It didn't matter where the creature... monster... demon... came
from. All Ranma cared about what the fact that his mother -- of all
person -- was confronting it, and it would take several moments for
him to reach her.
	The Saotome Family Sword was all that stood between the demon and
Ranma's mother, the Tendos, the unconscious Kunos, Shampoo, and
himself. For a split second, Ranma thought he was the family sword
glow a faint greenish color... but that was impossible. He'd seen his
mother practice her kendo and she was only an average kendoist.
Nowhere near the level required to generate a battle aura.
	Ranma was only a moment away from his mother when the demon
struck her and the blow sent her flying into Ranma. Both he and his
mother were thrown back several meters. A quick examination of his
mother told him that his mother was badly injuried, much more so that
from a simply normal, human hit. He realized that touching the demon
was not a good idea. So, he picked up the Saotome Family Sword in
order to battle the demon.
	And the instance that Ranma touched it, he realized that the
Saotome Family Sword was a "true weapon," which is to say that it
was both enchanted and linked to his very soul. How the link was
forged, he didn't wish to know, although, he did know that whatever
the mechanics were, a piece of his very essence was tranfered into the
sword has had a piece of every user before him, from his mother to the
very first user, Raiju, who forged the blade out of his magic and
steel.
	All those pieces were flooding through Ranma's mind casting him a
drift. In that moment, Ranma was One with all the sword's previous
owners and would have been lost in such a vast ocean of knowledge,
personalities, and styles... if it was for the fact, that he had some
experience of such mental turmol from the Neko-ken, which was created
by Raiju, himself.
	In the same instant that Ranma touched the sword, he was washed
with vast sea of knowledge, the accumilation of the previous owners,
who were sorcerers, martial artists, priests, healers, and a few
demons. And then, the very next instant, a 'door' opened in Ranma's
mind. With the opening of the door, he entered a new world of
sensations and understanding.
	A blue glow spend throughout Ranma's body. This glow was
different from his battle aura that he manifested from time to time.
Unlike his battle aura, which flicked and pulsed, this glow was
steady and seemed to permenate his entire body evenly.
	If that wasn't wondrous enough, Ranma was also floating a few
centimeters above the ground, although he didn't realize it. The only
he cared about at the moment was the fact there was an unpunished
demon who had attacked his mother. For which, he was determined to
make the demon pay. And he wasn't going to accept credit...

