Photocopy

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Date: 010109, 050109

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 never belonged to me and never will. *sighs*

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Part Seven:

Ranma's 'gift' of the genetic memory of the Goa'uld to Nabiki had only quieted the middle Tendo sister for a short time. If Ranma had hoped to gain some measure of peace from Nabiki for opening her mind to the dangers that possession of such knowledge would inevitably bring, he was greatly mistaken. Not even three days had passed that the middle Tendo sister had already begun pestering the pigtailed martial artist for the forbidden knowledge of the harceasis.

"No! Nabiki!"

"But Ranma, now that you have shown me the possible dangers that possession of such knowledge would give me, I would surely be able to avoid it," the middle Tendo sister stubbornly insisted.

"ENOUGH!" The jusenkyo-cursed martial artist had just about blown her top.

"But surely ..." the middle Tendo sister started again.

"Haven't you seen with your own eyes what you could have done? You ended up blowing up Harbin and had taken out the Imperial Diet with the entire family as well! If this had been all real, the damage would have been irreversible!"

"As you said, it wasn't real. You could have manipulated the dream sequence to your liking!" the middle Tendo sister countered.

"No! I did not manipulate the dream sequence!" Ranma insisted.

"If you didn't, then show it to me for real this time! Prove it once and for all that it wasn't all virtual boo-hah! If you can prove it to me beyond reasonable doubt, I will never trouble you again with this matter!" Nabiki challenged.

Ranma studied Nabiki carefully in silence for a few minutes. The middle Tendo sister had thrown down the gauntlet. This was a challenge he could not refuse.

"Very well. I will prove it to you. But we will need to define the boundaries of this experiment," Ranma answered.

"Here are the rules. One - None of us are going to be allowed to have contact with the subject involved except maybe through observation. Agreed?"

The middle Tendo sister nodded her head.

"Two - we are not going to tell the subject anything about what we are doing. Do you agree as well?"

Nabiki gave the usual nod of her head.

"Three - we are going to pick a test subject at random. Yes?"

"No!" Nabiki refused.

"Not happy?" The Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist raised an eyebrow involuntarily.

"I choose the test subject, Ranma!" Nabiki insisted.

"No way am I letting Uncle Genma, or my father, or even Akane be the test subject! None of the Nerima Wrecking Crew whatsoever! They're too crazy and violent to even last a day under the sway of the Goa'uld's knowledge. Tofu is out too! He's too smart for his own good!"

"You have already someone in mind?" Ranma asked.

"Yes! I volunteer my sister ... Kasumi!" Nabiki offered.

'Take that, Ranma!' the middle Tendo sister thought.

'Sis ... please don't fail me. You're my last hope,' the middle Tendo sister prayed earnestly.

Trust it to Nabiki to determine the variables in the experiment. She sure knew how to load the dice in her favour!

"I hope you know what you're doing Nabiki. Once the knowledge has been given, it cannot be withdrawn," the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist warned.

"I fully understand the consequences," Nabiki answered.

"No regrets then, uh?" the Jusenkyo asked again.

"None whatsoever," the middle Tendo sister insisted.

"Very well. Let us ..." Ranma answered.

"One more thing, there should be a time limit involved in this experiment. I do not want to wait forever for the experiment to end, Ranma!" the middle Tendo sister interjected.

"Fine then ... a time limit. Five years?" Ranma asked.

"No, two years. Since that was the time it took for the 'forbidden knowledge of the Goauld to corrupt me'," Nabiki countered acidly. "If Kasumi hadn't become like what I had become in two years, I win the bet! And you will provide me with the knowledge of the Goa'uld."

"Agreed. Just as long as you fulfill your part of the bargain as well," Ranma answered.

"Now, shall we be off?" the middle Tendo sister smirked at the ponytailed girl in front of her.

Inwardly, she was praying.

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In the kitchen ...

The figure of a female Ranma and the middle Tendo sister headed for the sounds of the cooking.

"Ohayo Ranma! Nabiki! What can I do for you?" came the melodious voice of the ever-so-sweet and seemingly-innocent Tendo sister.

"I just need some warm water," the female Ranma spoke.

"Oh sure! Just a moment please," the eldest Tendo sister answered politely before up taking the kettle of hot water from the heater.

Ranma reached out with with her hand and poured it over her body. There was gasp from both sisters as they beheld Ranma's male form with their eyes for the first time.

"You don't look Japanese!" both sisters exclaimed in surprise.

Moving faster than the eye could see, Ranma reached out and touched his palm onto Kasumi's forehead. There was a brilliant flash of light that blinded Nabiki momentarily and the eldest Tendo sister dropped to the ground like a rock only to be captured by a male Ranma's arms.

"It is done. The memory has been transferred for good or ill. She'll be fine when she regains consciousness," Ranma spoke.

"Ranma?" Nabiki asked, her eyes full of questions as Ranma reached for the cold water in the basin.

"What can I say? Genma was never my biological father," the Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist grinned before dumping it over his head.

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The pair had quickly carried Kasumi to her room. They had then proceeded to finish up the cooking in the kitchen. When asked where Kasumi was, the pair told both martial artist dads that Kasumi was tired and had retired for the day. Fortunately the two fathers seemed satisfied with the reply and had not pursued the matter any longer. Kasumi rested for the later part of the day but by night she was fully 'rested' and ready to go. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary ... on the surface anyway.

