Well, here is the "revised" revised version of the first five chapters.
Multiple grammatical errors fixed, a scene added after the wedding and I
modified the circumstances of Shampoo's departure, due to many people's
whining about it.
*********
Lines Of Destiny - Revised Version 1.2
A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2 Crossover
By Louis-Philippe Giroux
<Phoenix@upc.qc.ca>
Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko
Takahashi. Please don't sue me.
The timeline I used is mixing some people up and it's partly my fault.
Here is how it stands now:
Ranma and Akane attend university (1st year) while the the Inner Senshi
are in their second year of High school. The Outer Senshi are in their
third year of High School (one year under Ranma and Akane). Thanks
everyone for the corrections! I think this screws up the relative
timelines by a year or so, but it's something I needed to do. I'm sorry.
It's after the Pharaoh 90 storyline and the Kaguya Snow Queen incident
(Sailor Moon Movie S, IIRC), but there are a few modifications: since the
Sailor Senshi are in High School, everyone (except Rei), goes to Juuban
High. Also, Usagi can turn into Super Sailor Moon (her white outfit) if
she chooses to, but the Senshi *HAVE NOT* yet become the Super Sailors...
Just hypothesize that my timeline occurs *just* before Sailor Moon SS
occurs. The ages are as follows:
Hotaru: 13 years old
Inner Senshi: 16 years old
Outer Senshi: 17 years old
Akane/Ranma: 18 years old
Mamoru: 19 years old
Setsuna: 22 years old
Great thanks to Chris Rijk (for his great ideas) and Terence Fergusson,
my favorite [and annoying] pre-readers!
Chapter 1
"When the Kin of Silence joins the Daughter of Earth, the Circle Of Planets
shall be complete once more."
- Last prophecy spoken by the royal seer before the destruction of the Moon
Kingdom.
Mamoru Chiba woke up with a start from another one of those dreams. The
dreams in which he was Endymion, the Prince of Earth, in the past. The
dreams had had nothing special in them until he started seeing a certain
girl on a regular basis. In the dreams, the young girl, wearing a sailor
fuku, ran up to him, her face shadowed and her hair whipping in the wind,
but each time he was about to see her face, he woke up.
*She seems so familiar and yet I can't place her. Her silhouette
doesn't look like any of the Inner or Outer Senshi's. I wonder who she
is... and why she's wearing a Senshi uniform. I thought all the Senshi had
been found.*
Mamoru got up and went to his bedroom window. The air outside was cool
and refreshing. Tomorrow afternoon, he would be able to see his Usako
again. He had been away for two weeks on a special school assignment and
he was sure Usagi was dying to see him again by now. He shook his head and
smiled. Usagi had thrown a fit when she had learned he would leave for
fourteen whole days and it had taken Makoto and Minako working together
(with a few flaming comments from Rei) to unlatch her from him so he could
take his train. He had promised her he would think about her as long as he
would be away.
But his thoughts drifted back to the mysterious girl of his dreams. She
was important somehow, but how could he find out who she was if she kept
disappearing all the time at the end of the dream? Was she a Sailor Senshi
as well?
Maybe he should ask Rei or Luna to help him with this. He especially
didn't want Usagi to find out he had been having visions of another woman,
even a potential Senshi; she would probably take it the wrong way.
Mamoru sighed and went back to sleep. If the dream *did* mean
something, he would find out eventually.
***
In Nerima, the atmosphere inside the Tendo Dojo was unusually solemn and
quiet, meaning there were no superpowered martial artists seeking the death
of Ranma Saotome or the hand in marriage of Akane Tendo (or vice-versa,
depending on which day you came by), and with any luck, everything would be
quiet from now on (to the great relief of the local insurance companies),
because today, Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo were finally getting married
and thus putting a stop once and for all to the madness which plagued
Nerima. Or so they hoped.
After the first bombed (litterally) attempt at a wedding two years ago,
Ranma had finally gathered the courage to profess his love to Akane. It is
needless to say that the other suitors had not been happy at this
development. Ukyo Kuonji had been heartbroken at the news, but Konatsu
(secretly helped by Ranma) was slowly beginning to pick up the pieces.
Ryoga had been rather... unhappy. After Akane had told him that she
loved Ranma, Ryoga had gone on a berserker rage and tried to kill Ranma.
The battle had gone on for a long time, Ryoga's murderous rage neutralizing
Ranma's superior skill, but Fate had miraculously intervened in the shape
of Akari Unryuu. Akari somehow managed to calm Ryoga before he could level
Nerima with a Perfect Shishihokodan and convinced him to marry her as soon
as possible. That day, Ranma truly believed in miracles. His last meeting
with Ranma was even somewhat... civil. Nevertheless, being true to form,
Ryouga got himself, Akari and her giant sumo pig lost as soon as they left
Nerima. No one had seen them since.
Shampoo and Cologne had been another matter. Upon learning Ranma's
choice for a wife, Shampoo had tried to kill Akane several times, not
realizing that such actions were not endearing her to Ranma. Cologne,
disappointed by Shampoo's repeated failures to eliminate Akane had decided
to take matters into her own hands. She challenged Ranma to a duel; if
_she_ won, he would become Shampoo's husband and if _he_ won, she would
return to China and never bother him again. Ranma, not wanting Akane to be
hurt anymore by Shampoo and Cologne's attempts to get to him, agreed. The
minute this was done, Nabiki started selling tickets for the fight.
What Cologne had not taken into account, however, was that Ranma had
been training extensively in the mountains since the first wedding, since
he had been aware it would eventually come down to this. The extra
training turned out to be invaluable. On the appointed day, Cologne found
herself facing an extremely focused Ranma.
The duel itself lasted for a savage fifteen minutes, with Ranma using
every ounce of skill he gained and ultimately resorting to the one
technique he knew Cologne to be afraid of: the Neko-ken. At the end of the
duel, Cologne, gravely wounded, admitted defeat to an equally wounded
Ranma. The Amazon matriarch reluctantly fulfilled her promise, much to
Shampoo's dismay (and Mousse's joy) and quietly left for China.
The victory had not been without its price for Ranma. Towards the end
of the battle, Cologne had managed to hit Ranma with a pressure point that
was supposed to take half his strength away. Fortunately for Ranma, the
only thing the shiatsu technique accomplished was rob Ranma of the extra
strength he had gained during his training. As a result, Ranma had spent
the following week and a half in a hospital, recovering from the injuries
Cologne had inflicted upon him. When he had recovered, he discovered his
strength had gone back to the level it was at the battle with Saffron (an
acceptable loss to him).
Nothing had been heard from the Amazons since they had gone back to China.
As for the Kunos, Ranma had made sure Tatewaki was in the hospital for
the wedding day (a task he had enjoyed immensely) and Akane had managed to
convince the psychiatric hospital to internalize Kodachi, not that it had
been very hard... After merely a few example of her sanity (or lack of),
the doctors had readily agreed she was a prime test subject for the new
personality-supressing drugs they were testing.
"By the powers invested in me... "
Ranma and Akane were standing face to face, Ranma clad in a tuxedo and
Akane in a wedding kimono. They had decided to go with a western wedding
again because since both their families were worried about another
interruption (despite the precautions taken), they were anxious at having
the ceremony as short as possible.
"I now pronounce you man and wife!"
To Ranma's surprise, Akane initiated liplock with him before the priest
even gave the signal, but he didn't mind and soon gave as good as he got.
They were pulled out from their dream-like state by the whistles of their
families.
"Way to go, Akane-chan!" said Nabiki.
Soun and Genma were dancing around. "At last, Saotome! Our families
are joined! Our dreams have come true!" Soun was wailing tears of joy and
Genma rapidly guided him outside so he would not ruin the house again with
yet another teary flood.
Nodoka turned to Kasumi. "Your father is quite emotional, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is," replied the ever-cheerful elder Tendo sister. "And for
once, I think he deserves to be emotional. He has been waiting for this
for a long time."
Genma had just come back inside the house when Nodoka turned to Ranma.
"What are your plans now, son?"
Ranma looked at Akane with a smile. "Akane and I have decided to go to
university together. We plan to go to Mizuharo University over in Tokyo.
It will be perfect for both of us.
"And you'll be able to have some privacy, eh boy?" said Genma with a
grin plastered all over his face.
Ranma and Akane both blushed beet red.
"Uncle Saotome! Please!" said Akane, trying to sound scandalized, and
only partially succeeding.
"Now, now, dear" chided Nodoka. "Don't embarrass them like that."
"The only problem right now is that even though we've been accepted, we
don't have any place to stay yet and we might not find a place to stay
before classes begin in a few days," said Ranma.
Nodoka looked pensive for a moment. "Ranma, do you remember anything
about your cousin Rei?"
"Rei?... Only vaguely. Mom, the last time I saw her was a while after
starting the training expedition. I must've been barely five years old and
she was younger than me. Why do you ask?"
"If my memory is correct, she has been training to be a Shinto priestess
for a long time and the temple at which she works is located near that
university. You could always consider asking her for a place to
stay until you find your own place."
"I don't know, mom. I mean, she probably doesn't even remember me
either. It might be a little rude for me to pop out of nowhere and ask to
crash at her place," said Ranma.
"Nonsense. I'll ask her myself. I'm sure she'll agree."
Ranma gave up. "All right. I hope it works."
As Nodoka moved to another room to make the call, Ranma turned around
and found Genma coming back inside the house with a two thick scrolls in
hand.
"Son, as the future head of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryuu, I think it's time
that you started having more responsibilities," said Genma solemnly.
Ranma raised a eyebrow warily. "What kind of responsibilities?"
Genma answered by offering Ranma the scrolls he was carrying. Ranma
took the proffered items and started reading them. His eyes widened when
he realized exactly what he was reading.
"Oyaji... these are the Saotome Forbidden Techniques!" he said, rapidly
looking at the long scrolls. He looked up at his father suspiciously. "I
thought they'd been destroyed!"
Genma smiled thinly. "The originals were destroyed; these are copies.
The only copies in existence, mind you. The incident with Ryuu made me
think about those techniques and I want you to have them." He clapped a
hand on Ranma's shoulder. "I know you'll use them more wisely than I did.
Consider it a wedding present of sorts as well as you first real
responsibility." He looked around, and seeing that Nodoka wasn't back yet,
whispered to Ranma: "Besides, I don't want your mother to use the last
remaining copies to make letters... You're the only one who can keep them
safe."
