A Ranma/Sailor-Moon
crossover fan fiction
Started -
Last revised –
* * * * *
Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and Sailor-Moon and all associated
characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi or Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission. This fan-fiction isn’t intended for
commercial use but is rather a tribute to the Ranma ½ and Sailor-Moon universes.
There may be ‘cameos’ of other anime
series but I make no claim on them and disclaim any profit.
This
story starts after the end of both ‘cannon’ story lines. Ranma is the same age as Usagi.
* * * * *
The
Earth Princess by Cloud Dreamer
* * * * *
Prologue
– Chaos Storms
* * * * *
Then:
Beryl
studied the photo of a young girl, her niece.
She damned her father for his past machinations even as she assumed his
mantle after his untimely death. She
suspected that the child was part of the reason he had been assassinated. Not even the fact that he was a distant blood
relative of the Earth’s ruling family had shielded him in this case. Somehow
he’d obtained Royal sperm and had her elder sister artificially inseminated in
an effort to unite the Earth line and the
Beryl
now had another reason to hate the
Oh,
well. Hopefully she’d find out next
week. Only time would tell. In the meantime, she had a ball to ‘crash’
since she didn’t have an invitation.
Now:
Setsuna
sighed as she reluctantly locked the Time gates. She really didn’t want to do this but the
coming chaos storm that would herald the beginning of the final events that
would ultimately culminate in Crystal Tokyo made the gates unusable and
potentially dangerous to her and the gates themselves if she didn’t lock it out
for the next half century. She’d learned
this lesson the last time a major chaos storm had come during the end of the
Silver Millennium. She’d tried to use
the gates then and nearly been killed as a result. By the time she’d recovered, it was all over.
“Oh
well,” she grumbled to herself, “it’s not as if there was anything that could
change the path this late in this time-steam.”
She grinned to herself as she thought about one of the benefits of this
event. “Alright! It’s time to party since I don’t have to
guard the gates for awhile.”
* * * * *
Chapter
One – Chaos Princess
* * * * *
Ami
absently studied her computer trying to chase down a couple of stray thoughts;
memories, ancient memories of her first life actually.
Bored
from watching the other scouts in their various repetitive activities, (two
fighting over a manga, two talking about boy watching, two more snuggling while
mama-S just watched ‘wisely’), Hotaru wandered over and sat down next to the
‘wonder’ girl. “Hi Ami, what are you
doing?”
Ami
shyly smiled at her and replied, “Just trying to define what our relationship
with our planets was really like in the old days.”
Hotaru
sighed; it brought up so many memories.
“Ami, mama-Setsuna said I have a lot more of my old memories than most
of you.” She paused and softly
continued; an element of longing in her voice, “We were more than just linked
with ‘our’ planet. It was dependant on
us. The planet was almost alive and it
looked to us for guidance and protection in exchange for the power it gave us.”
“Yes,”
affirmed Setsuna as she quietly seated herself on the other side of Ami, “That
was in fact one of the reasons that Beryl waited until we were all away from
our planets at the Lunar Ball when she attacked. Without a scout to guide the planetary
responses, each planet was easily overwhelmed and the biosphere destroyed.” She sighed, “In a sense that is one of the
reasons that the earth survived.” Seeing
Ami’s and Hotaru’s confusion she explained. “The earth did not have ‘one’
senshi; It was linked to hundreds of individuals, the ruling family foremost
and many others such as senior monks at temples, in a way they represented a
sort of ‘hive’ mentality that steered the defenses of earth to destroy the dark
warriors that Beryl sent to capture the planet.” She added quietly, “Of course Beryl also took
pains not to cause too much damage to her own home especially since it wasn’t
part of the Moon kingdom.” She sighed
regretfully, “Still she did enough damage to plunge the world into barbarianism
for almost ten millennia before ‘civilization’ started to rise
again in ancient
Ami
thought about it for a few moments then tentatively asked, “You mean having a
planetary senshi was actually a liability then?”
Setsuna
thought about it for a few moments, it was after all an argument she had raised
with herself all those lonely years.
“Yes and no. It sort of depends
on the individual that assumes that position.
If she was knowledgeable, strong and stayed at her post – then it was it
was definitely a good solution. But
since our focus in the Moon kingdom was more on preserving the Kingdom instead
of the planets, then I would have to say ‘no’, it wasn’t the best solution.”
Hotaru
sighed and then giggled as she recalled some of the more pleasant
memories. An introspective expression on
her face she softly said, “I remember walking among the sky trees of Saturn.” She sighed again and wistfully continued,
“Some times all I had to do was ‘think’ about it and the weather would change
to what I wanted it to be.”
“Yes,”
agreed Setsuna, “All of you were so in tune with your planets that it responded
almost to your every whim.” She smiled
and added, “It also made you particularly effective in battles on your planets
as well. All of you could command almost
instant monster storms and massive earthquakes not to mention incredible
lightning strikes.”
“But
I thought ‘lightning’ was Sailor Jupiter’s providence?” asked Ami.
Setsuna
shrugged, “It is, but what I was talking about was the ‘planet’ itself fighting
on your behalf and at your direction.”
“Hotaru?”
asked Ami, “I don’t understand. How did
people live on your planet? I mean the
pressure and gravity on the surface is just monstrous and even worse on
Jupiter.”
The
youngest scout giggled, “That’s just it,” she said, “we didn’t live on the
surface. On both Saturn and Jupiter, we
lived on large floating islands; most of them were as large as continents on
Earth; there were a few really huge ones too.”
“Yep,”
interjected Setsuna, “In fact, the ‘red spot’ on Jupiter is the only one that
survived on that planet. There are a
couple of the smaller ones remaining on Saturn as well but because that planet
is further away and the islands so much smaller, they haven’t been discovered
yet.” She sighed, “In both cases, the ‘planet’
managed to preserve your home castle along with a trace of life.” She sighed regretfully, “Just plants and a
few simple animals, no people,” she clarified.
Ami
glanced up and noticed that the other six scouts had silently gathered around
and had been listening to the conversation.
She turned to Setsuna, “So all of us had a strong link with our planet
much like Hotaru was describing?”
Setsuna
nodded, “Yes,” she sighed, “well sort of.
Since you haven’t ‘stepped’ onto your planets in so very long, the link
has diminished a lot.” She added
painfully, “Of course, the fact that some of the planets are completely
lifeless now and all of them uninhabited also reduces your power levels as
well.”
The
scouts silently accepted that information and wondered what they could do about
it, if anything.
* * * * *
Ranma
glared at the offending clouds that had just dumped their load of water over
her. She shook her fist impotently at
the sky and hissed, “Damn it, I just wanted to spend one day, one lousy day dry
for once.” The clouds were immediately
swept out of sight and an unseasonably warm wind gently blew in her face as she
was haloed in a warm shaft of light. She
was stunned by the sudden change. Even
more so when several songbirds perched on her arm and began to ‘sing’
energetically.
Nabiki
had been spying on Ranma in hopes of finding some blackmail material; but this
caused her hair to briefly ‘toing’ out in shock.
Ami
glanced at her computer, a slight frown on her face. ‘That’s odd,’ she thought to herself, ‘I
wonder what that small strange energy surge was about?’
* * * * *
* * * * *
Setsuna
sat surrounded by the other scouts in a lonely park a few months later. They were all transformed and using their
powers to watch the shadow that was slowly obscuring the sun.
