Honor, Duty, Pain. The Saotome/Senshi Series
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(A Ranma/Sailor Moon X-over)
Disclaimer:
All Characters of Ranma 1/2 belong to Rumiko Takahashi
All Characters of Sailor Moon belong to Naoko Takeuchi
What this means is that I'm poor, and by acknowledging the authors I hope you
realize that I never have, nor will I ever profit from this, so don't bother
trying to sue me.
PS I had no proof reader, so if you notice something I missed, forgive me
C & C Welcome, Flames will be killed quicker than a moth at a bonfire
This will be able to be read later at
https://www.angelfire.com/anime2/agss/
Ian Tharp
tharpi@lycos.com
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Timeline note. Ranma-timeline After series. Ranma is
17.
Senshi-timeline Pre final season. All are 15-16.
So yeah, some slight tweaking of the ages
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Chapter One
The Winds Of Change
Ranma-chan stood near another soldier, as wave after
wave of dark shadowy creatures assailed him. They were in the middle of
deep-space and whoever the enemy was; there was no doubt that she would be
unable to hold out much longer. It wasn't that she was losing to a single
enemy, there were just too damn many and she was trapped in her girl form as
well. As she feinted and attacked, another girl in a sailor fuku was wielding a
massive weapon and vanquishing her enemies at a great efficiency. She herself
was throwing energy attacks left and right vaporizing enemies. Finally a
shadowed talon cut across Ranma's abdomen and she knew she was about to be
overwhelmed. Firing everything she had she still fought on but she knew she was
dying slowly. The other girl, who seemed younger than him, looked over and
tears welled up.
And suddenly
the other girl was angry. Rage would actually be a better term. She pirouetted
and began hacking into every enemy as she sliced and diced her way over to him.
"Whoever this girl is, she is quite deadly" Ranma was thinking to
himself. However, she was receiving more and more blows as she began to falter
against the far too numerous devils. She finally made her way to Ranma, and
both were still able to fight but were now definitely fighting a losing battle.
Both were about to be overwhelmed when Ranma, who always was a protector of
women called forth one final and last attack as he embraced the child.
"DAWNING LIGHT VANQUISH" Ranma screamed as every fiber of her being
released its energy into an attack that would leave her so weak that death
would surely overtake far quicker if her attacked missed even one of the demons
attacking them. That was of course assuming the attack didn't kill her
instantly as well.
The attack had its effect. Light surrounded both girls and spread in every
direction vaporizing every attacker and still continued on for almost a minute
spreading outward before it suddenly vanish leaving the two girls still locked
in an embrace.
"Go Saturn, leave and protect the Queen"
"No, I must save you"
And with that the girl placed her hands upon Ranma as tears came to both girls'
eyes. The girl, had light emanating from her hands as
she poured energy into Ranma's body.
"She's keeping me alive, but she should be elsewhere" Ranma-chan thought. The energy would keep her alive for a little
bit longer, but barring some miracle, she was still dead.
It was then that the enemy sent its second wave.
Saturn saw the enemy coming, looked back towards Ranma, and looked past Ranma
to where the
With that thought etched on both their minds, Saturn summoned her Silence
Glaive to her and shouted ""DEATH REBORN REVOLUTION"
And everything suddenly went black.
Ranma-chan had been dreaming, and this time it didn't
involve fiancées, honor, or horrible cooking. This dream was about a fight. So
why was she shaking with a cold sweat?
Ranma-chan looked outside and noticed that dawn was
beginning to break.
(Might as well start a little early today) she thought. So she quickly went to
the kitchen to prepare a kettle.
A Hot Kettle Shower later...
Ranma kneeled in front of the koi pond in meditation.
While normally he would do this in the dojo, with the sun slowly rising he
decided a Nerima Sunrise would be the perfect way to start the day. His dream
still plagued him however.
"What was I doing fighting in space? Who was that girl? Why did I try to
say her? What were those attacks I did? And why was I in girl form?"
After a few
minutes, he decided it was time to focus on practice instead.
Akane woke up and stared out her window at Ranma. She had just been dreaming
about Ranma making fun of her and was already prepared to mallet him should he
give any cause, justifiable or not. He had just finished meditating and was
beginning a very difficult kata that Akane had only seen him do once or twice
in her life. Her anger slowly melted away as the sunrise mixed with the kata in
front of the koi pond painted a very serene picture
"This is when he actually is beautiful. He's graceful, lithe, experienced,
and everything that I wish I could be. But instead I'm the uncute
fiancée." she said as she paused and grimaced. "Yup, today's going to
suck."