	The demon's scream brought those still conscious back to reality,
or what passed for reality where Ranma was glowing a steady blue and
not touching the ground. It also brought Kodachi Kuno back to the land
of the conscious. She looked around her noting Ranma's "condition" and
the remains of the demon that appeared out of nowhere.
	Slowly, Kodachi got to her feet and walked toward Ranma. She
stopped a meter from him and patiently awaited him to acknowldge her,
as was proper.
	Ranma knew where everyone were and had a pretty good idea what
they were doing. Everyone, expect Kodachi, was in shock, denoted by
their open-mouth stares in his directions. Kodachi, for a change, was
quiet and had a very determined look on her face. But that didn't
matter to him. What did matter was his mother, who needed to be
healed. Using his new knowledge, he used his chi and some magic, to do
just that by placing his left palm against his mother's forehead. For
a few moments, Nodoka's aura grew like Ranma or Ryouga's did when they
started to perform one of their ki-attacks. Through the flicking and
ulsing, everyone could see Nodoka's bruises and cuts clear and close
themselves. After only a few moments, Nodoka was as good as new... or
rather her body was. Her torn clothes were the only testament to her
encounter with the now deceased demon.
	Once his mother was nolonger in danger, Ranma turned to Kodachi
and simply acknowledged her with a glance. Kodachi swallowed and in
her most formal voice she asked, "Ranma no Kami, please take this
unworthy one as your servant."
	Exactly what service she wished to perform for Ranma, became
obvious as Kodachi tried to show off her 'assests' while trying not to
scare the new kami away with blatant sexuality that had disturbed him
in the past. 
	Of course, Akane realized what Kodachi was suggesting from the
start, what surprised her and greatly angred her was the fact that
Ranma was thinking it over. Thus with Akane's Righteous Fury
(trademark pending), she raised her trusted "Mallet of Doom" to smit
the Perverted One. She got within a meter of Ranma no Kami before a
bolt of lightning stuck the wooden mallet setting it aflame. Undaunted
by the fact that her mallet was going up like a matchstick, she
continued... only to receive first-degree burns on her hands for
stubbornly holding onto her mallet.
	Ranma was thinking it over. He knew if he dismissed Kodachi out
right, she won't be able to live with herself. He knew, from his new
knowledge which was still being integrated into him, that Koadachi
believed that he was her only hope of salvation. And if he removed
that hope... Of course, he didn't need a concubine... Although, if he
used Kodachi to satify his 'needs' knowing that she was happy just
to perform such a service for him, it would make dealing with his
fiancees a lot easier.... 
	Ranma paused a moment to search for the origin of such an alien
thought. True, most of his 'girl' problems could be traced to three
sources, one, Genma, two, the fact that he was a virgin, both sexually
and seeming interacting with the opposite sex, and lastly, the fact
that he didn't wish to cause unnecessarily pain in others. A thought
surfaced that if he removed source two, it might enable him to deal
with sources one and three better. Of ocurse, losing his virginity
would be a problem in itself, as to, to whom to lose it to and the
consequences of such an action.
	Still, the fact remained, if Ranma didn't accept Kodachi on some
level for some service... Mentally signing, he answered her, "You can
serve me... by taking your brother home."
	Kodachi glowed in happiness as she bowed to her Lord and Master
and gently picked her brother up. Let the others waste their time
looking to be brides. She knew that marriage was a sham, afterall, a
marriage could only end one of two ways, a messy divorce or through
death. She seen what marriage had done to her parents and other
"couples." In the end, what was a wife, but a figure head, a meanless
title... It was the mistresses and concubines that did all the
imporant work... the fun work...
	The others could only watch Kodachi leave. Unlike her, they knew
that Ranma hadn't fully accepted her, especially not in the 'position'
she wanted, but, what they didn't understand was why didn't he reject
her out right. They looked to him for an explanation, but got none.
They were met with a neutral face. A staring match began between Ranma
and the others until Nodoka stirred.
	Ranma meant to say 'Mother,' but with so many personalities going
through his head, his mother's included, it came out as "Raicho."
	Upon hearing her nickname, Nodoka bolted up and looked around.
her eyes stopped and stared at the glowing, floating Ranma. In a
worried voice, she asked, "Ranma? Are you okay?"
	"Never better," Ranma replied. He helped his mother to stand.
Once her was sure she could stand on her way, he took a step back. The
two just looked into each other's eyes. In that moment, Ranma knew
everything that Nodoka had gone through, her early childhood as a
tomboy, hte death of her mother, the disappointment of her father that
she was such a poor magical student, her love for the baka that was
his father, the pain of being separated from him, and her happiness at
being reunited. With a smile and a bow, Ranma handed back the Saotome
Family Sword to Nodoka.
	Only when Nodoka tried to grab the handle, her hand pasted
through it. After the second try, she said in a tear in her eyes,
"It's chosen you... over me."
	Not knowning what to say, Ranma just shrugged and shealthed the
sword onto his back, where it disappeared.
	With that, everyone headed to their respective home.

	Much later, Nodoka and Kasumi made supper. When everyone minus
Ranma was ready for dinner, Kasumi asked Akane to get Ranma.
	Akane returned, without Ranma, in a few moments. Her eyes were
wide open in surprise.
	"Where's Ranma?" Nodoka inquiried.
	In an absent-minded voice, Akane replied, "He's in the Dojo,
practicing... He was still glowing, Auntie."
	Everyone except Nodoka gave a start at the report that Ranma was
still glowing. Most had dimissed Ranma's glowing for his battle aura
and had thought it would die down as he relaxed after such a tremdious
fight. But the fight had been before breakfast and it was now supper
time, a late supper time.
	Nodoka simply nodded at the report and then asked, "When's he
coming to eat?"
	In a disbelieving voice, Akane answered, "He said, he wasn't
hungry..."
	With that statement, everyone's jaw dropped open and even Nodoka
studdered and questioned, "What?"
	Akane repeated, "He said, he wasn't hungry... and I think he was
serious."
	The impossible had happened, Ranma wasn't interested in food...
food cooked by Kasumi and his mother.

