Streams of Time.

Chapter One.

Soun read the telegram that he got today.

Bringing Ranma from China. Time to complete the agreement.

Genma.

He read it for the fiftieth time today. *Thank god this day has

finally come.*

One of his baby girls was getting married soon, why the thoughts

of one of them in a wedding kimono, made him want to cry.

"Kasumi? Nabiki? Akane? Where are you?" Soun called.

"Father? What is it?" Kasumi, a willowy young woman, dressed in a

simple dress, over which was a apron, asked him.

"Family meeting. Please meet me in the living room once I get

your sisters together."

Soun walked up the stairs to his middle daughter's room. Opening

the door, he saw her reading a manga. "Nabiki, do you know where Akane

is? We have a family meeting. I have something important to tell you."

"I'll go check in the dojo for her, Daddy." Nabiki told her

father, smirking at him. *Gee Daddy, you should have looked

there first.*

Akane jogged into the dojo, after her run for the day. Changing

into her gi, she set up concrete blocks, preparing to destroy them.

She hadn't heard her father call out for her, so when Nabiki came in,

she was startled.

"You know, that's why all the boys think you are weird," Nabiki

commented after Akane destroyed her stack of bricks. "Daddy's called a

family meeting, and he wants you to be there."

"What's it about?" Akane asked, annoyed that her session in the

dojo would be interrupted by this.

***

"Fiance?!?!" all three girls called out as one, after their

father had broken the news to them.

"Yes, when one of you girls were to marry him, the family legacy

will be complete, and the Dojo will go to you and him. His name is

Ranma, Saotome Ranma. Just today I got a telegram from his father,

saying that they were returning home from their training in China." Soun

paused looking at his three girls.

"Don't we get some say in who we marry?" Akane asked, getting

into her father's face.

Before her father could answer her, Kasumi, the eldest daughter,

broke in with "Akane's right, Father. We've never even met this Ranma."

Kasumi added with a glare towards her father.

"Heh, Heh. That's easily fixed, They should be here soon, and you can

meet him." Soun said, with a nervous smile, and continued on. "Ranma

and his father have been on a training mission, for the last ten years.

Recently, it seems, they crossed into China."

Before Soun could finish telling what he knew, his Middle

daughter Nabiki, broke in. "Oo, China." Nabiki said with a smile on

her face, thinking to herself, *Now if this boy is halfway acceptable,

I'll marry him, and make sure the house is saved. Along with the fact

that I'll be the one to keep the dojo in the family.*

*Boys, bleah!* Akane thought, and added out loud, irritated by

Nabiki, "What's so great about walking to China?" She looked away,

thinking, *Boys! Who needs them! Why does HE get to go on a training

mission, when I don't? I'm a martial artist too.*

"How old is he, Father? You know younger men bore me." Kasumi

spoke up finally. Adding, before her father could respond, "What kind

of man is Ranma?"

"No Idea."

"No Idea?!?" Nabiki replied looking at her father with a shocked

expression.

"I've never met him." Soun said.

He was about to add something, but a voice broke in. "Such a good

idea, old man. This time it lasted, what? A whole ten minutes? Why me?

Why did I get stuck with a father like you?"

"We have visitors," Kasumi stated, getting up to greet them

properly as her role as hostess demanded.

"Ooh, Must be Ranma!" Nabiki got up and headed for the door,

followed by Soun. Before Kasumi and Akane could follow, each thinking

their own thoughts, Nabiki and Soun came running back, being followed

by a panda, which had a green haired person following. Akane noted

that the green haired person had a smile on his face, and seemed to be

trying to keep from laughing at the whole thing. The outfit that the

boy was wearing was a black silk shirt, and black trousers, under a

black cloak. What really drew Akane's interest was the eyes. Blue,

with reddish streaks though them, they seemed to hold a look of

amusement.

"Daddy, THIS, is your FRIEND?" Kasumi asked.

Soun just rapidly shook his head, while Akane had a sweatdrop

roll down her face.

"Oh, SO this Panda Just happened to drop by! Happens ALL the

time!" Nabiki shouted at her father.

The Panda seemed to pull the young person forward, and Soun looked

at the green haired, blue eyed child and asked "Y-you w-wouldn't

b-be... "

"Ranma Saotome. I apologize for this intrusion." these words were

spoken with a bow, and in a contralto voice, hiding the person's smirk.

As Ranma straightened from the bow, Soun grabbed him by the

shoulders and spoke, with a smile "At last! You've come!"

Nabiki smiled and added, "He's cute!"

Soun grabbed Ranma in a hug, and spoke. "It's so good of you to

come. So..." he broke off and stared at Ranma.