“It
has begun,” softly intoned the shrine maiden Rei.
Silent
tears traced their way down Usagi’s face. “Is there really no way for us to defeat that
thing?” she asked. “Not even Crystal
Tokyo is worth all the death it will cause.”
“Death
eventually comes to all,” softly intoned Setsuna. She added, “The only difference is the
circumstances in the end. Most have a
‘singular’ death in that their passing is unrelated to anybody else, but
sometimes it is due to small things like regional wars or massive
disasters.” She whispered, “These cause
‘chaos zephyrs’ or breezes. But
sometimes, once every ten or twenty thousand years or so; there is a ‘chaos
storm’ when a large part of the life on these planets is threatened.” Tears dripping, she finished, “And just like
when the Silver Millennium fell fifteen thousand years ago, there is nothing
any of us can do except to ride out the storm.”
* * * * *
Eyes
twice their normal size, Ranma was almost glued to the TV screen as he and the
Tendou’s watched the televised images of events happening so many millions of
miles away.
The
frenetic commentary only served to emphasize just how ignorant of any solution
all the world leaders and ‘knowledgeable’ experts actually were in the end.
How
strange it was that a chance comment by an irreverent social skeptic contained
the solution. How fortunate it was that
a certain neo princess heard and understood the potential subconsciously, even
if it was just grasping at a straw.
Ranma’s
attention was drawn away from the events on the screen as Kuno entered the
Tendou yard yelling, “Foul sorcerer! Now
the world knows of thy evil deeds. This
day I will smite thee and save the world.
Then shall my true loves reward me as I deserve.”
A
fuming Akane launched him into LEO. “You idiot! You
trampled my laundry into the dirt.”
Ukyou
had heard Akane’s yell and wondered if Ranma had gotten hurt again. She sighed and wondered when Ranma would wise
up about the violent girl. She kept a
warm smile on her face as she worked frantically. Her TV was on and prominently placed on a
counter so it could be seen by all in her shop.
Business was booming!
Kodachi
grinned as her brother splashed down in Mr. Green Turtle’s pond. She watched the battle for a few idle moments
before turning off the TV (after all, it did not affect her and therefore was
of no concern) and strolling into her garden.
Somewhere
. . . Ryouga screamed at the sky, “Ranma, this is your fault too.”
* * * * *
Setsuna
stared in disbelief at the headlines a week later. “World’s
Volcanoes all Blow Within Days of Each Other!”
She
shakily read the accompanying article that told how the volcanoes were all
spewing incredible amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In fact they were actually starting to
counteract the affects of the diminished sunlight.
“I
never saw this in the time gates,” she quietly said. “What in the world is going on?” She paused and softly repeated, “What in the
world . . . it’s almost as if Terra is actually responding to guidance.”
Hotaru
had been a silent witness to this up till now.
“Mama-Setsuna, maybe that ‘hive’ mind for guiding the planet is still
working somehow?”
“Maybe,”
replied the senshi of time, “but this so focused a response usually means that
all of them are in agreement. Somehow I
don’t think that is the case given the confusion that seems to exist worldwide
just now.”
Usagi
grabbed a manga and started to read it while ignoring a fuming Rei. “I wonder if
Ami knows anything about it?” she asked as she turned a page while dodging Rei’s efforts to retrieve her newest acquisition.
Minako
turned to Makato and softly remarked, “Have you noticed how Rei
always seems to leave her newest manga out for Usagi?”
Makato
shrugged then nodded and quietly replied, “Yeah, I think it’s really just a
game between them anymore.”
Ami
cocked an eyebrow at M&M before responding to Usagi’s
comment. “Sorry Usagi, but I haven’t
seen much that would indicate another senshi.
The only thing strange was some random spikes of some unknown power last
week.” She pulled out her computer and
froze as she looked it over.
Haruka
noticed and asked, “What’s up, Ami?”
Ami
gulped and admitted, “Well, I’ve really been cramming for the University
placement exams and this is the first time I’ve looked at the Mercury computer
since that day in the park when we first gathered together to watch this whole
situation start.” She paused and
guiltily added, “The computer is showing some really strong surges of power happening
right now, planetary power apparently.”
The
others all gathered about her as she deftly manipulated keys. She set the computer down on the table as it
began projecting a hologram of the globe into the air above it. Ami sighed in relief as the data demonstrated
that the power she was talking about was visually shown to be concentrated at
the volcanoes. “It looks as if something
is causing the earth’s planetary power to react, but I see no sign of a
senshi.”
* * * * *
Ranma
fled from both his suitors and enemies, despairing of finding any peace. “Damn it,” he yelled hopelessly, “I wish they
would just leave me alone.” Ukyou heard
his words and stopped her pursuit, shocked at the lonely despair in his voice.
Ranma
almost fell from the roof as multiple sheets of lighting fell between him and
his pursuers. The brief storm included
enough rain to change Ryouga, Shampoo and Mousse into their cursed forms while
blasting the Kuno duo into temporary oblivion.
(Un)Fortunately Akane had seen Ryouga change.
“P-chan no hentai!” the tomboy
screamed and malleted the lost piglet out of sight. She glared balefully at Ranma; torn between
apologizing to him for all the times she’d blamed him for picking on P-chan or
Ryouga; or blaming him for failing to tell her clearly about Ryouga’s curse.
Ranma
fled onward, “I just want ta have a nice peaceful
day. Is that too much ta ask?” He dropped
into a previously unvisited park and was startled at just how pretty and
peaceful it seemed to be. He thought it
was odd that even the local folk seemed amazed by the park as well, but he
dismissed it from immediate consideration.
Ranma
happily picked a dozen apples from a tree in the park and quickly finished his
snack not even realizing that normally apples aren’t found on trees in early
spring.
As
Ranma relaxed in a hidden part of the city park, he was surprised as dozens of
small animals approached him. Several
squirrels dropped nuts at his feet and even gave a jerky semblance of a bow to
him as they left.
Ranma
was really puzzled though it somehow reminded him of that weird American movie
about a girl and some dwarves that Nabiki had made him watch last month.
* * * * *
The
inner scouts had met together more for ‘old times’ sake rather than any
problem. Within a decade they would have
to take refuge from the advancing sheets of ice as the world fell into another
ice age, but for now, they were just another gaggle of school girls enjoying a
spring day.
The
hair on all five scouts almost stood out straight from their heads as they felt
the surge of unfamiliar planetary power.
They watched in awe as the grass visibly greened and grew, trees leafed
out and flowers sprung from the soil, budded and opened into blossoms in mere
minutes.
Ami’s
eyes were almost bugging out of her head as she checked the power levels
surrounding them via the Mercury computer.
She gulped audibly, “The planetary power level in this area is almost as
strong as the silver crystal,” she squeaked.
Meanwhile,
Minako and Makato were both dreamily staring at a dark haired boy wearing a
pigtail as he harvested apples from a tree; apples that hadn’t been there ten
minutes ago.
Setsuna
sat next to Usagi at the emergency meeting at Rei’s
temple three hours later. The other’s
looked to her for the explanation to the events Ami had just described at the
park.
“It
can’t be,” she muttered, “It can’t be. I
would have seen it from the gates.”