Ranma was losing himself in his kata. Despite his focus, the entire series just
came too easy for him and he let his mind wander back to his dream. As move and
position followed position he didn't even notice his father sneaking up on him
preparing to attack.
Genma launched himself at Ranma as he screamed "Worthless boy! You should
always-" The sentence couldn't continue as Ranma, without breaking stride
spun around with his left foot knocking his father into the pond and then
continued effortlessly with his kata. He continued as such until Kasumi
announced breakfast.
After breakfast, which surprisingly happened without incident, Akane and Ranma
grabbed their bags and started their daily trek to school with Ranma on the
fence and Akane nearby on the sidewalk.
Ranma was puzzled. He still couldn't make heads or tails of his dream. He kept
picturing her as though he knew her, as though he had honestly met her
somewhere.
Akane was getting upset; Ranma had been oblivious to everything today. She was
even starting to get worried. She decided it was time to take drastic action.
So she pushed him off the fence, into the river.
"What did you do that for?" Ranma-chan
asked, as she twisted her clothes to get as much water out as possible. Akane
had decided to continue down the road though.
"Gotcha" she simply said as she waved, and then booked to school.
"Stupid tomboy" she then muttered under her breath. And then chased
after her in hopes of revenge, if not directly, at least he could beat up Kuno
Stopping only momentarily to find water to change back into a guy, he then set
off for school as fast as his legs could carry him.
Ranma entered the gates of Furikan only to see it was empty of
any "Blue Thunder." However, Ryoga had chosen that precise moment to
find him.
"PREPARE TO DIE RANMA!" The lost boy screamed as he threw three
bandanas at his nemesis.
"Well, at least you’re more fun than Kuno, P-Chan," Ranma coolly
responded as he leapt high into the air to avoid the projectiles.
Akane was on the third floor when she noticed Nabiki taking bets and wondered
whom Ranma was fighting. She looked out to see Ryoga, not Kuno, and Ranma
having yet another heated exchange.
"Why do those two fight? I mean, other than Ryoga having a horrible sense
of direction, he's not that bad."
Blows after blows were exchanged as Akane, who had seen this fight too many
times decided to finally put an end to it. So she did what any self-respecting
person would do when they wanted to upset a fiancée who happened to have a
water related curse. She grabbed a fire hose and prepared to spray it directly
at the two combatants.
As the spray of water came from the third story, Ranma noticed it as Ryoga
suddenly eyed the opening in his opponent's defense and landed a punch square
to the stomach, resulting in a currently male Ranma gasping for air.
"I finally beat you Ranma; nothing shall tarnish this moment." Ryoga said gloatingly, a smug smile etched
into his features.
"Think... again" was all Ranma could get out before the water
drenched them both.
Akane was smirking with herself as she followed the trajectory of the water.
"This will show them." she stated, satisfied that if nothing else, the fight would stop as both received a cold shower.
However as the
water performed the effect it is always known to do, her satisfaction, turned
to puzzlement.
"Ryoga looks like P-Chan now" she thought to herself.
"Click" went Akane's brain as it suddenly registered.
"Ryoga IS P-Chan...." she thought to herself, as the gears started
clicking. " P-Chan
sleeps with me... (Click) If P-Chan is Ryoga, then Ryoga has been sleeping with
me."
"I'LL KILL HIM" she screamed, as she leapt out the window to attack
the pig.
Ryoga paled. His victory was now completely shattered. By beating Ranma, he
hadn't noticed the water. What made it worse was that it had been Akane who had
soaked him. He was scared. He had seen what Akane had done to Ranma when she
was pissed and this made those things pale in comparison. When Akane had gotten
within 10 meters though, Ranma offered the little pig an escape.
"You'll thank me for this later" was all Ranma said as he booted the
piglet high into the air at a trajectory that would hopefully make it so Ryoga
would not find Akane, or vice versa, for some time. The pig was so depressed he
never even felt the blow.
Akane had pulled out the extra big mallet she and prepared to swing it only to
find Ranma-chan standing there whistling.
"WHERE IS THAT HENTAI!" The rage boiled over
and exploded
"So, you finally figured it out huh." Ranma answered dumbly, hoping
for once that he could calm her down.
"You knew?!?! Ranma why didn't you tell me" she screamed, suddenly
having a new target.
