Private Bet #8: Warriors of Love
by Shade
Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon are the
copyrights of their respective creators. There,
I said it. Are you happy now?
~~~~~
Part 1: Love and other dirty four letter words.
~~~~~
"What are you doing?"
A small grey kitten padded her way toward the pool,
most noticable on her forehead was a small shining crescent moon.
"Huh?? Diana how’d you get here?" Rowan, Shadow, and
the Guardian looked like kids who’s hands had been caught
in the cookie jar. They had good reason to be nervous too,
if their wives found out about this there would be a good deal
more then Hell to pay.....
"Mom and Dad are busy and so is Chibi-Usa.
I got bored so I went looking for you."
Several of the rougher entities backed away,
unable to cope with the sucrose overload.
Shadow could already feel cavities forming.
"Um...now’s not a good time."
"Oooh....what’s that? Isn’t that Endymion?!"
Busted. That particular Bet would have to be
the one being watched at the moment.
"Ah..well...you see..."
Not being able to lie really sucked sometimes
in Rowan’s opinion. He shot a pointed look at
the others, this was all their fault. Picking
a timeline where Prince Endymion died a horrible
screaming death was bad enough, but deciding to
enlarge the scene with blow by blow playback had
just been plain stupid.
"You’re being naughty again aren’t you!"
They tried to look innocent and failed miserably.
"I’m going to tell...." Diana singsonged.
"You wouldn’t dare."
"Who’s turn is it this week? Hmm?"
A definitely mischievous expression was on
the Moonkitten’s face.
"Alright!!You win!!!" They cried.
"What can be so bad about that?"
The Bard wondered what threat was so
horrible as to scare those three.
"Four words. Setsuna, Black Leather, Bullwhip."
The Guardian looked like he could use a drink,
or better yet a whole bottle.
The Bard’s eyes widened.
"I....see."
"I wanna make a change here!"
"Wait a minute!"
Too late.
All they could do now was watch and groan.
~~~~~~
-Entering Ranma Timeline
[....."She’s really a very sweet girl" Doctor Tofu had said.]
"Like hell she is." Ranma retorted weakly as
he remembered that conversation.
Right after his legs had locked up Akane had stopped
and LAUGHED at his predicament. But only AFTER
she had bashed him on the head with her schoolbag.
Of course his mouth had shot off, he’d been raised to fight
back against any kind of attack and with Genma as a father
you learned to act first and think later.
It usually worked.
Just not this time. After several agonizing minutes had
passed Akane had left his much battered and aching
body on the street as she went home.
"Find your own way back you Sexchanging Perverted Jerk!!"
Those had been her last words as she walked
away without looking back once. Her voice had
been as cold as finely tempered steel and cut
deepler then even the finest masamune blade.
At this point Ranma Saotome’s life had for
all intents and purposes hit rock bottom.
In the last six months he’d picked up a
Jusenkyo curse that turned him into a girl
at the worst possible times, a bloodthirsty
amazon was after his head, he was engaged
without his consent to someone he’d thought
might have become a friend but had instead
only insulted him and attacked him once she
found out he was really a guy, and to add
insult to injury the local bully had developed
a fixation on him as girl while trying to kill
him when he was a guy.
When he’d arrived at the Tendo Dojo Ranma had
emotionally latched onto the first person to
show him any kindess there, Akane Tendo.
But after being constantly confronted with
open hostility the chances of any sort of
attachment forming between him and her had
been squashed like a particularly annoying bug.
Except that you usually stopped hitting the
bug after it was dead.
Things *couldn’t* get any worse.
Then he turned around.
"Ca...ca..ca.cacacacacacacCAT!!!!!!"
If he’d been coherent at the time Ranma would
have sworn to never make such a foolish statement
ever again.
However he was too busy trying to stop his
fragile hold on sanity from snapping entirely.
Ranma started to panic even more as the white
feline approached him. So caught up was he in
his efforts to get away from it that he didn’t
notice the cresent moon on its forehead.
Artemis smirked, if cats could be said to smirk.
This was going to be so much fun!
But just when it looked like all hope was lost...
"Shoo Artemis! Stop teasing him!"
As Ranma looked up into Minako Aino’s big
blue eyes he could have sworn he heard a
little *twing* as if someone had just fired
a bow. But that was silly, there wasn’t anyone
else here except him and this beautiful, caring,
wonderful girl....