	The next morning, Kasumi got up as was her habit, and went down
to make breakfast for everyone. As she passed the Dojo, she could hear
sounds coming from it. Curious, she went over to investigate. She
found Ranma practicing in the Dojo. She also noted that Ranma was
still floating a few centimeters off the ground and still glowing like
he did yesterday. In fact, she thought that he seemed to be glowing
more brightly. She watched as Ranma jumped into the air... or more
correctly, he flew through the air like that boy, Herb, did... At no
time, did he touch the ground with his feet, or passed for breath.
	In fact, she wasn't sure Ranma knew she was there until he said
without pausing in his kata, "Hi, Kasumi."
	"Ranma," Kasumi said as she gave a start as she realized that she
had been staring at Ranma for a while now. "How long have you been in
here?"
	His response was, "I don't know... since we got back..."
	Now, Kasumi really did stare. That meant that Ranma had been in
the Dojo most of yesterday and all of last night... and he didn't work
the least bit winded or uncomfortable. It also meant that he hadn't
eaten anything since two nights ago, since yesterday's breakfast and
lunch as interrupted by the demon.
	In a small voice, Kasumi asked, "Are you hungry?"
	Kasumi thought that Ranma didn't heard her so she was about to
ask her question again, but Ranma paused and answered, "No, I'm not. I
think I should be... but I'm not."

	Breakfast that morning went typically well for the Tendo
household with the three Saotomes there was well. At on the surface,
only Kasumi, Nodoka, and Akane noticed that Ranma wasn't actually
eating. Instead he was giving his food away to Genma and Nabiki
without them noticing.
	After breakfast, Nabiki, Akane, and Ranma walked to school.
Although, in Ranma's case, it was more that he floated there since his
feet still hadn't touched the ground.
	"You're going to be a big hit at school, Ranma" Nabiki joked. "No
ones going to need a reading light with you around."
	Ranma opened his mouth to say something, but he closed. It was
then that Ranma's greatest enemy landed her attack, the dreaded Laddle
Lady had stuck again.
	"Watch where you're..." Ranma said as began to swipe away the
excess water until *he* noticed that he was still male even though he
was splashed with cold water.  
	Both Tendo sisters could only stare. Akane become Ranma didn't
change and Nabiki become he was dry.
	Ranma shrugged and said, "Just I'm water-proof now..."
	Amazingly, or not considered this dealt with Ranma, the students
of Furnikan High School quickly got used to Ranma glowing all the
time.
	Ranma and everyone else learned an interesting fact about the new
Ranma when Miss Hinako Ninomiya tried to drain his battle aura, she
couldn't. And she tried... lots of times... and didn't even get a
drop or a flicker.

	Lunchtime was... intersting. All three of his fiancees tried to
get Ranma to eat ttheir lucnhes that they made for him. To the
surprise of everyone, he informed everyone that he wasn't hungry. Of
course, Shampoo and Ukyou took blamed Akane for this, even as Ranma
tried to xplain that wasn't the case.
	Three fiancees getting ready to fight when three ribbons came out
of nowhere to tangle them up. A purple ribbon tangled up Shampoo, a
blue one got Ukyou, and a red one got Akane. All three fiancees,
Ranma, and everyone else turned to see who was able to tangle them up.
To their surprise, it was Kodachi. Even more amazing was the fact that
she was wearing a kimono, although, to Ranma at least, it was all she
wore. He had to wondered how long she would continue to wear it.
Flashes of Kodachi removing her kimono, keeling naked, and offering
herself there and then went through Ranma's paniced mind.
	Instead, Kodachi quickly bowed deeply to Ranma, which allowed a
fleeting glance of the tops of her breast to show, and the turned to
address the three fiancees with, "Silly peasants. Ranma no Kami, like
all kami, doesn't need to eat... or sleep..."
	Something clicked in Ranma's mind as he realized, yes, Kodachi's
statement was true... kamis don't need to eat... or sleep... and that,
for whatever reason, Ranma was a kami now... Kami of what, he didn't
know. Although, he doubted he was lucky enough that it had to do with
martial arts or anything he would like...
	Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyou could only stare at Kodachi. They
couldn't and won't belief her.

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