Ranma rolled his eyes. "You're hopeless, oyaji." He looked at the two
scrolls once more and bowed. "I nonetheless accept the responsibility."
Genma smiled. The boy _had_ turned out all right despite everything
that had happened. He turned around and went outside to see if Soun was
done crying.
Ranma watched him go and turned his attention back to the scrolls. He
had been trying to duplicate the Yama-sen-ken techniques used by Ryuu
Kumon, which had originally been invented by Genma.
Knowing that his father would likely be angered that such dangerous moves
were being used when they were supposed to be sealed away, Ranma had only
practiced them when training by himself in the mountains. He had started
to think he would never get them quite right (he was not planning on using
the Yama-sen-ken on a regular basis anyway - it was far too dangerous
against regular opponents), and those same techniques had just now been
_given_ to him. He felt like pounding his father for not telling him he
had duplicates, but realized it was also his fault, since he had never
actually _asked_ Genma if he had made copies.
He looked around (his eyes lingering on Akane, who was talking with her
sisters) and decided he was in too good a mood to pound his father just
yet. He'd take a look at the scrolls instead.
***
Later that day, at the Hikawa Shrine, Ami and Makoto were stopping by
for a visit. Makoto was complaining about how her latest boyfriend had
left her when Rei excused herself to answer a phone call. She came back a
bit flustered.
Makoto noticed Rei's state immediately. "What's wrong Rei? You look
kinda strange."
"We speak for the first time in more than ten years and she managed to
have her way in less than five minutes. How did she do it?" Rei muttered
under her breath. She looked up to Makoto. "Somehow, an aunt I hadn't
heard from in years managed to rope me into providing lodging for my cousin
until he finds a place of his own."
Makoto looked at Ami, then back to Rei. "Why does he need to stay at
the shrine?"
"He's going to Mizuharo University and he still hasn't found a place to
stay yet, even though classes start in a few days."
"What's he like?" asked Makoto, a familiar look to the Senshi coming
onto her features: the boyfriend-hunting look.
"Don't even think about it, Makoto; he's coming along with his fiancee,"
Rei warned.
Makoto's shoulders slumped, but Ami's head slowly rose up from the book
she was reading. "What's his name?"
"Ranma Saotome. I think that the last time I saw him, he was five years
old and he was on a training expedition with his father."
"What kind of training expedition?"
"Martial arts training."
Makoto looked back up. "He's a martial artist too?" She started
pouting. "Aww, why can't I ever get the really good ones?..." Suddenly,
she stopped and considered something. "Wait a minute... his father was
training him in martial arts when he was only five?"
Rei nodded.
"Wasn't that a little... obsessive on his father's part?" inquired a
doubtful Ami.
Rei held up her hands defensively. "Hey, that's only what I remember.
I don't even know if my uncle ever went ahead with the idea."
"When will he arrive here?"
"He'll be here tomorrow afternoon."
Makoto looked at Rei. "Is it going to be a problem with our... other
activities?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
Rei waved her off. "It won't really, because he'll only be staying for
a little while and he'll be going to university, too. We'll just have to
meet elsewhere for a while and be sure to keep quiet around him."
"Where is he from, anyway?"
"From Nerima."
Ami frowned slightly. The Nerima Ward had a history of strangeness that
sometimes rivaled Juuban's. She gave a mental shrug. Just because Rei's
cousin was from there didn't mean _he_ was weird as well.
***
Nodoka came back to Ranma and Akane. "It's done! I talked to your
cousin and she agreed to let you stay at the Hikawa Shrine. The only thing
is that I said Akane was your fiancee instead of your wife."
Ranma and Akane shrugged in unison. "It doesn't really matter. We
weren't exactly planning to tell everyone we meet that we're married," said
Ranma. *At least not for the moment.*
"Just as long as the baka remembers that he _is_ married, of course,"
added Akane with a hint of her usual temper coming back.
Ranma rolled his eyes. "How many times will I have to tell you you're
the only one for me? We just got _married_, for goodness' sake!"
Akane surprised him by landing a wet one on his lips. "I know. I just
wanted to be sure you knew, too."
Nodoka looked at the two with a Kasumi-style smile on her face. "You'd
better start getting ready. I told your cousin to expect you tomorrow
afternoon."
"Hai!" they both said.
***
Somewhere in Tokyo, a dark-green haired woman looked up from the cup of
tea she was nursing. It was time she paid a visit to two Moon cats and a
certain individual. Soon, the Senshi would know more about their past.
She smiled. There was work to be done.
The final Awakening was beginning.
End Chapter 1
- The Saotome Forbidden Techniques are a dual set of thieving techniques
designed by Genma when he was younger. The moves are divided in two main
categories: The Yama-sen-ken [Mountain of the 1000 fists] and the
Umi-sen-ken [Sea of the 1000 fists]. Both are actually styled in ways
similar to attacking a house. The Yama-sen-ken moves are all highly
aggressive and violent, like a violent and aggressive thief attacking a
house. The Umi-sen-ken are quiet and soft, but more difficult. It's a
higher art, like a sneak thief attacking the house at night, while the
occupants don't notice.
In the manga, Genma had "generously" given Ryuu Kumon's father the Yama
scroll, to help the Kumon Dojo, which was basically falling apart. However,
after practicing on the Dojo itself, Ryuu's dad pulled the building down on
top of him. His last words to Ryuu were to find the Umi-sen-ken, with
which he believed the restoration of the Kumon Dojo could be possible.
Afterwards, Ryuu wandered around, naming himself "Ranma Saotome" (Ranma had
doodled his name on the Yama-sen-ken scroll), and happened
to save Nodoka one day, and named himself as "Ranma Saotome". Ryuu then
stayed at the Saotome house for several days, during which he was naturally
challenged by Ranma.
In a latter fight, Ranma was almost killed by one of Ryuu's attacks, and
later demanded that Genma teach him the Umi-sen-ken. Genma briefly showed
Ranma some of the moves on Ranma's body, which was enough for Ranma to
understand, and then train to perfection the style of the Umi-sen-ken.
Meanwhile, Ryuu was close to beating up Nodoka because he thought she had
the Umi-sen-ken scrolls - they had been given to her by Genma before he
left on the training expidition with Ranma, though Ryuu couldn't bring
himself to do anything.
In the final battle, it was agreed that if Ryuu lost, he would 'seal away'
the Yama-sen-ken, while if Ranma lost, Ryuu would get the Umi-sen-ken.
Ryuu, hoping to learn the Umi-sen-ken off Ranma, deliberatly tried to get
Ranma to attack him with them, which Ranma did so. However, Ryuu could not
follow the moves, and on Ranma's first attack, he found himself lying on
the ground in pain.
The battle ended with Ryuu literally buried in a large mound of dirt.
This wonderful synopsis was a courtesy of Chris Rijk. For more
information, consult the Ranma FAQ at http://www.wot-club.org.uk/RanmaFAQ/
Chapter 2
Hotaru Tomoe was depressed. Since Chibi-Usa had gone back to the
future, she had lost the only friend who was close to her. Sure, Haruka,
Michiru and Setsuna were far from bad company, but they were *much* older
than she was. Besides, they had other things to worry about than play
baby-sitter to a thirteen year-old girl who could easily level the planet.
She missed her brother.
Following her rebirth, Hotaru had grown up for a second time at a
phenomenal rate, though she still ended up smaller than the others (much to
her constant annoyance). Only this time, she remembered things from her
days in the Silver Millennium, 1500 years ago. Among other things, how
everyone had different names back then; Serenity, Endymion... One of the
things she now remembered was that she had had an older brother, named
Kanma. She remembered...
<Silver Millennium, 1500 years ago>
Princess Verika was watching her older brother Kanma work the forge.
Prince Kanma, the eldest son of the Royal Family of Saturn, was an odd
person. He was not only a prince, but also a mid-level mage. That, in
itself, wasn't strange at all since there were lots of people who knew how
to use magic. What was strange was his choice of pastime, which in his
case was smithing. Kanma was quite skilled at it; he could spend hours at
a time in a forge coming up with a tool or the occasional weapon.
Sometimes, he infused the resulting weapon with his magic. Such weapons
were highly sought after, but Kanma did not make too many of them, since he
was not particularly motivated in making weapons; what appealed to him was
working the forge. He kept saying pounding things made him relax. He had
black hair, tied in a pigtail-type braid and muscles that made more than
one man jealous.
The ladies of the Saturn court thought that Kanma's royal blood, looks
and magic skills made him a prize catch. Kanma was quite aware of the
situation, but he had yet to find a woman he liked. He thought the court
ladies were far too sweet-tempered (this, of course, greatly annoyed his
parents, since he was of marrying age).
"Did you hear the news?" Verika asked with a look of anticipation on her
face.
"What news?" asked Kanma, somewhat amused by his youger sister's antics.
"The healers told you you were going to gain another inch after all?" He
briefly turned towards the forge and used a low-level spell to keep the
forge's heat up.
Verika scowled. "I can't help it if I'm short, okay!?" she said
testily. The look of anticipation quickly came back, though. "What I'm
talking about is the nominations of Sailor Terra and Saturn! The Royal
Seer said that the girl who becomes Saturn would know it because the sigil
will appear on her forehead today!"
"Don't tell me you _want_ to be Sailor Saturn?" said Kanma
incredulously, letting his hammer rest beside the forge.
Verika was a bit miffed at her brother's comment. "Why not? Sailor
Saturn is supposed to have great healing powers. I'd very much like to be
a great healer."
Kanma shook his head. "You've never bothered to read the prophecies,
have you?"
"What prophecies?"
Kanma took on a lecturing tone. "Many things have been said about the
legendary Sailor Saturn." Nodding towards his sister, he continued: "The
prophecies do say she is supposed to be a great healer, but the very fact
that she will be chosen means other things."
"Like what?" asked Verika, leaning forward.
"It's said that Saturn would have more than enough power to wipe off an
entire planet if she chose to. It's also said that she would only awaken
in time to fight off the Moon Kingdom's greatest threat."
Verika paled a little and Kanma nodded. "Do you see now? Even though
Sailor Saturn is fabled to have wondrous healing abilities, she is
generally portrayed in the prophecies as Saturn The Destroyer, not Saturn
The Healer. Sorry to disillusion you like that little sister, but you
should be careful what you wish for. Besides, don't forget there are
several other girls in the Royal Family who are candidates to become Sailor
Saturn, just like you." After a bit, he added, under his breath: "I'm just
glad I'm a guy, so I can't be chosen."