Kasumi just looked puzzled while Nabiki took a closer look at

Ranma's chest. She moved to poke Ranma in the chest. Before she

could do more than one poke, her hand was grabbed and Ranma spoke, in a

low tone of voice. "Please do NOT do that again. I do not appreciate

my person being poked or prodded, by someone without permission, Tendo-

san."

Nabiki blinked, and finally spoke, after a short pause. "'He's'

a girl."

Soun fainted.

Kasumi fetched a futon to put her father in it. The families had

gathered around Soun as he was laying in the futon. Kasumi finally

voiced her thoughts on the matter. "Poor Father. He's so

disappointed."

Before Kasumi or anyone else could say anything, Nabiki broke in.

"He's disappointed? Some finance this is!"

"Stop it, you two! He... she... is our GUEST!" Akane spoke.

Thinking to herself,. *At last! A girl who also practices the arts.

Maybe Daddy's dream of the two families being joined will happen.*

"This is all your fault, Daddy! You should have made sure!"

Nabiki shouted at her father.

"Well, he said he had a son!!" Soun replied flat on his back.

"Do you see a son here? Hmm? DO YOU?" Nabiki made to grab

Ranma's chest again, only to have her hand slapped away.

"Nabiki-san, do you like feeling other women's chests? If so,

maybe your father's plans could happen..." Ranma spoke with a teasing

tone, looking quite willing to possibly let Nabiki do so.

"Err.." Nabiki drew back, seeing the look in Ranma's eyes,

She knew that Ranma would be willing to let her do so.

"Would you like to join me in the dojo?" Akane asked. She looked

at the young, green haired woman and smiled. Thinking to herself, *Now

if I am careful, I can make friends with her, and possibly more. After

all there is that comment she made.* "I'm Akane. Would you like to be

friends?"

"That would be, enjoyable." Ranma stood up, wondering, *Could it

be? Nah, she doesn't LOOK the type, but...*

As they walked into the Dojo, Akane asked a question near and

dear to her heart. "You practice Kenpo, right? Our families' version

of it?"

"Yes, I do, plus other schools. Some staff work, some Kendo,

some Tai chi, and others." Ranma smiled at Akane.

"Really? Well Let's spar. My dad holds back, and I can't really

gauge how good I am right now." Akane smiled as Ranma crossed the

room, bowed at the sign, and stood facing her. "Ready? I'll go easy."

*Heh, if I'm right, she doesn't LOOK like a good artist, she's way too

spread out. And she's not in a stance.* Akane got in her ready stance,

looked and thinking, *Well... she's nodded to my ready question. Here

we go.*

The sparring match lasted for a good ten minutes. After Ranma

blocked and dodged a minute of Akane's attack, she began to strike

back. She took advantage of the openings Akane left. It was clear by

the second minute that Ranma could destroy Akane in a real match, but

Akane continued to try to hit the graceful, yet lethal woman. At the

end, when Ranma had thrown and pinned her with both arms behind her

back, she yielded.

Ranma hopped up and bowed to her as she stood.

Akane returned the bow, with a nervous laugh. "Glad you weren't

a boy. I would hate losing to a boy! They are all perverts!" The last

was spoken with a venom that Ranma thought was unlike her, unless, she

was gay, or had serious problems with boys hitting on her.

"Ahh... umm. Oops. You did." Ranma said with a sickly smile.

Akane paused, *Did I hear right? After all, she looks and sounds

like a girl.* Akane reached out as if to follow here elder sister's

lead; checking to see if Ranma REALLY was a girl. After a moment,

thought she thought better of it. *After all, there was the "statement"

that she made the last time Nabiki tried that. It might be a way to get

her to stop it.* Instead, she said, "Are you okay? I mean, you ARE a

girl, at least, you LOOK like one, and SOUND like one." Akane paused,

adding, "Unless you meant that your father raised you as one, and told

you that you are..." She trailed off leaving an opening for the comment

that Ranma made to be explained by the green haired girl.

"Heh... Nothing like that. I better tell you. You see, the

reason WHY that Panda brought me here, is that he IS my father. You

disbelieve? Well, if you get some hot, and I mean nearly boiling hot,

water, I'll show you." Ranma paused, and added, "It's due to a place we

visited in China. If you fall into a pool there, you assume the shape

of what drowned there, and various degrees of hot water returns you to

your birth form. Cold water turns you back into the 'cursed' form. My

change is above 60C, so I won't be in male form often, if I get changed

back. AND I have noted that cold water seeks me out, when I am not in

the 'cursed' form." Ranma paused, and looked at Akane, wondering what

she would do.

Akane blinked, and thought to herself, *Well, if I get the hot

water, and nothing happens, then I know she's been on the road for too

long with her father. If something does happen, then we'll see.* She

stood up and went to get the water.