"Oh come on Akane! How many times did I call Ryoga P-Chan, or sneak into
your room with a kettle. But my honor..."
"DAMN you and your honor, you never told me!"
"Akane, I..."
(SMACK)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Ranma awoke in Dr Tofu's office. His mother was by his bedside. For once
however, she didn't have the katana. Ranma breathed a sigh of relief, and then
wondered what was in store for him now.
"Ranma? Are you awake now?" Nodoka asked,
and waited until her son nodded in affirmation. "Before you say anything,
I know what happened today, and I feel that perhaps you should leave Nerima for
a little while. Akane is quite angry with you. Nabiki knew about the promise
you made Ryoga, and explained it to Akane. And while you are becoming of age,
although it seems to happen slowly sometimes, I think its time you moved in with
someone who might be able to help you adjust more. You already have four
fiancées, so I don't think we need to worry about having someone for you to
marry. Even if all of those fail, at least we know you can get women. So I'm
asking you to move out of the dojo, and into an apartment with a young man I
helped to rear when he was just an orphan. Of course it would mean transferring
to Juuban, but it would also mean a break from quite a few fights as you figure
out what you want to do.
Ranma pondered over what his mother had just said.
"On the
one hand it means less chances of having to fight anybody, on the other hand it
means I won't have to deal with a lot of crap I'm currently going through. It
would mean no Happosai, or
The choice was simple.
"Sure Mom, lets try it. What's this guy's name
anyway?"
"Chiba Mamoru. I'm glad you're willing, I will inform him tomorrow.
Tonight however, I wish to spend some time with a son I don't see often enough.
So you shall stay over at my place"
"Yes mom"
(The next day at the Tendo Residence as Ranma is packing upstairs)
"HE'S GOING WHERE!!" was shouted by the numerous inhabitance of the
Tendo Home
"He's going to live in Juuban for a little while" Nodoka answered
calmly.
"But what about his engagement?" Soun and Genma
cried out almost in unison.
"It’s on
hold. It’s not like we're breaking it. Besides, this will allow Akane more time
to become a better wife as well."
Akane was about to protest when Ranma came back down then stairs and her anger
flared up as to why she should even care.
"Don't worry people, all this means is Tom Boy
over there can't mallet me as much. Thank you for your hospitality Mr.
Tendo."
And before anyone could retort, he and his mother left. Even Akane was stunned,
her mallet now in her hands, but without a target.
(At Mamoru's Apartment. Afternoon.
Nodoka knocking and Mamoru
answering)
"Chiba Mamoru, please meet my son Saotome Ranma"
"Nice to meet you Saotome-san" Mamoru said, as he respectfully bowed
to both Saotomes.
"Just Ranma, Chiba-san. Nice to
meet you as well." Ranma answered, returning the bow
"Please, just Mamoru, and would you come in, do you need any help with
your stuff."
"Nope, this is all I have" as Ranma unfastened his pack.
Nodoka then politely interrupted "Ranma, please mind your manners, and try
to visit me once in a while. You can trust Mamoru. Since tomorrow's Sunday, try
to make some friends. Mamoru, a pleasure, and do the same." and then she
hugged both men and dismissed herself.
"So Ranma, tell me about yourself"
"Let's
see, I'm 17, and practice the Art," he said as he further thought to
himself. “Trust him or not, the curse
I'm keeping under wraps for now.”
"What do
you practice?"
"
"What does
that entail?" asked Mamoru. It seemed a valid question.
"Anything
Goes Martial Arts, it has a mixture of many styles,
and is adaptive to every situation. You know, Kempo,
Karate, Kung Fu, Judo, Aikido. . . You know anything a dojo would teach my Pop
and
"Your mother told me you have at least four fiancées." Mamoru
enquired, hoping to gleam more information from his new roommate.
"Oh yeah that. That’s not by choice, blame Pops."
"Anything else I should know about?"
Ranma's new roommate asked, remember how Mrs.
Saotome warned him that Ranma might be quiet about his past or all the trouble
it has caused him.
"Yeah, please tell me you don't own a cat. Anything else I'm sure you'll
find out soon enough. How 'bout yourself?
What's your story?"
"20, I don't have a cat, I dabble as a martial artist but your mother
warned me about how much better you are, and I am not engaged to four women.
And I mostly study for and attend college, nothing really interesting"
Mamoru also laughed as he finished his statement as if he left out some giant
secret that other people would find quite funny.
