, go stand in the hall!" ordered the instructor.  "I will 
not tolerate any such outbursts from any cadet in one of my classes."  
He pointed at the door, and Akane walked to it, her right eye twitching 
slightly.

No one is taking Ranma Saotome away from me! Akane thought fiercely.  
He's going to be mine!  She stomped into the hall and picked up both 
buckets of water.  The exercise would help her calm down.

                   ******************************

Kuno came tearing up the last of the stairs and spotted Akane as she 
stood at the far end of the hallway.  "Ah, my love," he said softly with 
a smile as he raced towards her, overwhelmed by the strength of his 
passions for the girl.  "Now I shall begin my efforts to free thee from 
that villainous Saotome.  Ready thyself for the rapture of my embrace, 
Akane Tendo!"

Akane looked over at the young nobleman coming towards her and blinked 
in surprise.  Kuno almost caught her up in a brief hug before she 
knocked him through a nearby window.  She stomped over to the window and 
glared down at the fallen aristocrat, currently lying stunned but 
otherwise unhurt on the grass three stories below.

"I want Ranma Saotome, not you!" she shouted down at him before stomping 
back to her original position.

Down below, Kuno gathered his thoughts as the passions that had so 
recently overwhelmed him faded slightly.  

But wait, Kuno thought for a moment.  Perhaps t'would be better to give 
my new love a gift.  Yes!  I shall bestow upon Akane Tendo a symbol of 
my yearning for her.  Then I shall sate the need for conflict which 
burns within her breast before I claim her for mine own.  Vengeance 
against Saotome can wait for one more day.

He then passed out.

                   ******************************

Ranma walked back over to the couch and pulled the keyboard into a 
comfortable position.  The screen lit up with the data from his last 
test run.  Another successful run makes me two for two, thought Ranma 
with a smile.  Time to pull up the data on file number two.

*QUANTUM COORDINATE FILE #0000002 LOADING INTO ACTIVE MATRIX...

*PLEASE STAND BY...

*MATRIX LOADED: FILE #0000002.  DETAILS?

Ranma typed out "YES" for a response, and the screen began to print out 
more information on the file.

*FILE #0000002 - QUANTUM DIVERGENCE POINT OCCURRED:
     16 YEARS
     11 MONTHS
     17 DAYS
     19 HOURS
     12 MINUTES
      8 SECONDS AGO.

The counter kept increasing the seconds count as Ranma watched it.  A 
very close tangent, he thought with an intrigued smile.  Hmmm.  That 
would be about the time that I was conceived.  A life that was different 
even before my birth, but how much different?

Ranma settled down on the couch and relaxed.  The neural headset was 
placed on his skull, and he waited.  The computer finished the final 
synchronization with the expected words, "Initiating upload cycle."

                   ******************************

*** Earth  +0.001,+0.002

It looks like I'm still in my lab at the Academy, Ranma thought, staring 
at an unfamiliar circuitboard in some sort of handheld device with a hot 
soldering iron in hand.  I guess the divergences weren't all that great 
for this one, he thought.  Feeling a rather uncomfortable crick in his 
counterpart's back from the stooped-over position, Ranma quickly sat up 
straight, stretching the shoulders back.  Something felt off.  Ranma set 
the hot soldering iron down in the holder before suddenly realizing that 
there was something _very_ different about his counterpart.

He was a she.

Ranma sprang up from the stool that his counterpart had been seated upon 
in a state of shocked surprise, knocking it backwards with a loud 
clatter onto the concrete floor.  

Whatthehellisthis?! the now female Ranma thought in extreme amazement.

A girl's Imperial Academy uniform in Science blue rested on her body, 
the long skirt softly rustling as Ranma moved.  Blinking in extreme 
disbelief, staring down at a body that so strongly reminded him of the 
dream from last night, only one thought was on Ranma's mind.

I'm a girl, Ranma realized in shocked wonder.

After a few long moments of staring down at the borrowed body, some of 
the memories from this life began to flood into his awareness.  Ranma 
was quite amazed at both the differences and similarities that existed.  
For example, instead of Ranma Saotome, his female alternate was named 
Ranko Saotome.  That was only the simplest of the many differences 
between them.  Her life had paralleled his to a very great degree, the 
schools attended, the people met, but colored differently by being a 
female.

One major difference in their lives came during her tenth year, while 
studying in France.  One of her chemistry instructors turned out to be a 
highly ranked Savate fighter as well, and trained Ranko in the French 
kickboxing style at her request.  She loved it and advanced so quickly 
that Genma had been amazed.  From that point onwards, he made a point of 
encouraging her to study as much of the martial arts as she desired, as 
long as it didn't impact on her scholastic studies.  Ranko did it for 
the exercise mainly, to keep her figure, but Ranma was very surprised to 
discover in her memories a secret thrill at competition.

Six years after that first class in Savate, Ranko had earned black belts 
in three other styles: Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, and Kempo.  During that 
time Ranma also saw in her memories a fair number of back-alley fights 
around the world that Genma had likely never been aware of.  Ranko held 
a secret pride in her heart at never having lost a fight.  Ranma was a 
little bit disconcerted to discover that she rather enjoyed beating up 
male opponents, especially all of those that she held to be her mental 
inferiors.

Ranko didn't bully people or go out looking for trouble, but trouble 
always seemed to find her.  Currently, her favorite target to tease and 
fight with was a male Security cadet near her age by the name of Kaneda 
Tendo.  They had a semi-fierce rivalry with each other that would have 
stunned the Nodoka of this world if she knew of it.  She was apparently 
determined to turn her tomboyish scholar of a daughter into a more 
ladylike and proper Citizen.  The efforts had produced some severe 
tensions between mother and daughter.

It couldn't be, Ranma thought, seeing a face suddenly appear in his 
thoughts that looked disturbingly like how a male version of Akane might 
appear.  Kaneda, like his female counterpart on Ranma's own timeline, 
assisted Nabiki as an enforcer.  He teased Ranko mercilessly at times, 
and they had fought frequently since her arrival on campus six weeks 
ago.  She always managed to defeat him, and her memories were full of 
incidents where she called him an idiot or a macho jerk.

Feeling uncomfortable at examining such thoughts, Ranma turned his 
attention back to Ranko's physique.  Her body felt very fit to him, and 
he lashed out with a quick side kick to test it, only a little bit 
hindered by the skirt.  Ranko's foot snapped out, and Ranma was able to 
hold her body easily in balance on the other foot as he raised the 
kicking foot up over her head.  Despite her scholarly upbringing, Ranma 
knew that she was also a very impressive fighter.  He felt a little 
guilty that he had not done the same in his own life.

