Ranma and Tenchi were exhausted.  After all they had gone 
through at school and then having to walk home because they 
missed the last bus.  It was a good thing that their parents believed 
that Tenchi had waited for Ranma because the boys were too tired 
to come up with a more believable story.

Chapter 3: Here Comes the Princess

	Tenchi laid down on his futon and said, "Ranma, has life 
always been this weird only I was too wrapped up in myself to 
notice?"
	Ranma grinned.  "Welcome to my world.  My life is always 
like this, though it is the first time I met a demon.  At least I think 
so. There was that girl with the horns in a tiger striped bikini.  I'm 
pretty sure that normal people don't fly around like that  . . . huh?"
	"What is it?"
	"Why is my futon so  . . . lumpy?"  With an awful sense of 
premonition, Ranma peeled back the sheets to reveal Ryoko 
sleeping peacefully.  He couldn't help but noticing that he shirt was 
open in front, revealing a generous portion of cleavage.  
Definitively a female demon, Ranma thought, as he felt a 
nosebleed coming on.  Having to change into a female whenever 
being hit by water for the past couple of weeks had gotten him 
somewhat used to the sight of a woman's body, but then Ryoko 
was no ordinary woman. 
	She opened up her golden eyes and practically purred, 
"Welcome home Ranma."
	This made Ranma very nervous, not the way a cat makes 
him nervous despite the feline quality to her voice, but the way his 
friend Ukyo or the other girls at school can sometimes make him 
nervous for reasons that he couldn't readily explain.
	With Ranma still stunned by her appearance, Ryoko stood 
up, buttoned her shirt and said, "Hello to you too Tenchi.  Where's 
that floozy that you were hanging around with?"
	"Huh?"
	"Never mind, which of you has the sword?"
	Ranma, having finally recovered, pointed at Tenchi.  
Tenchi gave him a 'thanks a lot' look, to which Ranma shrugged.  
What was he supposed to do, lie?  He had hit her with all he had at 
the school and it hadn't even fazed her.
	"Give me the sword Tenchi."
	"Huh? Why do you want it?"
	"Because I need the gems on it to call Ryo-oki, the other 
demon from the legend."
	"No way!  You come and try to kill my cousin and now you 
want to call up another demon.  Forget it!"
	Ryoko was a little confused by the 'cousin' remark, but 
plowed on regardless.  "Are you sure?  Because the one coming is 
even worse."
	"Ah, who's coming Ryoko?" asked Ranma.  That was her 
name right?  He remembered her saying when they first met, but 
then a lot had happened since then, like she trying to kill him and 
all.
	Ryoko immediately turned to Ranma, her expression 
softening.  She reached out and stroked his chest as she spoke, 
making Ranma even more nervous than before.  "She'd the devil.  
Well, she's like a devil.  She'll fire on you without even giving you 
one little chance to explain."
	"So are we going to fight her?"  Ranma asked, not liking 
the idea of fighting someone Ryoko was scared of.  Brave was one 
thing, suicidal was another.
Tenchi couldn't believe that his cousin was falling for this.  
She was obviously making the whole thing up to get her power 
back and na�ve Ranma believed her.  How could someone raised 
by Auntie Nodaka be so clueless around women?  Not that Tenchi 
himself was much better, but at least he could tell a setup when he 
heard one.
	"No, we'll run away," Ryoko replied with a smile, thinking 
of her, Tenchi, and Ranma all alone among the stars.  Oh, what fun 
they could have together!
	"I think we should give her the sword Tenchi."
	"No way!  I'm not fooled, she's only making this all up so 
she can   . . ."
	Whatever he said after was drowned out by a loud female 
voice demanding that Ryoko show herself.
	"Damn it," the demon cursed, "she's here already."
	"Now do you believe her?" Ranma shouted at his cousin.
	"I still say it�s a bad idea to give her the gems.  She's 
already attacked you once and we only have her word that this 
Aeka is dangerous."
	Ryoko missed their debate since she had her head stuck out 
the window to look up at the Ryo-oh that hovered above them.  
Their discussion abruptly ended by the shot that nearly incinerated 
the house.  Ryoko was a little pissed that Tenchi would only give 
her one gem, but it was enough to call Ryo-oki.
	"What have you done to my house," Tenchi pleaded when 
he saw the much reduced Masaki home aboard the Ryo-oki, 
"Dad!"  Tenchi was thankful that Auntie Nodaka was still over a 
friend's house.
	Ryoko shrugged, "I didn't have much time so I shrank it."
	Ranma was too busy cowering from the meowing coming 
from all around him to notice.  His eyes darted all over the ship for 
the source of the sound, but there wasn't a cat in sight.  This is the 
last thing I need, Ranma thought.  So to him it was almost a relief 
when two floating logs took Ryoko, Tenchi and him captive.