“What!”
yelled the ever impatient and frequently angry Rei. She gulped as Setsuna cocked a cold eyebrow
at her, “Sorry,” Rei offered.
Surprisingly
it was Hotaru who guessed the cause, “Terra has a scout now doesn’t it. That’s why the earth is reacting so strongly
to the threat.” A frown creased her
petite cute face. “How is that? Since the earth was never part of the Silver
Millennium, there was also never a scout for the planet. What happened to cause one?”
“Beryl,”
sighed Setsuna uncertainly.
“Beryl!”
yelped the others.
Ami
took up the line of questioning, “Beryl is dead and she never had anything to
do with a Sailor Earth unless there is something you haven’t told us yet.”
Massaging
her temples, Setsuna ignored them and absently continued, “Beryl and her line
were all carriers of incredible amounts of chaos energy. It made her and her kin almost impossible to
track. It was one of the reasons that
the Earth Ruling family was able to resist the Moon kingdom for so many
years. Even they had a fair share of it. Not as strong as Beryl and her family, but
enough to foul up the time gates.”
Setsuna
turned to Ami and said, “Ami, enter into the archive protocols of your computer
please.” When Ami indicated she was
there, Setsuna directed her, “Ami, open the file named ‘Earth-Princess’,
encryption code, ‘Serenity-sister’.”
The
other scouts gathered behind Ami as she slowly (for her) read through the
file. Usagi blanched, “I have a
‘half-sister’ who is also Beryl’s niece.”
She swallowed and added almost in a wail, “My mom’s security staff
kidnapped her and killed her grandfather too!
No wonder Beryl was so mad at the Queen!”
“Actually,”
inserted Setsuna, “Beryl had already made all her plans before she even found
out about this. Queen Serenity’s
security chief tried to take custody of the little girl only a week before
Beryl attacked.”
“Why
would he try steal a little girl?” asked Minako
confusedly.
“She,”
absently corrected Setsuna, “The chief of Security for the
“But
why?” repeated Minako.
Chiba
stepped from the shadows were he’d been for the past few minutes, “Because she
was potentially not only the first Senshi of Earth, but also because of that
power and her blood link to both the Terran ruling family and the Moon kingdom,
she could have probably claimed the right to rule the Earth as well. That made her a threat to my family and
because she was potentially a Senshi unbound to the
“What
happened to her?” asked Makato softly.
Ami
answered, “I found a follow up file. It
indicates that she was put in the custody a group of warriors sworn to the
service of the Earth dynasty.” She
paused and added, “It says that Queen Serenity wanted the girl on the moon but
King Endymion refused her. He placed her
under the guardianship of,” she paused in disbelief, “a group of Amazons?”
* * * * *
Ranma-chan
sleepily rubbed her eyes as she softly padded her way into the bathroom at the
Tendou home. It was just dawn but she
was unable to sleep in much anymore despite her ole man having been drug back
home by his wife. She grinned as she
recalled the look of sheer terror on the old fart’s face as Nodoka mumbled about
‘getting a job & chores to do & . . .’ while pulling Genma behind her
by the ear. She sighed as she sort of
wished she could have gone with her folks but Soun just wouldn’t hear of
it. Besides it would have meant changing
schools in the middle of the school term so maybe it was better the way it was;
. . . maybe.
Ranma-chan
carefully checked to make sure the furo area was empty before she entered. She not only placed the ‘occupied’ sign in
place but blocked the door ‘locked’ using a short piece of broom handle that
she dropped into the tracks of the sliding door. It was perhaps excessive, but it had
prevented Akane from walking in on him at least a dozen times since he’d
started doing it.
Ranma
sighed as she thought about Akane.
Yesterday Akane had found out about P-chan and Ranma had managed to
avoid her so far. It helped that Akane
had decided to stay over with some friends for the weekend but that was only
delaying the confrontation. Ranma
doubted it would allow Akane to cool down; she was probably ‘stewing’ over her
anger instead of just letting it go.
The
redhead quickly shed her clothes but stopped short of actually washing up as
she glanced in the mirror and spied something out of place. Ranma leaned over the sink to peer into the
mirror closer. As she did so she raised
her bangs to get a closer look at the golden glowing mark on her forehead. It was a circle cut into four pieces but even
as she glared at the mark, it faded completely.
Ranma
spent the day puzzling out why being a guy felt vaguely ‘wrong’ and faintly
irritating. Both feelings vanished when
he became a girl. He experimented with
his kata and found that his skills in both forms were
not affected but were instead slightly augmented more than he could
explain. It bothered him that the effect
was more pronounced for his female form.
Ranma
sat on the roof absently staring upward at the stars and still hiding from
Akane – one could never tell when she’d show up. Once again he was trying to puzzle out just
where that surge of energy came from that enabled him to defeat Saffron. In his desperation of the moment, he had
reached deep within himself for the extra power. He had failed to find it there and had almost
despaired until a welcoming surge of energy outside of himself had answered his
desperate call.
Still
puzzling it out, he slowly drifted off to sleep in warm spring night. He didn’t notice the whirlwind that lifted a
blanket from a neighbor’s clothesline and gently draped it over him.
Ranma
dreamed, but this time it was not about cats or food or Kuno offering
roses. No, this time he met himself,
well sort of.
Ranma
glanced around himself. He was sure it
was a dream, an unusual dream in that it was a flower covered meadow in bright
sunlight with only a few majestic clouds in the sky for contrast and
texture. He saw the redheaded girl lying
in the flowers and almost sullenly walked over to her.
“Alright
‘Ranko’, what is it now?” he almost snarled.
Ranma had met her several times in his dreams in the recent months since
tangling with Saffron.
She
looked up at him and softly replied, “I finally remembered.”
He
arched an eyebrow, copying a technique Nabiki often used on him. She giggled so he continued, “Did you
remember who you were when you drowned?”
“I
never drowned,” she softly replied, “I’m just the sum of all your previous
reincarnations.” Seeing the confusion on
his face she explained, “Normally ‘I’ would only meet you after you had died,
well, what would have really happened is that you would just remember me and
your life would just sort of get ‘tacked-on’ to what I am or was or
whatever.” She sighed and laid back in
the grass and flowers again before adding, “Three things happened though. The first was you fell into a cursed
spring. This established a sort of link
to the realm of the dead in a passive sort of way,” she paused and added,
“Normally that wouldn’t have made much difference except you fell into the
spring of drowned girl.” She looked into
his eyes and grinned, “Which is what ‘I’ just happen to be, a girl.” She smirked as his obvious discomfort before
continuing. “The second was when you
battled Saffron, you called for help and you were answered. The being who helped
you then now needs your help desperately and is asking, almost demanding or
pleading for your help.” She paused
again and softly finished, “And lastly, this is the destiny our soul was
created for.”
Ranma’s
eyes narrowed, “I ain’t gonna
be a girl.”
“I
never said that,” she replied.
“Don’t
believe I ever was a girl either,” he added belligerently.
“Tough,”
she casually answered, “what you believe has no bearing on the truth. In fact, this is only the second time you’ve
been a boy in all of your previous reincarnations.”
Ranma
grumped but was otherwise silent.
“Tell
me Ranma,” she asked softly, “what would you be willing to do or give up in
order to save four billion lives including the lives
of everyone you know?”