Verika, now uncomfortable, changed the subject. "What about Sailor Terra?"
Kanma snorted. "No contest there. It's old news all over the kingdoms
that it's Earth Prince Endymion's sister, Princess Akana, who will be
Sailor Terra. It's always a princess of a planet's Royal Family who
becomes a Sailor Senshi and the current Sailor Terra, or should I say
_Elder_ Terra, is certain it will be Akana. It's rumored that she will be
the strongest Senshi next to Saturn."
Verika nodded absently. She had had a chance to meet Princess Akana,
once before, in a diplomatic meeting. She wasn't bad-looking, although she
had a tendency to act like a tomboy at times...
Later that day, the sigil of Saturn appeared on Princess Verika's
forehead and her life was changed forever.
<Back to the Present>
Hotaru was interrupted from her reminscing by the sound of the
apartment's front door being opened. She got up and looked towards the
door, where Haruka and Michiru were already taking off their coats.
"So how was the concert, Michiru-mama?" asked Hotaru.
"It was all right," Michiru replied.
Haruka grinned and put an arm around Michiru's neck. "She means it went
perfect as usual." Haruka then gave her a playful kiss.
Hotaru sighed. It was a strange relationship betwen those two, but at
least they had each other. She, on the other hand, didn't have anyone
close to her.
Hotaru gave herself a mental shake. She had to stop whining to herself
like that. Suddenly, she noticed something, or rather someone, was
missing. "Hey, where's Setsuna-mama?"
"She said she had some buisiness to attend to," said Haruka. "And you
know from experience that if she doesn't want to tell us, she won't." She
shook her head. "For all we know, she's removed herself from the time
stream again and the Kami only knows when she'll be back."
In a rare moment of peace, Luna and Artemis were asleep, while the girls
were all out shopping, so she never noticed the Guardian Of Time silently
walking up to them. Sailor Pluto silently raised the Time Staff and a tiny
beam of light shot from the Garnet Orb to the cats' crescent moon. Their
crescents shined, but the felines merely stirred and stayed asleep.
A ghost of a smile touched Pluto's lips. *At least now, Luna and
Artemis will be able to deal with Mamoru and the others' questions. Their
memories will come back gradually.* The ageless warrior slowly shook her
head. *I doubt they realize just how hard awakening Terra will be, but
they _will_ need Terra's power in the times to come.*
A swirling portal opened behind Pluto and she stepped inside it,
disappearing into thin air. She had one more person whose memory she had
to help jog a little. Someone who had a sister... or a brother, depending
on how you looked at it.
***
Akane had fallen asleep early. Whether she wanted to admit it or not,
the stress related to her wedding had taken its toll on her. They had
agreed to sleep apart for this night because they didn't want to be tempted
by anything that would require... exertion. They needed to leave early the
following morning. She settled for dreaming of Ranma and how they had
finally admitted that they loved each other and how they would spend the
rest of their days together. But gradually, the dream became something
else; images she had never seen or imagined before were floating in her
mind. Strangely, the face of a young girl she had never seen before often
repeated itself. The girl sometimes wore an ornate old-fashioned dress and
sometimes what looked like an ridiculously abbreviated sailor suit. The
strangest thing of all was that she felt some kind of kinship to the girl,
but she didn't know exactly what.
Soon, the images disappeared and she dreamt of Ranma again.
In his room, Ranma also had his own dreams. He dreamt of college and of
his marriage to Akane, how he would make sure she was happy for the rest of
their lives. And like Akane, his dreams drifted to those of a young girl
whose face he could not see. He saw a silhouette of the girl running and
somehow, he knew her. He knew that inexplicably, he had once been, and
still was, closely bound to this girl. Suddenly, her face cleared...
...and he was rudely awakened by an oversized panda who nearly crushed
him. Ranma cursed silently. *Damn! it's the third time in three days I've
had this weird dream and at last I was this damn close to figuring who the
hell that girl is.* Ranma got up and walked to the window and looked out
at the starry sky. *I thought I had that dream because of pre-wedding
jitters, but now I'm not so sure...* He smiled and snorted softly.
*Huh... If it gets worse, maybe I can always ask cousin Rei about the
dream. Maybe her priestess training might help.*
Ranma yawned and went back to sleep and to his dreams of Akane.
The following morning, Ranma and Akane had what would probably be their
last meal at the Tendo Dojo for a long while. For the occasion, Kasumi and
Nodoka had prepared a such a feast that even Genma and Ranma could not eat
everything and perhaps most surprising of all, a smiling Akane not passing
a single comment on her new husband's eating habits. Afterwards, Ranma and
Akane finished packing their belongings and prepared themselves to take the
train.
Then came the tearful goobyes.
"Take good care of yourselves, okay?" said Kasumi.
"We will, I promise." answered Akane.
"If you need a loan, don't hesitate to call me, okay? I have special
rates for family," said Nabiki with a sad smile on her lips.
"Uh... we will, Nabiki." said Ranma.
"Oh my daughter is growing up! She's married and going to college!"
Soun wailed.
Ranma extricated himself from the knot of Tendo sisters and walked to
his parents.
"Be sure to tell your cousin Rei that we're grateful for what she's
doing," Genma said, a proud smile on his lips. "And try to keep your curse
a secret, if possible."
Ranma chuckled: "It's not as if I want everyone to know about the curse,
Pop. It's just that sometimes, it's like Akane says: I'm a water magnet;
you should know it better than most. As for Rei, I'll be sure to be
careful around her. Still, we won't see each other for a long time; we'll
only see each other at the shrine, remember?"
"Still, do try to remember to be polite with her, son," said Nodoka.
Genma cut in. "What does it matter, son? Just be sure to keep up your
training and come to visit us once in a while, okay?"
Ranma cast aside thoughts of his cousin. "Yeah, sure!" he said. "We'll
come back as often as we can, I promise."
Akane approached Ranma and put her hand on his shoulder. "It's time to
go if we want to catch the train, Ranma."
Ranma nodded and soon, the two newlyweds were on their way to the train
station.
***
Mamoru was sitting in the train, reading a magazine on the strange and
unususal. He chuckled softly. One of the magazine's top stories this
month was the popular mystery of the Sailor Senshi. As he read the
article, however, one passage caught his attention:
"... another one of the mysteries concerning the Sailor Senshi is that
every planet in our solar system has a Senshi named after it, except on
Earth, where, oddly enough, the Senshi, who happens to be the leader of the
group, is named after the planet's satellite. Is there or has there ever
been a Sailor Earth? What about the mysterious Sailor V? Was she related
to this group? Only the Senshi could answer these questions, and they have
never been known to stay around for interviews."
Mamoru closed the magazine and put it back on the tray where he had
found it. A Sailor Earth? The name sounded wrong somehow. Unwittingly,
he found his thoughts drifting back to the girl in his dreams while the
speakers warned people that the next stop was Nerima station...
***
Ranma and Akane boarded the train along with other passengers. Moving
inside the car, Ranma caught a magazine on a tray, as did Akane. The found
seats across from a handsome young man in his early twenties who looked
preoccupied by something. For a moment, Ranma thought the man was staring
at him and Akane, but when he looked up from his reading, he found the man
looking away. Ranma shrugged and went back to reading an article on a
group of mysterious girls calling themselves the Sailor Senshi...
Mamoru was still zoned out when two young people sat in front of him.
When he looked up, he couldn't help but stare at them in puzzlement. He
didn't understand, but the young man seemed very familiar, somehow...
almost like...
He quickly changed the focus of his gaze, when he saw the young man
lifting his head. Luckily, the young man didn't pursue the matter any
further and went back to his reading. Mamoru looked out the window and
started thinking about Usagi, who had promised she would be waiting at the
train station.
***
Minako (minus Artemis) and Ami were arriving at the train station. They
weren't really surprised to see that Usagi and Luna were already there;
Usagi had probably arrived here a long time ago, since Mamoru's train was
due back in less than fifteen minutes. They were surprised, however, to
see Hotaru.
"Hotaru-chan! What are you doing here?" exclaimed Minako.
Hotaru turned towards the voice. "Minako! Well, I was bored sitting
around Haruka and Michiru's apartment doing nothing, so I decided to come
here with Usagi to greet Mamoru when he comes back."
Minako nodded. "That makes quite a few of us to greet him then."
"Where's Artemis?" inquired Hotaru, her purple eyes looking around.
"He stayed home," said Minako. "He said he didn't like places where
there are too many people who might step on him." Luna gave a loud sniff
from where she was standing.
Ami looked up from yet another book she was reading. "Say, isn't Rei's
cousin supposed to arrive on this train as well?"
"Cousin?" Usagi, Hotaru and Minako exclaimed in unison. Luna wisely
refrained from saying the same thing out loud, seeing as they were in a
public place, but her face clearly showed surprise as well.
Ami spent the next few minutes explaining that Rei would be housing her
cousin and his fiancee at the Hikawa Shrine for the next few days.
Minako was clearly disappointed he wasn't single, while Usagi and Hotaru
wondered what Rei's cousin would be like. Luna bore a look that promised
further questioning when they were in private.
Hotaru spoke up: "Why didn't Rei come by to welcome him?"
"She told me she had special shrine duties today, seeing her grandfather
left with Yuiichiro yesterday," Ami answered. "Anyway, she said her cousin
had the address of the Shrine, so he shouldn't have any problems finding it
on his own."
"What does he look like, anyway?" asked Minako. "We could always
accompany him to the Shrine instead of letting him go there on his own."
Ami thought for a second. "Rei didn't tell me or Makoto what he looked
like, because she says she was too young to clearly remember what he looked
like the last time she saw him. I don't think she could have given us a
decent description even if she had wanted to."
"Do you at least know his name?"
Ami looked sheepish. "I don't remember."
Usagi broke into an eager smile. "We'll see what he looks like later!
The train is arriving!"
The others sighed good-naturedly. Several things had changed in the
last few weeks, but Usagi was still single-mindedly obssessed with her
"Mamo-chan."
The train pulled in the station and people started flowing out. It
wasn't long before Mamoru got out of the train.
"Mamo-chan!" Usagi cried, running into Mamoru's arms. "I've missed you
so much!"
"I've missed you too, Usako."
