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.