A silence fell on the room until Ranma finally spoke up.
"How'd you meet my mom?"
Mamoru could see something behind the words. After all, this boy had
practically lost his mother like he did. Mrs. Saotome had informed him about
the promise Mr. Saotome had made. Although different than hisown
loss, both had missed a great deal of their childhood.
"Trust has to begin on one side to be earned on the other. If he can't
trust me he won't open up." Mamoru thought to himself.
Mamoru launched
into his story.
"When I was little I was in a car accident. Both my parents died and they
couldn't find any relatives to take me in. To make it even harder, I couldn't
even remember who I was. Your mother, who as she told me, had lost contact with
her own son decided that being a foster parent might fill the void. I stayed
with her for many years but eventually I felt I needed my own place to grow, so
I moved out to this apartment. She still supports me and despite the show back
there of introductions, I consider her to be the closest thing to a mother I
ever remember having."
"So I guess that makes you and me brothers, kind of." Ranma spoke,
with a certain nervousness.
"I guess you could say that. But like I said, she never asked to adopt me.
So just foster-brother."
There was an unspoken pain to how he ended his sentence. Both knew in a way
they had been denied part of a mother's love. Ranma, by being forced away from
his mother, had to pretend to be someone else for a time, and Mamoru, who was
cared for, but never fully accepted into a family legally. Both had been good
at hiding their feelings on the subject. Ranma noticed Mamoru, and realized
that his foster-brother's loss was similar in many ways to his own. Before he
could say anything however the moment ended. Mamoru looked at his watch and
realized that he would be late for his meeting with Usagi.
"Anyway, enough of introductions, here's an extra key. I'd stay longer but
I'm supposed to meet a couple friends. Feel free to look around the district
and we can continue this later this evening. See you later." Mamoru then
excused himself.
"Laters."
Ranma was alone. "Well, might as well put my stuff in the guest room and
hit the streets." Considering he only had a backpack, he quickly threw it
into his room and then leapt from the window down to the streets below. It was
as he was landing that Mamoru was just exiting the building.
"Hey Mamoru! Long time no see." Shouted
Ranma as he dashed off to find the park he had passed on the ride over.
Mamoru just stood there dumbfounded thinking, "Don't I live on the fifth
floor?"
Rei was doing a fire reading. While this was nothing new, she had a foreboding
even before she began it. As she stared into the flames, she asked for the
guidance and wisdom to view what was causing this premonition.
The flames responded by growing to almost twice their normal size as images
danced within the flames. The scouts were all being beaten back by creatures
that were in shadow. She could never fully see them but the power they showed
clearly put them in the category as "dangerous." All of them were
within their last instances of their life. Suddenly the fire turned a crimson
blue as the face of a redheaded girl stood between the darkness and the Sailor
Senshi in a fighting stance. No clue was given as to whether she was ally, or
enemy. As suddenly as the fire had grown, it suddenly then snuffed itself out.
All things considered, this definitely did not look good to her. Her
grandfather was having some guest over, so meeting in the temple for a couple
hours would be impossible. She immediately grabbed her communicator and set up
a meeting in the park.
Ranma reached the park without incident. After all, no problems were here to
find him. He quickly found a nice open area that offered plenty of room to
practice without having to worry about anyone getting in his way suddenly. He
quickly stretched out and began going through kata after kata. He made each one
more complex than the last, but always went through each one with a fluidity
and grace. He didn't even notice the nine girls who had come into the park and
were situated a short distance away from him.
The Inner Senshi and Outer Senshi met at the request of Rei. She had had a fire
reading and wanted to inform everyone of the danger it might be warning her
about. She normally would have only met with the Inner scouts, but when one of
the Outers was the Senshi of Time, Rei knew she might be of assistance.
Haruka, Michiru, and still baby Hotaru sat together on one bench with Setsuna
standing behind them. Minako and Mikoto both stood
behind another bench next to the Outers, while Ami sat on the bench with Chibiusa, Usagi and Mamoru. Luna and Artemis completed the
picture by sitting on the laps of their respective owners. Rei was standing and
began to address all of them.
"Thank you for coming girls." Rei began. "To get straight to the
point, I did a
fire reading today and saw us all in a losing battle. I also saw another girl
with red hair in the flames. As soon as I saw her however, the flames
themselves died out. I was hoping you might help explain all of this,
especially you Setsuna."