	Ranma wished that his cousin would stop overreacting.  
Ever since they were taken prisoner by those flying logs and 
trapped in a cage made of what looked like hanging vines, he'd 
been complaining about how there had been a mistake or that this 
wasn't his fault.  Now he was attacking the vines with a 
pocketknife.  With any luck he may be able to escape in a few 
years or so.  
Ranma just sat back and waited for something to happen.  
After being turned into a girl, chased all over China by an Amazon, 
only to come home and be chased all over school by a demon there 
wasn't a whole lot that could phase him.  Actually it was better to 
be stuck here, wherever here was, than to be on board that 
meowing spaceship.  That had been scary.  Ranma had almost gone 
into the Neko-ken and that was something that he wanted to avoid 
at all costs.  It had been bad enough in China, traveling with a girl 
who could change into a tiger at any moment.  He didn't have to 
hear cats wherever he went.
	Then Ranma noticed that Tenchi was talking with a little 
girl dressed in odd clothes with long blue hair tied in two pony 
tails.
	"So you're an alien from the planet Sasami?"
	"You are silly, I come from the planet Jurai," then Sasami 
noticed Ranma in the next cell.  "How do you do?  I'm Sasami.  
Would you both like to play a game with me?"  And with that she 
released them.
	"You're an alien?"  Ranma said, "No way, you're way too 
cute to be an alien."  In Ranma's book, aliens were bug-eyed, green 
scaled creatures that tried to suck out brains and stuff.  He'd seen 
enough movies to know.  His father had taken him to a lot of them, 
saying that it was research in case aliens really did invade.  As a 
martial artist it was his duty to defend the Earth.  All he saw was a 
normal little girl with an odd hair color.
	Sasami blushed at the compliment.  She'd been called cute 
before, her mother called her that dozens of times, and yet it 
seemed to mean much more coming from Ranma.  He was a 
complete stranger, but she got the sense that he was a nice person.  
She wondered if Aeka would let him come with them after they 
found their missing half-brother Yosho.

	Now they were all hiding behind bushes looking at what 
would be a simple house if they weren't on a spaceship.  "See she's 
asleep," Sasami said, "Now all you have to do is go in and get her 
headband."
	"Why should we get it?" Tenchi asked, "I mean it does 
belong to her."
	Sasami pouted at Tenchi, he really was no fun.  Then she 
turned to Ranma and beamed, he had called her cute after all.  
"Ranma, will you get my sister's headband for me, please?"
	"Uh, sure Sasami."  Not having the same moral upbringing 
that Tenchi had, Ranma didn't see what was wrong with this game.  
Besides, how could an innocent little girl want to do anything 
wrong?  She had to be what, eight?  This was probably a game she 
and her sister played all the time.  Just like the games that he and 
Ukyo had played as kids.
	Sasami gave him another cute smile and watched him head 
towards the house, a confused Tenchi following behind.  
"Why are we doing this exactly?" Tenchi asked once 
Sasami was out of earshot.
	"Because she's the only one besides her sister who knows 
how to get off this ship and get home.  You do want to go home, 
right?"
	Tenchi nodded.
	They were silent until they saw the princess lying there.  
Each felt a little embarrassed by invading her privacy, until Tenchi 
noticed what she clutched in her hand.  "The sword, she's got it."
	"Great, you get that, I'll get her headband.  Now where is 
it?"
	"She's wearing it."
	"Damn."
	Both boys tried to claim the objects, but it wasn't easy.  
Tenchi managed to pull the sword from her grasp just as Ranma 
was poised above her, to remove her headband.  When her eyes 
fluttered open Ranma found himself in a very compromising 
position.  He immediately wondered why things like this always 
seemed to happen to him.
	Next thing he knew he was running for his life with his 
cousin from logs that where blasting the countryside.  He picked 
up the giggling Sasami without slowing down.  
"Very funny, now your logs are out to kill me!"
	"They're not logs, they're guardians.  They're my sister�s, 
there's nothing I can do."
	Thankfully Sasami knew the ship well and they managed to 
elude the guardians, at least for the moment, when they had come 
to the place where Ryoko had been imprisoned.
	Both cousins had been surprised when the vines had 
responded to Tenchi's commands, but didn't have time to ponder it 
as Ryoko herded them onto Ryo-oki to make good her escape.
	
	"Don't do that, you'll hurt her," Tenchi pleaded after Ryoko 
explained that she was going to crash Aeka's ship.
	"Hey which side are you on anyway?" Ryoko demanded of 
the boy, grabbing him by the front of the shirt.  "If you like her so 
much, go join her."  She was still upset about that red-haired floozy 
that he'd been with at school.
	"But she's just a girl!"  Ranma added.
	"So what?"

	"You!" Ryoko howled at the red haired girl as she pulled 
herself from the crash.  Everyone else had already escaped the 
wreckage and made it to shore.  Nodaka was putting the Jurai 
sisters to bed for a nap after their ordeal while Tenchi and Ryoko 
were looking for Ranma.  Tenchi had completely forgotten that 
Ryoko didn't know about his curse.
	Ranma looked at Ryoko as if she had suddenly gone crazy, 
which from his perspective was just what happened.  What did she 
have to get mad about?  She was the one who nearly got them all 
killed with that reckless stunt of hers.  Which made the second 
time that she had almost killed him.  Shouldn�t he being the one 
getting mad?
	"What are you doing here?" Ryoko shouted as she picked 
the redhead up by her damp shirt, "And just what have you done 
with my Ranma?"
	"Huh?"  was the best that Ranma could do under the 
circumstances.
	"Ah, Ryoko," Tenchi said, wondering what he could do to 
calm the space pirate down.  Ranma was in no condition for 
another fight with her.  Not that he really was a match for her in his 
top form.  "That is Ranma."
	"What are you talking about Tenchi?  Ranma is a guy, a 
guy!  This is clearly a woman."  Ryoko stated, grabbing a handful 
of the redhead's breasts.
	"Would you stop that?"  Ranma nearly whispered.
	That was when Nodaka came back in from the house after 
getting the two sisters settled.  She brought a teakettle with her and 
without pausing dumped its contents all over Ranma-chan.  
Nodaka didn't like the curse anymore than when she had first heard 
about it, but she had grown somewhat used to it and kept a 
teakettle warm for just such occasions.  Ryoko had never been so 
startled in her life to find herself suddenly holding a male Ranma.
	"Wha?" she said, even going as far as to open up Ranma's 
shirt and look inside.  Even feeling around the now flat chest.
	With Ranma still out of it, Tenchi carefully explained to the 
space pirate about his curse.



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