Various ramblings on random subjects (some of which you might actually
care about) are appended after the end of the story.
Child of Love
Children of Hate
chapter three by
jay f kominek
<jay.kominek@colorado.edu>
Sailor Moon is the property of Takeuchi Naoko and some
corporations. Ranma 1/2 is the property of Takashi Rumiko and some
other corporations. I only claim ownership to the plot. It is not
my intention to violate their copyrights, but instead to entertain.
I can only hope to do so with a fraction of their skill. This story
is meant to be distributed for free. Please do not change it,
or stick your name on it.
Pre-readers, to whom I am grateful:
Lord Talon, Dracklore, hachiman, James Merritt Jr, Tigress
Comments and feedback in all forms are appreciated.
Insults are not.
This story takes place after the ends of both Ranma 1/2
and Sailor Moon. I mix and match the manga and anime continuities
as I see fit. Minor details of the original series may go out the
window in the face of artistic freedom. :)
Past, present and future parts are available at:
http://ucsub.colorado.edu/~kominek/fanfiction/
- - - - - - - -
"If only I would have been more right." - Meiou Setsuna,
aka Sailor Pluto
Sailor Pluto stood, passively, at the Gates of Time.
This wasn't at all unusual. She'd been doing it since the
previous Sailor Pluto had died, Forever ago. She'd be doing it
until she died, Forever from now.
However, she was worried.
_That_ was unusual.
Since the fall of the Moon Kingdom, and the development
of non-magical ways for humans to defend themselves, Sailor Pluto
had been feeling slight ripples in time. Time is perceived as a
smooth surface of water by those who Guard its proper flow, and,
disturbances in it cause ripples. These ripples weren't of much
concern, they were always very small and never lasted for more than
a few minutes. Certainly nothing that could derail Pluto's plans
for Crystal Tokyo.
In the past hundred years, and especially the past twenty,
the ripples had gotten bigger. They were approaching dangerous
sizes. But.. they weren't near her Princess.
Until now.
She'd sensed the ripples, large ones, so close to the
Imperium Crystal that they could've been on top of each other for
all she knew.
Something was going to have to be done.
She would wait for another disturbance, and then deal with
those who would dare disturb time.
* * * * * * * *
"Akane? Which bag was this supposed to go in?"
"ARGH! *This* one!"
Plucking the high-speed luggage out of the air, Ranma mumbled
his thanks and proceeded to stick some more of Minako's stuff into
the bag. *I may turn into a woman, but I'll never figure out where
women get all this stuff from.. Must have somethin to do with that
damn mallet..*
Akane stopped packing for what must've been the 20th time
in as many minutes, and asked, "Minako, are you _sure_ you're ready
to go home?"
"Yeessss mom. I'm tired of laying in bed. And it may be
a good diet, but I'm tired of eating hospital food. Even yours
would better."
"Now now Minako, your mother hasn't got anyone sick with her
cooking in *years*. And Akane, Minako has Saotome genes, after all,
she can heal - URK."
Ranma fell over, unconscious, a chair embedded in his head.
Dusting off her hands, Akane turned back to Minako and said,
"Now, lets finish packing up your stuff and get out of here."
"What do we do about dad?"
"Leave 'im. He knows the way home."
Sighing, Akane added, "And he'll probably beat us home, too."
* * *
Ranma sat up a short while later to find a cleaning lady
staring at him.
"Oh man, have I ever got a headache.."
* * * * * * * *
Holding a preposterous amount of luggage under her arms,
Akane was doing a balancing act reminiscent of Ranma's waitressing
days as she attempted to open the door. Finally getting her fingers
around the knob, she was just about to begin the delicate process
of turning the knob when it leapt out of her grasp.
"Welcome home!" grinned Ranma.
A large, tumbling pile of luggage announced its return home
by landing on top of Ranma, knocking him to the ground even after
he succeeded in doding the first few pieces.
"Would you stop laying around and pick this up?" sighed
Akane.