Ranma
stared in silent shock at her for a moment before the number she cited made a
connection for him. “You’re talking
about what’s happening to the sun and the world aren’t you?” he asked
pensively.
She
nodded. She patted the earth beside her
and said, “The earth is alive. Not just
with all the creatures that live on it, but the world itself is alive. Not alive in the way we are, but alive
nonetheless. ‘She’ is feminine and
glories in the life she supports. She
gave you the power to succeed when you asked.
Now she is in trouble and needs a guide and champion.” She looked up at Ranma, “It’s you or nobody since there isn’t enough time to find somebody else who is
both strong enough and has the necessary link to this planet’s life-force.” She softly reaffirmed, “She needs help, your
help; or a lot of folks are gonna die.”
It
took Ranma a long time to wipe the tears from his eyes as he woke in the middle
of the night. He sat there the rest of
the night wondering how his life was going to change. He understood that he did not have a choice, honor
and duty was a part of his soul and he could not deny a part of his very being.
* * * * *
Sensing
her lover’s growing frustration, Uranus quickly backed off.
* * * * *
Akane
finally caught up with Ranma after dinner that Sunday evening. Ranma had been considering all the various
scenarios and had even tentatively decided on a few possible response options.
Akane
confronted Ranma in the yard as he was stretching out and glared at him before
finally declaring, “You put your own honor before mine. It just proves what I’ve been saying all
along. I can’t trust you.” She huffed self-righteously, “We are not
engaged; there is no way I could ever love or marry an untrustworthy pervert
like you.”
Ranma
was stunned for the moment; then unfamiliar anger surged upward. He fought it to a standstill so that the only
evidence of it was his wildly fluctuating aura.
Still it was enough to shock all that saw
it. All of them stepped back; Akane
slipped in the suddenly wet grass and slid several feet into the koi pond. Her feet slipped into a hole in the muddy
bottom and suddenly she was in neck deep water in a pond that was barely a meter
deep.
Suddenly
suspecting a bit of what was happening, Ranma reined in his anger and watched
as Nabiki and Kasumi pulled the now frightened Akane out of the water. Ranma fatalistically shrugged his shoulders
in understanding before softly answering, his anger obviously held in check, “Alright,
Akane; you’ve broken the honor agreement between our clans for the last time. Because of the cir . . . er
. . . circumstances, I guess part of the blame is mine; so no honor is lost by
either family.” Ranma bowed low to each
of the Tendous in turn before concluding a bit sadly,
“I will leave now forever.” With that he
jumped into the second story window of the guest room he’d been staying in the
past year. He quickly packed using all
the speed with which he was capable. He
invoked the umi sen ken
technique and vanished out of the Tendou home, unseen out the window, over the
roof and the back wall. It was several
blocks later before he released the technique.
Ranma
made his way toward his recently rebuilt childhood home and when the rain
started misting, she merely adjusted the straps of her pack to a more
comfortable position, glad for once that she didn’t have to conceal the tears.
That
evening, Akane watched the rain from her bedroom window, absently wiping her
eyes every once in a while. She
murmured, “Baka, you weren’t supposed to do that.” Maybe she knew who ‘baka’ really was, maybe
not. It no longer mattered.
* * * * *
Minako
watched the muscular boy with the pigtail as he bowed to the class. It was unusual for someone to transfer into Juuban high school with only two months left in the term
but once they heard he was transferring from Furinkan, it made complete
sense. Nobody really wanted to spend
time in that school.
The
love-struck girl shortly joined Usagi in the hall again. She wasn’t late this time like her friend;
she just hadn’t noticed anything else after Ranma had appeared until the eraser
had bounced off her head. Fortunately
the schools used ‘dry-erase’ boards now else her face would have been covered
with chalk dust. On the other hand, that
might have hidden her embarrassed blush.
* * * * *
Genma
glared at Ranma as she demurely sat at the table in a dress listening to her
mother explain the intricacies of the tea ceremony.
Nodoka
had decided that Ranma was both a man and a woman and was training Ranma to
function socially as both.
He
snorted disgustedly, she’d even put an end to the food fight speed training.
Genma grumbled at the food he’d been missing as a result. Few realized it but Genma rarely targeted
just Ranma’s bowl for his food thefts.
During all the time at the Tendous, Ranma had
been handicapped by having to defend not only his own food but the Tendous as well.
Ranma was good but not that good, Genma had always come out a bit ahead.
Genma
dumped a glass of water over his head before his grumbling got him in trouble,
or even worse, on a diet, again. It
didn’t help when Ranma saucily winked at him.
Little
did he know that the ‘girls’ were conspiring to annoy him as much as they
could. It was the main driving force for
Ranma to dress and act this way. Well,
learning this was important to Nodoka made it important to Ranma-chan as well
in this case too.
Genma
continued to grumble softly to himself in Pandaese,
‘I almost wish the master had taken me with him on his trip to see the ‘Miss
American Pageant’ in person.’
* * * * *
Sailors
Uranus and Neptune stood frustrated before their princess and future
queen. Usagi glared at the two of them
as she said, “So you think we should hunt down somebody who may be my
reincarnated half sister and who may be the senshi of this planet and ‘kill’
her just because it gives you a warm fuzzy?”
The
two outers gulped audibly as they reconsidered their words briefly. It was obviously not long enough as Haruka
snapped out, “Nothing must be allowed to interfere with Crystal Tokyo. If she is an obstacle then . . .” She paused
in consternation as Usagi transformed into her Eternal form, gossamer wings
framing her fuming form.
“If
that is the way you feel, then perhaps I can help you
resolve those feelings,” she offered sweetly.
“After all, if you were no longer a senshi, I’m sure it would no longer
be a concern of yours,” she added brightly.
Her smile was brittle though as she continued, “The two of you have the
dubious ‘honor’ of being the only senshi to have ever attacked me or killed
another senshi. I’m sure it won’t be too
difficult to find ‘better’ replacements for the two of you.”
The
two outer senshi powered down and knelt before her. “I’m sorry,” they said in unison, voices
trembling in anxiety. They had never
before considered the idea of being stripped of their powers and it suddenly
made them eager to please their future Queen.
* * * * *
Nabiki
cornered Ranma as he casually practiced early one Sunday afternoon in a park
midway between their homes. “Ranma, you
still owe me for when you and your dad were staying at the Tendou Dojo.”
Uncharacteristically,
all Ranma did was cock an eyebrow at her and merely continue his cooling down kata.
A
little disconcerted and irritated because of it, Nabiki hissed, “Pay attention
to me when I’m talking to you.”
Ranma
kept on with his measured movements but responded nonetheless, “You are
right. I do owe you. You ought to thank the kami that my honor is
all that keeps me from giving you all the payback I truly do owe you.”
Nabiki
blanched as she realized that the distance between Ranma and the Tendous was much wider than she realized. Getting him back with Akane might not be possible
she decided. Still . . . she shrugged
and continued, “Ranma, is that any way to talk to your
fiancée?”
She
grinned as he stumbled.
“Ah
not again,” mumbled Ranma halfheartedly.
“Yep,”
sighed Nabiki, her eyes glistening as she clasped her hands in front of her in
feigned girlish excitement.
“Yeah,
right!” retorted Ranma, “I remember your lies and schemes last time and don’t
want any part of it again.”
