Sailor Ranko - Thrice in a Millennium: Chapter 1 A visitor from China
The ongoing saga of "Sailor Ranko", set after "Sailor Ranko: The Harder They
Fall"
Based on "Sailor Ranko" by Fire and "Twice in a Millennium" by Kevin D.
Hammel and acknowledging "Black Moon - Eclipse of the Sun" by Arthur Hansen
By Bill Heineman
I don't own these characters. Please don't sue me, kill me or make me write
yet another Sailor Ranko story.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
For first time readers to the Sailor Ranko saga...
Just go here... http://www.contrabandent.com/burgerbill/sailorranko.html
I hope you've got a lot of time to kill.
========================================
In a nutshell, Ranma Saotome was found to have the soul of Angwyn Weaver in
the Silver Millennium. I.E. He's a Sailor Scout. Next thing he knows, he got
the privilege to wear a dress as Sailor Sun for love and justice. Akane was
offered and accepted the position of Sailor Io. They had lots of adventures
together blowing stuff up in the name of the moon, sun or the celestial body
of the day.
Ukyou recently joined in on their most recent adventure and was almost
killed doing so. The Senshi healed her by giving a part of themselves to
rebuild her missing leg and arm.
And so... Only a few days pass...
========================================
"Daddy, I miss you." A little seven year old Chinese girl was cowering under
a tarp inside a tiny lifeboat fearing for her life. She had stowed away on a
Japanese freighter enroute to Tokyo harbor from China. She heard the cawing
of a bird in the distance and trembled in fright. "Please go away. Go far
away."
"Hey!" A crew member lifted up the covering from the lifeboat that was on
the ship's deck. He was attracted by the soft sobbing he heard from within.
"Who're you?"
The little girl jumped out of her hiding place and ran for the gangway that
led to shore. Another crew member tried to catch the little girl. "Security!
We've got a stowaway! She's speaking in Chinese."
The girl saw a Japanese customs agent crossing the gangway to get on board.
The girl looked upwards to the heavens and saw that the sky was cloudy as if
it going to rain. She jumped off the deck, grabbed a rope and quickly
climbed across it to the dock. She ran away as fast as she could ducking
behind crates and cargo containers. She spoke in Japanese. "Must find help.
Tragic end for me if I can't find help. I must find the elder, she will
protect me."
"Where the hell's she going in such a hurry." The Japanese customs agent ran
after the little girl. He searched for an hour with several other men and
gave up. The men didn't notice that the sky was filled with an abnormally
high number of black birds.
========================================
BRING! Went the alarm clock next to Ukyou's bed. She reached over and turned
off that annoying racket. Yawning, she got up and dressed in a simple
martial arts gi for her morning sparring with Konatsu. It was a ritual that
was practiced every morning before dawn so that she could expand her martial
arts skill since she took up learning to use a katana.
Ukyou felt good during her sparring session in the side alley with her
kunoichi. She didn't allow a single shuriken that Konatsu threw at her to
even get close to her body. She blocked with her spatula or dodged with a
skill that rivaled Ranma. Konatsu was impressed that his love could avoid
everything he threw at her even when he went all out and didn't hold back.
They finished their session with a small bow of respect. Ukyou completed the
ritual with the usual orders. "Here's a shopping list of everything I need
for the after school crowd. Don't forget to pick up the cabbage and the eggs
since I'm really low and I'll run out if you don't get 'em." Ukyou held her
spatula over her shoulder as she entered the shop. "I'll make breakfast, you
clean up."
Konatsu bowed to his mistress and began the chore of cleaning up the broken
bricks and crates. He collected all the throwing stars that were imbedded in
the walls and found all of Ukyou's throwing spatulas stuck in a wooden
target at the end of the alley. Satisfied that his job was complete, he went
into Ucchan's to get his morning meal.
The kunoichi sat at his usual stool and ate his usual okonomiyaki. He
secretly wished that Ukyou would cook something else for breakfast once in a
while, but he dare not speak his mind lest he offend the woman he loved. He
noticed that the patch on his knee was falling off from wear. He made a
mental note to himself to find time to fix his ninja outfit since it was
falling apart again.
Konatsu was a complete contradiction. He was born a man, and in every way
but his physical gender, he was a woman. He wore female ninja garb, a
beautiful kimono as a waitress at Ucchan's and he had lovely long black hair
done in a ponytail. He was a very attractive female ninja taking great care
in the application of his makeup to look his very best.