~~~~~~~~~
Cupid started worrying, this was not going
according to plan. What had gone wrong?
All he had to do was to shoot Ranma as
soon as the girl helped him up. But this
wasn’t the right girl!
{Damn it!!!}(1)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma just about lost faith in the
fairer sex and was going to say
to heck with it all and become a
monk when this angel suddenly came to his rescue.
Now here she was trying to help him
and make him feel better.They were
sitting in a booth at a nearby burger
joint, waiting for Ranma’s legs to recover.
It was the first truly nice deed anyone had
ever done for him without demanding something
in return.
Much to his continued relief the white
cc..a...ca...feline had not made another
appearence. He was a bit stunned that Minako
had been able to carry him this far. There was
a hidden strength in that seemingly delicate
body he realized, not as strong as Akane’s,
but somehow more appealing that way.
To pass the time they talked, and much
to Ranma’s surprise once he started he
found himself spilling out practically
his entire life story to her sympathetic ear.
And he also found himself listening to parts
of her life too, it seemed that this girl had
also been looking for someone to unburden herself
to. Misery loved company.
Though he sensed that there was much she left unsaid
Ranma said nothing, after all he hadn't told her
everything either. She probably wouldn't have
believed the more fantastic parts without proof
and he didn't want her to think he was some kind
of freak.
Old wounds mend slowly.
Ranma was more cautious this time after
having been burned once already.
So far his experiences with girls had
been zero for two, he wasn’t exactly
anxious for a third strikeout.
But maybe...
~~~~~~
"So that explains why he always eats Akane’s cooking..."
"Besides the fact she shoves it down his throat anyway?"
"Well, that too."
~~~~~~~
Minako Aino had just gone through a
very rough time in her life. She had
lost her first love to one of her best
friends back in England. Because of her
secret identity as Sailor V she had
become a loner, her duty coming first
over friendship and the normal things
girls her age usually did. Now here she
was, starting over in Japan, even more
alone then before....
Despite her outward attempt to keep
up a cheerful demeanor she was
hurting badly.
Running into someone with a situation
similar to hers was a surprise to say
the least. Looking at the handsome
pigtailed boy in front of her she had
trouble believing that this wasn’t
just another one of her many romantic
daydreams. He wasn’t an idol, a minus.
But on the other hand he was rather
cute and really nice, both major
pluses in her book. After all, she
wasn't exactly in a position to be
choosy.
Maybe...
~~~~~~~~
"Uh oh."
Rowan was getting a really bad feeling about this.
Perhaps Setsuna in her 'Oujo-sama to Oyobi' outfit
would have been a better choice after all.
(To be continued)
*$*$*$*$*
(1) This is not the cute cherub that you’re thinking of.
While reading up on Rifts for Bet #10 I found an entry
for an EVIL Cupid. This demon only LOOKS cute and innocent.
He gets his thrills from ruining people’s lives by causing them to
fall in love (or lust) with the worst possible person for them.
And if by some miracle the love starts to work out......
Cupid uses his arrows to create rivals and make other
obstacles leading toward broken hearts and shattered dreams.
Hmmm.....Sound familar?
Author’s note: Where does this go?
Cupid trying to fix his first goof-up, of course you know
that things like that never go according to plan. A Murphy’s
Curse placed on his bow makes sure of that. This is a fic
where love DOES conquer all...^_^
The other Sailor Senshi-Trouble just waiting to happen.
Tux Boy- About to get some serious competition....if
he doesn't just get his butt served up to him on a
silver platter first.
(No, Ranma is not going to wear a fuku!! No turbans
and no formal dining wear!!!)
Ranma cast- Hmmm.....Nah...no hints.
Blame the CCC for this idea. Minako & Ranma, a
fanfic that had to happen sooner or later.
The Ranger of the Crossover Fiancees strikes again!
-Shade
*$*$*$*$*$*$*
Private Bet #8: Warriors of Love
by Shade
Disclaimer in progress. Nothing to
see here folks, move along.
~~~~~~
Part 2: Of Minako and Men
~~~~~~
Ranma smiled as he walked back
toward the Tendo household. Today
had been the best day of his life.
He hadn’t felt this good since.....
since...
.....since Ucchan.