All eyes turned to the Senshi of Time. While it was true that she knew more
than anyone about the future did, she also knew that she wasn't allowed to know
everything. Those times she would use the gates of time to speak to her future
self, she (her past self) was usually given the response that this or that
couldn't be told and that is what she would basically tell the other scouts.. What she was about to say though shocked all of them.
"I don't know what it means. My future self has never mention any
redheaded girls posing a threat. However, I myself noticed a
that a ripple is coming. One that will either go
towards Crystal Tokyo, or away from it. It would help if we had a better
description of this girl."
"I can't really describe her, but if I ever see her I'll let you
know" Rei responded
"Then there's nothing we can do but wait, and be prepared." Ami
chimed in.
The other Senshi nodded to the only choice they really had and decided to go
their separate ways. Haruka and Michiru went for a walk with Hotaru. Usagi went
with Mamoru for their date. Setsuna just disappeared, deciding to see if there
was anything she could discover using her own means. Luna and Artemis back to Minako's house to discuss possible strategies. Ami went to
do homework, leaving Rei, Minako, and Makoto to sit back and talk.
It was then Makoto first noticed him. Immediately a puppy love glaze plastered
itself upon her eyes. Minako and Rei were about to further discuss
the fire reading when they noticed the quite common reaction of their friend.
As Minako's reaction is usually quite similar, she
followed Makoto's line of sight and had her gaze fall upon one of the most
attractive guys she had every laid eyes on. Rei was even impressed. All three
girls sat motionless taking in every detail. The boy they were looking as was
about their age, was apparently quite graceful as he went through kata after
kata without hesitation or loss of focus. He finally drew to a close and
returned to a relaxed pose. The girls were about to race to make introductions
when the demon attacked.
As had Ranma brought his kata to a close, he sense the
gathering of incredible amount of dark ki. This made
the depressing of the shi shi hokodan
seem small. He turned to see the demon jump out from the under brush and
immediately looked to see if anyone was nearby. Three girls, about his age,
maybe a year younger were able to get out of the way, however, that just left
him. The demon was a little over two meters high, but had four arms, and the
teeth it had made Ryoga's fangs look small. It took
one look at Ranma and attacked.
Ranma ducked under two arms and immediately jumped over the other two that were
lashing out punches. As he flew up he kicked the monster in the face and spun
around after wards to land behind the creature, but still facing it figuring it
wouldn't be able to see him and set up a strong attack. He didn't notice the
two glowing eyes that were in the back of the demons head so when the youma
spun around with a kick target straight at Ranma's stomach he was unable to
dodge and was knocked about 10 meters back. The demon grinned and began
throwing balls of dark ki at Ranma with all four of
his hands. Ranma sprang to his feet and manage to hop over the first ball, dive
around the second and third, but the third hit his feet and sent him sprawling
to the ground.
"Foolish human, do you dare to fight one of the dark minions." The
youma laughed, then quickly shut up when Ranma
answered
"Of course I do." With that Ranma leapt high into the air and
gathered his ki together.
"MOKO TAKABISHA!" he screamed as he released his attack at the
creature, which it barely dodged. Ranma however, as he was coming down towards
the ground followed up the attack by driving his foot into the forehead of the
creature. He somersaulted down between
the creature’s four arms and began pummeling the chest of the creature.
"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN"
After 1283 punches to the monster's ribs, Ranma jumped backwards and admired
his handy work. The demon was recovering slowly and had fallen to one knee. In
anger it suddenly screamed and prepared to leap at the martial artist.
"VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN"
The monster never got to leave the ground. Ranma looked to the bushes and saw
three very attractive girls in sailor fuku's. The
blond haired one who had shouted held a chain that was glowing and binding the
demon and then spoke.
"The park is a place for relaxation and exercise, not for ambushes and
terror. In the name of Venus, Mars and Jupiter, we shall punish you!"
"BURNING MANDALA!"
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!"
The youma, although bound suddenly reared itself back, pulling Venus with him
towards his mouth. Ranma immediately dove at her and grabbed her and pushed her
out of the way of the other two scout's attacks. The sudden changes in momentum
distracted Venus' Love Me Chain to dissipate and free one very pissed off
youma.
The three senshi and Ranma each took one side of the monster. Mars get on his
right, Venus behind, Jupiter left, and Ranma front. The demon summoned dark
energy into each hand and attacked all four at once. Almost as one, all three
girls dodged, however Ranma jumped over the arm and began to once again beat
down on the monster from the inside or his guard. Blow after blow began to be
traded as each refused to pull punches. Ranma finally yelled to the scouts.