He was deeply in unconditional love with Ukyou. She was the only person to
show him kindness when he needed it the most. His absolute submissive
personality forbade him from ever speaking his mind about his distaste for
Ukyou's relentless chase of Ranma or ever disobeying even the tiniest whim's
of his beloved. He was hers and hers alone. He would love no other.
He ate his breakfast and dreamt of a day that Ukyou would finally return his
love. He had no idea if it would ever happen but he was willing to wait a
lifetime.
Ukyou finished cleaning the griddle and put away her tools. "I'll be right
back." She ran upstairs to change as Konatsu watched his beloved disappear
in the upstairs doorway. Ukyou closed her bedroom door, threw off her gi and
quickly put on her Furinkan High School Girl's uniform. She combed her hair
and tied it into a pair of ponytails. She took an unusually long time since
her hair was being unruly. Once her hair was done, she took a ponytail and
smelled the sweet fragrance. "Peaches? Oh yeah, it's that new shampoo I
got." She picked up the bottle from her basket of bath supplies she took
with her when she went to the public bath yesterday. She normally didn't buy
this brand but for some reason, she just felt like a change was in order.
The chef smiled and put the shampoo back in her basket and made last minute
adjustments to her hair and makeup. She admired herself in the mirror for
one last moment. "Ready for battle!" She grabbed her school bags and went
downstairs.
Konatsu was finishing up sweeping the floor when Ukyou ran by. Ukyou waved
at him as she zoomed out the front door. "Don't forget the groceries!"
Konatsu did a double take at Ukyou's appearance. "Strange, she's been
wearing a dress for several days straight. I like her new look though." He
began to whistle as he picked up the last of the dust from the floor. He
stopped as he made a revelation. "That's really a new look for her."
========================================
"Akane! We're going to be late!" Ranma was standing in the living room of
his Juuban apartment tapping his foot waiting for his wife to get out of the
bathroom. Makoto and Minako had already left after the early morning
sparring session the four girls participated in. Ranma shook his head at the
thought of being a girl again due to Minako's incessant whining. He was
really beginning to wonder about Minako if she was a closet boy hater since
she was getting more and more demanding for Ranma to stay a girl in her
presence.
"Here you are son." Nodoka handed Ranma a bento. She was staying in the tiny
apartment with Ranma and Akane while she was scouring Juuban for an
affordable apartment or condominium that had more space than the tiny one
bedroom apartment that they currently lived in. Ranma was thankful that his
mother came to live with them. She was a great cook and undid most of the
damage to the kitchen that Akane was able to do.
"Thanks mom. AKANE!" He looked at the time. "Aw man. I don't wanna stand in
the hall with a sign like Usagi that says 'Late to class'. Ok!"
The sound of the shower stopped and a voice came from behind the closed
bathroom door. "Well if someone didn't use all the hot water, then I
wouldn't need to wait for the hot water to refill!"
"Maybe a cold shower is what you need to chill out!"
Akane was building up her battle aura and the crack under the door began to
glow. "Maybe if you hadn't spent all of your time looking at Makoto's
leotard and concentrated on teaching her to use her ki, we wouldn't have run
late!" The four girls wore leotards during some sparring sessions to
simulate battles wearing their Sailor Senshi uniforms.
Nodoka clasped her hands together. "Oh Ranma, you truly are a man."
Ranma was acting upset but his face didn't show it for had an ulterior
motive. "Hey! I wasn't looking at that you macho chick! Maybe if you weren't
so uncute, I would have a reason to look at you instead!"
The door to the bathroom slowly opened with a very furious Akane standing
within. "What did you say?" A mallet appeared from nowhere in her hand. She
was seconds away from sending him to the moon.
"Ha ha! Got you to dry yourself! Now get some clothes on so we can get outta
here!" Ranma jumped out of the way of a mallet strike and toward the
balcony. However, the sliding glass door was shut and Ranma slammed into it
sliding to the ground.
Akane looked down at her own towel wrapped body and noticed that she was
bone dry. Her battle aura did an excellent job in removing all the water
from her shower. She peered over to the lump on the ground formerly known as
Ranma. She walked over to it and slammed her mallet down on principal alone.
"You've really got to work on your teaching methods. There are better ways
to get me to use my ki to dry myself than that, you insensitive jerk."
The pile of Ranma mumbled. "You're so uncute."
SLAM! Akane smashed him down again.
Nodoka held out Akane's bento. "Akane, you really shouldn't do that. It's
going to affect the security deposit."
"I'm sorry Mrs. Saotome." She bowed while stowing away her mallet into
mallet space then went into the bedroom to change.
