Finishing what you start. Chapter one. I don't own any of these Characters. They all belong to some rich person with talent. I am lacking in both areas, so don't sue me, and don't complain about the quality of this work I hang above the clearing, carefully concealed so that not even my scent is revealed. I watch in bewilderment as the big man in the white clothes, bandana, and glasses picks up his squalling whelp one more time. I ponder the stupidity of these humans. Certainly he isn't going to throw the kid in that pit again. Not after what happened the last three times. Certainly not... My mistake. He just threw the kid in again. I almost feel pity for the youngling, but not really. The child can't take much more of this. If it dies... Hey, wait a minute. If it dies... It's a matter of child's play to disguise oneself as a human. Its not terribly difficult to make yourself look like a specific human either. If the kid dies, no one has to know that. Hmmmm. I begin to move, swiftly.... "Ranma?" a tenuous voice breaks my thoughts. I shake my head to dispel the old memories and turn with a smile to the young girl sitting next to me. "Yes?" I ask politely, as I help myself to another sandwich. They offered to share, so that means its all open game. "Ranma, are you telling the truth?" the girl asked again, with a little frown on her face. After I had introduced myself, the four had done me the same honor. The little girl with the dark clothing currently asking me a question is named Hotaru. The blonde cross-dresser had introduced herself as Haruka, while the aqua-haired chick hanging on Haruka's arm was called Michiru. The green-head with the eyes called herself Setsuna. They had, with what I consider a great showing of kindness, generously invited me to share of their food laden basket, and I, just as generously in my opinion, agreed to partake. Truth be told, they had still looked a little numb after my rather flamboyant entrance. All except the green-head, who when it looked like I was about to be on my way, invited me to the meal apparently to keep me around so she could grill me into the ground with questions. "Telling the truth about what?" I ask in a too innocent tone of voice. I had already repeated my story several times. After the initial shock had begun to wear off, the four had begun to eye me doubtfully. Correction. Two had eyed me doubtfully. The blonde had questioned me out right, and the green- head just looking at me without expression. She was pretty good at that. "The fact that I'm a super powered martial artist, the fact that there are dozens of super powered martial artists living in my prefecture, the fact that I'm magically cursed to change into a women with cold water, or the fact that I have three fiancés?" "I think all of it is a crock of bull," Haruka generously added her two cents to the pot, and I generously ignored her. "All of it," Hotaru asked innocently. "I mean, super powered martial artists? Magical curses?" She gave me a skeptical look. I shrugged under the weight of her gaze. Setsuna spoke up again. "I hope you forgive us if we seem to be prying," she began, not looking at all repentant, "but you have to admit that the story you present is rather farfetched." I sigh as I reach for another sandwich, and reminded myself that I have to convince them that what I tell them is the truth, or questions might be asked. I cannot afford an investigation into my actions this late into the game. I keep reminding myself that not everyone has had to lead a life as incredibly unusual, all things considered, that I have had to. I keep reminding myself that as long as they keep asking questions, they weren't noticing that I had eaten almost all of their sandwiches. I turn to Michiru. "And how about you?" I ask her. "Do you believe any of my story? Please pass me a thermos, would you?" I add on the last part innocently. She complied with my request as she answered. "I don't want to accuse a stranger of dishonesty, but your tale is so unusual." She trailed off with a sympathetically skeptical look, as I tested the thermos. Good, its just cold tea. Now, don't get me wrong. Its not like I have a draw full of pink panties with little hearts on them, but I don't really have anything against being a girl. I mean, sure, at first it was a real kick in the teeth, but it's not all that unusual where I come from. Hell, it's pretty tame all things considered. The truth of the matter is that I like being able to turn into a woman. Well, female anyway. It opens a whole new side of life, from new clothes, to new places, to a new perspective on everything. It's not like I would write out a recommendation on aquatransexualism, but I'm not really complaining about it. And with that thought, I dumped the cold tea on my head, and went back to eating a sandwich. Besides, the expression on peoples faces when I do that is just to funny. I take in the reaction of the peoples around me as I eat. I must admit to some amusement when Haruka's eyes glazed over and Michiru's jaw dropped. Hotaru, who had been leaning in so to give her skeptical look more power fell flat on her face. Setsuna raised a viridian eyebrow, cool as a cucumber. I could definitely come to appreciate a customer like that one. I finished the sandwich, and then took a sip of the dregs of the tea left in the thermos I held. As I tipped back my head to get the last of it, I couldn't help but notice the sun setting in front of me from around the thermos. Was it really that late? Well, I better get going. Maybe I should stop by Ucchan's so I can honestly say I had been there when the people who dwell in the same house as I ask where I've been? Maybe. Doesn't hurt to get a little extra food either. With these thoughts I stand abruptly. I almost laugh out loud when Haruka's eyes