While Usagi was busy gushing all over Mamoru, the other girls looked at
the other passengers. Minako was trying to spot herself a hunk and she
soon found one. A muscular young man, looking slightly older than her, who
was wearing loose black pants and a red Chinese shirt. His wild black hair
was tied down in a pigtail-style braid. *I'm in love!* Minako told herself.
She nudged Ami, and even Hotaru. "Hey girls, look at the major hunk
over there! Isn't he gorgeous?"
Ami looked where Minako was pointing, looked around the boy and quickly
brought her friend back to Earth. "Look right behind him, Minako. I think
he's already taken."
Minako shook herself out of her dreams and realized there was a girl
holding his hand. A girl who bore a faint resemblance to Ami, at that.
"Awww, it's not fair," she pouted.
Hotaru wasn't merely looking at them. She was staring at them.
*Masaka! He... she... they look so much like...* she shook herself.
*You're imagining things, Hotaru. Neither of them could be alive today.
They both died before the end of the Silver Millenium. Besides, the
genders are all...*
Suddenly, something beeped urgently in Ami's purse. Startled, Ami took
out her computer compact and her eyes widened. She grabbed Usagi's
shoulder and turned her around.
"Usagi! My computer's detected a... " She was interrupted as a wall
suddenly caved in and a monster made its appearance.
"WWRRRRAAGGHHHHHHH!!!!"
"...daimon nearby," she finished weakly.
Usagi cursed under her breath. She thought they were finished with
this. They had not had a monster attack in over a month and a half. Much
to Luna and the other girls' surprise, Usagi's grades had picked up
strength during that short time. Usagi said it was because she was no
longer interrupted by constant monster attacks. The girls had been
inclined to believe her.
And now, the attacks were starting up again. Damn.
"All right," she said, her face darkening. "Let's find a place to
transform and thrash that thing..."
Usagi got no further when all hell broke loose.
End of Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Ranma and Akane had gotten off the train and were looking for the exit.
Akane noted with some amusement that the young man who had been sitting
across them in the train was being hugged to death by a girl with uncannily
long meatball-type ponytails. She frowned when her subconscious decided to
replace the young man with Ranma and the girl with Shampoo.
She blinked. *Get a grip on yourself, Akane!* she berated herself.
*Ranma's married to you now. There's nothing to fear from Shampoo.*
She was quickly brought back to her senses when a growling monster burst
through a wall.
Ranma was getting off the train and he was still thinking about the
article he'd read on the Sailor Senshi. According to the magazine, there
had been a rash of monsters in this part of Tokyo, but the Senshi usually
took care of them. What he couldn't figure out, though, was why his mind
wouldn't let go of the Senshi's images. Why did they seem so familiar?
He was rudely interrupted by a monster who made its presence known by
smashing through a wall sending people screaming for their lives. He
stared blankly at the rampaging monster for about half a second before he
took a ready stance.
"I thought I left that kind of crap in Nerima..." he muttered. He
quickly shoved Akane towards a knot of girls to keep her out of danger.
Akane quickly found herself shoved towards a group of girls. She
managed to slow down before ramming into a girl with long, loose blonde
hair. Akane turned around to see Ranma approaching the monster.
"What's he doing?!" shouted the girl she'd almost collided with.
Akane let out a sigh. "The baka's proabably going to fight it. As usual."
A girl with oddly familiar purple eyes spoke up: "He... he can't
possibly mean to fight a daimon alone, can he?"
No one answered as the girls looked on, completely forgetting to transform.
*God that thing is ugly,* thought Ranma absently. *Even Pantyhose's
cursed form is better-looking.* The monster looked roughly like an insect,
complete with a shell, clawed limbs and a collection of eyes of various
sizes. The main difference was that it was standing on two thick legs and
it was using its four other limbs to inflict damage. It also stood around
seven feet tall.
Ranma was suddenly shaken out of "analysis mode" when the daimon
suddenly grabbed someone by the throat with one its claws and lifted the
person off the floor. He was about to fire a Mouko Takabisha when fresh
memories of the Forbidden Techniques floated to mind. *Let's see if I can
get them right this time!* he thought. He quickly called out a
Yama-sen-ken technique: "KIJIN RAISHUU DAN!" The vacuum chi-blast sliced
through the limb that was holding the person up.
The daimon roared in pain as the person dropped to the floor and scurried
away. It turned to look at Ranma and charged him with two of its remaining
claws. Ranma waited until the monster was within range and let out an
ear-deafening kiai. The startled monster slowed just enough for Ranma to
divert the incoming limbs to each side of him, while he himself stayed in
the monster's path. "MOUKO KAIMON HA!" Ranma shouted, hitting the daimon
in the face with a chi-charged kick. The daimon's head snapped back with a
loud crunching noise. It suddenly stood still.
Ranma thought the monster dead at this point and turned around to see if
Akane was still alright. He saw her near a group of girls, but he also
unfortunately saw a Luna, which caused him to freeze. The monster,
however, was _not_ dead and chose this particular moment to hit Ranma with
all its remaining strength into a brick wall. It then decided it had had
enough and tried to get away.
Akane had been watching Ranma fight and paled when she saw the monster
throw Ranma into a wall. "I've got to help him!" was all she said.
Mamoru, Usagi, Minako, Ami and Hotaru and Luna all took a step back and
could not help but stare in surprise when the girl pulled out a massive
hammer out of nowhere and ran towards the monster. They were all so
stunned that they never noticed that the sigil of Earth had been flickering
faintly on Mamoru's forehead for a few moments already.
Akane saw the wounded monster trying to get away and quickly intercepted
it. "Not so fast," she hissed, her chi-powered mallet at the ready. The
monster, already gravely wounded from Ranma's assault, tried to toss her
out of the way, but missed by a wide margin and Akane hammered it with an
upward swing which would have made a professional baseball player proud and
sent it flying back towards Ranma.
If anything, the collision had quickly brought back Ranma to his senses.
Digging himself out of the rubble he was about to start after it when he
saw Akane punt it right back his way, courtesy of Mallet Airlines. He
grinned and cupped his hands. "MOUKO TAKABISHA!" he cried, releasing a
massive chi-blast that struck the monster in mid-air, effectively stopping
its course.
The monster's charred remains hit the floor, where they promptly turned
to ash
"Nice swing Akane," commented Ranma offhandedly while dusting himself
off.
"It disappeared just like that?" wondered Akane out loud, before
returning her mallet to hammerspace. "What _was_ that thing, anyway?"
Ranma pulled out the magazine he'd been reading in the train and gave it
to Akane. "I read about it in the train. Apparently, monsters attack this
part of Tokyo on a regular basis." He sighed, then chuckled: "And I
thought we were done with this kind of stuff we moved out of Nerima."
Akane frowned. "I hope this doesn't happen too often. Who usually
deals with those things anyway? The police?"
Ranma flipped the pages of the magazine and pointed to a blurry picture
in which you could barely distinguish five young girls in rather skimpy
outfits. "Apparently, they do. They call themselves the Sailor Senshi..."
While Akane and Ranma were discussing the topic further, Minako, Usagi,
Ami and Mamoru were alternating between staring at Ranma and Akane and
giving each other nervous looks. Hotaru, however, was watching them
intently, as if she was trying to figure out a puzzle.
"What the hell just happened, Ami?" asked a bewildered Minako.
Ami soon found herself under close scrutiny when everyone turned towards
her. "Why are you asking _me_? I know as much about this as you do!"
"Well, you _are_ usually the one who comes up with an answer," replied
Usagi matter-of-factly.
Luna looked clearly stunned. She started scratching Usagi's socks to
get her attention. Usagi looked down and quickly deduced from her guardian
cat's face that she wanted to speak as soon as possible.
"They're leaving!" said Mamoru.
In a rare moment of self-control, Usagi started to move towards the two.
"Come on! We have to find out who they are!"
The two teenagers had left through the exit, with Usagi close on their
heels. When Usagi went through the gate, however, she was met with an
empty street. "Where did they go?" she wondered out loud.
Akane and Ranma finished their conversation when they noticed that the
few people who hadn't left the station in fear were staring at them. Then
the whispers began.
Ranma looked around him and decided it wouldn't be a good idea to stay
here for long. He tugged Akane's sleeve. "Akane, I think we'd better bail
out of here. I think we may have made too much of an impression already
and what's worse, I think I saw a cat earlier. I don't want to stay here
if there is a cat around," he said nervously.
Akane frowned and gave Ranma an annoyed look. *Again with his stupid
fear of cats!* Akane sighed. *I wish there was a way to cure him of
that.* She then looked around and saw that people were starting to throw
strange looks at them. She heard mutters of "youmas", "monsters" and
"Sailor Senshi". She nodded to Ranma, and as soon as they made their way
through the exit with their luggage, they jumped up and kept themselves to
the rooftops.
As the girls were leaving the station, the questions started flying
again. "All right, first things first," said an uncharacteristically
serious Usagi. "Ami, what exactly _was_ that monster, anyway? We haven't
had one of those for a long time, now."
"According to my computer, it was a daimon," answered Ami. "Probably a
reject from a leftover daimon egg. I'm surprised that it lived this long
without us detecting it."
"And now for the 100,000 yen question: What do you have on the guy who
trashed it?" asked Minako.
"He's quite human, if that's what you want to know. I got a few
readings on him since I inadvertently left my computer opened when the
daimon attacked."
"So let's hear it," said Luna in a hushed voice.
"Well, what you saw at the train station practically speaks for itself.
First of all, he's incredibly fast and agile. I'm passably sure his speed
and strength rival or even surpass our own in our Senshi forms. He must
have a great tolerance to injuries, too, since being slammed in the wall
merely stunned him for an instant."
"What about the energy ball he threw?" asked Usagi.
Ami sighed and started walking again. "The computer didn't have enough
time to gather enough readings for that. I'm sorry, Usagi."
"I don't think we should forget what the girl did either. How many
girls do you know pull out giant hammers out of nowhere and are strong
enough to punt daimons around like baseballs?" commented Minako.
Usagi noticed Mamoru shaking his head.
"What's wrong, Mamo-chan?" she asked worriedly.
"They were in the train with me all this time; they were sitting
straight in front of me and I didn't notice a single thing..." But
Mamoru's voice had taken an uncertain tone by the end of the sentence.
"Out with it, Mamoru", said Minako, noticing it. "What is it?"