It was something that he intended to rectify.  Coach Takami is going to 
find an eager student from now on, Ranma thought with a smile.  There 
was no way that he was going to let himself remain in poorer shape than 
a female counterpart of himself.  His male ego simply balked at the 
idea.

Ranma slowly lowered the kicking leg back down to the floor, feeling the 
distinct differences in balance and the lowered center of gravity that 
went with a girl's body as opposed to a man's.  It was an educational 
experience for him as he put Ranko's body through its paces for several 
minutes of exercises.  She was in somewhat better shape than he was, 
even after his intensive training over the last six weeks.  That fact 
made him feel like a slacker.

After finishing, Ranma walked over to the sink in the lab a little 
nervously, suddenly very curious to see what his female counterpart 
looked like.  This is what I would have looked like if I had been born a 
female, the boy temporarily turned girl thought.  Reaching the sink and 
mirror, Ranma just stared in surprise at the reflection, raising one 
hand up to touch a cheek and watching the girl in the mirror making the 
same gesture.  This is so strange, Ranma thought.  The appearance of the 
girl in the mirror was also shockingly familiar.

It was Ranma-chan.

There were subtle differences, but the face in the mirror was almost 
identical to the other Ranma's cursed form.  Reddish hair, far lighter 
than Nodoka's own dark red coloring, was worn pulled back into a loose 
ponytail and tied with a dark blue ribbon.  Bright blue eyes were wide 
with surprise in the reflection.  Strangely fascinated by the sight, and 
a little weirded out, Ranma was only able to stare at the female face in 
the reflection.  I'm-she's gorgeous, Ranma thought briefly, then slapped 
himself across the face to shake himself out of his reverie.

Get a hold of yourself, Ranma, he commanded himself.  He briefly looked 
up at the clock on the wall, noting by the time that he only had a 
little bit less than ten minutes left, before turning to look at the 
stack of equipment on the workbench.  Whatever it was that Ranko was 
working on, it was not a resonator.

Ranma sat down, immediately crossing Ranko's legs in a very ladylike 
manner while doing so.  His thoughts froze for a long moment.

What? he thought, mildly stunned, realizing immediately what he had just 
done so naturally in this body and staring at the results of the casual 
mannerism.  I-I didn't even think about it.  I just sat down and did it 
because it felt right.

A bead of sweat appeared on Ranko's forehead.

Ranma purposely uncrossed Ranko's legs and sat with them slightly apart, 
like a man would, and leaned forward to think.  His borrowed body's 
breasts pressed against the arms, and Ranma quickly leaned back in 
surprise, disturbed at the unexpected sensations that touching them 
caused.  I didn't realize that they would be so sensitive, he thought 
casually, looking down at them, and recrossing Ranko's legs because they 
felt wrong spread apart like that.  There was another brief pause.  What 
the hell am I thinking?!

Ranma forced himself to sit up straight and look over the notebook used 
by his counterpart in her work, slowly flipping through its pages.  All 
of the equations and schematics were new, he noticed, casually rubbing 
at her lower lip with her thumb.  All of a sudden, her hand paused in 
the midst of flipping pages.  Hello, he thought, what's this?

Ranko was working on a special project of some sort, but one that was 
very different from his own, some sort of hand-held device that was 
barely half-completed.  The central equation was nearly complete in the 
notebook, only the very last portion was missing, and it filled an 
entire page.  Ranko had made several notes on it, writing such things as 
"anti-gravity?" at a few locations around the equation and supplementary 
schematics.  The device she was working on would create some sort of 
energy field at the point of focus, some form of manipulation of 
gravity.

Ranma stared at the figures.  Even as incomplete as they were, there was 
something tantalizing the edge of his awareness, something he felt he 
should know.  He briefly wondered about the equation.  The last part 
needed to be solved, but Ranma wondered if anti-gravity was the correct 
interpretation when the equation was finally completed.  He would work 
on it when he was back in his own body, he decided.

"Hmm," Ranma mused aloud.  "This might make an intriguing experiment to 
try in the near future."  The equipment shared several components with 
the resonator, but there were also other circuitry designs that did not 
quite make sense to him.  He committed it to memory, hoping that it all 
made the transition back to his body successfully.  Being in a girl's 
body like this was making him feel a bit nervous and reminded Ranma more 
than he really cared to know about what it must be like for his 
Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist counterpart.

Ranma sat back on the couch, noting that only a couple of minutes 
remained before recall mode activated.  Suddenly curious to see more of 
the body he temporarily possessed, Ranma reached up and slowly undid the 
bow around the collar and set it aside.  The uniform jacket joined it a 
few moments later.  Ranma hesitated at removing the white cotton blouse, 
and contented himself for several long moments with staring down at a 
very surprisingly well-endowed chest for a teenaged girl.

This is just such a strange experience, Ranma thought, as she very 
tentatively touched one breast.  It felt pleasant to do so, and he 
guiltily dropped the hand after a minute of that, feeling Ranko's face 
blushing.  Noticing that only a minute remained, she pulled the blue 
jacket back on.  Ranma started to replace the bow when his thoughts 
grayed out.

                   ******************************

Ranko awoke on the couch, puzzled by the time loss that had just 
occurred.  I guess I must have decided to take a nap, she thought in 
mild confusion.  I wonder why I don't remember?  She idly retied the bow 
around her neck, puzzled that it had come undone like that.  She hopped 
up off the couch and stretched her arms out, before doing some brief 
exercises to loosen up.

By this time tomorrow, I'll be able to begin my experiments, she thought 
proudly.  Let that overly-macho moron Kaneda laugh at me then for being 
an unfeminine bookworm.  Hmmm, that reminds me, I still owe him a pretty 
serious pounding for grabbing that feel during our last sparring match, 
the stupid pervert.  He can claim innocence all he wants.  She cracked 
her knuckles softly, grinning.

With a soft chuckle, Ranko imagined the beating that she was going to 
give Kaneda for trying to feel her up during practice.  Fighting with 
him was always enjoyable, but she would never admit it to an arrogant, 
macho chauvinist like Kaneda Tendo.  If she didn't know that he was the 
best male fighter at the Academy, she would probably be a bit more 
forgiving to him.  As good as he is at martial arts, he should know 
better than to grab a girl's chest, the idiot, even if it might have 
been an accident.  I'll teach that Kaneda a lesson that he won't soon 
forget.