A friend.
Finally, after so many failed attempts
he'd found a real friend at last.
And maybe someday...something more.
Nothing could spoil his mood at the moment.
*Splash*
Well...almost nothing.
The pigtailed red-head shot a dirty look at the old lady,
she was STILL cleaning the sidewalk at this hour?!
She (formerly he) started to walk away, then paused
in midstride as an idea hit her. This Horse was
through with letting people ride her into the dirt
and just letting them get away with it. It was payback time....
~~~~~
Ranma pressed herself against the wall
surrounding the house to avoid detection.
Grinning mischieviously she hefted a bucket
of cold water she’d gotten from a garden hose,
listening carefully for the sounds of her
target on the other side of the stone wall.
Heave-ho!
*Splash*
An old woman screamed in utter
outrage as she was drenched
by an icy downpour.
The pigtailed girl clapped a hand over
her mouth to keep her laughter from escaping
and giving away her location as she ran off.
Revenge was sweet.
~~~~~~~
The Tendo household was concerned, where was Ranma?
Akane had arrived earlier saying that "the Baka"
had been delayed and would probably be coming back
later. The hours had passed, dinner came and went
and still no Ranma.
Kasumi had put aside part of the meal for
him despite Genma's protests. Even Akane was
starting to worry as guilt over her earlier
actions began to set in. She’d left him behind
when she knew he couldn’t walk, could something
have happened to him?! Maybe she should go out
to look for that jerk and yell at him for making them worry!!
Just as Akane sprang up to tell her father that she
was going out to look for her not-fiancee (she didn't
really care about him, but it just wasn’t right to leave
him out there) a cheerful and badly out of tune whistling
floated up from the front door.
~~~~~~~
-A short while later
"How dare you worry your father like that Ranma! That kind
of irresponsible behavior is a disgrace to the Saotome family!!"
Nod.
*Mumble, mumble*
Nod again.
"Pay attention!!!"
The younger Saotome was occupied with matters
of a more important nature, namely feeding the
black hole laughingly referred to as his stomach.
This lecture had been going on ever since he’d set
foot back in the Tendo residence, but experience had
taught him how to tune out the old man’s irritating
voice. After a quick "Hello" to Kasumi and the
wonderful discovery that she’d saved him some of
dinner for him he’d gotten right down to business.
Fifteen minutes later the edge had been taken off his hunger
and he felt much better.
"Thanks a lot Kasumi. I really needed that,
it’s been one heck of a day."
Ranma shot her a grateful smile that seemed to light up the room.
That was the straw that broke the back of the anorexic camel
of restraint.
"YOU JERK!!! First you get us all worried and now
you’re FLIRTING with my sister!!! Keep your perversions
away from Kasumi!!!"
"Knock it off ya stupid tomboy, it was your fault I was late!"
Akane’s fist rocketed out. Her method of winning an
argument wasn’t logically sound but very effective
none the less.
*POW*
A sharp flash of pain to his forehead was
the last thing Ranma felt before he collapsed.
Genma took this oppertunity to make off
with his son’s dinner and devour it before
anyone could stop him.
Seeing that he wasn’t going to be waking up anytime
soon the rest of the household left the unconscious martial
artist where he was at Genma’s insistance "to toughen the
boy up". That didn’t stop Kasumi from covering him up with
a warm blanket for the night, or Nabiki from rooting around
in his pants (get your heads out of the gutter!) for enough yen
to pay for the old pillow she slipped under the large lump
protruding from the pigtailed boy’s thick skull.
"He never learns. Akane’s definitely
going to be wearing the pants in their marriage."
Well, as long as she got paid it was none of her business....
"Nabiki! It’s not nice to say things like that."
Kasumi shot her mercenary sister a disapproving look.
"Well Tendo, it looks like the sparks between our children
are heating up, they’ll be married in no time!"
"Yes Saotome, soon our dream of uniting the schools
will at last be fullfilled!"
Tears of joy poured forth from Soun’s eyes.
Once the sake was produced there was no going back.
~~~~~~~
Gurgles of nausea erupted forth as the viewers
were put through the Anything Goes Singing and
Drinking Chorus Line.
"What reality are those two morons living in?"
"Even the Gods don’t know that one."
The Guardian felt a need to pay tribute to the
porcelain goddess. Bad enough that they were already
pulling out microphones, but Disco?!