Mamoru looked thoughtful. "It's probably nothing, but the guy looked
*very* familiar for some reason. I can't help wonder if I've seen him
before somewhere."
Hotaru, who had been silent up to now, suddenly became aware of the
conversation. "You too, Mamoru-san?!"
Everyone stopped walking and looked at both of them. Mamoru and Hotaru
were looking at each other.
"Where do you think you know him from?" asked Hotaru first.
"I've been having strange dreams for the past few days. It's in the
days of the Moon Kingdom. I'm wearing my armor as Prince Endymion and this
girl is running towards me, but I never quite clearly see her face; only
shadows. When I saw that guy, I immediately started thinking about that
girl." He passed a hand through his hair. "I don't really know why I
should connect the both of them in the first place."
Hotaru looked at Mamoru with what seemed like pity in her eyes. "You
don't remember her, do you?"
Mamoru felt a chill run through his spine. "Remember who?"
"I know who the guy reminds you of, Mamoru. Except for his hair color,
he looks exactly like what your younger sister would've looked like had she
been born a man."
Mamoru froze in shock. Sister?... He had a *sister*? Was the girl in
his dream his sister?... "I had a sister?..." he said weakly. He turned to
Luna. "Why was I never told I had a sister?!" he asked in a tone that was
rapidly rising towards that of anger.
Luna found herself flinching under Mamoru's angry gaze. The worst thing
was that for some reason, she now knew about Akana, something she knew she
hadn't known even yesterday. It was quite disconcerting. How was she
supposed to explain to Mamoru that she had just _now_ remembered about his
sister?
Fortunately, Hotaru quickly came to Luna's rescue before the black cat
had to explain herself. "Mamoru, there's no guarantee that she did know
about Akana. Her and Artemis' memories are a bit swiss-cheesed, remember?"
Mamoru turned to her, his cold anger fading in the light of Hotaru's
argument. "Then how is it _you_ know?" he asked.
"When I was reborn after the Pharaoh 90 incident, I grew up again
extremely fast, but this time, I had most of my memories of the Moon
Kingdom." Hotaru hesitated before continuing. "There's also the fact that
your sister couldn't have been reborn in this time like us, Mamoru."
Seeing his questioning look, she went on: "Akana and I became the Sailors
Terra and Saturn on the same day; we were the last Senshi to be nominated.
Akana was supposed to be the strongest Senshi next to myself in term of raw
power, but she mysteriously disappeared a few months after her nomination
as Sailor Terra, at roughly the same time Metallia attacked. No one really
knows what happened to her and believe me, they _really_ tried to find
her." Hotaru paused for an instant, then continued again. "As for me, I
was sent to train far away in the system because everyone had become afraid
of me, of what I meant. The fact that there was no Elder Saturn didn't
make things any easier for my training. People were afraid of Saturn the
Destroyer. They were all afraid, save Serenity, the Senshi and my
brother." She gave a bitter smile. "The real irony of it all is that as it
turns out, they sent me to train so far I couldn't come back in time to
destroy Metallia when she launched her attack. The Silver Millenium passed
away because it was afraid of the one who was supposed to be its protector."
Minako found her voice first, although Hotaru did not expect the
question: "You had a brother?"
Hotaru looked sad for a moment. "I had several sisters, but, I only had
one brother. His name was Kanma and he was one of the rare people who
didn't flinch when speaking to me after I became Saturn. That's the other
thing I find strange in all of this: if I didn't know any better, I would
swear that the girl was my reincarnated brother."
"How could you be sure she's your reincarnated brother?" asked Luna.
Hotaru looked down to Luna with a small smile for an instant: "You
probably wouldn't understand, but it has something to do with the way she
handled that hammer of hers. Kanma was a smith, so he was always using
hammers; he used to say pounding things made him relax. She looks so much
like he did... but I gave up hope of my brother being reborn a long time
ago," she finished with a sad look.
"How can you be so sure?" asked Usagi, who had not taken her hand away
from Mamoru's shoulder since Hotaru's revelation. "My mother managed to
send a lot of people to the future when she used the Ginzuishou to seal
Metallia away. How can you be sure your brother wasn't one of them?"
Sad purple eyes looked up at the sky. "Back in the days of the Silver
Millenium, every planet in the system had its own population. The planets
were made viable thanks to the Ginzuishou. I was on my way back from
out-system to report on the progress of my training when I felt a massive
disruption in the magical fields that kept the planets viable. I rushed
back to the Moon, fearing the worst, but I was too late. The Crystal
Palace had been destroyed and Silver Millenium had been Silenced... because
I wasn't there in time," she added bitterly. "After that, I immediately
went to Saturn, to try and see if there were any survivors, but there were
none. Everything had been destroyed. The worst part is that it looked
like the destruction was old. Metallia's troops had likely attacked Saturn
before they attacked the Moon, in fear that they would have to fight me.
By killing me first, none would have been left to stop them, but it turns
out they didn't even have to fight me. The Royal Palace was nothing but
ashes. My brother was a competent mage, but he could never have survived
long enough to be sent into the future."
Everyone was silent out of respect for a while, digesting the new
information.
Further along the way, Ranma and Akane got back down from the rooftops
after being sure nobody had followed them from the train station.
"I hope you're not planning on doing this on a regular basis, Ranma. I
really don't appreciate all the attention."
"Kinda strange, isn't it?" Ranma replied over his shoulder. "In Nerima,
Ryoga and I destroyed a lot of things each time we fought and no one ever
looked twice."
"They did look twice," Akane replied. "They were just too afraid of
doing anything about it."
Ranma raised an eyebrow, but let the matter drop. They soon arrived in
front of a Shinto temple.
"This is the place!" said Ranma. He looked at Akane, took her hand and
went inside the gates.
End Chapter 3
Yama-sen-ken techniques from the manga (again, thanks Chris Rijk!):
Mouko Kaimon Ha [Fierce Tiger Crashing Through Gates]: Right after shouting
"Don't move!" very loudly, Ryuu strikes at Ranma, throwing both arms in a
curving motion away from him (a bit like roughly pushing through two doors)
and kicks him at the same time.
Kijin Raishuu Dan [Demon God Assault Bomb]: Ryuu practices his move on a 5m
high solid rock/metal Budda, breaking it into large slices with thrown
chi-blades formed by pulling one's hands away so fast is forms a vacuum.
It's Ryuu's favorite attack.
Chapter 4
Makoto had just come back from the market when she decided she was bored.
Among all the Senshi, Makoto was perhaps the only one who missed the
occasional fight with a youma, daimon, or whatever they periodically
fought. Before she became a Senshi, Makoto used to release her
frustrations on people around her, which resulted in her being expelled
from different schools on a regular basis. As Sailor Jupiter, Makoto had
found a way to use channel her destructive temper into a constructive
fashion, namely electrocuting youmas. It had been several weeks since the
defeat of Pharaoh 90 at the hands of Sailor Saturn, and no monsters had
reared their ugly heads since then. As a result, Makoto had been feeling
bored recently, not that she would admit it to the others, especially not
Usagi...
She looked at the time. *Mamoru probably arrived at the train station a
while ago*. Not knowing what else to do, she decided to go see Rei at the
Hikawa Shrine, remembering yesterday's conversation. If she was lucky, she
might get to meet Rei's mysterious cousin before everyone else.
She let out a small sigh. The moment she had heard Rei's cousin was a
martial artist, she had gotten her hopes up, but said hopes had taken a
brutal nosedive when she learned that Rei's cousin was coming with his
girlfriend.
Shaking her head away from such thoughts, she left her apartment,
locked it up and left in the direction of the Hikawa Shrine. After a
moderate walk, she arrived in view of the gates to the Shrine and saw two
people going in. One of them was a young black-haired, pig-tailed man,
wearing a red Chinese shirt and loose black pants and the other was a
black-haired girl, wearing a yellow dress and a sky-blue blouse. They were
both carrying suitcases with them. Maybe _he_ was Rei's mysterious cousin.
Ranma and Akane pushed open the gates and went inside the grounds. They
looked around and saw the steps leading to the shrine itself. Seeing no
one around, they decided to climb them and halted when they neared the top.
"Rei? Are you here? It's me, Ranma!" he called out.
A girl came out of the shrine, a look of anticipation on her face. She
had long, raven-black hair that went down her back and she was clad in
traditional Shinto priestess robes.
"Ranma?" she said, blinking, all the while looking shocked for a few
seconds. "Is that you?"
"What? Don't you even remember me, Rei?" answered Ranma with a smile on
his lips.
Rei seemed to stare at Ranma for a few seconds, but quickly put herself
together. "It's been a long time, Ranma. Welcome to the Hikawa Shrine."
"Thank you for your hospitality," Ranma replied politely. "Rei, may I
introduce you to Akane Saotome, my wife."
Akane bowed in response. "I would like to thank you for your
hospitality, Rei-san."
Rei, too stunned for words, merely nodded. She had not even tried to
hide the double-take she did at that statement. Ranma and Akane had a
somewhat sheepish look on their faces.
"Call me Rei," she said, turning to Akane. "You're... married?" Rei
managed to get out, despite her surprise. "But... Aunt Nodoka said you
were coming with a fiancee, not a wife!"
"She probably didn't want to freak you out," Ranma said, trying to avoid
an embarrassing scene.
"When *did* you get married?" Rei asked.
"Err, yesterday," answered Ranma, trying to sound as nonchalant as
possible (and failing miserably).
Rei stared at him for a couple of seconds more, than mentally shrugged.
*Usagi and Mamoru are as good as married and Usagi is younger than he is,
so why not them?*
"Come on, I'll show you around the shrine grounds," she said.
"Do you mind if I tag along on the guest tour, Rei-chan?"
Rei, Ranma and Akane turnd around to see Makoto, standing in the
shrine's doorway.
"Mako-chan!" Rei said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
Ranma and Akane finally got a good look at the unexpected visitor: a
very tall girl with long, flowing brown hair tied back in a ponytail. She
had a simple green dress on that complimented her... substantial features
well.
Rei turned to Ranma and Akane. "Ranma, Akane, this is Makoto Kino, a
very good friend of mine."
Makoto gave a polite bow, which was returned by the two Nerimites.
Rei repeated her question. "What are you doing here, Mako-chan? I
thought you would have gone with Usagi and the others to greet Mamoru at
the train station."
"I just came back from grocery shopping," replied Makoto. "By the time I
came back, the train would probably have arrived a long time ago. In fact,
the other girls and Mamoru are probably on their way here."