                   ******************************

*** Earth  0.000,0.000

"Retrieval cycle complete."

Ranma laced his fingers together and stretched his arms up over his 
head, palms outward, feeling the tensions move out of his shoulders.  
When he brought his hands down, he slid the headset off his skull and 
left it resting on his stomach.  He put his hands behind his head and 
stared upwards at the ceiling of his lab with a hint of amusement.

I have a counterpart who is female, Ranma idly thought.  How truly odd.  
When he closed his eyes, he could see her face in the mirror clearly.  
She's also a martial artist.  My quantum sister, the tomboy scholar-
warrior.  That thought brought a faint chuckle to his lips.  Still, 
there's no way that I'm going to let a girl version of myself be a 
better fighter than me.  That just ain't gonna happen.  Looks like I 
will have to train myself harder starting later today.

He didn't even notice the slang in his thoughts.

Ranma sat up and reached for his bookbag.  Humming a faint melody, he 
pulled out one of his blank notebooks and tossed it on the workbench, 
while he rummaged around for a pen.  The memories of the information 
from Ranko's notebook apparently made it back okay when he was recalled 
back to his own body, but he wanted to get the information down on paper 
as soon as he could, not quite trusting his memory for such an intricate 
level of details.

Anti-gravity, thought Ranma with a smile.  He hopped off the couch and 
sat himself down on the stool next to his workbench.  He clicked the pen 
open and flipped to a clean page in the notebook.  If I can get this all 
down and solve the final part, then I could go down in Imperial history 
for two great achievements.  A glow of pride filled his thoughts for a 
long moment.

After basking in his brief fantasy for a short time, Ranma bent over the 
notebook and began to write, slowly and carefully.

                   ******************************

Kodachi was quietly reading a book of poetry during lunch period on the 
front lawn of Blackhall Academy, for once not needing to contend with 
the White Lily, when a shadow fell across her.  She immediately leaped 
from her seated position into a midair somersault, landing on her feet 
ready for a fight.  Expecting to see Asuka standing there, she was quite 
surprised when the looming figure was revealed to be her own brother, 
especially since he was armed with one of his bokkens and wearing a 
manic expression.  She also noticed several colorful bruises on his 
face.

"Brother dear," said Kodachi, pleased.  "This is a pleasant surprise.  
Have you come to join me for lunch?"  Without speaking, Kuno slowly sat 
down, his expression grim.

"My dear sister," said Kuno solemnly.  "I have come to forbid you to 
have aught further to do with Ranma Saotome."

"What?" asked Kodachi, surprised.  "How did you know?"  Inside, 
Kodachi's mind whirled with questions.

"So, you do not deny knowing the vile miscreant," sighed Kuno,  louder 
than Kodachi cared for.  She noticed with mild despair that several 
girls nearby were listening.  "'Tis as I suspected then.  When did the 
base-born scoundrel Saotome seduce thee?"  All of a sudden, all other 
conversations around the pair ceased.  Several more girls around them 
began listening as Kodachi felt a blush cross her face.  Kuno did not 
appear to notice or care.

Asuka Saginomiya heard Kuno's statement from her position among the 
columns at the front steps of the Academy and smiled.  So, the oh-so-
damnably-perfect Kodachi Kuno is a fallen woman, eh? she thought with a 
deep level of amusement.  Asuka cocked her head to listen to the quite 
interesting conversation more attentively.  She quietly sipped from the 
juice container held in her hand.  Kuno was normally a tiresome sort in 
her eyes, but occasionally he provided her with rare amusement such as 
this news of his sister.

"B-brother dear," said Kodachi nervously.  "It is not as you think.  I 
have not even ever spoken to this Ranma Saotome of which you speak.  He 
is a stranger to me."  She stood before the still seated Kuno, who 
appeared as stoic and unyielding as a statue for a moment.

"Then why did you run home in tears after gazing upon the foul knave?" 
asked Kuno loudly, turning his fierce gaze upon here once more.  "Be not 
saddened, my sister.  I intend to avenge the insult done to our House 
and to you on the morrow.  On that day, I shall punish Ranma Saotome 
with the full measure of my skills.  He shall rue the day that he ever 
heard the name of Kuno."

"You mustn't!" shouted Kodachi, suddenly afraid for the scholarly Ranma.  
As far as she knew, Ranma had no combat skills beyond the mere basics 
provided by the Academy.  "He is innocent of any wrongdoing.  He has 
done _nothing_ to me!"  Kodachi bent down and grabbed at Kuno's shoulder 
as she pleaded with him.  Kuno looked at her with sudden rage.

"Innocent?!" roared Kuno, as he shot to his feet.  He raised up his 
bokken to point at the heavens and struck a noble pose.  "This day I 
have found my one and only true love, only to discover that she pines 
for this self-same scoundrel, Saotome!  The same man who has caused my 
sister tears!  Nay, I say it shall not be so!  On the morrow, I shall 
smite the villainous Saotome and avenge your dishonor!  Then he shall 
cease to be a hindrance to my noble cause of love as well!"

What did he say? Asuka thought disbelievingly.  One true love? That is 
what he once called me!  She slowly rose to her feet as Kuno continued 
his rant, a deep scowl appearing upon her face.  Her cronies watched her 
with wary eyes, uncertain what actions that their mistress intended.

Ranma is involved with another? thought Kodachi in surprise.  A sinking 
feeling filled her heart.  "Who is this new love of whom you speak, 
brother dear?"

"Ah," sighed Kuno softly.  "Her name is Akane Tendo.  I bore witness to 
her grace and strength this very morn, and I bear the marks of her 
fighting spirit with pride.  Truly she is a goddess above all other 
women, a lady of noble birth laboring at the Imperial Academy as if she 
was a mere commoner.  Never before have I encountered a woman with such 
spirit, nor her equal in strength among any of the daughters of the 
nobility of the Empire."

Asuka Saginomiya crushed the small juice container that she was holding 
in her hand when she heard that statement, a few droplets spilling to 
one side.  How _dare_ that man compare some obviously common, low-born 
strumpet to such a nobly-born lady as myself! she thought with fury.  
How dare he call another my equal in his heart, that pompous bastard!  
Asuka threw the crushed lump of waxed cardboard at the trash can with 
all her might, hearing it thunk against the inside before falling.

Her four cronies stood around Asuka, not daring to approach too closely 
when she was in such a mood.

Akane Tendo? thought Kodachi with surprise, then began to laugh.  Kuno 
looked at her with a shocked expression.