Ranma
froze in place as his danger sense pegged momentarily. He glanced around before noticing Nabiki’s
glare. She softly said in a voice edged
with steel: “I NEVER lie Saotome. You might not understand what I said, you
might jump to the wrong conclusions because you only have part of the story,
but I never lie.”
Ranma’s
eyes narrowed sharply. He’d had time to
rehash memories recently and there were a few
concerning her that he’d just get clarified now and prove her last statement
wrong. “Oh really Tendou,” he began
casually. “So just what did I miss when
you told me that ‘you loved me’ the first time we were engaged.” He grimaced for the need to do this as he
actually liked the girl and even somewhat respected her for keeping her family
fed even if he didn’t appreciate her methods.
“Tell me, were you lying then or did I somehow misunderstand that you
meant that you loved me as a cash cow or maybe as a comedy routine or something
else.”
She
froze in consternation. She tried
glaring at him but the tears kept interfering; finally she just turned away. She took a dozen steps before she softly said
over her shoulder, “Maybe all that you missed was the obvious.”
Ranma
watched her walk out of sight. He turned
the conversation over in his mind a few times.
There was one possible conclusion he could make if he took all of
Nabiki’s comments into consideration.
“Nah, that’s not possible,” he said to himself and decided to forget the
whole matter.
* * * * *
Makato
watched in awe as Ranma’s speed increased to such a level that he was beginning
to leave afterimages. She had found Ranma
in the school gym after school doing some of his daily kata. Makato had stumbled onto him while waiting
for Usagi and Minako to get out of detention.
She
sighed and wistfully wondered, “I hope he gives lessons.” Lessons in what was left to the viewer’s
imagination.
Unfortunately,
she like the other girls at this school before her; found that Ranma was
somewhat brusque in how he offhandedly ignored her attempts to ‘claim’ him; or
perhaps he was merely clueless. The
results were the same.
Ranma
had gotten splashed a couple of times but rather than explain it, he had simply
invoked his fathers hidden thief method and vanished before anybody realized
that he had changed. Shrugging and
explaining that it was an advanced martial arts technique was his response when
questioned.
* * * * *
Ranma
was frustrated; he’d tried for several weeks to make headway on his most recent
problem without results. Finally he’d
decided to ask the person with the most magic knowledge he knew. Then Mousse had splashed him just as he’d
walked into the Cat Café. In irritation,
she’d flared her aura and things had suddenly taken a turn for the strange even
for his life. It all began when she’d
noticed the sigil on her head again in a mirror on the café wall and pointed
the sigil out to the old ghoul.
When
Shampoo and Mousse hesitated, the crone quickly knocked their feet from under
them with her staff. She glared at them
and hissed, “Look at her forehead and remember our tribe’s greatest duty.”
“Aiaya,” softly moaned Shampoo
as she studied the glowing mark. Tears
in her eyes, she also took her place by
Mousse
hesitantly followed her lead but before Ranma could ask anything,
At
her words, Mousse glanced up in sudden understanding, a slight smile on his
face at first until he recalled other details of the prophecy related to this
duty.
“I
don’t understand,” hesitantly started Ranma.
She pointed to her forehead where the mark had now faded, “How does this
dumb mark make me a . . . (she shuddered) . . . a Princess?” She hesitantly protested, “I’m a guy, not a girl.”
Surprisingly
to all it was Shampoo who responded. She
rose to her feet and gently embraced the redhead. “You is
you, but you is more than you know.”
Ranma
froze momentarily before relaxing as she realized it was a genuine hug instead
of a glomp. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Shampoo
released the hug and led the neo girl to a table where she urged Ranma to sit
before she seated herself opposite her.
Shampoo glanced at
Mousse
thought a moment before nodding.
Shampoo
gulped audibly and nodded. “Mousse,” she
directed, “put closed sign in window and fetch meal for Pri
. . .” she paused and then softly continued, “Ranma.”
“So
. . . Ranma,” continued
Ranma
nervously picked up the hot tea before
“Remember?”
the elder asked.
”Yeah,” confirmed Ranma, “I sort of had a talk with the ‘spirit’ of my
reincarnations and she said I had to remember if I was gonna
be able to save the world.”
“You!”
interjected Mousse in shock, “you are the one that started all those volcanoes,
aren’t you?”
“No,
well, sorta,” answered Ranma uncertainly. “I mean, I think it happened because I kinda thought it was a good idea. But I didn’t know that it would happen then.”
Ranma
sat there before shrugging, “Yeah, that’s what I said too. I mean there was no way I was gonna remember being a girl. Even if ‘Ranko’ said that because of my curse,
she and Gaea could do it if I really tried to do it.”
“Ranko?”
asked Shampoo in confusion.
“Gaea!”
whispered
“Huh”
responded Ranma before continuing, “Ah, Ranko was the name I gave to the girl
that visits me in my dreams recently.
She says she’s not my curse but an as . . .” Ranma paused obviously
searching for the right word, “aspect of my past lives.” He added, “She said the curse let me talk
with her. She also said that the world
was alive and was called Gaea.”
“What
else did she say about ‘Gaea’, Ranma?” hoarsely asked
Surprised,
the three youths glanced at the elder Amazon and then Ranma responded, “She
said that Gaea was the name of the earth itself. Gaea was alive and had the aspect of a mother
for ‘she’ gloried in the life she bore.
Gaea also needed my help desperately to save the life on the
earth.” Ranma softly said, “I am
supposed to be her Guardian.” He paused
and then added, “I don’t believe it, but Ranko said I was ‘created’ as a girl
and I was always supposed to be this Guardian whatever. I don’t believe it, but I can’t take the
chance that I might be wrong. So I gotta try to do what Ranko said and remember how to be a
Guardian or else a lot of people are gonna die.” Ranma gulped and added softly, “I ain’t a girl. I just
know it, but maybe I can do part of this stuff anyway. But first I gotta
try to remember the Guardian stuff if I can.
If that don’t work then I gotta try something
else until I find a way.”
* * * * *
Ami
glanced at the results of the climatic model she had just run on the Mercury
computer. She turned to the other
scouts, “I just ran a simulation on the weather patterns. The onset of the ice age is delayed by maybe
a hundred years, but it’s still on the way.
It won’t be quite as severe, but there are going to be other problems
instead.”
Rei shuddered and asked, “Tell me that world wide flooding
isn’t one of them?” Seeing the
questioning looks the others gave her she clarified, “I did a fire reading last
night.” She hesitated and added, “What I saw scared me.”
“Sorry,”
responded Ami. “The greenhouse affect is
initially going to cause an increase in the earth’s overall temperature. Because of the way it’s happening the effect
will be to cause the whole world to become temperate instead just a slight
increase everywhere.”
Seeing
the confusion on the other faces including that of Setsuna, Ami explained, “One
model for global warming has temperatures rising a
little everywhere, meaning the equatorial deserts are a little hotter and the
poles a little warmer also. But the
model the Mercury computer uses has the equatorial regions actually becoming
cooler as air and ocean currents move vast amounts of heat from the equator to
the poles. In short the whole world is
warm or temperate just like when the dinosaurs roamed the world.” She paused and softly said, “That means that
all the ice at the poles and
* * * * *
Ranma
was on a short training trip; this time to an old shrine just on the edge of Juuban ward.