"Then they're probably not far behind." said Rei. She turned to Ranma.
"You know, if I remember correctly, you were on the same train as Mamoru.
Which reminds me, I hope nothing bad happened on your way here?"
Ranma looked pensive for a second. "The trip was fine. There was a fight
at the train station, but that's all."
Rei looked a bit surprised. "What kind of fight?" she asked.
Akane decided to jump in in before Ranma could put a foot in his mouth.
For some reason, she felt she did *not* want Ranma to say that they had
trashed a monster. It would probably just upset Rei; after all, young
Shinto priestesses didn't deal with monsters on a regular basis, right?
"Someone started a fight inside the train station and got kicked out," she
answered. *It's not a lie, it's just not the whole truth* she told herself.
With that, she subtly pinched Ranma's arm to warn him against saying more.
Ranma looked sideways at Akane with a slightly puzzled look. "Nothing I
couldn't have handled if it had come down to it," he finished, looking back
at Rei.
"You think you're that good a martial artist?" asked Makoto.
"I don't think I am. I _know_ I am," said Ranma with a hint of
arrogance in his voice.
Akane winced. Rei and Makoto each raised an eyebrow and looked
questioningly at Akane.
Akane shook her head. "Ranma _is_ good, but he has a small ego problem
as well."
Ranma suddenly looked miffed about Akane's comment.
"Well," said Rei, unwittingly defusing a potential scene, "let me show
you around the shrine, okay?"
"Lead the way," Ranma and Akane chorused.
"Wow. Replies in stereo, too? You two are _definitely_ made for each
other!" said Makoto with a smile, dealing in her own way with the
disappointment she'd felt when she'd overheard Rei's surprised comment
about Ranma's marriage.
Meanwhile, Ranma and Akane blushed slightly at Makoto's comment. They
knew they should be used to it by now, but coming from a relative stranger
(a younger girl, no less, despite Makoto's deceptive physical appearance)...
Rei raised an eyebrow at the blush. "You'll have to excuse Makoto.
She's an incurable romantic."
It was now Makoto's turn to look miffed. "Hey, I'm just searching for
the right soulmate, that's all!"
Rei rolled her eyes. "A soulmate that looks like your old sempai, right?"
Makoto frowned, but said nothing.
Rei motioned Akane and Ranma to follow her. "Come on, Ranma. Time to
give you the guided tour."
And so it went, Ranma, Akane and Makoto following Rei as she showed them
around the Shrine. They eventually reached the small courtyard outside.
Ranma looked around and smiled.
"Rei, at what time do you usually get up?" Ranma asked.
"Around six o'clock. I have various duties to perform before I go to
school. Why?"
"Would there be a problem if I used the courtyard to practice my martial
arts each morning? I need to keep in shape, even if I attend university."
"I don't think there will be any problems," replied Rei. "I'll have to
ask Grandfather about it, but I don't think he'll mind."
"Where *is* your grandfather anyway?" asked Ranma. "I haven't seen him yet."
"He and Yuuichiro, who, by the way, is an apprentice who also lives
here, left yesterday to visit holy grounds outside the city. They'll
either be back tomorrow or the day after," replied the raven-haired
priestess. "And for the final stop of the tour, something I guess I should
have showed you earlier: the guest room."
Ranma and Akane went back to get their luggage, which they had left at
the entrance, and followed Rei. She led them to a large room where two
futons had obviously been recently installed.
"You sure don't seem to have a lot of luggage for two university
students who want to live in an apartment," observed Makoto.
"We only have the basic stuff for a few days. Once we find an
apartment, we'll send for the rest," replied Akane.
"There's only one guest room, so you'll have to bunk in the same room.
I hope you don't mind," said Rei.
Ranma and Akane looked at each other questioningly, then back at Rei.
"Why should we mind, Rei? We're married, remember?" said Ranma.
Rei suddenly remembered what Ranma had said earlier and blushed
slightly. "Yes, well, I didn't know that yesterday..." she trailed off.
Makoto suddenly had a wicked gleam in her eye as she saw a golden
opportunity for a little payback. "Maybe you should bunk the futons closer
together, Rei. After all, they're newlyweds..."
Rei suddenly burned beet red, thinking about the possible implications
of what Makoto had just said. Rei turned towards Ranma and Akane, whose
faces were also in the process of acquiring a healthy shade of red. Seeing
them blush as well, Rei immediately panicked and jumped to conclusions.
"NO, please! Don't do that here!... I mean... err..." Rei stuttered.
Makoto couldn't help laughing out loud at Rei's predicament. The
brunette turned to Akane and Ranma and apologized: "Sorry, I just couldn't
help myself. Seeing Rei squirm is a rare sight and I couldn't pass this
up." *I also needed to get back at her for making fun of my sempai, too,*
she added silently.
"Die, Makoto," Rei growled too softly for Ranma or Akane to hear.
Akane coughed politely. "Yes, well, speaking of... that, maybe we
should go apartment-hunting while there still is time today, ne Ranma?"
said Akane, not-so-subtly nudging Ranma with her elbow.
Ranma shook himself out of the slight daze he was in, then nodded
absently. "Uh? Yeah, apartment-hunting, that sounds good." He and Akane
turned to leave. "We'll try not to come back too late, okay?" he said,
looking over his shoulder.
As soon as they were out of sight, Rei whirled on Makoto, who was still
grinning like an idiot. "Makoto! What on Mars possessed you to make a
comment like that? They're older than us, remember!"
"Calm down," said Makoto. "It's exactly like I told them. You need to
learn to relax, girl."
Rei's frown suddenly turned into a smug smile. "Well, *I'm* not the one
who's going to pass for a sex-crazed maniac because of that little stunt."
Makoto stopped smiling.
"Your cousin has *very* weird friends, Ranma." said Akane, once she and
Ranma were safely out of hearing range.
"I'm just starting to realize that. Maybe Nerima wasn't so bad after
all... Oh well, it'll only be for a couple of days, remember?" After a
few seconds' pause, he added: "Why didn't you want me to tell Rei there was
a monster at the train station?"
"Ranma, Rei's a young Shinto priestess in training. We don't even know
if she believes in monsters. She probably has enough problems of her own
without having to worry about monsters and everything."
"Okay, I can understand that, but why did you have to tell her I have an
ego problem? You know I'm good!"
"But you do have an ego problem, my lovable baka husband," said Akane in
a teasing voice.
Ranma smiled. "And you still can't cook, kawaiikunee-chan."
Akane smiled and took Ranma's hand, which he gladly offered.
***
Meanwhile, Usagi, Luna, Mamoru and Ami had gone to Mamoru's apartment
to drop off his luggage before heading to the Shrine. In the meantime,
Hotaru had gone with Minako to her house to pick up Artemis and brief him
on the events that had transpired at the train station. Both groups met up
again near the Shrine.
Once the troop entered the shrine, they were faced with a smug Rei and a
flustered-looking Makoto.
"What happened with you two?" asked Ami.
Rei thought about it and decided to go for the brief approach, omitting
the details. "Makoto wanted to embarrass me in front of my cousin but
ended up embarrassing herself instead."
Makoto threw a frown at Rei, who pointedly ignored it.
"Your cousin is here?" asked Ami. She looked around and added in a
lower voice: "Should we move elsewhere, then? We have... serious business
to talk of."
"Don't worry. He's gone apartment-hunting with his wife," said Makoto,
almost bitterly.
"He's married?" Usagi squealed. "How romantic! Aren't you eager to get
married, Mamo-chan?" she asked Mamoru, who was currently lost in his
thoughts.
"Yeah, yeah, can't wait," he mumbled distractedly. Fortunately, Usagi
totally missed the tone and only heard the message. While Usagi was
staring dreamily in the air with hearts in her eyes, thinking of her
marriage to Mamoru, Ami turned to Makoto and Rei. "I thought he was
coming with his fiancee."
"It turns out they got married yesterday," said Rei.
Surprised looks were everywhere. "And they've got registration tomorrow
too, if I remember correctly. What a way to spend a honeymoon," said
Minako, shaking her head.
Rei and Makoto suddenly looked as if they found the walls of the shrine
very interesting. Before the other girls could start asking the really
interesting questions, though...
"Ahem!"
All the girls suddenly took notice of Luna, who was looking generally
annoyed. "We have more important business than discussing the love life of
Rei's cousin."
"She's right," said Ami. "There was a monster attack at the train
station today."
Rei's eyes widened while Makoto looked somehow disappointed. "Argh!
The first monster attack in months and I miss it!" said the tall brunette.
A sweat drop found it's way behind Luna's and a few of the other girls'
heads. Ami, however, was unfazed by Makoto's comment and continued.
"Well, it's not the monster in itself that was strange, but rather _who_
dispatched the monster."
Makoto looked at Ami. "Wait a minute here. You mean you weren't the
ones who killed it?"
Minako jumped in the conversation: "We didn't even have a chance to
transform! There was some kind of superpowered hunk accompanied by a girl
who arrived in the same train as Mamoru who fought the monster. The guy
blasted it with some weird energy ball and the girl bashed it with a hammer
she got out of nowhere. You should've seen him move, Makoto; it was
unbelievable." Minako went on to describe the fight in detail, concluding
with the mysterious couple's escape.
To say that Rei and Makoto were interested by this would be a serious
understatement. "What did they look like?" asked Makoto.
"The guy had black hair, tied in a pigtail. He was wearing loose black
pants and a red Chinese shirt. The girl had short black hair, a yellow
dress and a blue blouse," said Minako, who noticed Rei wasn't listening to
her anymore.
Rei and Makoto were looking at each other. "Wait... Doesn't that sound
like...?" Makoto started in an incredulous tone.
Rei suddenly whirled back on Minako. "Did you talk to them? Did they
say their names?" she asked quickly.
This time, it was Usagi who jumped in. "We didn't even have a chance
to. They vanished right after the girl hammered the monster into the
train."
Makoto's eyes grew introspective. "I think Rei and I may know who your
'superpowered hunk' is... though we can't be absolutely sure," said the
brunette.
"Who do you think they are?" asked Artemis, cutting off Luna in the
process, who settled by glaring at him.
"My cousin and his wife," answered Rei. "Ranma and Akane Saotome."
"Your cousin!?" everyone else (except Makoto, of course) chorused
incredulously.
Once they calmed down, Rei continued: "Ranma and his wife look exactly
like you described... And they mentioned there had been a fight at the
train station."