"Somebody smite them, please!"
~~~~~~~~~~
The changes in the timeline started to snowball....
That last punch had been the final blow.
The emotional credit limit of one Ranma Saotome
for one Akane Tendo had just been reached and
overextended. The act of kindness that would
have pulled it back into the black and trapped
the boy in an unhappy fate was not delivered this
time.
In hopes of having her as a friend Ranma had
given Akane a *huge* starting balance of emotional
credit when they first met (the equivalent of a
platinum card). But over a short amount of time her
childish temper tantrums and cruel abuse had used up
all of that initial sum and more. Lots more, so much
that even if Akane had been able to breathe from the
top of head she'd *still* have been in the red.
The first required payments to keep the account active
had been made by Genma and Soun, their insistance on the
engagement being a matter of honor had just been able to
satisfy the first interest payment incurred. But the
principal of the debt had still remained. And without
any positive deposits, not even a single kind word or
smile from the Tendo girl, Ranma’s heart had no choice
but to shut the account down.
Meanwhile, a new account had just
been opened for one Minako Aino.
*Her* account was starting firmly in the black....
~~~~~~~~
Of some importance later on but not having anything
to do with what was happening right now was the first meeting
between Usagi Tsukino and a black cat with a crescent moon on
its forehead had just taken place on the same day.
The white cat with the crecent moon on its forehead
on the other hand did have an immediate bearing on
the story at hand so while a certain martial artist visited
"la la" land the scene shifted toward a certain girl’s bedroom
where Artemis was giving his charge a long and very through
lecture on why it was dangerous to even think of getting in a
relationship with anyone at the present time.
"Blahblah......It’s too dangerous....
Yakkity yack......You can’t afford to
relax your guard......Etc...etc....
remember what happened last time?
Minako? Minako?! MINAKO!!!"
The attractive blonde he was addressing
was busy hugging a stuffed teddy bear to
her chest as she lay in her bed and
replaying that run in with that boy again.
Her smile seemed to have an extra glow to it,
one that had been missing for weeks ever
since she had returned from England.
"He had such dreamy eyes....Did you say something Artemis?"
*SPLAT*
After picking himself up from his facefault the cat leaped
up to reach an equal level with the daydreaming girl’s head.
That was one of the drawbacks of his feline form, how could
anyone expect to take you seriously when they had to always
look down at you?
"You are not going to see that guy, whatshisname again. Understand?"
"Ranma Aino....not bad.....Minako Saotome.....
that has a nice ring to it."
Veins started to throb and bulge on his head as
the cat guardian began to hyperventilate. This
was getting out of hand!
"MINA!"
"I’m kidding Artemis. Sheesh, you’re no fun at all.
It’s not like the world is going to end if I just happen
to make a friend here. And as for what happens later...
well, who can say?"
"Nothing is going to happen, that’s what! We have a very
important mission, remember!!"
"I know, I know. Protect the world from the evil
Negaverse. Honestly, that doesn’t mean I can’t
have a life as well!"
Artemis wisely decided not to argue
with that last part right now.
First things first.
"What’s gotten into you Mina?!
You’re not acting like yourself!!"
"What are you talking about Artemis?
I feel fine....just so much more alive now."
"See! that guy’s already having a bad influence!"
"I told you already, all we did was talk. Ranma’s really a
very nice person at heart. It’s not his fault that he’s scared of
cats. You really shouldn’t have teased him, maybe an apology is
in order."
"Me?! Apologize to that...that...scoundrel?!"
"Why Artemis, you sound almost...jealous."
Sometimes even a prissy cat guardian needed
to be taken down a peg or two.
"I AM NOT JEALOUS!!!"
Minako’s laughter rang like a melody of fine
silver bells, a innocent sweetness that was
pleasing to the ears and uplifting to the spirit.
However, for a certain moon cat it was pure torture.
~~~~~~~
-The next day
*CRASH**POW*SMASH*
*CRUNCH**SNAP**POP*
[I give up! I give up!]
"I’m not finished yet Pop! Take that!"
Ranma grabbed the wooden sign that his father
turned panda had been waving around and beaned
him a good one with it.
*KLONK*
*SPLOOSH*
Landing on one of the rocks bordering the koi pond,
the pigtailed boy shot his unconscious opponent an
angry glare before stepping toward the house to
get ready for *ugh* school.