An uncomplaining Ranma dragged himself to his feet. Giving
a brief bow and nod like a hotheaded young bellhop, he began to
extract luggage from the pile for transportation.
"And where would you like this put?"
"Minako's room, dear. Minako, have a seat, I'll get us tea."
Her parents both having left the room, Minako suddenly
felt a tiredness set in that reminded her of her only partial
recovery. Nervously yanking her transformation rod from its
dimensional cubby hole, Minako moved to the middle of the
room. Standing there briefly, she felt sort of odd about what she
was going to do. She'd never transformed in her own house before,
where her parents might see. Thus, a fairly small voice called out
"Venus Crystal Power, Make-up."
A few, brief, moments later, Sailor Venus stood in the
middle of the Aino home, relishing in finally healing.
Her mother walked in, and found Venus standing there running
her hands up and down her arms as the last of the bruising subsided.
"Can't you girls do something about the length of your
skirts? It just isn't decent," lamented Akane.
"No, mom. Anything longer could get in the way of fighting."
Akane nodded, "I'll have you know I can fight just fine in
a long skirt. Another inch or two and.."
"Moooommmm!"
"Here dear," Akane gave up on convincing her daughter of
the merits of modest, "have a seat, have some tea, take a load off."
Venus plopped down with uncustomarily little grace and
took the tea offered to her. Akane quickly joined her daughter on
the floor.
"Now that you're home and feeling better, care to tell me
just how long you've been running around doing this?"
A sheepish look creeped over Venus' features. "Well.. You
remember those news reports about 'Sailor V' back when we lived
in England?"
"Sure, they started right.. after.. we.. got.. Artemis.. YOU
WERE RUNNING AROUND FIGHTING CRIME WHEN YOU WERE 13?!"
"I had to, mom. I was pretending to be the Princess to keep
the Dark Kingdom from finding the real Princess before we did."
"Did it work?" asked a now solemn Akane. "She is still alive,
isn't she?"
"Of course she is, you saw her."
"Saw who?"
"The Princess."
"Minako. Who is the Princess?"
"*cough*skinoh"
"Speak up, dear."
"usagi tsukino."
"_She_ is a princess?!"
"You don't exactly have to take a test to be a Princess,
mom. You're sort of born that way."
"At least there isn't any real royalty left, so it's not
like she'll be running things anywhere someday."
Venus looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"That was 3 years ago, Minako. What have you been doing
since then?"
"Different new, different new-"
"That's `same old, same old', Minako."
Venus coughed, "As I was saying.. Defeat the Dark Kingdom,
stop invaders from the future, prevent the Death Busters from
stealing pure heart crystals, protect people's dream mirrors and
star seeds. That kind of thing."
"The Dark Kingdom was trying to steal people's ki, right?"
"Ki? Huh? They were going after people's life energy."
"That is ki. Pretty much. Toss in some other things like
your will, soul, and emotions, and you've got ki."
"Wow. And that's what you and dad use to fight?"
"Yup."
"Could you show me, please?"
"What do you want to see? There are lots of things that
can be done with ki."
"That thing where you split yourself up would be really
cool."
Smiling, Akane stood up and then bowed to her daughter at
the waist. As she bent, though, she left duplicates at various
angles. Once she reached a full ninety-degree bow, four of the 5
images stepped apart, one going in each cardinal direction, the
fifth staying in the center. The net result was rather unsettling.
"Amazing! What is that called?"
"Splitting Cat Hairs." said one Akane. The description was
continued on by a different Akane, "It was invented by the Chinese
Amazons a few thousand years ago." The speaking Akane switched again,
to the image that had snuck up behind Venus. "Inspired terror in
some emperor or other."
Ranma chose that moment to return to the room. "Showing
off again, eh, Akane? You know, the ki burn from that technique
can probably be felt for a few kilometers. Good thing there isn't
anybody around who'd care."
Akanes flickered out of existence until only one, standing
next to Ranma was left. "Finished putting up Minako's stuff?"