follow the bounce of my breasts as I rise. Seeing as how her, Michiru, and Hotaru are still out for the count, I turn to Setsuna. She rises as I do, a good two inches or so taller than me in this gender. "Look," I start in a tone fitting to that of the ill mannered country bumpkin I was disguised as, "it was great of you to let me have some sandwiches, but its getting late. Stop by Nerima sometimes and I'll show you all around. Just ask for me at the Tendo Dojo." I can almost imagine that. Another set of gorgeous women dropping by and asking for me by name. I wonder if I'll even be given a chance to explain before they all assume I'm engaged again. I extended my hand to Setsuna. She looked at it for a second, and then excepted with all the grace of a princess. "It was a pleasure to meet you Ranma. I believe you said warm water changes you back? I think we might still have some warm tea," she offered politely. I grin and shake my head. "Nah," I tell her, "I'll just go home and take a bath." I turn to leave, and the act seems to break the stupor that the other three had fallen into. "Wait," one of them, I think Hotaru begins, but I don't stick around to hear what she was going to say. With a quick bound I'm twenty feet up and landing on a tree limb. With the natural grace of a squirrel I begin my trip home, bounding from one tree to another and an unbelievable pace, and I leave the four women whose picnic I had utterly annihilated behind. That was kind of fun. *** My reception back at the dojo was about what I expected. The moment I entered the door I found myself being propelled into the neighbors by a mallet accompanied by the shout of "Ranma, you idiot!" I peeled myself from the wall of the house across the street, and turned back to the door to be greeted by the sight of Akane glowing blue, even to the naked eye. To a creature with more refined senses, such as myself, she was releasing so much ill will that the walls around her were becoming psychicly imbibed with malignant energy. Cool. "Where have you been, Ranma?!" Akane shouted even as she began to charge me. I suppose I could answer 'having a picnic with four fabulously endowed women," but that might be the wrong thing to say. I began to dodge her assaults desperately, floating and twisting to avoid getting an indentation on my face. "I stopped by Ucchan's for some dinner," I tell her, and her glow actually increased. Wow. Now, lets get something straight. First off, I want to make it clear that I'm not a psychic vampire. I am as far above some pathetic dark energy leech as humans are above monkeys. Having to rely on lesser creatures to restore ones energy is pathetic. My species has no need of draining energy, or drinking blood, or anything like that. Give us a length of time and we will recover our own energies at a rate that is directly proportional to our strength. But...Even though I don't need the energy, damn, is it tasty. Akane and I continue our discussion in a similar vein, ending with me getting slammed into the koi pond, and her stomping off, leaving behind her a trail of dark energy, writhing and snapping in a serpentine frenzy. I stand up and strip off my shirt, wringing it out as I enter the house. Almost immediately I am attacked again. "Son," Genma bellows, looming up in front of me with Soun beside him. "How dare you treat your fiancé in such a manner? What kind of man would treat an innocent little girl in such a fashion? I should beat some..." My father trailed off suddenly when he realized that I was a girl, and currently shirtless. Soun is ogling me as I walk by without slowing,. "Uncute tomboy, stupid old man," I mutter, making sure to stay in character as I entered the kitchen. I see Kasumi by the stove and I call to her, "Hey, Kasumi. Do we have any hot water?" Here's where the fire works start. Kasumi turns and sees me as I begin to pull on my shirt. Foom! Instantly I feel the raw lust blazing from her body like a supernova. Her face remains in a cheerful and pleasant smile, even as she says, "Why yes Ranma. I have some on the stove right now." "Thanks Kasumi," I say innocently. I just love hanging around Kasumi. Its amazing that despite her intense emotional response to almost everything about me, she manages to hold onto that passively friendly mask of cheerfulness. As I pour the water over my head, the lust she's emitting nearly doubles, and I casually toss out, "Yeah, sorry about the mess, but Akane hit me into the pond again." "She shouldn't be so violent," Kasumi says disapprovingly. Instantly the lust changes into a vicious hatred so intense it makes Akane's earlier emotions seem bland. I can almost feel the air around her turn black. "Yea. Thanks for the water Kasumi," I tell her as I hand back the kettle. She turns to fill it as I turn to leave. "I think I'll go take a shower and turn in," even without looking I can feel the return of the lust. Damn. If I could only find a way for the engagement to be transferred over to Kasumi... I trudge up the stairs intent on my upcoming bath when the final occupant of the house confronts me. Nabiki. The way she eyes me reminds me of a cat about to devour something. Believe me, I know that expression. She speaks up. "So, Ranma," she drawls from where she's leaning against the wall. "You ready to tell me where you've been going at night?" Truth be told, I had been wondering how Akane knew I had been going out. I usually leave after the rest of the house was asleep and I always come back as quick as possible in case someone tries to challenge me when I'm gone. I had managed to do this fairly often without anyone knowing, but than I got careless. I left after everyone else in the house was asleep, but I forgot to check to see if everyone was in the house. I was getting home at right about two in the morning