The elder tapped on the kitchen counter to attract Ranma's attention. "Son,
please get up. It's time to go to school."
"Ok. Ok." Ranma peeled himself off the carpet and re-inflated with only a
few scratches to show for his beating at the hands of his wife. "Well we're
officially late."
Nodoka handed Ranma a thermos with hot water inside. "I think you'll need
this to get to school on time."
"Why would I need... Oh great." Ranma turned to the balcony window and slid
the drapes closed. "One taxi coming right up." He pulled out his henshin
stick and held it high. "Sun Star Power! Make Up!" Thirty seconds later, a
red headed Senshi of the Sun stood where Ranma was. "Ok. Now we can get
there on time. Aw man, Sailor Moon is going to kill me someday when I wear
out this stick."
Akane ran out of the bedroom in her Juuban High School uniform. She tripped
as she was trying to put on her sock. "Is there a youma alert?"
Sailor Sun held her hands to her hips with impatience. "No, just a 'Ranma
wants to avoid detention alert'. C'mon, we haven't got all day y'know. Uh
oh..."
Akane put on her shoes. She felt it too. "Uh oh is right. Where's it coming
from?"
Sun turned to the direction of the harbor. "That way. Whatever it is,
there's a lot of them."
Akane shouted. "Io Lumina Power! Make Up!" She spun around to transform into
the yellowed skirted Senshi of Io. "I'm ready when you are."
Sun held onto Io's waist tight. "Sun Beam Transport!" The two girls vanished
in a bright flash of light.
Nodoka looked around the empty room. She picked up Ranma and Akane's book
bags. "Those two are going to have to learn to take their stuff with them."
She stacked the book bags and the thermos that Sun left behind on the living
room table.
========================================
Ukyou ran to school walking along the fences. She kept her balance and
focused on the path ahead. She leapt into the air when she reached the end
of the fence, did a somersault and landed gracefully onto the sidewalk. She
was full of energy this morning. Ukyou entered the front gates of Furinkan
High holding her book bag with both hands in front of her. She stopped by a
tree and inhaled the fragrance from the fresh morning air. She was happy to
be alive.
A voice called out to her. "Honored warrior, I beseech you to grant me the
privilege of your presence and allow me to date with... Wait a minute,
you're not Sailor Moon."
Ukyou knew Kuno was dense. But to confuse her with Sailor Moon was a level
of stupidity that rivaled Forrest Gump. She turned her head to face the
kendoist. "What's gotten into you Jackass? Don't you know who I am?"
Tatewaki Kuno took a step back. "I'm sorry fair maiden but I don't... You're
Ukyou Kuonji. Am I not correct?"
"Of course I'm Ukyou. Who else would I be? How many people walk around with
this strapped to their backs?" She reached an arm over her shoulder to touch
her spatula that she had attached to her back.
"But of course my fair maiden. Forgive my mistake and accept my apology by
dating with me tonight." He pulled out a bouquet of flowers and presented
them to her with a graceful bow.
"Thanks but no thanks Kuno. I'll accept your apology but I won't date with
you." Ukyou turned to leave but was intercepted by Kuno.
Kuno held his hand to his collar of his robe. "Fair maiden, it is rumored
that you have a connection with the Sailor Senshi. Is this not correct?" He
tried to make the request as non-intrusive as possible.
Ukyou shifted her demeanor to be a little bit more annoyed. "Whoever gave
you that idea?" She peeked around Kuno into the schoolyard to see if she
could find Nabiki lurking about.
Kuno looked away in classic Kuno style facing the sky with his hands to his
collar. "I was fed the information by Nabiki Tendo. However, your appearance
only added credibility to her claims. Tell me, what do you know about the
Senshi marriage laws?" He turned his eyes to Ukyou.
"I have no idea what you're talkin' about. Marriage laws? What? Are you
stalking Senshi now? Isn't Ranma and Akane enough for you?"
"My only business with Ranma is to break his hold on Akane and the pig
tailed one. I have other matters I need to tend to and learning of the
Senshi marriage laws will aid me in my quest to free those poor girls from
their entrapment." Kuno stopped staring into space while he was speaking to
look at Ukyou again when he noticed that she wasn't there anymore. He spun
around to see Ukyou walking calmly into the front doorway of the high
school.
Kuno ever so slowly nodded his head. "Ignore your upperclassman will you?
You show the same disrespect as that foul Saotome. Perhaps he has poisoned
you as well. Sasuke!"
Kuno's private ninja appeared from nowhere at Tatewaki's feet. "Yes master?"