Ranma's shoulders slumped, "Yes.. I don't see how she got
all that stuff into that hospital room. Are you sure you haven't
been teaching her hidden weapons techniques?"
"Women know them instinctively."
Shaking his head, Ranma began wondering if he'd ever
understand women. Sitting down, Ranma poured himself a bit of tea
before he gave himself a headache.
"Hey dad, how about you tell me some more about your
friends?"
Pausing to think for a second, Ranma's eyes grew slightly
vacant. With a grin, he was back to reality. "Sure. I don't really
have a whole lot of friends, though. Spent my childhood training,
remember. Been covering up who I am for the past 12 or so years,
too." Through his introductory extemporization, Ranma's face had
grown slowly sullen. Perking back up, he continued, "I've got the
greatest buddy in the world, though."
"My old friend, Ryouga Hibiki."
Completely unbeknownst to Ranma, Akane cringed at the name.
"He gets lost all the time, turns into a pig, and doesn't
catch on too quick, but he is a great guy."
Giving her father a rather odd look, Venus inquired,
"He turns into a pig?"
"Sure. Remember I fell into that magical spring? He fell
into another one that turns him into a pig. Used to be this tiny
little black piglet, man, he hated that. Now he turns into a fairly
big pig, and can actually use sumo pig wrestling techniques."
By now Venus had one eyebrow arched to a nearly painful
level. "Sumo pig wrestling?"
"Ah, yeah..." Ranma rubbed the back of his head, "I guess
that *is* just too weird to believe. Never mind that."
Realization hit her like a MAC truck to the back of
the head. "Oh! This is the same Mr Hibiki who fights in the
Tenka-ichi-budokai!"
"Yup."
"What does he do besides fight?"
"Hmm," started Ranma, "last I heard he was running some sort
of civil engineering company specializing in demolition. Told me
he makes pretty good money since he doesn't need wrecking equipment
or explosives."
"How does he demolish a building without explosives?"
"He probably walks down into the basement and uses the
Bakusai Tenketsu on the foundation."
"Bakusai Tenketsu?"
"The breaking point technique. All inanimate objects have
points which, when touched, cause the object to shatter. I think
your mom knows how to find the point on stone, but Ryouga can find
the point on _any_ inanimate object."
"Oh. He walks into the basement of the building, and shatters
the foundation? Makes sense." Venus thought for a second or two,
"Wait a minute.. How long does it take for the stuff to blow up?"
Completely nonchalant, Ranma replied "Not long, second or
two, tops."
"Um. Wouldn't the building collapse on him?"
"Probably."
Her voice now raised with concern, Venus continued the game
of 20 questions. "And shouldn't that sort of kill him?"
"Nah. Ryouga learned the Bakusai Tenketsu by smashing
himself into a huge boulder until he figured it out. Later on he
decided there must be other techniques you could learn if you did
other stuff like that, except even more nuts."
"Such as?"
"Like-" was all Ranma managed to get out, when the doorbell
began to ring.
Before it could even finish ringing, Ranma was in
motion. Venus was gaping. Nothing could really prepare her for
the way in which her father moved now that he was no longer hiding
his ability. Grace was no longer applicable, it was merely a word,
after all. This was real.
Venus dove behind a convenient wall, having remembered her
state of Sailor Venus-ness, just as her father pulled open the door.
"Hello, Ami. Who is your friend?"
"Hello, Mr Saotome. This is Hotaru Tomoe," Ami added, in
a smaller voice and after glancing about, "you already met her,
she is Sailor Saturn."
"Oh, its nice to see you again. You're looking much better
today than you were before."
Hotaru stammered briefly before responding, "Ah. Hello,
Mr Saotome. It's very nice to meet you under better circumstances."
Ranma nodded slightly. "Please, come in. Minako was just
resting up. I'm sure she'd love to see you."
Turning and walking to the wall Venus had surreptitiously
hidden herself behind, Ranma stuck his head around the edge of the
wall. "Mii-naa-kooh.. Your friends Ami and Hotaru are here."