"Sister, why do you laugh so?" said Kuno, wearing a puzzled expression.  
"Have you taken leave of your wits?"

"It is just that... you and Akane Tendo..." chuckled Kodachi softly, 
striving to control her mirth.  Her former worry was replaced by relief.  
If the Akane Tendo here is anything at all like her other versions that 
I have seen, then she is not anyone that I will have to worry over 
taking Ranma from me, she thought with a smile.  Ranma Saotome is no 
fighter to capture her interest, so he is safe from her attentions.  My 
brother, on the other hand, is another story.

"Sister," murmured Kuno in mild anger.  "I do not see a reason for mirth 
in this situation.  Here I tell you of my finding the perfect woman for 
myself-"

There was a sudden roar of feminine rage from behind him.  Kuno blinked 
and turned around.  Asuka stood behind him, almost glowing with rage.  
Surprised, Kuno stared at the sight as if mesmerized.

"You DARE to say that a lady like myself is less than some Imperial 
Academy COMMONER?!" shrieked Asuka into Kuno's face.  Totally nonplused, 
Kuno only gazed back.

"Be off with you, Saginomiya-san," said Kuno with irritation as he waved 
his hand at her in a dismissive gesture.  "I speak with my sister now on 
matters of import.  I truly care not what a shrew such as thyself thinks 
of my private affairs."  Kuno turned back to face his sister and quickly 
found his face slammed down into the turf, Asuka's foot on the back of 
his head.

"Don't you _ever_ dare turn your back on me when I am speaking to you, 
Tatewaki Kuno!" shrieked Asuka in a full rage.  "I demand that you 
apologize to me for your statement!  I find it a grievous insult!"  She 
gracefully stepped off of Kuno's head and folded her arms across her 
chest.  Her four assistants formed up ranks behind her.

Kuno drew himself back up to his feet, and to his full height, and 
stared at the simmering and haughty-looking White Lily.  A few small 
lumps of dirt fell from his face.  A look of extreme annoyance crossed 
his features as his grip slowly tightened on the pommel of his bokken.  
"If you were not a lady of a noble House..." said Kuno quietly.

"I thought you liked warrior women, Kuno-chan," said Asuka, her 
mannerisms quickly changing to one of sweetness as she cooed at him.  
Kuno frowned at her, and she smiled back in a saccharin-sweet way.  She 
giggled lightly at his discomfiture.

"Trifle not with mine affections, Asuka Saginomiya," said Kuno quietly.  
Kodachi stood to one side and regarded the scene with intense interest.  
"My heart has flown to another, and no words of thine shall ever change 
that.  Truly, you shrew, now that my noble heart has been claimed by 
another, I can see thee for your true self as a spiteful, vindictive 
harridan.  The powerful enchantment that was once cast over me by your 
beauteous features is ended, so... begone."  He made a shooing away 
gesture with his hand briefly, before turning his back on her once more 
to face Kodachi.

Kodachi watched Asuka's face take on the most interesting series of 
expressions, trying hard not to smile.  For a year, Kuno had pursued the 
cold Asuka with no return of interest on her part.  Now that he had 
apparently found another to replace her, the White Lily gave off all 
indications of jealousy over it.  It was a very educational and amusing 
sight for Kodachi.

I will win your heart back to me, Tatewaki Kuno, thought Asuka with a 
tightening of her lips.  Only so that I may crush it beneath my heel as 
you so very richly deserve.  With a last glare at the Kuno siblings, she 
stalked off, trailed by her cronies.

"That was most unpleasant," said Kuno in a very stiff tone of voice, 
after Asuka had departed.  "I know not what madness ever caused me to 
show interest in such a vile creature.  Truly she is like a demoness in 
human form, and I am glad that she shall trouble me no more.  Now I 
might turn my full attentions to the beautiful, sweet, and virtuous 
Akane Tendo."

"Brother dear," said Kodachi quietly, gazing at him with hooded eyes.  
"I fear that I must... decline to follow your instructions regarding 
Ranma Saotome.  You are so very wrong about him."

"I?!  Wrong?!  Never!" shouted Kuno.  "I have seen this villain with 
mine own eyes, and he is far beneath suitable for a delicate flower of 
nobility such as thyself.  I forbid you to see him."  Kuno sheathed his 
weapon and folded his arms; the matter was closed as far as he was 
concerned.

Oh no, you will not prevent me from seeing Ranma, if I so choose, 
brother dear, thought Kodachi defiantly.  I will have back at least the 
friendship, and possibly more, that I had with his counterpart.  You 
shall not stop me in this.

The two Kuno siblings stared at each other for a long time, both lost in 
their own thoughts, both looking adamant.

                   ******************************

Asuka stalked through the corridors of Blackhall Academy, and her 
thoughts were dark.  That arrogant, pompous, infuriating... ooohhhh!  He 
makes me so mad!  I will teach him that he should not trifle with the 
White Lily's tender feelings like that!  Feeling a very light tap on her 
shoulder, she whirled.  Azusa Shiratori, one of her assistants, quickly 
scampered back a little at the look on Asuka's face.

"What is it?!" shouted Asuka.  "Can't you tell that I am brooding?"

"My apologies, Milady," said Azusa with a bow.  "I was wondering what 
you intended to do about your new rival?"

"Akane Tendo is no rival of mine!" blasted Asuka.  Azusa eeped and hid 
behind Ayako Mitsui, Asuka's second in command and a powerful martial 
artist in her own right.  Asuka looked at Ayako, and a sudden smile 
crossed her face.  "Ayako, I have a small task for you."

"I am at your command, Milady," said Ayako, bowing slightly.  "Do you 
wish me to deal with this commoner on your behalf?"

"A tempting thought, but no," said Asuka mildly.  "Find out all that you 
can about Akane Tendo and Kodachi Kuno's lover.  I have a plan in mind 
to punish the two scions of the House of Kuno.  An amusing plan indeed."  
She turned to face Ayako.  "Now go and gather me all the information 
that you can on the ones called Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome."

"As you command, Milady," said Ayako, bowing.  She vanished in a blur of 
motion, leaping away from her leader into the shadows.

                   ******************************

Ranma leaned back from the workbench and looked up at the clock.  Almost 
time for physical education class, he noted with a sigh.  He gazed down 
at the notebook and flipped back through the pages.  A large number of 
them were now filled with duplicates of the equations and schematics 
from Ranko's notebooks.  He shook his tired hand and stood up.

