Hello and good evening again. This is still my first
fanfic so be gentle.
Legend:
<thoughts>
(sidenotes)
_emphasis_
[panda signs]
*other languages*
//sound effects//
While in cursed form, Ranma=Ranma-chan,
Ryoga=P-chan, etc.
Ready? Good! Let's do it!
***************************************
All The Small Things-Chapter 1
A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2 fanfiction
By: Slacker(r_heins@yahoo.com)
***************************************
Juban, Present Day (unless noted, all events are
present day)
The meeting had gotten off to a bad start. They
were meeting at Rei's temple, as normal, and Usagi
had stolen one of her mangas as soon as she came
through the door, again as usual. To complete the
trend, Rei was insulting Usagi with the usual
insults.
The only thing unusual about the meeting so far,
was the fact that the Outers had shown up, with the
exception of Pluto (but she almost never showed up).
Hotaru and Ami were exchanging news about their
respective schools and Haruka and Michiru were, well,
the best word would probably be "snuggling" on a
pillow. The meetings had all followed the same
pattern lately: meet, gab, make plans to meet and
talk somewhere else, and be home before bedtime.
(The "extracurricular activities" had really slowed
down after Galaxia.)
"I don't know why we still bother with meeting
every week. Setsuna said Galaxia would be the last
major threat we faced before the Great Ice," Makoto
commented.
"Yes, but do you really want to give up the
entertainment value of those two?" Minako asked,
pointing at Rei and Usagi, who were now at the
wrestling point of their ritual fight.
"OK, you've got a point there. I wonder when
they're going to admit to the fact that they like
each other and all that's just an act?" Makoto
wondered.
"Probably never. I think they enjoy it too
much."
"Still, I think maybe we should cut the meetings
down to once every two weeks. I could use the extra
time for study." Three guesses as to who said that.
"AMI!! You don't need more time to study!" came
from every person in the room, including Rei and
Usagi(who had called a temporary truce).
"Well, Setsuna said we don't have any more big
threats coming up, so why should we meet so often?"
Ami asked.
"That's easy to answer," came Setsuna's voice
from the corner directly behind Usagi.
"EEEK!Howlonghaveyoubeenthere?Youscaredme!Don'teverdo
that!" Usagi shrieked.
"Wow, she did that in one breath," Minako
commented.
Ami went to Setsuna's statement, instead of
commenting on Usagi's lungpower, "'Easy to answer?'
What do you mean?"
"Remember how I said there wouldn't be any more
major threats until the great ice?" Setsuna asked.
"Why can't she ever just answer a question? Why
is it always some mysterious, cryptic answer or
another question?" Minako muttered loudly.
Ami ignored Minako. She had gotten good at
ignoring all distractions, (which was a useful trick
around this group,) and answered Setsuna, "Yes, of
course we do."
Setsuna smiled that mysterious smile of hers as
she sat down and calmly announced, "I lied."
********************************
Tendo dojo, about the same time.
"Has anyone seen Ranma?" Kasumi asked. "Supper's
almost ready,"
"I think he's up on the roof." Nabiki replied.
<Again. Still.>
"Oh, my. He's been spending a lot of time up
there after that...incident in China, hasn't he?"
"Yeah, he has. I suppose you want me to go get
him, right?" <Incident? Akane nearly died, Ranma
killed someone, (who by all accounts was supposed to
be an unkillable 'god') and she calls it an
"incident." She's amazing.>
"Yes, please do. I'll get Akane from the Dojo."
Nabiki climbed to the roof by her usual means, a
ladder. When she got up there, she found Ranma
brooding in a pose that had become very familiar to
her: sitting on the edge of the highest part of the
roof with his knees drawn up to his chest and his
arms wrapped around his legs as he gazed at the sky.
Before she could say anything, Ranma spoke, "I
know, supper's almost ready. I'll be down soon."
Nabiki started to head back down the ladder, but
paused at the top to say, "You know Ranma,
whatever's bothering you won't go away if you just
keep brooding on it. I'm open if you ever need to
talk."
"Careful, Nabiki, what about your reputation? If
word of an offer like that gets around people might
not buy the 'Ice Queen' legend anymore." He said
with a small, insincere, smile.
