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Death Reborn Evolution
Chapter 02: Chapter 1: Death Reborn Evolution

By: Shanami

 
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Chapter 1: Death Reborn Evolution

Disclaimer: See the prologue. Basically, I don't own anything involved in the making of this fanfic. It is not being done for profit, just for fun.

XXOOXX

It had been a long and exhausting journey home. A grim looking Akane and Genma paused for a moment before opening the gates to the Tendo compound, each lost in their own thoughts about the recent events in China.

"Oh my, hello Uncle, imouto-chan" the every cheery voice of the eldest Tendo rang out from the front entrance. "I hope everyone had fun visiting China."

Soun burst from the front door and burst into tears as he saw his youngest daughter pass through the gate, " WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! My baby is safe, WAAAAAAHHHHH!" Akane scrambled out of the way, while she loved her father dearly, no one wants to be soaked by a human sprinkler.

Nodoka appeared in the doorway carrying her wrapped bundle and asked, "Dearest, where is my son?"

Genma sweated, stuttered out, "N-n-no-chan," and bolted.

Muttering to herself, "What did I ever see in that man. Goddess knows I've tried to be a dutiful wife and for what… 10 lonely years and my "husband" still avoids me, I know next to nothing of my son. They could at least visit, would that be too much to ask?" She gripped the hilt of her katana reflexively.

"Akane dear," Nodoka turned towards her, face plaintive and eyes shimmering slightly, "where is my manly son?"

"Auntie, he's, well, he's," Akane stuttered out, Genma had really put her on the spot and she hadn't figured out how to explain things yet. She looked up with shimmering eyes (though she had no intention of marrying Ranma and didn't trust him at all, she did have some affection for the pigtailed boy) and sighed. "There's no easy way to put this… but… well, a madman threatened my and the others' lives in China. Ranma… well, he saved us, me, but… well, he's dead. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

A trio of Phoenix warriors descended from the sky bearing a casket and Nodoka's face blanched and progressively whitened as Akane narrated the entirety of the debacle in China starting with the search for the secret of Jusenkyo, progressing through Kiima's deception of Ranma and the subsequent battle to the top of the mountain and the imprinting egg, and ending with the final confrontation between Saffron and Ranma, where Ranma killed a god at the cost of his own life.

Akane's head was bowed and she was nearly in tears by the end of the story. In sharp contrast, Nodoka seemed to be staring off; she was clearly in shock and the reality of Ranma's death clearly hadn't registered yet.

Kasumi was in shock herself and was crying freely. Over the course of his stay, Ranma had wormed his way into her heart as the little brother she had never had but always wanted. She gathered the distraught Saotome woman into her arms where Nodoka finally broke down sobbing for her lost son.

Eventually, the women managed to recompose themselves. Nodoka, though grief stricken, had to ask, "How… if he really was a Kami… how did my Ranma stand up to him?"

Kasumi realized that Nodoka had never been informed of many of the details of Ranma and Genma's training trip. Drawing the older woman into the house, she prepared a pot of tea. Once the soothing beverage was ready, Kasumi recollected what she knew of Ranma's life and training trip with Genma. The high points of the trip were few and the low points painted Genma as either a heartless, cruel, and abusive taskmaster or a greedy, thoughtless slob. The full truth of the Nerima situation came to light, including the fiancée brigade, the various plots and constant abuse from all sides. In the end, Nodoka had most of her conceptions of Ranma's life irrevocably shattered and it nearly left her a broken woman as she finally realized that she would never see him again.

She turned away, and in a dead, stony tone whispered, "I see. I will need to speak to everyone involved in the fiasco that was my son's so-called life."

XXOOXX

-2 days later-

Ranma's funereal was truly impressive. Nearly all of Nerima showed up, though the Kunos had to be removed for making a scene. The fiancées were devastated, but were sufficiently cowed by Nodoka's wrath. As for Nodoka, she was a complete wreck. She hadn't wanted to allow Genma to take her son and never had time to get to know him before his unfortunate death. After some reflection she realized just how painful Ranma's life had been, and that while much of the fault lay with Genma, no one, except perhaps Kasumi, was innocent. Her own obsession with "manliness" and "grandbabies" only added fuel to the time bomb that had been her son's life.

Conspicuously absent was Genma. After learning of the details of the training trip, Nodoka was furious with him. He had attempted to return to the Saotome home and Nodoka had chased him off in a rage. No one had seen him since and Nodoka had started legal proceedings against him along with filing for a divorce.

Though she was absolutely furious with them, for things such as the Cat's Tongue Incident, Nodoka allowed Cologne and the Amazons to pay their respects. Ryoga even managed to find his way to the ceremony, feud mostly forgotten, and he mourned the loss of his rival. After all, he could hardly kill Ranma if he was already dead.