Every class I was able to skip today, but not this one, Ranma thought 
with a smile.  It's just as well.  I need to get some exercise anyway.  
Ranma leaned back and his spine cracked and popped.

Ranma shut down power to the resonator and threw a tarp over the 
components.  He stuffed all of his notebooks into his bag with a smile, 
pleased with the amount of work that he had completed.  Most of the 
details from Ranko's notebooks were now transcribed into his own, and 
Ranma considered that to be a job well done.

                   ******************************

"This is a rather unusual request that you have made, Kuno-dono," said 
Dean Fuyutsuki.  Seated across from him was a slightly nervous-looking 
Kodachi.  She had requested a leave of absence from all of her afternoon 
classes in order to meet with the Dean of the Imperial Academy.

"I understand, Fuyutsuki-sensei," said Kodachi somewhat shyly.  "I hope 
you do not think me ill-mannered in making such a request to you 
directly like this.  I am simply finding myself somewhat less than fully 
challenged by the curriculum at Blackhall, and I was told that there 
might be some research projects that I could assist with taking place 
here."  She sat with her hands folded demurely.

"Research projects?" asked the Dean in surprise.  "There aren't any such 
projects taking place at the Academy.  Well, except for one of the 
cadets, Ranma Saotome.  But I don't think that he would be open to 
having an assistant at this time, even one so lovely as yourself, Kuno-
dono."

"Ranma Saotome?" asked Kodachi, acting as if she was surprised to hear 
the name.  "Not _the_ Ranma Saotome, winner of the Imperial Medal of 
Scholarship for his paper on temporal flux states in a low-gravity 
environment?"  Dean Fuyutsuki looked surprised for several moments.  
Good thing I did some research on Ranma before coming here, thought 
Kodachi with an internal smile.

"Yes, he is, as a matter of fact," said the Dean with a smile on his 
face.  "His current project involves some ground-breaking work in the 
field of quantum mechanics."  Sitting back, the Dean thought for a long 
moment, pondering new possibilities.  He blinked and then smiled at 
Kodachi.

"I would love to have an opportunity to meet Ranma," said Kodachi with a 
pleasant smile.  "I'm sure that I could be a great help to him in his 
current work."

"Very well, Kuno-dono," said the Dean with a smile, folding his hands 
before him on the desk.  "Ranma has a lab space located in the lower 
basement, room five.  He's at his physical education class right now, 
but he has a free study period that he uses for his work.  He will be 
down there within the hour.  Just tell him that I said it was all 
right."

"Thank you, Fuyutsuki-sensei," said Kodachi, standing up quickly and 
bowing deeply.  She left with a smile on her face.

Interesting, thought Fuyutsuki, after Kodachi left.  She seemed to be 
quite strongly interested in young Ranma in particular, despite her 
attempts to portray herself otherwise.  Perhaps I should keep an eye on 
the young Kuno and Saotome.  Yes, that would perhaps be very wise.

                   ******************************

Ranma pumped his arms and legs as he ran around the track as fast as he 
could.  Off to one side, Coach Takami held a small stopwatch in his hand 
and watched him closely.  Ranma's attention though was not on the coach, 
it was on pushing his body even faster and harder than the coach ever 
had.  He was on his third full speed kilometer already, and his lungs 
were burning in his chest like they were on fire.

Ignore the pain, Ranma thought.  Memories of training under the other 
Genma popped up in his mind as fatigue poisons slowly built up in his 
body.  Don't stop running.  As bad as it was feeling now, he was sure 
that the late afternoon session was going to be worse, because Ranma had 
requested it be made so.  The coach had actually looked at him with a 
great deal of respect and then sent him out to run on the track while he 
timed him for speed.  Ranma kept putting one leg in front of the other 
and kept pushing himself, striving to keep going.

Akane watched Ranma run by her and the rest of the cadets at a sprint, 
lapping them once again, as they jogged along at a slower pace.  She 
shook her head in amazement, even as she admired his stamina.  Why won't 
he fight me? Akane thought with irritation.  He must have felt the same 
things I did.  I know he must have.

Before Ranma had gotten very far ahead of her, Akane suddenly broke from 
her place in line as her competitive nature refused to let Ranma outdo 
her, even at such a thing as running.  She managed to pull up next to 
him and grinned evilly at him, before accelerating past Ranma to her top 
speed.  I'll show you that I can run you into the ground, Saotome, she 
thought boastfully.

Ranma glared at Akane's back as she sprinted on ahead of him.  So you 
want to try and show me up, Tendo?  I don't think so.  Ranma Saotome 
doesn't lose.  With that thought, Ranma began pushing himself even 
harder and poured new speed into his legs.

Ranma had already run a full kilometer further than her at his top 
speed, so Akane was very surprised to see him gaining on her as they 
went around the track.  After another kilometer, he managed to pull up 
next to her and returned her earlier grin with a slightly tired one of 
his own.  They continued on, running neck in neck, as the rest of the 
class finished their usual three kilometers.

Coach Takami had a smile on his face as he watched the two young 
athletes spurring each other on.  Ranma was on his fourth kilometer now, 
and Akane was now on her third at his pace, after running two at a 
slower speed.  Both of them were still matching each other pace for 
pace.

I'm the best athlete at this Academy, Saotome, thought Akane, pushing 
herself a little harder and pulling ahead of Ranma again for a brief 
time.  Exhaustion was starting to catch up with her, and she angrily 
ignored it.  You're not going to outrun me!

Push it harder, Ranma! he thought angrily at himself, as he drove his 
body to go even faster to keep up with Akane.  But he was getting tired.  
You're not gonna lose to that tomboy, are you?  Hell, NO!

The two of them pushed on through another kilometer, and Ranma managed 
to catch up to Akane once more and then pass her.  I'm not ever gonna 
lose to a girl! thought Ranma.  Not ever again!

At Akane's seventh kilometer at full speed, and Ranma's eighth, the 
contest was Ranma's when Akane couldn't keep up the pace anymore.  She 
collapsed and tumbled onto the grass as Ranma went a little bit farther 
ahead before stopping himself.  Both of them were exhausted, but Akane 
felt a happy glow inside her.

Ranma had beaten her again.

After class, Ranma stood under a spray of hot water in the showers for a 
long time.  His muscles felt like jelly, but the tiredness was a good 
sort of feeling now.  He ducked his head under the water as he leaned 
against the wall, feeling the cool tiles against his forearms as they 
supported him.

The water suddenly turned freezing cold.

"AIEEEE!" screamed Ranma, dashing out of the spray and panting.  Coach 
Takami grinned at him, even as Ranma glowered back after briefly 
glancing at his chest.