Up and running before Ranma could retract his face, Venus
spun her father as she took the corner at hair-raising speeds. Once
on straight course to her now worried target, Ami, Venus' speed
only increased as her arms flung out. "Ami!" Apparently, Ami tried
greet Venus, but being squeezed as she was, it came out as little
more than "Menfgh."
Once released from her impromptu restraint, Ami smiled,
"I brought Hotaru to help you, just like we'd talked about."
Confusion quickly became evident on Venus's face. "What
did we talk about?"
"Um," started Ami, who was already rubbing her forehead,
"retaining some of your Senshi powers while not Sailor Venus."
"Ohhh... That. Right. That. Oh yeah! Hey, great. How do
we start?"
* * *
As Hotaru stepped forward, Ami stepped back to join Minako's
parents, who had taken their seats back during the exchange.
As Hotaru began her explanation into the mechanics of
Senshi-fication, Ami turned to Akane and gave a fairly deep bow. "Mrs
Saotome, I wanted to apologize."
Unable to contain her surprise and touch of uncertainty,
Akane rapidly asked, "Whatever for, Ami?"
"For being unable to stop Cassia when she was going to
attack you at the end of our previous fight."
"Ami.." Akane's face became rather serious, and she brushed
her long hair out of her face, "there wasn't anything you could
do. Besides, I knew the risks. Plus everything worked out.. well
enough."
"That's just it. I feel bad that there wasn't anything
I could do. The Outer Senshi could've done something. Even Mina
probably could've stopped her. But not me."
An uncertain Akane put her arm around Ami. The same Ami that
reminded her so much of her own sisters. *Sisters need to take care
of each other..* reasoned Akane. "Its okay, Ami, really."
* * *
"Do you understand, Venus?"
Venus paused a moment to reflect over the instructions that
Hotaru had given her. "Yes.. I think so. Could you try showing me?"
"Sure!"
Yanking her transformation rod out of its pocket dimension,
Hotaru raised it in a single fluid motion, while calling for her
transformation. "Saturn Crystal Power, Make-up!"
After the brief display of magical fireworks, Sailor Saturn
stood in the living room of the Saotomes, the Silence Glaive held
in her right hand.
Before Saturn can begin to instruct Venus, a Ranma eager
to escape the mushiness being displayed by Akane and Ami hops to
his feet and over to Saturn.
"Say, that is a pretty impressive lookin weapon. I mean,
as far as weapons go, you know. I was wondering if you'd mind if
I gave it a whirl?"
As Saturn glanced back and forth between Ranma and the
Silence Glaive, Ranma felt as though he might've asked some sort
of terribly embarrassing question. "I mean, if you don't want to,
thats okay, I don't want to be bothersome or anything.."
"No, no. I don't mind, its just that I'll need to be
transforming and untransforming. I'm not sure if the Glaive will
disappear."
"Oh," shrugged Ranma, "if it disappears, it disappears."
Saturn moved to hand the Glaive to Ranma, using only one
hand. When he in turn reached out with a single hand, she looked
at him questioningly. "Its really heavy, you know. I couldn't hope
to lift it without being Sailor Saturn." Ranma's grinning face was
all the response she received, and all she needed.
"I'll be in the backyard." said Ranma, as he turned to leave
with the Glaive in hand, "Don't worry, I'll take good care of it."
Once Ranma had left the room, Saturn turned back to Venus. As
Venus watched Saturn moved, she realized that even without the
assistance of the Glaive's wicked blades, Saturn was a tremendously
impressive young woman.
"Hmm. Your dad should have stayed in case the Glaive will
disappeared." A brief pause ensued before Saturn continued, "Might
as well detransform before he gets any further away. Here I go..."
With that, Saturn closed her eyes, and dismissed her power,
but as it fled, she tugged at it, bring it towards and into her. To
those few watching, it seemed as though she'd pulled her uniform
into her, exposing her previous clothes.