Also attending, Saffron offered to perform the cremation as an apology, having ascended after the battle was finished. Rebirth had cleansed his megalomania, and he truly regretted having destroyed such an honorable warrior.

Phoenix fire quickly consumed the casket and clothes, but then something interesting happened. Upon reaching the body, the fire stopped and fizzled out. Another fireball met the same fate before the body froze into a solid ice cube.

Now, magic is a funny and unpredictable thing unless being wielded through carefully designed matrices like a spell or a ritual. Since Ranma had been exposed to so many varieties of magic, the effects of absorbing so much raw magic at Mt. Phoenix had triggered some odd reactions. The most potent magic was his Jusenkyo curse, which provided a general template for change and an affinity for water. When he died in his cursed form, the body became locked, but the transformative aspect of the curse remained. Next most powerful was the tremendous infusion of pure Jusenkyo water from the Dragon Tap, which increased those affinities a thousand fold and increased Ranma's magical power thousands of times. Unknown to Ranma, the reason the Gekkaja had stopped working was that his body literally drained it (temporarily) of its magic, adding another key component of ice and phoenix magic to his building core. Finally, Saffron's fireballs added a huge burst of phoenix magic, consisting of elemental manipulation and rebirth. All of these magics combined, fused and built upon the other minor sources that Ranma had been exposed to, and Saffron's attempted cremation triggered an intense magical backlash.

The ice cube shattered, leaving behind a brilliant, shiny aquamarine egg. It was just slightly bigger than an ostrich egg, with a pattern of dark blue swirls. Condensation gathered on the surface, and the egg literally radiated cold.

Tentatively, Nodoka took a step forwards as the Phoenix and Amazons gasped. "Is… is that… Ranma?" She carefully gathered up the egg, wrapping it in the covering for the Saotome Honor blade, and forbid anyone but Kasumi from joining her at home without an express invitation.

XXOOXX

In an attempt to distance herself from the insanity of Nerima, Tanaka Nodoka moved into a modest apartment in the Juuban region of the Minato ward. Kasumi had a standing invitation to move into a spare bedroom, but Nodoka forbade the rest of the Nerima regulars from visiting uninvited with the threat of legal action so she was largely left alone. Kasumi had hinted that after Nabiki went to college at the end of the school year that she might be interested in the offer.

Since phoenix eggs are traditionally incubated in bonfires or furnaces, Saffron suggested that Nodoka keep Ranma's egg on ice. She purchased a large ice box with a clear lid, so she could keep track of it. Saffron also warned her that if Ranma developed anything like a phoenix, he would age in extremely rapid bursts until he became developmentally equivalent to a young teenager. Saffron cautioned her that while he regained all of his memories after every cycle of rebirth, that Ranma might not remember anything at all.

Approximately one month later, Nodoka invited Kasumi and Akane to her apartment for the weekend because the aquamarine egg started to crack along its dark blue highlights and she could hear scraping and movement. Ukyo came along, saying that she just wanted to see her best friend again and to officially drop the engagement (though Nodoka had already cancelled them all). She even brought her portable grill. Five hours and a half dozen okonomiyaki later, the egg burst open and most of the shell fragments quickly melted away.

The first thing they noticed were the beautiful, half-foot long wings protruding from the baby's shoulder blades. They were the brightest aquamarine with swirls of dark blue throughout, much like the egg's pattern and they appeared to be made of pure water with ice crystals. The wings faded out, showing what looked like wing shaped tattoos on the baby's back. The tufts of hair were an interesting mixture of Ranma-chan's brilliant crimson and aquamarine highlights. Nodoka picked the baby up and softly stroked her fingers through the soft and surprisingly silky hair. However, what truly shocked them was that the baby was obviously female when she let out a little sigh, curled up and fell asleep.

Nodoka and Kasumi cooed over the newly christened Tanaka Ranko, spelled with the kanji for wild child rather than the more feminine orchid child in honor of Ranma's past life. Akane, meanwhile, took Ukyo out to the hall to clear the air between them. "So… were you serious about giving up on Ranma earlier, Ukyo?"

"Yes, my father forced me into it anyway, and while I really wouldn't have minded it's over now. Since Ranma died, technically I got my revenge, plus, it's not like I'd want to marry a baby anyway. Besides, Nodoka cancelled all the engagements, even yours sugar." Ukyo absently fingered her spatula. "And I better not hear about you bashing her anymore, baby or not, Ranchan is still my best friend."