"That's... quite an understatement," said Ami.
"Wait, it gets weirder," said Minako. "We also found out Mamoru had a
sister who was Sailor Terra in the days of the Moon Kingdom and Hotaru had
a brother," she said in an excited voice.
"Sailor Terra?" chorused Rei and Makoto. "That would be a first! Why
haven't we ever heard anything about her before today?" asked Rei.
Luna and Artemis suddenly looked distinctly uncomfortable. Luna had
conferred earlier with Artemis and it seemed he had also spontaneously
recovered some memories concerning Endymion's family. It was not going to
be fun trying to explain that. Suddenly, Luna got an idea and turned to
Hotaru and Mamoru: "Why don't you tell them what you told us?"
Hotaru and Mamoru each raised an eyebrow at Luna's somewhat blatant
attempt to divert the attention away from herself and Artemis but
nevertheless told their tale to Rei and Makoto, who listened intently.
End Chapter 4
Chapter 5 (version 5.0)
Ranma and Akane's search for an apartment wasn't going as well as they
had initially hoped. The few places that were available were either too
expensive or too run-down. It was getting late when they decided to call
it a day.
They stopped in a restaurant located near Mizuharo University. After
the waitress left, they settled back, waiting for their orders to arrive.
"Finding a decent apartment doesn't look like it's going to be easy,"
said Akane.
"Yeah, not to mention that the rents are enormous. My folks said they'd
help with the money for the first year, but after that, we'll be on our
own. Mom called it 'practicing the art of financial management' before we
actually take over the Dojo," said Ranma.
"So what if we _do_ have to find jobs? It's not that bad and besides,
I'm sure there will be plenty of job offers posted on the university campus
tomorrow."
Ranma grimaced. "Speaking of tomorrow, maybe we shouldn't stay up too
late tonight. I want to get some sleep to be able to get in a little
practice tomorrow morning before registration."
Akane nodded. "Do you mind if I spar with you? I don't want to lose my
edge either." She paused, becoming serious. "And this time, I want it to
be *real* practice, not one of those fake practice sessions you've been
giving me for the last year, okay?"
Ranma winced inwardly. During the last year, Akane had insisted that
Ranma spar with her. Ranma had reluctantly agreed, but had constantly been
holding back, knowing he would likely hurt Akane. It now seemed that Akane
had known about it all along. Things could get ugly...
Ranma frowned a little: "Look, I just don't want to hurt you..."
Akane would have none of it. "No buts, Ranma! I need to get better if
I'm going to run the dojo with you when we graduate!" she insisted. Seeing
Ranma waver, Akane used her most devastating weapon against Ranma (next to
her mallet): the kawaii puppy-dog look.
Ranma's resolve crumbled to dust when he saw her use that look. He
hated it, but he could never resist it when she looked at him like that.
"All right, all right, you win. We'll spar for real," he said, defeated.
Akane's smile widened and she leaned over the table to kiss Ranma.
"Thanks, Ranma," she said.
Ranma tried to frown at the illegal use of her kawaii smile, but could
only manage a wry smile and a shake of the head.
The waitress then arrived with their meals and they dug in, speaking of
mundane things. After the meal was finished, they resumed
apartment-hunting for a while, but came up as empty-handed as before.
***
Back at the Hikawa Shrine, six young girls, a university student and two
Moon cats had been having an interesting, if only moderately informative,
discussion about Ranma and Akane. Speculations were flying around on the
source of Ranma and Akane's mysterious abilities, but answers were not
plentiful.
"Why don't we just ask him when he gets back?" suggested Usagi.
Makoto shook her head. "He didn't say anything about his abilities when
he spoke to Rei and me. Do you really think he'll tell us all about it,
Usagi-chan?"
Usagi looked sheepish.
"Don't worry, Usagi," said Ami. "I'm sure we'll find something."
"So Mamoru, you think Ranma might be your reincarnated sister from the
days of the Moon Kingdom?" asked Rei.
Mamoru held his hands up. "I didn't say that, at least not exactly. I
mentioned that Ranma reminded me of someone, but it's Hotaru who made the
connection. I don't even know if the person I've been dreaming about
recently _is_ Akana, though it would make sense."
Rei looked at Hotaru questioningly. Hotaru sighed: "I have difficulty
believing it myself, especially since Akana's not even supposed to have
been reincarnated. It's probably just a freak coincidence."
Minako had a pensive look on her face. Slowly, she turned to Ami.
"Ami," she asked, "Your computer was built in the days of the Moon Kingdom,
wasn't it? Would you by any chance have a picture of Akana somewhere on
your computer?"
Ami raised an eyebrow. "Maybe. I'll see what I can come up with." She
took out her henshin rod and shouted: "Mercury Star Power, make up!" Mere
seconds later, Sailor Mercury replaced Ami Mizuno and with that, she
started typing away on her computer.
Rei turned to Hotaru: "And you say his wife looks like your brother from
the Moon Kingdom."
Hotaru nodded sadly. "Yes. She looks a lot like Kanma, especially when
she wielded that hammer of hers," Hotaru started shaking her head. "But
Akane can't be Kanma, and neither can Ranma be Akana, because they both
died before the end of the Moon Kingdom."
Makoto let out an exasperated sigh. "Kanma, Ranma, Akane and Akana! Is
it only me or does anyone else here thinks this is a very weird
coincidence?"
"Is it coincidence to begin with?" replied Minako with an arched eyebrow.
Hotaru looked disturbed.
Luna moved forward and sat in front of Hotaru. "How can you be
absolutely sure they died if no one ever found their bodies?"
"Kanma used to correspond with me all the time, no matter where I was,"
said Hotaru. "His messages stopped a few months before the destruction of
the Moon Kingdom, at the same time as the first Youma invasions began. Our
home was among the first ones that were destroyed. If he _had_ survived,
he would've found a way to tell me, I'm sure of that."
Luna didn't look so convinced.
"What about Akana?" asked Mamoru. "If she _is_ dead, why would I be
having dreams of her now?"
Hotaru sighed. "I don't know. Maybe you're just reliving memories of
your past life. It doesn't necessarily mean anything. All I know about
Akana is that she disappeared not long after receiving her powers as Sailor
Terra." Hotaru got up from her kneeling position. "Mamoru, the only one
who could give you a more complete answer would be Akana herself; I'm
sorry."
Mamoru turned to Luna, who understood the implied question. "I'm sorry,
Mamoru. Despite the fact that Artemis and I have, somewhat suddenly,
recovered a few of our memories concerning your sister, we don't know much
more about her disappearance than Hotaru does."
There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, broken by a small gasp from
Sailor Mercury. "Makoto, Minako," she said, eyes fixed on the computer,
"I'm starting to believe the names _might_ mean something after all."
Mamoru instantly got up and headed towards Ami, as did the others in the
room. Seeing that everyone was going to crowd around her, Ami decided
satisfy everyone at the same time. "Just wait a second and I'll give you a
picture everyone can see at the same time." Before anyone could ask what
she meant, a three-dimensional image of Akana was floating in front of them.
"Since when have you been able to do that?" asked Makoto.
Sailor Mercury looked sheepish for an instant. "Only since recently. I
found out by accident I could generate holograms with my computer when I
was using it a while ago."
"A _fortunate_ accident," said Mamoru, his eyes widening.
***
Meanwhile, Ranma and Akane were slowly walking back to the shrine. They
were getting close when, as fate would have it, rain started to fall.
Unfortunately, the rain was sudden enough so that Ranma was unable to get
anywhere before the change was triggered. Fortunately, the street was
almost deserted, so no one witnessed the change.
"I *hate* it when this happens!", Ranma-chan said in a digusted voice,
while slightly readjusting her cloth belt to fit her slimmer waist.
Akane shook her head. "This is going to be a bit of problem, you know.
We'll have to wait until the rain stops to go back to the shrine."
"Don't I know it," replied Ranma-chan in a dull voice. She looked
around and saw a small cafe. "Let's wait out the rain in there, okay? If
my clothes get too wet, hot water won't be of any use, I'll just turn right
back into a girl."
Akane nodded and they headed towards the cafe. Akane took the time to
take a good look at her red-headed companion's figure. Ranma-chan's body
was no longer as short as it used to be. While Ranma's male form merely
looked a bit more mature, Ranma's female form had had a growth spurt during
the last year which now put her at equal height with Ranma's male form.
Her face had also matured, as she no longer looked like a young girl
anymore. She looked like an eighteen-year old young woman and was no less
beautiful because of it. The only other characteristic that has truly
changed was the length of Ranma's pigtail. For some reason, Ranma had
decided not to trim his pigtail, and it now reached down a bit past down
his shoulders, as it no longer curled upwards (though Akane privately
thought the long pigtail looked better when he was female).
When they went inside the small cafe, they noticed it was empty, except
for a young couple who was sitting together, having tea. The man was a bit
taller than Ranma and had short, sandy blond hair, while the girl
shoulder-length turquoise hair that looked beautiful on her. Akane tried
to remember where she had seen a girl with turquoise hair before, but
couldn't quite place it.
They chose a table and each ordered a cup of tea while they waited for
the rain to end. Akane initiated conversation in a low voice, since she
didn't want to attract attention. "Ranma, we're going to have to find a way
to explain your female side to your cousin, you know. The way you attract
water is going to make it very difficult to keep your curse hidden."
Ranma-chan scowled. "I have no intention of explaining my curse to Rei,
Akane, and that's final. I don't need her to think of me as a freak and
besides, we'll only be there for a few days, remember? She doesn't have to
know anything."
Akane shook her head. "That's a good thought," she said, "but know
very well you'll eventually get soaked. You're a water magnet, remember
your own words?" she finished with a small smile. She looked down for an
instant, deep in thought for a second and then looked back up with a grin.
"If you really don't want her to know your secret, I could just simply
introduce you as my 'cousin Ranko'. It's not as if we've never done it
before."
Ranma-chan sighed. "It'll have to do, I guess," she said in a resigned
tone. "Well, at least it's not as if I don't have a lot of experience
pretending I'm someone I'm not," she added wryly.
Silently, they went back to drinking their tea. A few minutes later,
four suspicious-looking men entered the cafe and immediately spotted
Ranma-chan and Akane. Two of the men went towards the other couple while
the other two came towards Akane and Ranma-chan.