"Feeling better Ranma?"
"Not really Kasumi. Stupid old man would have
to go and eat my dinner and leave me out cold in
the dining room."
"I’m sure things will turn out all right
in the end. By the way, breakfast is ready.
I made extra helpings since I knew you’d be
hungry once you woke up."
"Thanks Kasumi!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An arrow hissed through
the air before missing its
intended target.
Somewhere nearby a demon started swearing.
Fortunately the speech was inaudible to
human ears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Ranma didn’t immediately go
charging in to eat Kasumi looked
quizzically at him. Although he
had only been here for a few days
she knew that this was not like him at all.
Something seemed different about him today....
She couldn’t quite put her finger on
it but it was almost as if.....
As if....
"Um.....Kasumi."
"Yes Ranma?"
"Did you put that blanket on me?"
"Yes I did, why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason. I just wanted
to...um...thank you."
Was he.....blushing? What could that possibly mean?
"You see I’m not really used to, um....I mean...that it’s
that not many people have ever really done something
nice like that for me before..."
"But surely your father...."
He started to snort in digust but
then changed his mind and just
looked her straight in the eye.
"Oh...I see...he wouldn’t, would he...."
Silently he shook his head.
"So anyway, uh...that’s all I had to say...um...."
~~~~~~
A second arrow whizzed by.
It was a doozy.
That was when demon started cursing up a storm.
It actually did succeed in calling one up,
but the cloud refused to rain on anyone
except him.
~~~~~~
For a moment Ranma raised his head and
looked at her as if he wanted to say
something more. Then the moment passed
and the martial artist ran off to the
breakfast table.
"Oh my, what was that all about?"
If she didn’t know better she could have sworn that....
~~~~~~
Ranma silently cursed himself for his cowardice.
What had come over him? He’d just been thanking
her when something had caused him to take a second
look at the eldest Tendo daughter. He’d never realized
exactly how pretty she really was before. It was as if he’d
been wearing a blindfold for the past few days and had just
removed it this morning. Then when he’d been about to tell
her that he’d decided he was not going to go through with this
engagement with Akane he just couldn’t do it. Kasumi was so
nice and considerate that she didn’t deserve to be hurt by his
decision and its consequences. Or at least that was what
he kept telling himself.
Maybe after school was over he could find Mina-chan again.
That thought cheered him up immediately. But he’d have to take
extra precautions to keep the curse a secret, that had been one
thing he’d left out of yesterday’s chat. Ranma hated having to
hide the truth from Minako but he didn’t have a choice as he saw it.
He didn’t want her to think he was a weirdo or some kind of pervert.
Once he was sure that she could accept him as he was, that she
wouldn’t reject him because the difference a few degrees in
the temperature of any water contacting him made...then he’d
tell her all of it.
Till then, he’d just make sure to watch out
for cold water when he was with her.
It was a perfect plan.
Nothing could go wrong.
And pigs would sprout wings and migrate to Canada.
~~~~~~~~~
"He really thinks that stalling will make it easier? That never works!"
The Bard wasn’t quite as dumb as everyone thought he was.
"This is going to get ugly."
Rowan sighed, he’d been in the same situation once before.
It was better to just get it over with, waiting would just make
things worse.
"50 gold coins say that he can’t keep
her from finding out for more then a week."
"You’re on, Shadow."
The Guardian couldn’t resist a smug grin.
This was one bet he couldn’t lose!
Of course that was what he’d thought the last
ten thousand times too.
~~~~~~~~~~
-Somewhere, Somewhen
Sailor Pluto felt the first
signs of a major migraine forming.
It was going to be one of *those* milleniums.
-To be continued (of course)
*$*$*$*$*
Author's Notes: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....
Well, this version is much better then the old one.
I just might be able to get the next part of PB #10
out before the big day. I'm currently up to 70% of
it written. There might even be another surprise of two...
-Shade
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{I am not going to panic. It's
nonproductive and a waste of energy.
There has to be some kind of logical
explanation for all of this phemonena.}
Sailor Mercury kept telling herself that
as her VR visor hiccuped and finally
started displaying something coherent.
"Eep."
-A scene from Private Bet #10 Chapter III
____________________________________________________________________
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