"It's only a little cold water, Saotome," said Coach Takami, grinning, 
as he tossed the pig-tailed boy a towel.  "I just wanted to congratulate 
you."

"For what?" asked Ranma, shivering a little from the after-effects of 
his cold water shower.  He dried off quickly and wrapped the towel 
around his middle.

"Today you managed to tie the Academy record for a five kilometer run by 
a first-year cadet.  Ten seconds faster and you would have broken the 
Academy record," said Coach Takami with a smile.  The man shook his head 
in disbelief.  "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have 
believed it.  You've only been training for less than seven weeks, and 
you've managed to do something like that.  I'm actually eager to see 
just what you can do if we up your conditioning training level again."

"I'm ready, but I really am most interested in martial arts training," 
said Ranma.  "I want to be faster and stronger than I already am.  Can 
you help me, Coach?"  Takami scratched behind his head after removing 
his ever-present dark green cap.

"I spent ten years teaching boys how to be soldiers in the Imperial 
Army, Ranma," said Coach Takami after he replaced his cap.  "I believe 
that you can improve your strength and endurance, but it won't be easy 
from this point on.  I suspect that you're currently at a plateau in 
your training, although I've never seen anyone get to your level so 
quickly.  I was expecting to be working with you for months, not weeks, 
to get you this far."

"I can do better, Coach," said Ranma with certainty.  "I _know_ I can."

"I believe you, Ranma," said Coach Takami with a serious look.  "I don't 
know why, but I believe that you've only just scratched the surface of 
what you're truly capable of.  I confess that I wasn't sure about you in 
the beginning, but you've surpassed all my expectations so far.  So be 
prepared to work your ass off from here on out.  This has been the easy 
part up until now."  He laughed with false malice.

"Thanks, Coach," said Ranma sincerely.  I need to find a teacher though, 
he thought with concern.  Takami and the martial arts instructors on 
campus can take me up to a certain level, but if I want to strive to the 
other Ranma's level of skill then I'm going to need to find a martial 
arts master of extraordinary ability to study with.  How am I going to 
do that?

                   ******************************

Ranma unlocked and opened the door to his laboratory, before he set his 
bookbag down just inside.  His hand went unerringly to the light switch 
on the wall, flicking them on.  He walked in as the overhead fluorescent 
panels snapped on, shutting and locking the door behind him.  With only 
an hour available, Ranma knew he would only have time for a single run.

Flipping the cover off the resonator, Ranma flipped the main power bar 
back on and let it run through self-check while he pulled out his 
notebook and made a few more notes on the variability in times before 
his three quantum counterpart's memories were available to him.  He was 
sure that there was some unknown factor involved in the delay that he 
wasn't seeing just yet.

Hearing a beep, Ranma looked up and grunted when he saw that the 
resonator was ready for him.  He tapped away at the keyboard, setting up 
for the next experiment.  He pulled up the next file in rotation and 
waited for it to load.

*QUANTUM COORDINATE FILE #0000002 LOADING INTO ACTIVE MATRIX...

*PLEASE STAND BY...

*MATRIX LOADED: FILE #0000003.  DETAILS?  YES

*FILE #0000003 - QUANTUM DIVERGENCE POINT OCCURRED:
     78 YEARS
      0 MONTHS
     11 DAYS
     17 HOURS
     20 MINUTES
     25 SECONDS AGO.

Another fairly recent one, it looks like, thought Ranma as he hefted the 
headset up.  The differences should be interesting.  He eyed the clock 
for a moment to mark the starting time and then settled back with the 
headset resting on his head.

The two sine waves moved together on the screen, and the upload cycle 
commenced.

                   ******************************

*** Earth  +2.112,+3.066

Ranma found himself holding lightly onto a strap connected to a wall 
stanchion.  In front of him was a large video screen currently 
displaying the Earth from space.  He almost immediately lost the food in 
his belly and felt as if he was on a free-falling elevator car.  I'm in 
space? he thought with surprise.  What am I doing in space?

Ranma glanced down at his clothes and saw that he was wearing a pale 
blue jumpsuit with the kanji for "Saotome, Ranma" stenciled across a 
patch on his right breast.  His body felt fit and well-trained, roughly 
at the same level as his own was now.  He felt with one hand along his 
collar and was a little surprised to discover rank insignia pips there.

Seeing a dim reflection of himself in the glass of the monitor tank, 
Ranma tried to discern what rank he was wearing on his collar.  If it 
followed standard Imperial patterns, then he was a lieutenant, junior 
grade.  What is going on here?

Ranma turned around to see several people watching the monitor that he 
stood near.  He recognized Ukyo among them, just floating into the room 
through an open hatchway.  She was wearing a pale blue jumpsuit like his 
own, but her patch read "Saotome, Ukyo" on it.  On her collar were 
ensign's pips.  Her expression was worried as she floated over to him, 
and she hugged him when she got near.

"Oh, Ranma," she said sadly.  "Hold me until it's over."  Unsure what 
she was talking about, Ranma acceded to her soft-voiced request and put 
an arm around her, feeling the warmth of her body against his.

A flood of memories filled his mind from his counterpart at that same 
moment, some very familiar but most very different from his own life.  
He held onto Ukyo and let them begin to settle into his awareness, his 
other hand wrapped into the wall strap to keep from floating off.

This Ranma Saotome had been chosen to participate in a very noble 
achievement by the Empire, the colonization of another star system by 
means of a slower-than-light multi-generational ship, the Yamato.  Every 
member of the crew on board, himself and Ukyo included, had been 
computer-selected for their suitability for this mission.  In the cargo 
bay were frozen sperm and ova for animal populations to be created on 
their new world, as well as several thousand human embryos.  Ranma was 
the most junior member of the astro-navigation section, and his wife 
Ukyo was one of several young biologists who worked in the hydroponics 
bays and monitored the cryogenic storage units.

What had started out as a grand adventure to prove the Empire's 
superiority and a vast public relations coup, unexpectedly turned into 
the last hope for mankind.  It became the means of saving a small 
portion of the human race from the terrible madness that was about to 
consume their home.  With only days left before mission launch was to 
occur, the remnants of the old Ottoman Empire and the Russians declared 
war on the Empire of Japan.

The crew had watched as news broadcasts relayed the unfolding events.  
The two allies threw the combined weight of their militaries against the 
Empire and managed to force an opening across the borders, their troops 
spilling onto Imperial soil.  The Emperor had made several demands for 
them to withdraw, but they were refused.