Ranma sat in a meditation position, wondering to herself *Even if

she believes me, will she accept me? Unlike my past life, I do not want

to live alone, and I want someone to be with. If not her, maybe Nabiki?

I wonder where their mother is, if she's dead it could explain some of

the feelings I got from them.* Ranma looked up as Akane returned with

the steaming water.

"Here's the hot water." With that statement Akane poured it on to

Ranma, and gasped at the change. Where an exotic green haired woman

sat, now sat a black haired young man. The only constant between the

two was the eyes, a sky-blue shade with reddish streaks though them.

The water was hot enough to cause pain, but Ranma had not shown any

reaction to the water, at least in regards to pain.

"See? I will explain it to you, and your sisters, as a group."

Ranma stood, and walked towards the living room, preparing to tell a

tale.

***

Akane got ready for the bath, thinking to herself, *Well,

hopefully Daddy won't find out that Ranma can turn into a boy. I don't

like boys, but becasuse I am the same age as Ranma, and the only martial

artist, I'll end up engaged to her. I don't want to be engaged, yet.

Though I wouldn't mind being engaged, if it was my choice, later on, to

Her!*

Ranma looked up, hearing some of the thoughts Akane had, and eeped

to herself. Akane hadn't noticed the sign she put up, nor the fact that

her clothes were out by the door. *Still, that's strange, she thinks of

me as a girl? Well, considering the facts, she's not far wrong. Am I

one? Then why am I not attracted to boys, like girls should be?* She

was preparing to get out when the door opened and Akane walked in.

"Errr... Sorry, I'll be out in a second" Ranma called, turning her

head, so she wouldn't see Akane's form.

"No, if you're not done soaking, stay. You're a girl right?"

Akane replied.

Without turning her head, Ranma responded "I wasn't born one, nor

was I one for the first 16 years of my life."

"So? You're a girl now. And if your plans to go to school as a

girl pan out, as you told me in the dojo, you'll have to get used to the

idea of looking at naked girls." Akane paused, and then added, "Unless

you've changed your mind already?"

"No, with the way water seeks me out, and the temperature required

to change back, it's impractical to go to school as a male. You're

right." Ranma turned, keeping her eyes on Akane's face.

On Akane's part she looked at her friend, and noted the body.

*This will make the boys go wild. And a few of the girls, too. Won't

hurt her status that she seems to have a built in tan.* She slipped in

the furo, and Ranma joined her, always keeping her eyes away from

Akane's body.

*Why isn't she looking at me?* Akane thought to herself... *It's

not that I'm ugly is it? Nah, can't be. Too many, bleah, boys! drool

over me. Just ask.* "Ranma, why aren't you looking at me?" Akane

asked, feeling put upon.

"It's because you are a girl, and for the first sixteen years of

my life, I was a boy. I've said this before."

Ranma sighed, realizing that Akane didn't accept the truth.

*Telepathy is a wonderful thing to have, at times. Other times it just

sucks. How to CONVINCE her? Well, I'll think of something.* Ranma

sighed, got out of the furo, thinking, and for once, not noting the

covert evaluation that Akane gave her form. She dried off and left the

furo area.

***

Ranma went to the furo after her father had explained what

happened in China, by using her as a test subject. *Brr! that Koi pond

is cold.*

After soaking for a while, she got out, and right as she left the

bathing area, she ran into Akane, about to take a second bath for the

day. Ranma nodded at her, and left before Akane could start a

conversation. She had been able to slow down the attempts to marry her

off... but she still was stuck with the agreement. All her actions had

managed to do was give her a few months to "choose" a fiancee. None of

the Tendo girls were thrilled with the idea. Akane had almost been

thrown to the wolves as the chosen victim of the fathers' idea, but with

Ranma's semi successful delaying tactics, wasn't forced into the

engagement right off the bat. Akane still was angry at her sisters for

their actions, AND she had snapped at Ranma, but with Ranma's attempts

to delay the engagement, or even break it, she had calmed down,

somewhat.

Ranma wandered back to the room, wondering why she couldn't see

what happened BEFORE it happened. While the books that she read on her

powers told her that it was hard to see actions of small groups, unless

they had a massive effect on the whole of history. She had gotten used

to seeing flashes of actions that would impact HER own life. Elder

Pluto had noted, that unless the actions that would affecting her were

critical to her role as a Senshi or as a servant of the Queen, she

wouldn't see them, unless she WORKED at seeing them.

*Gah. I am getting too used to seeing little things, when I KNOW

my time sense only shows what is important, unless I really really work

at it. Even then, I don't see a lot of things. I should have known

better, that this matter of a little engagement wasn't all that

critical, for the Time Sense. Would be nice though...*

Rolling out the futon, and making a note to buy a nice bed for

herself, she laid down, beginning to fall asleep, for the day had taken

a lot out of her... Right before she fell asleep, a thought came to

mind, *This is what my past life meant when she said NOT to rely too

much on the Time Sense. Ah well, I guess I will have to study more.