Now Hotaru, she smiled, "Now you try."
And Venus did. Releasing her grip on her power, she tried
pulling it into her as it dissipated, just as Hotaru had told her
to, but it didn't end up feeling any different. Hotaru sighed as
she watched the uniform of Venus turn into colored energy and then
dissipate, without being pulled into Minako.
"Here, I'll show you again."
* * * * * * * *
Feet set firmly apart, Ranma Saotome held the Silence Glaive
in his hands. The cool metal which defied identification glinted
here and there. Thinking for a moment, Ranma struggled to remember
an appropriate kata for this weapon.
As a child, his father had trained him in the use of more
weapons than most people realized existed. Weapons practice had
never been very important, though, and had ceased completely by
the time Ranma's training trip was over. Ranma had developed a
weapon more formidable than anything that could be forged, though:
his own force of will (with a heaping helping of raw ego).
Shaking his head to ward off a trip down memory lane,
Ranma gave up on a kata for the glaive, and instead settled for
one on a simple staff. Right before he began, he felt the Glaive
tug for a moment in the direction of where he'd left the Glaive's
owner. Guessing that was all that was going to happen, Ranma allowed
himself to settle into the rhythm of the kata.
Working himself through the motions of the kata, Ranma
was distracted by the strangest thoughts and feelings. Images
of himself wielding the Glaive in combat as he slew mercilessly,
follow by images and thoughts of destroying the world and bringing
Silence. Then a wordless voice began whispering at him. For awhile,
he wasn't sure what it wanted, but then it became clear.
It was the Silence.
It wanted him.
It was asking him to wield it and bring Silence to the
world. It offered Its power to him, all he had to do was unshackle
it from its current wielder.
Visions of that came.
Ranma dropped the Silence Glaive and backed away, sweat
covering him. The simple thought, *That thing is alive!* reverberated
through Ranma's mind as he hurriedly went back into the house,
having left the Glaive lying on the grass, the sun shining on it.
* * * * * * * *
"Hoh-tah-ruuuuu! I can't get it right."
"Minako dear, stop whining like your friend Usagi."
Putting on a downcast face, Minako turned back to
Saturn. Saturn gave Minako a smile, "Try again."
With a sigh, Minako hoisted her transformation rod for what
felt like the 100th time that day, and wondered if it was possible
to wear out the transformation rod. "Venus Crysta-"
"Hotaru! Is your Glaive supposed to talk?" asked a still
nervous Ranma.
"Talk?" Saturn was rapidly becoming nervous, too, Ranma was
not the type to be nervous, and so when he was, it was infectious.
"Yeah, talk. Or something. The Silence was trying to talk
me into destroying the world. It wanted me to, uh, get rid of you,
then it said it would let me have your power."
Saturn hung her head low. "Sailor Saturn is the Senshi of
Creation and Destruction. When my power was created, the Silence
was harnessed in exchange for a promise that Saturn would someday
be allowed to bring the Silence.."
Ranma and Akane's jaws dropped.
"You can see, though, the world is still here. The Silence is
angry that I refuse it. It hasn't ever tried talking to anyone else,
before. But you are the first non-Senshi to hold the Silence Glaive."
Saturn continued, forlornly, "Sometimes the Glaive will try
to move on its own. Pluto said that was the Silence, and that if I
could get 'physical mastery' over the Glaive itself, it would help
in controlling the silence. I don't know what she means by that,
or how i'd get 'physical mastery' over anything, I may be healthier
than I was, but I'm still weak."
A look of deep thought crossed Ranma's face before he
announced, "I've got an idea. Do you know how to use it, to fight?"
"I use it for my magical attacks."
Ranma shook his head. "Just it, by itself. Assuming you
could hold it, could you fight with it without magical powers?"
"Not really."
"Well," Ranma grinned, "how about I teach you?"
Saturn's face brightened considerably as she looked at
Ranma with undisguised hope and happiness. "Would you?"