Just
as Ranma was about to enter the outer temple grounds, he heard a roar. It was
interspersed with the screams of frightened people. Ranma quickly raced toward it and was stunned
to see what had to a youma. Ranma had heard of them and had even seen the
images on TV, but that was over a year ago.
Ranma peered at it and was surprised that it seemed to be an animated
statue of an animalistic female kami or something. It was trashing the series of small shops
before the Tori of the temple.
Ranma
braced himself and prepared to attack it.
Before he could move though, it saw him and tossed an entire aquarium of
goldfish at him. Ranma dithered between
dodging the water or catching the aquarium, in the end he opted to catch the
tank. He caught it and set it safely on
the ground but not without being splashed as a result.
The
youma froze as it gazed on the fuming redhead. It felt a weak connection to its mistress
from the girl who faintly resembled her.
Ranma
froze in turn as the statuesque youma knelt and bowed
to her, arms outstretched in a semblance of asking for something.
Ranma
cautiously approached the subservient youma. She was on guard as she circled it, but the
dark chaotic creature made no threatening moves at all. Finally, Ranma had enough and sharply asked,
“Why did ya do all this bad stuff?”
The
youma looked up, an expression of surprise on its
stony face. It gestured to the damaged
shops questioningly.
Ranma
nodded and then explained, “It ain’t nice to do this
stuff. It’s why alla
the people scream and run from you. It’s
also why the senshi kicked the butts of your friends.”
The
youma scratched ‘her’ head and then shrugged her
shoulders in an obviously questioning manner.
Ranma
was confused yet on some level felt a faint connection to the creature. She sighed and then gestured to the shops at
the temple entrance, “If ya wanta make up for it,
then help fix up the stuff you broke.”
She paused and then added, “After you’re done, then maybe you can help
out at the temple.”
The
youma slowly stood and then bowed to Ranma before she
began to repair the damaged shops. At
first the shop owners stared in disbelief, but as the creature continued to
work, they also began to pick up their scattered wares, taking care to keep a
wary distance from the creature.
The
senior monk of the temple had been a witness to this scene as he had come with
wards to try and protect his neighbors.
He fixed the redhead with a stern gaze and asked, “How is it that you
can command creatures of darkness young lady?
Are you in league with them?”
Ranma
was a bit upset as she stalked toward the monk.
First he had called her a ‘lady’, as if!
Then he had the gall to question her honor as well.
She
stood nose to chin with the aged monk who towered over her despite being a bit
stooped with age. She looked up into his
glasses and saw her reflection. It was
the reflection of a redheaded girl she noted and half her frustration reluctantly
melted away. “I ain’t
in league with no dark creatures, but I don’t kill nobody ‘less’n
it’s my only choice. It surrendered and
accepted doing the right thing to make up for what it done so it ain’t right to hurt it now.”
She
glanced at the wards in the monk’s hands, “What cha got there?”
The
monk slyly smiled to himself and handed the anti-evil wards to the girl, “Here
take a look at them for yourself.” He halfway expected them to destroy the girl
but on another level was not surprised when she merely looked them over quietly
before handing them back without comment or harm.
He
thought his subterfuge had gone undetected until she murmured, “For the several
insults you have offered me, you owe me.”
He
nodded slightly.
“Alla you monks and priests are always spouting about people
changing for the good” Ranma stated. Ranma pointed to the youma
and continued, “I want you to take care of her, give her good work to do, teach
her the right stuff and protect her.”
The
monk’s face froze in outrage, outrage that did not diminish when Ranma added,
“Or is all the stuff you say mere window dressing without any truth?” The outrage remained but changed into an
acceptance of a challenge to show that the temple could ‘do’ as it also taught.
“Very
well,” stiffly responded the monk, “introduce me to the new temple gardener.”
Ranma
did so.
A
bit later, Ranma sat sipping tea across a short table from the senior monk and
the other two monks at this small temple as they all watched the new gardener
at work.
“So
Ranma,” finally asked the senior monk, “what was it that brought you to this
obscure temple?”
Ranma
hesitated on how to ask this, finally she said; “I’ve been chosen to be the
Guardian of Gaea, our mother earth. But
to do my task, I need to remember my past life when I once before held this job
since there is not now time enough for me to learn what I need to know if I am
to save the peoples of the world.” She
paused as she continued to watch the former youma
hard at work. “I gotta remember or a lot of people
are gonna die,” she softly added. “I heard that there might be an ancient
technique here at this temple that might help.”
All
three monks stiffly stared in obvious disbelief at her. One of the other monks glared at her, glanced
at the youma working in the yard and then said, “We
have heard many tales designed to convince us that their cause is worthy and we
should assist in restoring past reincarnations to power. But this is preposterous. You expect us to believe the mere words
someone who is surely the mistress of an evil creature. There is no way we will help an even greater
evil to return.”
Fuming,
Ranma nonetheless held her anger in check and sibilantly asked, “Then does that
mean you DO have the means to restore my past memories?”
Before
either of the other two monks could respond, the senior monk held his hand up,
gesturing them to silence. He guardedly
responded, “We do know part of a technique.
But without confirmation of your claims, we will say no more.”
Ranma
sat there quietly sipping her tea and wondering what to do next. On one hand, she really didn’t want to do
this. No way was she interested in
remembering being a girl. But on the
other hand, this was the path of honor and duty, her chosen life path, no
matter how hard or what it required of her.
She softly sighed as she started to analyze the matter. It was obvious that force was not the
answer. As she probed her recent
memories with a new understanding, a line of approach occurred to her.
She
rose to her feet and walked into the yard, gesturing the monks to follow
her. She sat on the grass at their feet
as they stood before her. “Gaea,” she
softly said, “is the mother earth; all life is important to her. To her the only monsters are those that
destroy life without cause or need.”
Ranma pointed at the youma, “That could be a
monster.” She pointed at the monks and
said, “Just as you could also be one.”
Forestalling their protests she clarified, “It depends on what you do,
not what or who you are.”
Ranma
looked deep inside herself. This time
she found the faint trace of the power that had helped her win against Saffron,
she embraced it and putting her heart into her desire pushed it into the link
as she said to the monks, “Experience the power of Gaea, know that she glories
in life above all else.”
Ranma
was not sure what was going to happen, but even she was surprised when the
ground faintly trembled. A few moments
later the gentle splashing of water heralded the rebirth of a long dried up
fountain as a spring flowed once more.
Distracted by the sound and sight of the fountain, it was a few moments
before they noticed the trees gradually swelling to twice their height. Those that bore blossoms in season quickly
blossomed again. The yard was no longer
green, the long lush grass was obscured by a colorful patchwork of blossoming
wildflowers and herbs, many rare and a few believed extinct.
The
monks froze as an old bear ambled out of the surrounding trees and came up to
Ranma. The bear whined and nuzzled
Ranma’s hand entreating a petting.
Ranma-chan
sighed, then hugged the bear and told him to go back to his home. The monks watched spell bound as the bear
waddled a short distance away before awkwardly rising to its hind feet and
jerkily bowing to Ranma before disappearing into the trees again.
Unnoticed
behind them, the youma froze in shock as she stared
wonderingly at her hands as the stone skin flaked off. She shivered and a shower of stone dust
gathered at her feet as her stone skin was replaced with living tissue that
looked much like her original skin but proved that she really was a living
being now. The youma
stared in awe at her mistress, unforced devotion plainly evident on her face
but unnoticed by the others.