The price of that defiance was about to kill a world.

"Look!" shouted one of the other occupants in the room, pointing at the 
monitor behind Ranma, a young man who was unfamiliar to him at the 
moment.  "It's started!"

Ranma turned and looked, while Ukyo hid her face against his chest and 
cried.  He wasn't sure what he was supposed to be seeing at first, then 
his eyes widened in horror.

Plumes of light were beginning to sprout across planet Earth, the 
distinctive sign of nuclear weapons detonating across the surface.  He 
could only imagine the devastation that was now raging around the world.  
As Ranma watched silently, the islands that he had once called home were 
covered in a multitude of circles of light.  It was a horrible microcosm 
of the destruction that was spreading over the whole Earth.

"My God," Ranma heard someone say softly behind him.  Ukyo simply kept 
her face buried against his chest and cried.  Ranma knew that his 
parents were down there, and a wave of remorse filled him.  Not knowing 
what else to do, Ranma pulled Ukyo in tighter, feeling her body shaking 
against his with sobs.

This Ranma and Ukyo were newly married, part of a policy for the crew in 
an attempt to minimize sexual frictions by providing stable family 
bonds.  They were actually paired up during training when the new policy 
was announced and were still in a process of adjusting to each other.  
These adjustments occasionally led to some spectacular arguments and 
fights, but there was a strong love bond building between them.

After several long minutes, the destruction began to fade as the last of 
the bombs fell.  All that was left behind were glowing patches of heat 
and radioactivity across the surface.  Towards the end of the vast 
conflagration, there was a white flash and a vast explosion from one of 
the regions of southern China that caught Ranma's and several other's 
attention.  A last missile impact? he wondered, somehow doubting that 
was what it was.  His counterpart had no knowledge of anything of 
strategic value in that area that was worth targeting with such a large-
yielding bomb.  He suspected that he would never know.

"It's all over," whispered several people around them, stunned by the 
sight of Earth destroyed so quickly.  Ranma gently stroked Ukyo's hair.

"Let's go back to our cabin," said Ukyo as she looked up, the remainders 
of tears in his eyes.  "I have something that I need to talk with you 
about, Ranma."

"All right," he said.  She gave a brave attempt at a smile and kicked 
off from the wall, shooting like a slow ballistic missile towards the 
open hatchway.  Ranma found himself watching her trim form with a smile 
on his face.  She sure is cute, he found himself thinking.

Confident that he had his space-legs now, Ranma did a very quick mental 
calculation and shoved off from the wall with his feet.  His body flew 
through the air with a tremendous feeling of freedom, even as a 
heaviness hung inside him at the loss of his parents on this timeline.  
With a slight smile at his newfound skill, Ranma shot cleanly through 
the hatchway and narrowly avoided colliding with someone coming the 
opposite way.

"Sorry about that," Ranma called back, not recognizing the other person.  
A brief curse was muttered back his way, but Ranma didn't pay any 
attention to it.

Ranma banked around a corner with an acrobatic move, still finding 
himself unable to catch up with Ukyo flying on ahead of him.  His knees 
soaked up the impact from the wall and shot him off in the new 
direction.  In his mind he saw a rough map of the vessel, built to hold 
three hundred people.  There were only one hundred and twenty-eight 
people aboard now, possibly the last survivors of the human race in this 
timeline.

Ukyo stopped suddenly and Ranma collided with her with a thud, sending 
them both bouncing off from each other slowly.

"Ow!" cried Ukyo.  "Watch where you're going, Ranma, you jerk."  She 
thumped him across a shoulder with her fist.

"Sorry about that," said Ranma with sincerity.  "You surprised me when 
you stopped so suddenly."

"What did you expect me to do?" asked Ukyo in puzzlement.  "This is our 
cabin, after all."

Oops, thought Ranma, suddenly remembering that fact.  That will teach me 
to pay more attention on these jaunts to my memories, and less on the 
cute girls I keep finding myself around.  He watched her unlatch and pop 
open the seal on the door.

Beyond was a _very_ small living space, but a few tokens of a life now 
lost behind them populated it.  A single bed was hinged up against the 
wall.  Ranma suddenly recalled that the habitat area that their cabin 
was in could be spun for gravity around the ship's central axis.  That 
wasn't going to happen for several weeks to ease navigation, as the 
vessel accelerated around the sun in a slingshot maneuver.  He looked 
around at the small homey touches.  Ukyo's work, he imagined.

Ranma looked at a small framed photo of himself, Ukyo, and their parents 
attached to one wall.  He and Ukyo were dressed in their blue flight 
suits, and he was flashing a proud thumb's up in the direction of the 
camera.  Ukyo was leaning on his shoulder from behind him, her wedding 
ring glinting from the sunlight.  Everyone looked happy, and the scene 
brought a small lump to Ranma's throat.  He floated in mid-air and wiped 
a few tears from his eyes.  Guys don't cry, he thought.

A pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and Ukyo nuzzled against 
his right ear.  She said nothing, only holding him close to her.  Ranma 
dimly noticed the feel of her breasts pressing against his back.  It was 
making him feel a little uncomfortable.

"How are you holding up, Ucchan?" he asked softly.  Inside, he was 
literally of two minds about what he just saw.  The astronaut part of 
him, memories called up by the recent event, felt deep sorrow from the 
loss of most of the people that he ever knew.  The scholar part of him 
was more distant, viewing these things as something happening to other 
people, so he was not as touched.  It was a safety net against the dark 
sadness that would have filled him otherwise.

"I'm doing well enough, I suppose, Ranchan," Ukyo whispered into his 
ear.  She kissed him lightly along the back of his neck and then softly 
chuckled.  "You're acting like a solid rock emotionally, as usual.  Care 
to tell your beautiful bride what you're feeling?"

"I think the shock has numbed me a little," Ranma said, hedging a little 
with what sounded like a reasonable answer.  He turned around to draw 
her into his arms.  "So what did you want to tell me, Wife?"

"You're going to be a father, my love," she said, lowering her eyes 
shyly, a small smile on her face.  Ranma felt his brain make a sort of 
'erking' sound even as Ukyo continued speaking.  "I found out yesterday, 
shortly after we left Earth orbit."

Ranma felt his vision black out as recall occurred.

                   ******************************

*** Earth  0.000,0.000

Ranma heard an urgent pounding against the door as he readjusted himself 
to his present surroundings.  Blinking his eyes open, Ranma pulled the 
headset off and set it down on the floor next to the couch.  He sat up 
and wondered who could be wanting to see him down here.  Only the Dean 
has ever even been in here, he thought, feeling rather puzzled.