"Sure! Hmm... Heres what I can do, I'll work on making a
form of Anything Goes Martial Arts for Glaive, and I'll only teach
you. I'm not sure how being a Senshi works, but you could pass it
on to your successor or something."
A dreamy look invaded Saturn's eyes at the thought of Ranma
Saotome doing something like that for her. Not even two weeks ago,
she had never expected to ever meet Ranma, and here he was, going
to invent a secret martial arts style just for her.
Ranma went on, talking about how it wouldn't be easy for
her, and it would take years, yadda yadda. Saturn wasn't listening
to a word of it.
"We'll be visiting our family dojo with Minako, soon,
Hotaru. Would you like to come with us? The dojo would be a good
place to start your training." A subvocalized voice added, "And
havin a student'll help convince my old man that I havn't been
slackin off."
"Mama and papa might not be too happy about that," said
Hotaru.
"Ah," nodded Ranma, "I can understand that. I'll give them
a call later and ask them. You are interested, though, right?"
"Oh yes! Very!"
"Wonderful. Now.." Ranma plopped himself down beside his
wife, who was looking a bit less mushy, "How is it coming, Minako?"
An inarticulate mumbling with an obviously negative meaning
slipped out of Minako's mouth.
"That bad, eh?"
"Worse."
Cringing, Ranma asked, "May I watch? I havn't had a chance
to closely watch you girls transform before."
Blushing, Minako whispered, "Dad.. We're sort of naked for
part of it."
"And?"
"And what?! We're _naked_!"
"Akane, where are the baby pictures? I'm sure Minako's
friends would just love to see those..."
Ami giggled, and Saturn blushed as Minako became flustered.
"Fine! Venuscrystalpowermakeup!"
Knowing its wielder's desire, the power of Venus did indeed
do its best to speed things up, but it was hindered by Minako's
attempts to keep herself modest for the entire process.
A completely impassive Ranma turned to Saturn after his
daughter was done. "Can you show me what the detransformation
should look like?"
Saturn nodded once, concentrated, and released her power,
while at the same time pulling it in.
Ranma looked on, thoughtfully. Finally, when it was done,
he turned back to Venus, "Okay, Minako, I think I see. Try thinking
of a vacuum sucking on the power as you detransform."
"How do you know that?" asked a perturbed Venus. Ranma
merely shot back a Parental Look of Death that cowed the mighty
Sailor Venus.
"Okay, okay.."
Closing her eyes and envisioning the big clunky vacuum her
mother used while they lived in England, Venus released her power...
And successfully pulled it back in.
"I did it!" Minako cried, and began to dance around.
Ranma stood and asked, "Could you all follow me into the
backyard, please?"
Minako stopped in middance step, "Why?"
"Well, I'd like you to show me something, and Hotaru would
probably like her Glaive back.." Ranma began mumbling, "..and I
don't wanna touch the thing again.."
* * * * * * * *
Minako stood in her backyard facing off against her
father. She was glad her mom, Saturn (who had transformed, again, to
reclaim her Glaive), and Mercury (who had transformed and retrieved
the Mercury computer, at her father's request) were watching,
because her father was acting odd.
"Well, dad, whats up?"
No verbal response came from her father. Instead, he bowed,
and dropped into a fighting stance, with not even the slightest
expression on his face.
Then he came at her.
No tricks, no superhuman speed, just a straight charge.
Launching a simple punch to his daughter's shoulder when
he reached her, Ranma was pleasantly surprised to find that she
was able to dodge it. "Very good. Now, can you hit me?"
Combat reflexes that the past and future leader of the
Senshi had forgotten slowly came to the fore. Sailor Venus had had
little use for hand to hand combat since her reincarnation. Slowly
grace returned to her and dodged and waved out of punches and kicks
that were ever so slowly increasing in speed.
"But I don't wanna hit you, dad!"
Ranma sighed, and launched a flurry of punches. "Hit me,
or I'll dig up those baby pictures," mentioned a grinning Ranma.