Ranma
stretched and asked, “I’m a bit stressed out, do you mind if I relax in your
“We
don’t have any
Ranma
hesitantly scratched her neck and asked, “What’s causing all that steam then?
Sure smells like a hot spring,” she added.
The
senior monk bowed low to her. “I will show you the way to the
The
elder monk had only nodded and commented, “That explains why your aura is so
balanced, neither predominantly male nor female.”
* * * * *
Rei noticed the puzzled look on Ami’s face and decided to ignore
Usagi for the moment. “Hey Ami, what’s up?”
Ami
looked up and briefly smiled, “Well for a little bit, I thought I had detected
the faint trace of a dark kingdom creature just on the edge of detection. I set my computer to scan for it and just as
it was starting to refine its location, it disappeared!” She paused and added, “There was also some
other momentary spike of that other power like we saw at the park but there was
also a burst of chaos with it so I lost all the signals because of it.”
Makato
absently cracked her knuckles as she eagerly asked, “Any chance of finding
where the youma went?” She sighed and added wistfully, “Kami, it has
been a long time since I’ve had a chance to trash something.”
The others merely ‘sweat-dropped’ in silence.
* * * * *
The
two lore masters had arrived with a guard of twenty of the best of the Amazon
warriors.
Ranma
introduced the Amazon elders to the monks she’d befriended though the three
gals were a bit leery of the ‘tamed’ youma at
first. The senior monk explained that
because the youma unsettled the local folk, she had
taken to ‘freezing’ in place on their roof during the day and doing the
gardening at night. They had decided to
call her ‘Demona’.
The
newly arrived Amazons had set up camp on the temple grounds and the three
Amazon elders and the monks had spent two months going over each other’s respective
‘secret’ techniques and scrolls. Between
them they had devised a technique that they believed might work.
They
had tried it yesterday; Ranma had been unconscious upstairs in the new Cat Café
just outside the temple grounds up until an hour ago.
Ranma
sighed to himself.
“Yeah,”
he responded, “I remember now. I
remember all my past lives. Not as if I ‘was’
them but rather as if they were movies that I had seen lots of times.”
Mousse
and Shampoo both sat near him. Mousse
offered them both a soda as Shampoo sat the bucket of popcorn between
them. “So, what happened?” she asked.
Ranma
grimaced, he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk but he also realized that not only
did he actually need to talk in order to relieve some of the stress but it was
unlikely the Amazons would permit him not to tell them either.
“Fourteen,”
he started off absently. “This is my
fourteenth life. The first was as you
said; I was the first Queen of the Amazons during the fall of the Silver
Millennium kingdom almost fifteen thousand years ago. I, with the help of a few of the surviving
advisors from the Earth court managed to save and preserve the Amazon
people. It was then that I gained all my
Earth Guardian powers as we fought the residue of the dark ones that destroyed
the Moon kingdom. My first life was also my longest, lasting almost seven
hundred years.” He concluded softly, “It
seems I average being reborn about once every millennium since then.”
“Almost
fifteen thousand years,” sighed
Mousse
thought about what he’d overheard. “So you really are originally a girl,” he snickered.
Ranma
huffed, then blushed when he realized how feminine the
gesture was. “Yeah,” he admitted. “This is only the second time I’ve been born
male.” A wide grin crossed his face as
he added, “But mom would really have liked that time!” he exulted.
Seeing
the curiosity on their faces, Ranma explained, “My second life was as a minor
priestess, but then I was reborn into my third life as a barbarian warrior who
became a king named . . .” Ranma paused for effect and then said with a wide
smile, “Conan!”
Shampoo
frowned cutely, “That not funny Ranma!
Everybody know ‘Conan’ made up, not real.”
Ranma
shrugged, “That’s what I thought too until I got my former memories back.” He grinned and said, “My last reincarnation
was as an English maiden and before that it was as a princess in India but the
one before that was as . . .” again he paused for effect.
Ranma
rubbed his head then grinned as he said, “Xena.”
“Nnooo,” whispered Mousse to think that his favorite female
warrior (after Shampoo of course) was actually Ranma.
“It
gets better,” grinned Ranma. He waited until the three Amazons were
watching him. “Mulan
of ancient
“Ranma?”
asked Shampoo, “You no joke?”
Ranma
nervously scratched the back of his neck. “Nah, Shamps;
I’m not joking. Beats me how somebody
wrote about them though.”
Shampoo
was still unconvinced. She pouted and
told Ranma, “Shampoo no like ‘princess’ teasing shield-maiden.”
Ranma
glanced over at her and visibly paused as he was about to say something. He then softly said in ancient Chinese,
“Please believe this one, warrior maid.
In all of my lives, I was honorable, refusing deceit or murder. A few times I was a barbarian and lived as
one; plundering and destroying my enemies.
But even then, I was honorable by the code of my people and the times I
lived in.”
All
three Amazons gulped at this undeniable sign that Ranma had been telling them
the truth.
“So
Ranma,” began
Ranma
reluctantly nodded, “Yeah, I actually remember all of their lives. I have all of their skills as well.” He
sighed, “The languages may not be all that useful the further I go back, but
the skills might be.” He grimaced, “I can use a broadsword like probably no one
else in the world anymore and my archery skill were taught to me by Robin Hood
himself for all the good that does me now.”
Seeing
the confusion on their faces, Ranma picked up a metal platter and casually
tossed it like a ‘Frisbee’. It soared
into the kitchen, bounced out of sight a few times before lazily landing before
them with a few breadsticks lying on it.
Ranma calmly reached over and picked up several of the snacks as he
softly added, “I seem to have even the ‘muscle’ memory of how to do things as
well.”
“Karma,”
hazarded Ranma.
“Maybe,
maybe not,” responded
* * * * *
“Usagi?”
asked Setsuna, “What are we going to do about the Senshi of Terra? What do we do about Crystal Tokyo? I don’t know if she prevents it from
happening. It’s possible that this was
always meant to be a part of the creation of our future and what’s happening
now was part of what was hidden from me by both the time gates and my future
self.”
The
blue-eyed blond cocked her head quizzically at the elder senshi. Just as Setsuna expected to hear a ditzy
response, Usagi quietly responded, “We’ve been wrong in the past. Creating an utopist future of our choosing
should never have been our goal.
Safeguarding what ever future these people created should have been our
true goal. Maybe they might have chosen
me as Queen then, but unless that becomes our true goal, then none of us are
worthy to rule.”
Setsuna
felt tears in her eyes. She quietly
thought to herself, ‘yes, this is my Queen.
Maybe we really are on the right track after all.’
* * * * *
Ranma
could feel the difference in his link with Gaea while in male form. It was still there, but strained as if it was
a ‘bad connection’ like sometimes happens with telephones. He splashed himself halfhearted, assuming his
cursed form out of duty. Ranma
automatically masked his/her aura these days using a combination of techniques
learned from Tofu, Happosai and Genma.
Ranma had dubbed the passive hybrid technique as the ‘Gosunkugi Shadow Form’; when Ranma used it, he remained
visible but nobody noticed him and his aura vanished almost completely unless
the one looking for it was very skilled.
It had the side effect of cutting down on the craziness of his
life. Oh weird things still happened
about him, but it just somehow seemed to not ‘land’ on him as much as it did
before. It was almost as if his
‘do-not-notice-me’ technique deflected the chaos to some extent. Of course, his
growing rapport with Gaea may have contributed to this as well.