Especially on human actions and trends of history, so I am not taken by

surprise by things.* She smiled, recalling the notes in the journals

about Elder Pluto's amusement at the fact of people's reaction to her

Time Sense. It wasn't a horde of knowledge. No, it was the fact that

she, like Ranma, knew that most normal actions, even world shaping ones,

like Beryl's birth, didn't at times get seen, and that there WERE ways

to hide from people with psi gifts like Pluto's.*

Aware, in a way that brooked no argument, that she needed more

than just the gifts she had as Senshi Pluto, Ranma vowed to herself,

that she would learn all she could, to protect not only her queen's

future, but the whole human race's future.

***

Nabiki growled to herself.

For some strange reason, she was thinking that giving up on Ranma,

or Setsuna as she insisted on being called when in public, was a

mistake.

For one thing, that surprising announcement that she had already

applied for school, and in her female identity, before she even arrived

back in Japan was slightly disturbing. No one should have been able to

do that without her finding out about it, at least that should have been

the case. The real question was not that it was done, but how she had

done it. Setsuna had only been cursed for a couple of weeks, at least

that was what she said and her father had indicated, so how had she been

able to set up complete identification, identity papers, doctors

certificates, and a past identity in such a short amount of time.

Come to think of it, why _was_ Setsuna so comfortable as a

girl...no...a woman. She did not display many, if any, signs of

masculinity. In fact, she was too comfortable with being a girl for it

to have only 'just happened'. There was a mystery here, and that was

something that Tendo Nabiki despised. She frowned, got up, and grabbed

a notebook. She made notes so she could get to the bottom of the

mysteries that this person seemed to hold.

"Let's see," she muttered to herself and she wrote, "She has

chosen the name Meiou Setsuna, is sixteen years of age, intelligent,

very possessed with self confidence, and an amount of wry humor. Also,

by her action of paying me a substantial amount of money to cover her

and her father's costs while staying with us, not willing to freeload

off of other people. One real question I have, is WHY she chose that

name. The meaning of the Family name is Dark King, while her given name

could be ethier momentary or Instant. Strange choice. I would have

suspected her to pick a female version of her first name, or picked a

different given name, but keep her family name. I wonder why she

didn't."

Nabiki sat back a bit, and then continued to write her

impressions. "For many reasons, most of which I do not understand

myself, Setsuna, and it's hard to think of Ranma by any other name than

that, is a woman. Her mannerisms, speech, eye, and hand movement

indicate that. I doubt that it even registered on the others, but she

was obviously wearing proper underwear for her sex, and was not

uncomfortable with it.

"More questions. How did she find out that I was the one to

manage the funds for the household? Daddy made it quite clear to her,

when she offered to him, to cover her costs, that she and her father

were guests and he would not hear of her or Genma helping out. The way

Genma reacted suggests to me that he did not expect her to offer to

cover their costs, and quite possibly he didn't know that she had the

money to do so, much less the amount she offered. Genma strikes me as

the type who would freeload at any given chance, and if she HAD only

been raised by him for over 10 years, as 'Unlce' Saotome told us, she

should also have been willing to. Add this to the mysteries she seems

to pose. I will find out."

"If Genma is any indication, then I doubt that Setsuna would have

been so ready to go to school as a girl if she had lived with this for

so short a time. It would be more likely that she would have protested

and insisted on being a boy. Sure, the reason she gave was logical, and

even made some sense, but the way she carried herself was very

unexpected. She is a natural at being female. Oh, yes, the body is

female, and that is expected given the curse, but the way she carries

herself is as though she grew up as a young woman. Either the curse

gave her a complete and total, instant appreciation of being a girl,

with all the manners and everything else, or she is hiding a lot. I'd

say she is hiding a lot."

"Of course, saying that and proving it beyond a shadow of a doubt

is somewhat different. If she is as intelligent as she very subtly

indicates, then she will have covered her tracks well in that manner,

with a deliberate mistake or two to throw me, or anyone else off.

Nothing that would't be hard to fix, of course, but enough to allay

suspicions of any kind. It is, after all, what I would do myself.

"Let me write down what we know of her so far:

Name: Saotome Ranma (?)

Alias: Meiou Setsuna (?)

Age: 16, but looks seventeen or eighteen.

Intelligence: Very high, able to create a new identity and

register for school under a new name without seemingly contacting

the authorities.

Connections: Has to have a lot, especially in the government

sector for this to have just 'happened'.

Money: Has to have a lot, especially since they apparently