"Have you obtained any information about the Senshi?"
"Since twenty minutes ago? No master." Sasuke groveled at Kuno's feet.
"What do I pay you for? Get to work then! Find out who Sailor Sun and Io are
so that I may date with them."
"But master? Didn't they instruct you that they would kill you if you
bothered them?"
Kuno had a gleam in his eye. "They did indeed. However, I'm not the one
bothering them as you so eloquently put it. You're only investigating them,
not bothering them. I need the book of the laws of the Senshi. Once I have
it, I can find a way to impress upon the fiery red haired warrior and the
strong willed yellow skirted Senshi my prowess as their future mate." Kuno
held his bokken to the sky and laughed insanely. "Yes! They will come to me
and join my glorious house!"
Sasuke groaned. "Oh master."
========================================
The little Chinese girl ran under awnings and trees as she journeyed away
from the docks and into the city of Tokyo. She took extra precaution to
avoid going out into the open keeping her eye to the sky. A mass of black
birds flew overhead and the girl jumped into a trash can and covered it with
the lid.
"Caw caw!" The birds called to each other and flew off to the north.
Tap! Tap! A gloved hand knocked on the trash can. "Anyone in there?" Sailor
Io asked.
The tiny girl cowered in the trashcan. She whimpered and thought. "They've
found me. Oh daddy, I'm so sorry. I hope they won't hurt me."
Sun looked at Io. "Wadda ya think?"
Io shook her head. "Lost kid maybe?"
"Doubt it. There's something going on and she's the center of it. We
wouldn't of felt danger if this was just a lost kid. Heck, Ryoga would be
the center of danger if being lost was all it took."
"Stop picking on Ryoga!"
"Whatever. Anyways, let's find out who or what's in here." Sun tapped the
trashcan. "Anyone home?"
The lid slowly slid open and a pair of tiny eyes looked out. "You not one of
them?"
A thunderclap was heard in the distance. Io bent over to get a good look at
the girl inside the can. "One of who? We're the Sailor Senshi and we'd like
to take you home to your parents."
The girl popped back into the can. "No! Can't go to father now! Must find
elder before they find me."
Sun looked to the sky in disgust. She was going to get a detention for
rescuing a lost girl who might have an overactive imagination. Sun saw that
the sky had a lot of black birds who were circling their location. The birds
began to descend with a few heading straight for her. "What gives?"
"Caw! Caw!" Several birds flew just over Sun's head and pecked her. Soon a
hundred birds flew in a pattern to attack the Senshi.
Io slammed the lid on the little girl to protect her. Sun saw a pile of
gravel with a shovel stuck in it and grabbed a handful. She pinched the
pebbles at the birds to rapidly knock them out of the air unconscious. Io
stood guard by the trash can keeping a lookout for the little Chinese girl.
One of the birds was much larger in size than the others. It was a man with
black feathered wings and bird like talons for hands. He flew directly above
hovering. "Caw! Caw! Give me the girl!"
Sailor Sun swung her hands out in defiance. "Forget it!"
The bird man smiled. "Caw! Caw! Then you die now!" He folded in his wings to
perform a dive attack.
Io threw a ball of lava. "Lava Blast!" The bird man twisted his body to
easily dodge the magic fireball. Io barely dodged a flurry of sharp feathers
from turning her into a pin cushion. The feathers were thrown from a second
bird man with white feathers and black tiger like stripes.
Sun took stock of the situation. "Aw man! Two of them?" Another thunderbolt
arced across the sky as the area filled with rain. Sun smiled since she was
already female so rain didn't bother her.
The bird men gave looks of shock and surprise as their wings vanished and
they fell together onto a pile of crates.
Sun's eyes grew wide as the shock overtook her. "What? They turn human with
cold water? What are they?"
One of the former bird men popped out of the broken crate. "Give us the
girl!"
Sun stomped on his head until he was down. His companion popped out of
another broken crate. "We'll face you again!" The little girl appeared and
stomped on the second human former bird man until he was knocked out.
Io folded her arms. "Girl's got spunk."
The little Chinese girl finished jumping up and down on the head of the
second man. She hopped in from of Sailor Sun and bowed. "Thank you for
saving me honored guest!"
Sun held her wet hand to her chin in remembrance. "Honored guest? Where've I
heard that before?"
*** Flashback ***
The Jusenkyo guard poured hot water on female ranma. "Honored guest, you
fall in Nyannichuan, Spring of Drowned Girl. Very tragic story of..."