"Hey Blond girl, bind him, then the three of us will attack. Brace
yourself so he doesn't pull you off your feet.""
Venus nodded and prepared to summon the Venus Love me chain as Ranma forced the
demon to keep fighting him. The demon summoned four balls of energy to attack
Ranma only to have him jump when he heard Venus' attack as she saw an opening.
"VENUS LOVE ME CHAIN"
The monster was suddenly bounded again as from the right left and above three
attacks were heard:
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE"
"BURNING MANDALA"
"MOKO TAKABISHA"
Only ashes were left after the three attacks hit the youma full force and with
deadly accuracy. It was as the four were recovering that the rest of the senshi
showed up. Usagi as Sailor Moon spoke up first.
"So where is this demon?"
"There, the four of us took care of it. What was it though?" was all
Ranma said as he pointed to the ashes that were already being scattered to the
four winds.
"And who are you," asked Haruka as Sailor Uranus.
"I'm Ranma Saotome, and there were three girls I needed to go check on.
They were here when that thing attacked and I should go see if they are
alright." As Ranma bounded off to the bushes, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus
spoke to the Senshi.
"He means us," Venus said first.
"He reminds me of my last boyfriend" Jupiter added as a sigh escaped
her lips.
"We should change and have him come with us so we can find out what we can
about him" Mars added, being the only sensible one. Everyone nodded their
ascent.
"I'll meet you at your place then, if too many of us are their, he might
get suspicious, and we don't know if we can trust him yet," Haruka stated.
The other scouts all left as Mars, Venus, and Jupiter transformed back into
normal clothes.
"Hey, I couldn't-" Ranma stopped. He had been planning on telling
those fuku girls that he couldn't find the three girls that were nearby when
the attack started, however, rather than Senshi, before him stood those same
three girls. "Where did those fuku girls go?"
Mars decided to take command for now. "They saw us and assumed we were the
ones you were looking for. They told us to wait for you. Umm, where did you
learn how to fight like that? We saw the whole thing."
"Oh, my Pop trained me, and then I've been taught by lots of others, as
well as I've taught myself a couple things."
"Well, could you walk us to her place," Minako chimed in. " After all, we don' know if we'll be attacked again.
Besides, we could probably throw in a free meal with it." Ranma was sold.
"And maybe you could show us a couple moves" Makoto added as she
winked. "After all" she thought to herself, "if I could throw that many
punches in a couple seconds, those youma would be much less dangerous*
"Uh, OK, so long as I don't have to hit you. I don't fight girls." he
said, as Mikoto grabbed one arm,
and Minako the other and headed off towards Rei's
House and Shrine.
Rei just buried
her face in her hands and thought the same thing as Ranma. "Here we go
again"
At the Shrine, Ranma sat while Rei announced that she was having a couple
people meet her, and she would love to introduce him. So after a little while,
Haruka, Ami, and Usagi arrived, and made introductions.
Rei finally broke everyone's suspense and started asking the questions everyone
wanted to know.
"So how long have you been fighting?"
"As long as I can remember, though a lot more recently
due to that whole fiancée fiasco."
"Fiancée fiasco?" she asked, an eyebrow raised with the
inquiry, as both Makoto and Minako sighed knowing they were probably too late
in catching this boy.
"Too many." he said with a laugh, before continuing. "Fortunately they're all in Nerima, and
I start at Juuban in a couple days." A couple shouts of yes were heard,
though Ranma couldn't place who said them.
"Ahem. Where did you learn all those techniques?"
"Some of them were already a part of the Saotome School of Anything Goes
Martial Arts, while others were picked up at other dojos,
or from other martial artists."
"How good are you?" Haruka asked.
"I'm the best."
"Care to prove it?" Haruka further prodded as the girls came to
realize what she was going to do. Since she looked like a boy, perhaps Ranma
would spar with her. After all, earlier he had told Rei he wouldn't hit girls
unless it was necessary.
"Alright. Rei will you serve as judge?"
The rest of the girls spread themselves out to watch the sparring match, while
Haruka and Ranma both quickly stretched and then bowed to face each other.
Haruka in a standard fighting stance, Ranma with his hands by his side relaxed.