Ranma-chan
had reluctantly acquiesced to the necessity of spending most of her time in
female form for the next several years as the bonding with Gaea proceeded. Apparently something called the ‘silver
crystal’ could have made the bond happen almost immediately but Gaea’s information on that process indicated that it also
enslaved the Guardian to the bearer of the silver crystal. Even a willing slave is still a slave and
neither Ranma nor Gaea wanted any part of that.
The
redhead remembered how the bonding gradually happened over several decades the
first time, but even if she was the same soul, there were sufficient
differences that years of time would be required just to renew the old existing
bonds that had weakened over time.
Ranma
had thought long and hard about concealing what was happening to him from his
parents but then recalled the remembered pain of deceiving his mother. Because of that, Ranma had taken his mother
aside one day shortly after ‘remembering’ and explained what was happening to
the world and what his part in it was and more importantly what ‘her’ part
would be.
Nodoka
had slowly pulled out the seppuku contract that she still carried with her
despite having decided that Ranma had fulfilled its demands. She then poured a little water over Ranma
before handing her the contract with these few words; “My child honors me.” They hugged, simply hugged each other for a
long while; thus old bonds are renewed.
Ranma
reluctantly began the final year of high school but as a girl this time. Fortunately, few of the students connected
the new redhead with lonely and bitter martial artist that had shown up during
the final months of their junior year.
When Ranma’s school records had finally shown up from Furinkan, the
indicated gender had been ‘both’.
Resolving the resulting confusion had enabled Ranma-chan to enroll in
girl-form after privately demonstrating the curse for the principle. Fortunately, the girl’s PE showers were
private; unfortunately, Ranma-chan was required to conform to the school dress
code.
While
Ranma certainly appreciated being free from the attention of the various
hopeful girls, she really had problems with the interested boys. Well, briefly anyway; the flash of her aura
when the first couple of boys attempted to hit on her quickly taught all
interested boys that Ranma was NOT interested.
The aura bit did catch the attention of a few of her classmates but a
quick scan with the mercury computer on the sly convinced Ami that Ranma was
not possessed of anything other than an odd ki
level. Makoto attributed it to her
martial arts training after learning of Ranma’s skill. Ami was concerned about the high chaos
reading associated with the redhead but it was less than Mamoru’s and there
were others such as Usagi’s friend Naru who also radiated chaos as well so it wasn’t exactly
unique.
Of
the old fiancée brigade, only Ukyo and Nabiki were left. Ranma-chan met them together in her mother’s
house. She delayed the confrontation by
initiating a formal tea ceremony with only her mother in attendance on the
three teen girls.
Seeing
the confusion in their faces as the ceremony ended, Ranma explained. “Circumstances of honor and duty will require
me to remain in this form almost exclusively for the next three to five years. At most I will be able to be in my birth form
no more than four hours a day, probably less.”
She bowed partially from the waist.
“I am not allowed to tell you of my duty but know that Shampoo knows of
it and it is important enough that she no longer pursues me but is now bound to
me as an honor guard by her people.” She
sighed wistfully, “This duty supercedes even any obligation I might have to
either of you or my own family.”
“But
my dowry,” hesitantly began Ukyo.
“Your
bill . . .” Nabiki’s words trailed off at the sternness she saw in Ranma’s
eyes. She belatedly realized that the
jerk of a martial artist had grown up into a seasoned warrior. She mentally damned the distance between the
Tendou and Saotome homes that had limited her contact with Ranma the past
several months.
Ranma
chan closed her eyes and seemed to either remember or perhaps somehow commune
with someone. Ranma eventually briefly
nodded her head in understanding and rose to her feet, surprisingly graceful in
kimono and geta as she made her way outside to the
small koi pond in the back corner of the Saotome yard.
Ranma
reached into the water, not bothering to pull back her sleeves. Surprisingly, the water parted before her
hand. Ranma fumbled with the stones in
the bottom of the mud before seeming to select four small stones each the size
of a robin’s egg that were gathered together in a small newly formed depression
in the bottom of the pond.
Ranma
quickly washed the stones and then handed one to Nabiki and two to Ukyou. “This should more than cover all the expenses
and financial obligations between our families.”
Nabiki’s
eyes had almost bugged out as she appraised the stone. “This, thi . . . is
a . . .”
“Diamond,”
Ranma completed her statement, as she handed the fourth gem to her mother. “Here mom, this should take care of expenses
for awhile.”
Ukyou
sighed as she accepted the two stones.
It wasn’t what she wanted but it would do she supposed. She sighed, at least this way she still had a
friend.
As
the three started back into the house, Genma dove into the pond desperately searching
for more of these riches. He was to be
disappointed.
* * * * *
It
was another meeting at the shrine.
Surprisingly it was Minako who raised the question that was to trouble
them so much in the future.
“Usagi?” Minako began, “If there really is a senshi
for earth, doesn’t that mean she is already the ruler. I mean, there is no way you can become Queen
of the earth if your power isn’t even from this planet and hers is? I don’t understand,” she ended plaintively.
Mamoru Chiba grimaced but protested, “Hey, don’t
forget, I’m the Prince of the Earth by birthright!”
Ami
idly tapped her teeth with a pen before slowly replying, “Humm,
in the Moon kingdom, the planetary rulers were selected by their respective
planets even if that selection did tend to stay in one family, not by the
people for political reasons as was done on Earth then and now. So which way was Crystal Tokyo supposed to be
like?”
* * * * *
She
stretched and carefully returned to the book she had been studying and was
about to go to her bedroom when she heard sounds of distress from Shampoo’s
room. She quickly but silently opened
the door. Seeing her heir apparently in
the midst of a nightmare, she gently awakened her.
“Dear,”
she softly asked Shampoo, “can you remember your dream?”
Shampoo
visibly stiffened her back, trying hard not to show weakness. “Is nothing.”
“Tell
me anyway, warrior.”
“Yes
elder,” Shampoo responded. “Shampoo have
dream about being cat floating in space, was scary.”
* * * * *
Nabiki
locked her door and carefully unlocked the hidden inner door to her closet. She studied the small cask of Nanniichuan she had ‘liberated’ before the failed wedding.
“Good thing I substituted a cask filled with normal
water considering what happened to it,” she muttered to herself in
self-justification.
“Now what do I do with it?” she absently asked
herself. Indeed, what?
* * * * *
* * * * *
Author’s
notes:
1.) I was reading over the offerings at the ‘Temple of Ranma's Seifuku’ (http://www.angelfire.com/creep/nukethemoon/cult.htm)
and got to wondering how Ranma would look as a senshi and what it would take to
get there. That is where the impetus for
this story came; not sure how far I will take it before my muse goes dry
(again, again).
2.) Additional Ranma and Sailor-Moon crossover
fan-fiction can be found on my two personal Web Pages listed below and at
Fan-Fiction-Net & Tannim’s crossover page (http://ranmafics.com/index.htm). Note that only my personal web-pages have all
my stories.
C
& C to cloud_dreamer2000@yahoo.com
Main
Web-page http://www.geocities.com/cloud_dreamer2000
And
(secondary) http://mysite.verizon.net/cloud-dreamer/index.html
* * * * *
* * * * *