*** End Flashback ***
Sun shuddered at the memory of that terrible day.
The little girl was only a little more than a meter tall with twin pigtails
in her jet black hair. She wore two large flowers on her head, a simple
loose Chinese shirt and simple drawstring pants. "Please take me to Amazon
elder. She's in Nerima at a place called the Cat Cafe. It is very important
I see the elder."
Sun and Io groaned. Io kneeled down to the girl. "Is this elder's name
Cologne?"
"Yes! That's her name! She's the great elder who can help me."
Sun leaned against the wall. "Oh that's just great." She shook her head in
dread. "I'll take you there, but first let me get some answers from your
friends." She walked over to the crates and pushed aside the wood to drag
out the two men. Sun gasped as she saw that the two men had disappeared.
"Io, did you see them go?"
Io looked around the alley. "No, they must have snuck away."
"Great." Sun faced the little girl. "Let's get you to safety and then I want
some answers."
========================================
Ukyou sat at her desk. She unpacked her homework and looked it over for any
last minute mistakes. Yuka and Sayuri strolled up to Ukyou. Yuka sat down
next to Ukyou. "Hey Ukyou, tell us all about it!"
Sayuri sat in front of Ukyou with her hands to her chin in a dreaming
fashion. "C'mon, what's it like to be around the Senshi?"
Ukyou bugged her eyes out. She thought in a panic. "How much do they know?"
She put her papers down. "Girls, what makes you think I know the Senshi?"
"Well, for starters, there's all the rumors going around school about you
helping them out with those giant lizards. What did they call them?"
Yuka answered. "Gojira, although the Americans called it Godzilla."
"Yeah that's it, Gojira. Didn't you sell Gojira okonomiyaki at your place?"
Ukyou nodded. "Yeah, but I ran out of the meat yesterday. If you wanted
some, you should have let me know. I would've saved you some."
Yuka looked around noticing that several students were staring at them. She
lowered her voice. "I heard that you went to the hospital and the Senshi
healed you. What was that like?"
Ukyou sighed. "Look, class is going to start in a few minutes. I'll tell you
at lunch ok?"
Both girls said together. "Ok!" The rest of the students paid very close
attention to the trio.
Sayuri was all giddy. "Tell me, did Sailor Moon show you how to do that?"
Ukyou's eyes narrowed as she didn't like where the conversation was going.
"Do what?"
"Your hair silly. How long did it take you to do that?"
"What are you talking about?"
Yuka and Sayuri glanced at each other. Yuka tapped a meatball on Ukyou's
head. "That! How did you do that to your hair? It's really cool!"
Ukyou got very quiet. She slowly lifted her hand to the top of her head and
felt the meatball on her right side. She quickly reached over the left side
and felt the second meatball. Using both hands, she felt her twin ponytails
as they reached down to her shoulders. She gasped. "Do either of you have a
mirror?"
Yuka reached into her purse. "Sure." She handed Ukyou a small compact.
"Thanks." Ukyou opened the compact and looked at her reflection. "Oh...
My... God..." She dropped the compact as she vanished into the ladies room.
Sayuri shrugged. "I thought it looked good on her."
Yuka nodded in agreement. "I thought so too."
Ukyou stared at herself in the restroom mirror. Her hairstyle was a dead
ringer for Sailor Moon except that her hair was shoulder length since most
of the hair went into the twin meatballs on her head. "When did I do that? I
don't remember doing... Yes I did do that." She began to undo the hairstyle.
"Why the hell did I do that?" She combed out her hair in record time.
"I'd better hurry or I'm going to be late." She brushed her hair, fluffed it
up and combed her bangs. She got a red ribbon and tied it in back. "Ok,
that's more like it." Ukyou ran back into her classroom and sat in her seat
just as Miss Hinako entered when the tardy chime rang.
Sayuri glanced over at Ukyou and liked what she saw. "Yuka!"
"What?"
"Now she looks even better!"
"Do you think she'll dye it blond tonight?"
"I think she should. She'd make a perfect Sailor Venus."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes: Please review my story. It makes me feel oh so happy and
stops me from sending over those 100 pizzas I ordered in your name to your
house. You're buying of course.
I just want to give all of my readers a big THANK YOU for all your emails
and support you've given me. I hope that I can be worthy of your praise in
my current and future work. Again, I wish to say thank you for all your kind
words.
Bill Heineman
February 16th, 2003
========================================
burger@contrabandent.com
http://www.contrabandent.com/burgerbill
========================================
.---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
| Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
| Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
| Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject |
`---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'