But deep within the eldest Tendo sister's subconscious ... unspeakable things began to happen. The forbidden knowledge of the Goa'uld that Ranma had imparted to her began to seep into her mind. It started when she went to sleep. It took hold of her mind in the form of dreams. The dreams were vivid and took on an almost lifelike quality. She dismissed them, in her usual way, as a byproduct of an overactive imagination. She continued with her usual housework without a word of complaint.

Then they began to manifest in the waking world.

Daydreams.

The eldest Tendo sister was startled and baffled by these ... visions. They would appear in the form of flashbacks, particularly when she was stressed or tired from work. Scenes of people, places, languages and things she had never seen would appear in her mind. What was strange was that she recognized and knew all of them. Even though she was quite sure she had never seen any of them before in her life.

The Jaffa soldiers. The First Primes, supreme commanders of the Goa'uld armies. The System Lords, Goa'uld who had become powerful leaders in the galaxy.

The To'kra ... Goa'uld symbiotes who had risen to fight their own evil brethren.

Kasumi paused from her daydreams to look down at diary, frowning slightly as she did so.

Her entry for the day had been done completely in Goa'uld script.

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The next day ...

Kasumi was once again looking at the mountain of housework she had to do for the Tendo household. For the first time in her life, she felt something very close to anger. Why did she have to do all the housework when everyone else got to do whatever they wanted?

Her eyes fell upon the fat panda and bane of her existence.

IT SHOULD BE DOING THE WORK HERE!

NOT HER!

RULER OF ...

In it, she sat a queen, attended to by countless slaves and servants who catered to her every whim. Not doing all this slave's work!

Scenes of vast warships that disgorged vast armies and laid waste to entire worlds appeared in front of her eyes.

"Jaffa Kree!" a command issued out and the rows and rows of Jaffa soldiers knelt before ... HER.

If only she had a zat'n'ktel right now ...

Or better yet ... a pain stick ... the fat panda would be the first recipient of said device ...

... her thoughts trailed off ... as for a brief moment Kasumi glared.

At it.

It was there ... for a split second and just as quickly it faded away from her face like it never was.

Meanwhile ... at a certain game of shogi in a certain Tendo household, a large panda with a pair of glasses sneezed from the sudden sensation of doom that went up his spine.

"What's the matter Saotome? Are you sick?" his partner-in-crime asked while flipping the pieces around when his partner was distracted.

"Must be the cold," the panda flipped handsigns nervously before turning his attention onto the game again.

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Still, years of conditioning as the personal maid of the Tendo family could not be undone in a single sitting even by the forbidden knowledge of the Goa'uld so normal Kasumi was able to squelch out the un-Kasumi-like thoughts trying to take hold of her within seconds.

Normal Kasumi had quickly re-asserted herself in a mixture of shame and horror at the very thoughts that were circulating through her mind a second ago..

What was she thinking?

She was fulfilling her dead mother's wishes like always and she moved to the youngest sister's room to do the house cleaning.

As usual the youngest Tendo's room was a complete mess like her ... her ... disgusting cooking ... and smelled like a pig.

That despicable pig!

The scenery in front of her changed to that of her youngest sister and a small pig begging for mercy while she forcefed her and the pig with her sorry excuse of what she called her cooking ... until they died from the effects before resurrecting them with a sacrophagus.

And fed them again until they died ...

Only to bring them back to life again ...

Over and over again.

This was what they deserved no less for polluting the Tendo household with their violent and repugnant ways.

She would make certain that the youngest Tendo sister would never set foot in HER kitchen again.

A smile curled on the edge of her lips ... but it was not the usual smile that Kasumi had ... for this smile would have caused the hounds of hell to flee from it.

Elsewhere ... a certain Tendo sister whose cooking hazards rivalled that of the research done into bio-weaponry by a certain Goa'uld shivered. Not faraway, her pet, P-chan, did the same.

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A few days later ...

Kasumi was becoming increasingly puzzled and unusually frustrated with her position in life. Normally, she was always content as Kasumi could always be. So this feeling of frustration and growing anger was baffling to her.

Why? She wondered.

You should be the master ... not the servant, a voice seemed to say.

But what about my promise to Mom? she wondered.

You have the power of a god! Bring her back! the voice continued ... as a scene in her mind continued to play itself repeatedly.

In it, she saw a sacrophagus ... and the figure of a woman being lowered into it. The sacrophagus powered up and next she saw ... the woman breathing again.

But what you have suggested is ... Kasumi countered.

Repugnant? Yes but I get results and you don't. You will stay here until you die, none the wiser of course. Never fulfilling your dreams while Mother remains nothing more than a memory. Do you want that? the voice continued.

Who are you? Kasumi asked.

I am the part that you have repressed since Mother's death. I am Real Kasumi. the voice answered.

Normal Kasumi reached a decision.

For you ... Mother, I would do anything.

We would do anything. But first ... I ...we must built the sacrophagus. But we must be careful. There will be those who will try to stop us if they find out. This is our secret. Both Kasumis chorused simultaneously for the first time.

A week passed.

Followed by another week.

The weeks than became months.

The months were soon stretching out into a year.

There was still no forseeable difference of any sort in Kasumi's character and Nabiki was already looking at Ranma with a 'I told you so' look on her face. For her part, Ranma remained silent and patient. Inwardly, she hoped that Nabiki was right about this for it would be a tragedy for the eldest Tendo sister to be corrupted by the forbidden knowledge of the Goa'uld.

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