Then Rei order the match to begin
Haruka threw a punch at Ranma's face only to have him duck it. She followed
with a leg sweep only to have Ranma jump it. As she spun around to recover from
her momentum Ranma landed and threw a roundhouse to the face, stopping inches
away from contact as Haruka froze.
"My point?" Ranma asked Rei. Rei nodded and
both fighters retook there opening stances.
Haruka decided to play defense this turn and waited for Ranma to attack. As
soon as Rei began the round Ranma leapt at Haruka with a flying kick, which as
Ranma had anticipated, Haruka ducked sending Ranma over her head towards the
tree behind her. Once she turned she turned around though she had Ranma's fist
a hairs breath away from her nose. He turned to Rei and asked "My point
again?" She simply nodded.
"How did he get there so quickly?" Haruka asked the other girls
"He leapt off the tree directly behind you so that he recovered almost
instantaneously." Ami answered.
"One more time?" Ranma asked. Haruka nodded.
The match began and Ranma charged Haruka . She punched
at him only to have Ranma grab her arm, throw her over his hip so that she
landed on the ground with a thud. He the threw one
punch at his opponents chest stopping right at skin contact.
"My poi..." he stopped as he realized a male chest doesn't curve that
way "You're a girl?!? Akane's going to kill me. I'm sorry." He spat the words out with genuine sorrow, as
he bowed repeatedly.
Haruka look up at her opponent. Here she was, one of the strongest fighters
within the Senshi, and this guy had completely overpowered her. Now as soon as
he finds out that she's a girl, he's a softy. She began to laugh.
"Ranma, it's alright. Can you help me up?" As he did so she
continued, "I knew you wouldn't fight the other girls, however, have you
ever thought about teaching martial arts?"
"I'm supposed to take over the Anything Goes School someday, but I've
never actually tried to teach anyone."
"Maybe you should, you could probably make some good money at it. I would
especially like to know how you did that energy blast that Minako mentioned, or
any of your other techniques. Could you show us them? You don't have to use them on any of us, so
don't worry."
After a long pause, Ranma consented.
For the next half hour Ranma showed how he did any move they
asked him to do (without giving away the means to train for them), except for
the Saotome Forbidden techniques and Neko-Ken. The entire time they
watched in awe, wonder, and a little fear at someone who wasn't even a Senshi
pulling off devastating attacks. What Ranma didn't know was that Ami was
analyzing each one on her computer. Her data would take a couple days to analyze
the information. He seemed alright, but these Senshi weren't going to take any
chances. Finally everyone had to go their separate ways. Secretly they decided
they’d all meet to discuss Ranma. He wasn't a threat, yet, they agreed, but
suspicions had to be had.
Rei asked Ranma to stay behind for a little bit. After everyone had left she
asked him the questions no one else had.
"Why are you getting away from you fiancées?"
"My Mom felt I should get away from the problems so I could address them
better when I return. Its about . . . a lot of other
things than simply the fiancées. Besides, if you had four fiancées who were all
martial artist, and if you decided to marry one, the other three might try to
kill them, wouldn't you leave? Like I said though, that's just one reason of
many.
"I guess so... but why won't you hit girls. I mean with Haruka you looked
like you would have let her hit you if she had wanted; after you realized she
wasn't a boy."
"I probably would have. I let Akane all the time. I just freeze for some
odd reason. If its a real fight, then I can fight
back, but most of the time I know that I can take whatever they dish out, so I
freeze and take it. Its
not even something I can control most of the time"
"Look Ranma, that's stupid. If a girls going to fight you, whether you're
better or not you can fight back. Next time it happens don't just dodge. But do
some throws or something. You don't have to kick to get your point across, but
you can leave them with a loss on their record. Are you better than all your fiancées?"
"Yes, most of them try the same patterns, and Akane has so many holes in
her defense that she could never beat the other three."
"It sounds like she's the forerunner then in the competition. Since she's the only one you've named. Why don't you train her"
"I don't hit girls."
"Well, we'll work on that."
Rei knew the
girls were suspicious and would be no matter what. They had fought too many
demons to count. Even if he had saved their lives today, and helped kill a youma,
it didn't mean it couldn't be a plot. But too many times they had made the
wrong mistake of someone who later was a friend, or sometimes even an ally. She
decided for once, maybe she should take a chance and think the other way. She
spoke up once more.
"You're
new here, and I don't go to Juuban, but, can we be friends?"
"Yes, I'd like that."
"Great, how about I walk you home."
End Part 1