when I ran square into Nabiki. Literally. After I helped her up she had demanded to know where I had been. When I refused to answer she had the audacity to attempt to coerce me into telling, threatening to let every one know that I had been out late. Like she hadn't been sneaking in at just the same moment I had. Someday I'm going to do something to that girl to put her in her place. "Nope," I tell her, and brush past her into the bathroom. I put up the 'occupied' sign and go to work cleaning myself off. After I had washed and rinsed, while I was resting in the actual tub, I let my thoughts range around as they will. For nearly a decade straight I had wondered this world with Genma. Genma had trained me and raised me, all the while thinking that I am his son. He never even suspected that I was actually a scout and espionage agent for an army of demonic and evil entities preparing to invade this plain of existence. Scattered throughout the world is the making of the barrier. The barrier is an enormously complex and interwoven net of magic that keeps the plain I come from and this plain from intermingling. It was designed eons ago to keep us out, to keep us trapped. But it has been weakening. For the past two millennium the lord of our world, He-Who-Remembers, has been doing what he can to weave away at the barrier from our side. But it hadn't been enough. And so me and a few others, I don't know who or how many, were selected to aid him. We were squeezed through what holes He-Who-Remembers had managed to erode, and set upon our task. We couldn't do much. After all, the barrier was specifically designed to keep out my kind. But I was able to do something. It was hard at first, to find intersecting points of power that made up the barrier. It was even harder at first to undue them, but with practice it became easier. It is only a matter of time now. I can almost see the barrier snap, I can almost see He-Who-Remembers glorious return, I can almost see Akane naked, I can almost.... Wait a second. Akane naked? What? I snap out of my reverie to be treated to the sight of a naked Akane standing in the doorway to the bathroom. Behind her I can see a smirking Nabiki holding up the occupied sign I had hung up. As Akane reaches for her mallet, I decide that I'm not just going to put Nabiki in her place. I was just flat out going to kill her *** I open my eyes into the stillness of the night. I lay there, unblinking as I extend my senses to envelop the house around me. Behind me, Genma lays snoring. Two rooms over I can smell the sake on Soun's breath. I can barely discern Akane mumbling something in her sleep. On the floor beneath me I can hear Kasumi in a deep slumber. The only one not asleep is Nabiki. She is waiting in her own room, no doubt trying to catch me as I leave. For a second I consider waiting, staying in tonight, giving her time to lose interest, but I can't do that now. Not when the time is so close. I rise into a low crouch , take a second to scent the air, and then I move. Something I have discovered over time, is that when I am in human shape, I have a humans strength. When I first began my trip here, this was disturbing. But as time went by, my human form began to become faster and stronger. Now, with my abnormally fast and strong human body, I move quickly and soundlessly to the window, open it and dart out. Before I even hit the ground I am in position, and when I touch I move. I hear Nabiki moving too, and then I begin the course I had decided upon earlier this evening. Nabiki thinks that I am very stupid for some reason. I think she subconsciously insists that anyone as physically powerful as I am can't be intelligent, so that people like her have a chance to survive. Some kind of balance of nature. That's rubbish. Nabiki knows that I know that she knows that I've been going out, and so she assumes that when I leave tonight, I will no doubt head in the wrong direction in an attempt to shake off pursuit. So instead I move in as straight a line as I possibly can towards my destination tonight. After my flight this morning on the way home I detected several as of yet unmolested points on the barrier. They lay in the prefecture that I landed in earlier. In Juuban. After I had been running at extreme speeds for almost five minutes, I stop and begin the second part of my plan to evade Nabiki and whatever tail she might have on me. I duck into a dried out drainage canal that was passing beneath a street. There, I proceeded to remove all of my clothing. I have underestimated Nabiki before, and I wouldn't put it past her to plant some kind of tracking device on my clothes. After I had finished stripping I finished off my disguise by removing my disguise. I feel my bones shift and my skin stretch. My muscles expand and my features change. Within seconds I am in my original form. I crouch in shadows for a moment, and then move on from where I had been hidden. My clothes lay in a brief case hidden in the dried up canal bed. Now that I am in my original form, I move even faster. Any who see me as I pass, see nothing but the faintest hint of black, a shadow moving across the street or the wall. I am undetectable, I am silent, I am... BOOM! ...falling on my face. Ouch. What the hell was that? I whip my head around wildly, trying to find the source of the explosion. Behind me, several streets down, a fireball rips the air. That would be a likely source. I decide that perhaps it would be better if I see what that is before I finish off the barrier points. Authors notes. Wow. I've never actually written an Authors notes. I feel like a professional. For anyone who hasn't figured it out, this is a sailor moon and Ranma crossover. While the first chapter introduces the basic premise of this story, the next chapters will start with the plot.