"I know, I know, it's just he made me so angry all the time. Always running off and being a pervert," Akane grumbled

"Well, you just better watch it. That mallet of yours would make her flatter than an okonomiyaki now. Besides you know Ranchan wasn't doing anything. Shampoo glomped him, and I know he didn't ever do anything with me. Are you honestly saying that you didn't see how uncomfortable he was whenever we hung off his arms?" Ukyo looked at her incredulously.

"Fine, I was jealous of him, alright!" Akane flushed and started to stomp away.

"Whoa sugar, calm down." Ukyo's hand landed on Akane's shoulder. "And just what do you mean, jealous OF him? Are you saying you wanted to be in his place?" she giggled softly.

"What… I, no… I mean…" Akane sputtered and tried to pull away.

"So all this time, when you said you hate boys and called Ranchan a pervert…" Ukyo drawled.

Akane dropped her head and clenched her fists. She spun around with eyes blazing and swatted Ukyo's hand away. "Yes, fine, I'm the pervert! Are you happy now?" She ranted, battle aura a blazing red and her hand reflexively clenched for her mallet. "My fiancé showed up, and instead of a gross perverted boy there was this adorable little redhead. She was just so goddam cute and I thought, maybe this was my chance, and…" Fire lost, Akane slumped a little and her aura winked out. She mumbled, "And now you're just going to humiliate me. Are you happy now?"

She heard a surprisingly soft "yes" and felt a pair of soft lips pressed gently against her own and as a hand gently caressed her cheek.

Akane boggled before moaning into the kiss as her eyes fluttered closed. A moment later, Ukyo drew away and whispered, "You don't have to worry about me making fun of you, sugar." Ukyo pulled back a moment later, leaving Akane with a happy, dazed smile.

Coming back to her senses, Akane sputtered, "Wha-what? But… what was that?"

"I'd call it a kiss, sugar," Ukyo deadpanned and received a flat stare for her trouble.

"That's not what I meant," Akane shot back.

"Well, since we're both single now, I was kind of hoping you'd be willing to give things a go with me," Ukyo admitted.

"What… I mean… you wanted Ranma, right? So why? Unless you wanted Ranma-chan as well." Akane looked rather confused.

"I did want Ranma, I was completely in love with him and I would have married him if I had the chance. Ranma-chan was just a nice bonus, really. But… well, Ranma's dead now. And, while I know we've had our issues in the past, well, I was hoping you'd agree to give me a chance," Ukyo explained.

"But that means that you're…" Akane trailed off.

Ukyo cut her off, "That means I'm more interested in the person, rather than the gender, yes. So, what do you say, sugar? Let me take you out?"

"I… well… yes. Yes, I'd like that a lot." Akane blushed and shyly ducked her head. Ukyo gently grasped her chin to raise her face back up when…

BOOOOOM! *rumble*

They stumbled as the ground suddenly shook. Akane tripped and they fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. "What the hell was that?"

"Imouto-chan, Ukyo-san, are you alright?"

"Just fine sugar, I didn't think we were due for a quake though," Ukyo yelled back. They shakily got back to their feet.

"EEEP!" They heard a scream from the other room.

"What was that? C'mon, we need to check on them!" Akane dragged Ukyo back to the living room. "Oneechan! Are you o," but she was cut off by a blast of water to the face. "What the?" she wiped her eyes off to see a sheepish looking Kasumi brushing her wet hair off her face and a wildly giggling, but completely soaked Ranko.

"Just fine imouto-chan. Ranko was a bit startled by the quake and splashed me. Apparently she can create water balls." Kasumi smiled wryly.

Nodoka scooped Ranko up, whose wings burst into being once more, completely drenching her kimono. She dropped Ranko out of shock, and lunged to catch her, only to find her darting around Ukyo and Akane and still giggling.

"Funny, there weren't any aftershocks," said Nodoka as she snagged Ranko and cuddled her into her bosom. The baby let out a little sigh, yawned, and curled back up to sleep.

"Sounded like there was an explosion before Auntie," Akane said.

They looked out the window to see a plume of smoke rising in the distance.

Across town, the newly powered up Super Sailor Moon walked out of the rubble of Mugen Academy cradling the infantile form of Tomoe Hotaru.

AN: While I was initially thinking of going with the Harry Potter crossover for the main cross, Sailor Moon just seemed to work for the growing up arc. Eventually, and I mean eventually, this will probably still see a cross into the HP-verse, but that will be a very long time in coming. I don't want to fall into the trap of adding multiple series in to this fic and having it get bloated (though I will add HP and might have to add one more to get there). As always, constructive criticism is appreciated, particularly in terms of plot development and writing style. Incidentally, I'm not planning on recapping much of the standard SM plot, I figure that I can assume that everyone knows basically what happens up to Galaxia, and I only have to write in stuff if I'm making changes, please let me know if this does not seem sufficient.

 
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