"Hey, you're practically family. I take care of
my family. And besides, I can't make any money off of
you if you're depressed all the time."
"There's the Nabiki I've grown to fear and
detest." Ranma said with an actual smile on his face.
"Oooh, detest. Looks like someone learned a new
word in school today." She quipped as she started
down the ladder.
"You'd better hurry. Supper will be ready soon
and if your dad gets to it first, there won't be any
left for you." She said as her head disappeared below
the edge of the roof.
"Oh, don't worry. Mom'll keep him off of it 'til
I get plenty."
"OK, but hurry. If I have to wait for you so I
can begin eating, I'll triple your interest rates."
<Actually I've canceled all he owes me after the
"wedding incident", but he doesn't need to know
that.>
"Right. I'm coming." He said as he calmly fell
off the top of the roof and twisted effortlessly to
land on his feet on the lawn.
"Show-off."
"Hey, I'm the best, I don't need to show off."
"And so modest, too."
"Hey, I am. Now let's eat"
Since Ranma was back to acting like his normal
self, Nabiki completely forgot about her offer. Ranma
didn't.
***************************************
Tendo dojo, next day, about 3 a.m.
// tap, tap //
<What the heck is that?> Nabiki groggily thought
as something woke her up.
// tap, tap, TAP //
<OK, what time is it? _3AM_! Someone is
_DEAD_!>
Nabiki managed to raise her head to locate where
the sound was coming from. It was coming from the
window.
<3 am. The window. Gotta be Saotome. He's gonna
pay.>
She slowly climbed out of bed and moved over to
the window. As she opened it she asked Ranma (who was
hanging off the roof,)
"Do you know what time it is? It's... "
"3 am." Ranma interrupted, "I know. But I need to
talk, and you're the only one I could think of. After
all, you offered."
"When I made the offer, I didn't think you were
going to wake me up at 3 IN THE FREAKING MORNING!"
She hissed, "I meant at a normal time."
"I couldn't wait. I need your help. Do you
always sleep in the nude?"
"Yeah, usually, when it starts to get warm. What
do you mean, 'I need your help'?"
Now Nabiki wasn't the brightest of the morning
people. In fact, if she had her way, the sun wouldn't
rise until, oh, noon. But somewhere deep in her
slowly waking brain something was saying,
"Hey! Wait a minute! What'd he say?" In fact, if you
were to map her thought processes they would go
something like this: <Help? Why would he ask me for
help? Why me? I haven't proven myself to be the most
trustworthy of souls. And why is he grinning like
that? Did I miss something important? Let's see: woke
up, went to window, Ranma asked for help,
waitaminnit, _NUDE_?>
"EEP!"
Nabiki was across the room and in her clothes
before Ranma could even blink.
"Man, if I could move that fast I'd be able to
kick the old ghoul's butt before she even knew I was
there." Ranma commented.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me I was standing
there butt-naked?!"
"Ever hear of payback? Besides, didn't you think
it was a bit drafty? I'd think it would be obvious.
Just be glad I don't have a camera."
"Oooh...you are going to get it. A camera. Feh."
<Wait a minute. Payback? Ranma doesn't get payback.
He never gets payback. He's always been ridiculously
quick to forgive and forget. Something isn't right.>
"Soo, what did you need to talk to me about?"
"I need you to help me run away from home."
****************************************
Hikawa Shrine, right after Pluto's little bomb.
There was absolute silence. Not just quiet, but
complete, total silence. The kind of quiet you only
get after someone announces the world is going to end
in three seconds. The kind of quiet you'd get if Rei
announced she changed her name to "Bambi" and was
working in a strip joint. It was so quiet you could
hear a faint "DARLING NO BAKA" and an electrical
crackle in the background.
Ami was the first one to break the silence.
"Excuse me, but did you say 'I lied'?" Disbelief
was quite prominent in her voice.
"Oh, yes. Would you please pass one of the
muffins?" was Setsuna's calm response.
"'Please pass you one of the muffins'? 'Please
pass one of the muffins'! What the heck do you mean
'Please pass one of the muffins'!?" Makoto burst out.