"OOOO! Don't you dare!" Minako went for an uppercut to the
gut, thinking that her father would dodge it.
He didn't.
Instead, he let himself get lifted a good 2 meters off the
ground, before plopping back to the grass, unceremoniously.
"Ugh. Akane, dear?"
"Yes?"
"Remind me that I don't need to follow Minako on her
prom night."
Akane smiled, "Yes, dear."
Slowly pulling himself up to his knees, Ranma coughed,
and rubbed his stomach. Mercury and Saturn both came to help him
to his feet, Saturn hurrying to lay on her healing hands. Minako
just stood there, staring at her fist.
"Are you alright, Mr Saotome?"
"Yes, Ami, I'm fine. I'm just not conditioned to take
damage like I used to be. Havn't had any serious injuries in years,
so I'm not healing like I used to. Getting slammed through the
street last week _still_ hurts. Besides," Ranma began mumbling,
"you girls are pretty strong."
On his feet, Ranma approached Minako and waved his hand
around in her face until he got her attention. "That was pretty
good. I'm surprised you were able to dodge all of that."
Distantly, Minako replied, "I started remembering more of
the original Senshi training when you attacked. Helped with the
speed and coordination.."
Ranma nodded and joined his wife. Quietly, he told her,
"It'll have to do. She is a bit stronger than you and only slightly
slower than me at her age. We could try teaching her basic Anything
Goes stances, but I don't think she'd pick them up fast enough."
"Our parents are getting old, Ranma, they won't be able
to spar with her. If they ask for a demonstration, they'll ask for
some katas."
"I suppose you're right," sighed Ranma. "Good thing they
can't make us commit seppuku."
Akane paled. "Ranma.."
Ranma began getting pale, too.
"Didn't we swear to produce an heir to the school when we
got married?"
"Ummm," Ranma gulped, "I think so.."
"I'm not big on slicing myself open, Ranma."
"Neither am I, but I hid from honor once, and I'm not
going to do it again. Even if you do live longer.." Ranma sagged,
"it tends not to be a life worth living."
"Come on, lets get some hard numbers out of Ami.."
* * * * * * * *
"Hello?"
"Yes. This is Haruka Tennou- Ah. Hello Mr Saotome. What
can I do for you?"
"Training? I suppose. Let me ask Michiru.."
Haruka waved, trying to draw Michiru's attention away from
the violin that she was practicing on.
"What is it, Haruka?"
Haruka covered the receiver with one hand before replying,
"Mr Saotome would like to take Hotaru on a short trip to his
family dojo, with Minako. Hotaru told him about Pluto saying that
she needed `physical mastery' over the Glaive, and he suggested
learning a martial art based on the Glaive. So he was going to
invent one," Haruka's voice began to betray a hint of uncertainty,
"specifically for the Silence Glaive, and teach it to Hotaru."
Setting down the violin, Michiru looked at Haruka as her
mind thought furiously. "I imagine that it can't hurt. The Saotomes
believe that they scared this Cassia girl off, at least for the
time being. They could probably get Hotaru to a battle sooner than
we could, even if they were on the other side of Tokyo. Hotaru does
wish to go, correct?"
Haruka nodded, and removed her hand from the receiver.
"She may go. When will you be leaving?"
"I see. Will Hotaru need a ride home today?"
"Okay. Goodbye."
Haruka hung up the phone, and moved to join Michiru, who
was yet to reclaim her violin.
"When will they be leaving?" asked Michiru.
"In a day or two, they want to make sure Minako has
completely recovered, first. Something about her grandfather being
easily upset."
"Haruka. What do _you_ think of this threat?"
"I.. I don't know. Pluto said that Galaxia would be the
last threat we faced before the world sleeps for a thousand years
and Crystal Tokyo is founded. And this threat, its powerful. I'm
afraid that even without the mistakes we made facing those demons
the first few times, that as soon as this Cassia bitch showed up,
she would've torn us apart."