"Hey there, beautiful, wanna have a fun night tonight?" said the first
one to Ranma-chan, while the other man kept an eye on Akane.
"Get lost before I break your hands, moron," Ranma-chan replied without
even looking at him. A barely audible sigh emanated from Akane's lips.
The man seemed taken aback by Ranma-chan's response, but kept going,
nonetheless. "I know you want to have fun. I know a nice hotel nearby..."
he said in what was supposed to be a suave voice. He was about to put his
hand on Ranma-chan's shoulder when she looked at him with a glare that
could have melted reinforced titanium.
"If you keep this up, the only place you'll be going to is a hospital.
Now get *lost!*" Ranma-chan snapped.
The other man started snickering at his companion's lack of success.
The first man, however, decided to make a last attempt on Ranma-chan.
"Come on, I'll show you a good time..." he started when he put his hand
on Ranma-chan's shoulder.
"I warned you..." Ranma-chan growled. Before the either one of the men
could blink, she grabbed the hand that was on her shoulder, squeezed and
twisted the hand. Hard.
The snickers of amusement from the second man turned to a gasp when he
saw the red-haired girl grab his friend's hand and squeeze. He heard
several snapping sounds and before he could do anything, his friend was
laying on his knees on the floor, holding his hand and howling in pain.
The second man was about to pounce on Ranma-chan when he felt a strong blow
to his head and collapsed.
Ranma-chan looked from the man who was on his knees gasping, to the
second man who was lying on the floor unconscious and finally to Akane, who
was holding one of her bigger mallets over the unconscious man's head.
"I could've taken him, you know" Ranma-chan told Akane flatly.
"True," Akane said, throwing a disgusted look at the fallen men, "but
they were getting on my nerves too, Ranma."
Ranma-chan smirked, but suddenly stopped when she realized that the
other two men were harassing the couple at the other table were now looking
at her. Behind the counter, the cafe's owner was growing increasingly
worried.
"Kisamara!" one of them yelled. One of them ran straight at Ranma-chan,
fist raised, while the other stood back and pointed a knife in a
threatening manner towards the other couple.
Ranma-chan decided to end it as quickly as possible. Before the man had
taken another step, Ranma-chan had already gotten behind him and was
twisting his arm backwards.
"Take you friends with you and leave *now*, unless you want me to show
you how creative I can get when I'm *really* pissed off," said Ranma-chan
in a threatening voice. She subconsciously "saw" the fourth man coming
towards her, but she didn't even have to move.
As soon as the other man turned his attention to Ranma-chan, the blond
man shot up from his seat and swiftly kicked the knife away from the last
man's hands. The last man tried to rush him, but he merely sidestepped and
executed a throw which sent the man on the floor. It wasn't long before
the blond man had him in a choke hold.
The girl with turquoise hair slowly rose up, a smile on her lips, and
addressed the two helpless men. "I suggest you take the nice lady's advice
and leave before something really bad happens. Wouldn't you agree, Haruka?"
The blond man, whose name was obviously Haruka, nodded with a grin: "Why
of course Michiru! You know I don't like violence any more than you do."
Ranma-chan raised an eyebrow at Haruka, but decided instead to address
the man who was helplessly struggling in her arms. "We're giving you ten
seconds to pick up your friends and leave before I start getting angry. I
strongly suggest you use the time wisely." Releasing the man, she shoved
him torwards his two companions who were being watched over by Akane.
Haruka also pushed her captive forward.
The men looked back at her, violence in their eyes. One of them even
had the courage (or downright stupidity) to take a step back towards
Ranma-chan, who lost patience. If she knocked the man out now, _she_ would
be the one who would have to drag him outside. She summoned her battle
aura and let it flare menacingly around her.
"You've got five seconds left..." Ranma-chan said in a tight voice.
As soon as they saw Ranma-chan's aura flare around her (not that they
were sure what to make of it, except that it was very probably dangerous),
the men suddenly decided it might be better for their long-term health to
leave the cafe before the red-haired girl decided to fulfill her threats.
They quickly picked their companions and left, looking back fearfully at
Ranma-chan.
As the four men were leaving, Ranma-chan idly considered hastening their
departure with a chi-blast, but restrained herself and dissipated her aura.
She sighed. "Idiots..." she said under her voice.
Behind the counter, the owner blew a sigh of relief at not having had
*too* much of a commotion and decided to ignore the fact that the
red-haired tenant had been glowing like a street lamp just a second ago.
While Akane was making her way towards the group, minus mallet,
Ranma-chan turned towards Haruka: "Are you okay? You weren't bad out
there. You've got nice moves," she finished with a grin, completely
mistaking Haruka for a man.
"Obviously not as nice as some of yours," replied Haruka, with a grin of
her own. "I'm Haruka Ten'ou," he said, "and my lovely companion is Michiru
Kaiou," she finished.
Ranma-chan introduced herself and Akane. "I'm Ranko Tendo and this is
my cousin, Akane Saotome. Pleased to meet you."
"Michiru Kaiou... The violonist?" asked Akane in a questioning voice.
"Yes, I do play the violin now and then," Michiru replied with a ghost
of a smile.
"It's an honor to meet you Kaiou-san!" Akane said with excitement. "I
really like your music!"
Michiru's smile widened. "Thank you very much."
Haruka was miffed that Akane had not recognized _her_ name, but seeing
Michiru and Akane deep in their own conversation, she decided not to
interrupt. Haruka turned to Ranma-chan. "So, where exactly did you learn
those stunts _you_ did back there?" she asked, intrigued with some of the
moves she had seen Ranma-chan use.
Ranma-chan shrugged. "I've studied martial arts since I was old enough
to walk, so I know a little of everything."
Haruka raised an eyebrow. "A little? Sounds to me like you're being
very modest, Ranko-san. I don't know a lot of people who could possibly
move as fast as you do and generate... auras," she said. *Well, except
possibly for the other Senshi, of course,* she added silently.
Ranma-chan eyed Haruka warily. For some reason, she felt a bit nervous
about Haruka. "Anyone can achieve that level of speed with enough training
and as for the aura, it was just an illusion. I'm rather good at them,"
she lied out loud.
Haruka nodded absently. *An illusion, Ranko-san? Yeah right! You're
definitely hiding something.*
Ranma-chan turned towards Akane before Haruka could continue probing for
questions. "Akane, the rain's stopped. We should be heading back before
it's too late. We've got registration tomorrow, so we should turn in
early," she said, slightly stressing the last part.
Akane stopped talking with Michiru just long enough to notice Ranma-chan
looking at her with a 'Let's-Get-Out-Of-Here-Quick!' expression. She was
about to ask out loud what was the problem, but thought better of it.
Reluctantly, she turned back to Michiru and apologized. "I really enjoyed
talking with you, Kaiou-san, but my cousin's right; we really should be
going."
Michiru looked disappointed for the briefest of moments, but smiled
again. "Oh well, I also liked talking with you; maybe we'll get another
chance someday."
"I hope so," replied Akane.
And so, Ranma-chan and Akane made their way to the counter, where
Ranma-chan ordered a cup of hot water to go, which the owner of the cafe
was more than happy to provide free of charge.
As soon as they left the cafe, Ranma-chan turned to Akane: "Let's move
fast, I don't want them following us. That Ten'ou guy bugs me for some
reason."
While they ran across the street until they were out of sight, Akane
glared at Ranma-chan. "If you'd merely knocked the moron out the
old-fashioned way instead of scaring him off with your battle aura,
Ten'ou-san probably wouldn't have 'bugged' you in the first place!" she
replied slightly angry. "Because of you, I didn't get to do a good first
impression with Michiru-san."
"Speaking of her, just how do you know her, anyway?" asked Ranma-chan.
"Some of us happen to like music, Ranma. Michiru Kaiou is one of the
most talented violin players around."
Ranma-chan decided not to pursue the matter any further as they kept a
rapid pace towards the Hikawa Shrine.
Inside the cafe, as soon as Ranma-chan and Akane left, Michiru and
Haruka looked at each other and nodded. Without a word, Michiru left some
money on the counter and she and Haruka went outside to follow Ranma-chan
and Akane. When they got out of the cafe, though, Ranma-chan and Akane
were long gone.
"Well, _that_ was interesting, ne, Michiru?"
Michiru gave Haruka a dry look. "It could have been even more
interesting if you hadn't pressed Ranko-san for answers. I was was
starting to have a very interesting conversation with Akane-san." She
paused for a few seconds. "Maybe it doesn't really matter, anyway," she
said with a smile.
Haruka looked at Michiru and raised an eyebrow in question. Michiru
smiled even more. "We have a *much* better way to find out the truth than
to stalk them." While Haruka was giving her the odd eye, she reached in
her subspace pocket and came out with an item that made Haruka smile
wickedly.
The Deep Aqua Mirror.
Author's notes:
- Some people tell me Ranma's female body should've finished growing a long
time ago. My answer is simply that Ranko's body is essentially magical, so
I can loosen up the rules if I wish.
- Can female Ranma crush a person's fist just by squeezing? According to
several examples in the manga, she is quite strong enough to do so.
- Haruka: She *is* female, though Ranma will be referring to her in the
male gender until he figures out the truth. I also know she plays the
piano, but Akane was more interested in Michiru's talent that in Haruka's.
- Tendo vs Tendou. I like Tendo better. Sue me. :)
- Ranma vs. Ranko vs. Ranma-chan. I thought for a *long* time about this
one and I'll use Ranma-chan (even if it's a Nettism). I received posts
from people who wanted me to use each name, but in the end, Ranma-chan won.
Sorry to those I upset.
- Did Michiru and Haruka see Akane mallet the second punk? Not completely.
They were busy with two punks of their own, remember?
- Why didn't Ranma just knock the punk out instead? She just got wet,
she's cranky and it's that time of the month (kidding). She's just fed up
of that kind of thing happening to her and is being increasingly hostile
about it.
- Can Mercury's computer really do holographic projections? The short
answer is no (at least not that I know of). I needed Mercury's computer to
be capable of holographic projection and it didn't seem too hard to imagine
that computer being able to do exactly that.
End Chapter 5
**********************
* The Phoenix Reborn * Jordanite and Mystical
********************** Freak at Large
Louis-Philippe Giroux
Phoenix@upc.qc.ca
Phoenix's Den at http://www.upc.qc.ca/~phoenix/phoenix.html
Or http://pages.upc.qc.ca/phoenix/phoenix.html