Ranma set the system into standby mode with a few clicks on the 
keyboard.  Most of the components hummed down into a low-energy use 
setting, the monitor blinking off.  Ranma set the headset up onto the 
workbench with the rest of the equipment and flipped a tarp over the lot 
of it.

There was another loud banging at the door.

"I hear ya!" shouted Ranma.  "Hold on, and I'll be right there!"  He 
walked over and unlocked the door, expecting to see the Dean on the 
other side of the door.

Ranma was very surprised to see Akane Tendo standing outside the door.  
His eyes went wide, and he tried to shut the door in her face.  Akane 
quickly slammed her foot down in the space, blocking the door from 
closing.

"Oh no you don't, Saotome," Akane said in calm tones.  She pushed the 
door back open against his half-hearted resistance.  "You and I have 
some unfinished business to deal with.  I came to find a man to 
challenge my skill, but instead I find a boy cowering in the basement."  
She entered the lab in a single stride and shut the door behind her.

Ranma sighed.  This is not what I want to deal with right now.

Akane looked around Ranma's lab space with some interest.  It didn't 
look like much to her.  A tarp covering something on the large table in 
the middle of the room caught her eye.  She walked towards it, and Ranma 
made a move to block her, but she managed to dodge around him.

"So this is where you go to hide every afternoon?" she asked with a 
frown.  "You don't know how hard it was for me to find you down here."  
Akane lifted up one corner of the tarp covering his equipment.  "So 
what's under here?"

"That's sensitive equipment that I'm working with," said Ranma stiffly.  
"It's nothing that someone like you would ever be interested in."  Ranma 
quickly tugged the tarp corner back down.  Akane pulled it back up, and 
added a glare in Ranma's direction for good measure.  Ranma pulled it 
back down once more, and returned the glare.

"Just let me see it, Saotome," said Akane through slightly gritted 
teeth.  "Don't make me have to hurt you again."  Without waiting for a 
reply, she slugged him in the jaw.  Surprised by the suddenness of the 
attack, Ranma flew back, bounced off of the couch with a notable lack of 
grace, and landed face-down on the concrete with a soft thud.

"Ow," Ranma muttered to himself as he raised himself off of the floor.  
Why doesn't this uncute tomboy just leave me alone? he thought with a 
grumble.

Meanwhile, Akane was looking over his equipment with a great deal of 
interest.  She casually dropped the tarp on top of Ranma's prone form.  
Ranma muttered softly about violent tomboys from psychotic families 
while he was underneath the tarp, before pulling it off of himself and 
standing up.  Akane looked innocently at him.

"Ready to fight me now?" she said with a teasing grin.  When he didn't 
make any response, she slowly started flipping a few switches on the 
console.  Ranma felt his face twitch each time she did.

"Believe me, I'm considering it," said Ranma softly, going over to the 
other side of the table in an attempt to calm down.

"Oh?" said Akane with a bright smile.  She slowly clenched her hands 
into loose fists, turning to look at him with a sly look.  "Really?"

"Look, Tendo," Ranma said, sitting back in his chair as he spoke. "I 
have no interest in whatever sick fantasy you have about me.  I'm a 
scholar, not a fighter."  Akane glared at him venomously.

"That's not it at all!" Akane shouted at him.  She stomped over to him 
and loomed over him in the chair.  "I've fought my way through almost 
every male cadet at this Academy.  None of them have been a challenge 
for me.  You were a pathetic joke when you first arrived, so I never 
bothered really fighting you."

Ranma felt himself tense at the insult.  Uncute tomboy, was the lightest 
of curses that he hurled at her in his thoughts.

"Then I saw you yesterday," Akane said, her expression softening into a 
seductive smile.  Ranma found that to be even more disturbing than her 
anger, for some reason.

"I wasn't myself yesterday," said Ranma, as he tried to scoot his chair 
away from her.  Akane wasn't looking to be very stable in his eyes at 
the moment.  He wanted to put as much distance between him and her as he 
could, but his escape was thwarted.

"I don't care!" shouted Akane.  She quickly grabbed both arms of his 
chair and looked him straight in the eyes.  "I need a challenging 
opponent to improve my skills.  You have the potential, especially after 
the way you fought me yesterday.  I've never felt like this about a boy 
before, Ranma."  She raised a fist up under his nose.  "Don't make me 
have to be more persuasive with you."

A large bead of sweat appeared on Ranma's forehead.

There was a gentle cough behind Akane.

"Am I interrupting anything?" asked a voice that was surprisingly 
familiar to Ranma.  A somewhat hesitant female voice called from the 
doorway.  "The door was unlocked, so I just came right in."

Akane quickly turned her head to look over her right shoulder at the 
unexpected intruder while her fist still hovered beneath Ranma's nose.  
Ranma craned his neck to look past Akane, grateful for the unexpected 
interruption.  Kodachi Kuno stood there with her school bag held in her 
hands before her.  Her well-tailored, Blackhall Academy uniform showed 
off her figure surprisingly nicely to Ranma's eyes.  Ranma blinked as he 
recognized her.

Kodachi Kuno? he wondered, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Who is this person, Ranma?" asked Akane with deadly calm in her voice, 
turning her eyes back to look at him.  The smoldering passion that was 
in them so recently had been replaced by a jealous anger.  Her fist was 
still held in its position in front of his face, and he suddenly heard 
the knuckles popping slightly as it tightened.  He saw the lithe muscles 
in her forearms bulging outwards a little.

Ranma swallowed down a suddenly dry throat.  I'm so dead, he thought, 
certain that his doom was upon him.  He began to pray in his thoughts.

"Fuyutsuki-sensei sent me down here to see you, Saotome-san," said 
Kodachi pleasantly, smiling sweetly at the pair.  "He thought you 
wouldn't mind some help with your project.  I just know that it will be 
a very great pleasure working with you."

The solid oak armrest held in Akane's other hand suddenly gave off a 
loud cracking sound when she squeezed it.  Her gaze pierced through him, 
pinning him to the chair.  Ranma wanted to answer her, but his throat 
didn't seem to work.

This isn't good, Ranma thought in a mild panic, feeling himself starting 
to sweat.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


My heartfelt thanks goes out to all of my usual pre-readers for all of 
their comments and suggestions.  A special thanks goes out to D.B. 
Sommer and Michael Allen for their most detailed help with grammar and 
plotting.