Michiru listened without moving.
"As much as I hate to say it, I think we owe our lives,
and the life of our daughter and Princess, to the Saotomes."
"That said, I'm worried that even Ranma did little more
than fight Cassia to stalemate."
Rising from her sitting position, Michiru announced, "Let
us attempt to do something about that debt" before she retrieved
the Deep Aqua Mirror from its pocket dimension.
* * * * * * * *
Ranma propped his feet up on the desk that he used for
grading the "tests" of his PE students. Never one to care much
for education, his school mandated tests had been farces. Sure,
the Ministry of Education gave him all those nice premade ones,
but they were so *hard*.
Staring at the small postcard in his hand, Ranma considered
the afternoons events. He'd taken a true student, not one of the kids
that the school system stuck him with. Minako, his one daughter,
had demonstrated that she had the speed and strength to pass for
a martial artist of his caliber 19 years ago. She had none of his
skill, though.
Sighing, Ranma gave up further procrastination and quickly
scribbled a message onto the card.
It read, quite simply, "Bringing Minako from Juuban. -
Ranma and Akane"
* * * * * * * *
Genma Saotome sat in a tent in his own front yard, eating
cold rice and some things which his wife claimed were fish cakes.
He didn't believe her for an instant.
For some reason, Nodoka became very upset whenever he came
up with another training method for his granddaughter. Sure some
of them sounded rather Neko-ken-like, but tossing her in a pool of
pirhanas couldn't possibly be as damaging to her psyche as wrapping
her in fish sasauge and tossing her in a pit of cats. Genma sighed
agained as he tried to figure out women.
As Genma heard the mail man drive up, he hoped for a
letter from his son telling him that he could finally see his
granddaughter. The last he or his wife had heard was a letter a
few years ago saying that they were back in Japan. Of course they'd
watched him and their daughter-in-law on Nabiki's TV as they made
the Anything-Goes School proud, but it just wasn't the same.
His reminiscing completed, Genma hopped to his feet. adjusted
his dew rag before rushing to the gate to fetch the mail. Deftly
avoiding a loose stone's attempt to dunk him in the koi pond,
Genma safely made his way to the door just in time to catch the
few pieces of mail as they slipped through the mail slot.
Using Martial Arts Mail Reading techniques, Genma was quickly
able to find that 3 of the 4 pieces of mail were bills. They were
slipped into his gi before his wife could find them.
The fourth piece of mail would require actual reading,
though.
Having read the postcard twice, Genma's brain began to
churn and grind loudly as it began to understand the contents.
"Oh happy day!" cried Genma before running off to tell his
wife and best friend that their heirs were returning.
* * * * * * * *
Sailor Pluto felt it again. The awful, unmistakable feeling
that rose up out of her soul and spilled itself into her stomach
whenever time was distorted.
She was ready this time. She'd found where the distortions
were coming from. A plan for `correcting' those who would disturb
time was already forming in her mind. Soon all that would remain
would be to implement her plan.
- - - - - - - -
Various things completely unrelated to the above story:
1. I think one of the administrators said there are something like 2000
people on this mailing list. You average 1 line "Merry Christmas" or
"Happy New Years" from somebody you don't know and havn't heard of takes
approximately 2k to send. Hence, sending out 2000 2k messages consumes
roughly 4mb. Is it worth it?
2. I thought the "takeover" staged by the administrators was quite
possibly the funniest thing I've read since Girl Days chapter 16.
Admittedly, I had a bit of sherry in me at the time, but still.
3. How could you possibly think that some communist organization had
actually taken over a mailing list? I'm sorry, I just don't see how it was
possible to even construe that as real.
4. Calling the administrators hypocritical is nuts. They banned people
from sending spammy one line messages. What they sent was hilarious and
long and thought out.
I also don't remember it saying anything about holidays.
Anyways, have fun, happy whatever.
- Jay Kominek <jay.kominek@colorado.edu>
Waiting Is.