"I mean the muffins look good and I'd like to eat
one. Is there a problem with that?" Setsuna asked
with a "I'm so innocent, butter wouldn't melt in my
mouth" look.
"Yes!" Makoto quickly responded.
"So, I can't have a muffin?"
"No! I mean yes! I mean...That's not what I'm
talking about!"
"Then what are you talking about, if not the
muffins?"
"I think she means that part about you lying,"
Haruka said with a fairly sarcastic tone of voice.
"Oh! That! Yes, that would make sense, wouldn't
it?" Setsuna said in an amused voice with a little
smile.
The same thought was going through everyone's
mind at this point, except Usagi's. Her mind was
still in synaptic shock. <She's smiling. She just
made a joke. She's showing emotions. Something is
fundamentally wrong here.> (OK, so maybe the only one
to use "fundamentally" was Ami, but the sentiments
were the same.)
Ami was the first one to speak, (again) "Um,
Setsuna, are you OK?" she asked a bit hesitantly.
"Of course I am. Why?"
"You made a joke, you smiled, and I _think_
you're teasing Makoto. That is _not_ normal for you.
Why are you acting like this?"
"I told myself to loosen up. Literally."
"You told yourself to loosen up?" Now Ami was a
tad bit confused and the rest had lost it.
"Yup, my future self told me to stop being
so...'anal' is the word I believe she, I?, whatever,
used...and have some fun."
"So you were joking about lying. That's a
relief."
"No. I was serious about that."
Silence met this little announcement, too. Not as
deep as the prior one, but still pretty dang quiet.
This time Rei broke the silence. "I don't suppose
you'd care to share just what you mean, would you?"
Her voice had a wee bit of fire in it. As in, you
could roast marshmallows with it.
"Let me have a muffin, first."
After Setsuna had gotten her muffin (Blueberry,
by the way. Makoto made them.), she began:
"Let me tell you a story about a planet named
Nemesis..."
I'm going to end the chapter right there. Aren't I
scum?
To Be Continued(Big surprise, eh?)
***************************************
Author's loud-mouthed piece:
Like it? Love it? Hate it? Hate me? Let me know!
My e-mail is r_heins@yahoo.com C&C read,
appreciated, and considered when writing. Flames will
be used to heat my house. Death threats will be
laughed at and deleted. Letter bombs will be kept for
a rainy day to relieve the boredom.
I always need prereaders. If you want to
volunteer for this task, tell me.
As was already mentioned at the top of the fic,
this is my first fanfic. As such it probably has huge
holes. If you see one, _PLEASE_ tell me! Any and all
C&C will be greatly appreciated!
I _promise_ the next chapter will justify my use
of the word "crossover." It's taken a little while
for me to get to that point, I know. I originally
intended to make this chapter into the meeting point,
but this thing seems determined to write itself.
What can ya do? (shrug)
Ja Ne!
Slacker
PS A fic I can't recommend enough is "Curse of
Destiny" by Brian Drozd. It's one of the major
reasons
I'm writing Pluto the way I am. It makes you realize
that Pluto does certain things because she HAS to,
not
necessarily because she WANTS to. You can find it at
http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/HobbyCt/brian_drozd/
chouko.htm
In fact, I love all his work! Read `em and send him a
line!
PPS A _HUGE_(!!!!!) "THANK YOU" goes out to my
prereaders. Without them, this fic would suck. A lot.
I mean a WHOLE lot. I mean a whole, big, huge,
massive
amount of suckage would result. (I've got a thesaurus
and I'm not afraid of using it! Can you tell?)
They are (Drumroll, please, Paul):
Aaron Blomenkamp, the Beast of Chaos
Anchan
Battlezone http://www.angelfire.com/bc/Battlezone
CCMax
E_Nebedum
I'm apathetic
Mr.P
`tsuki-chan
William Dix
Xaldaran
PPPS What? You're still here? Go home! Hit the back
button! Do something!
PPPPS Hey, buddy. The Chapter is over. If you've read
this far, you're obsessed or something. The secret
phrase is "Don't forget to floss." Send me an e-mail
with it in it and I'll put the number of people who
did in one of the future chapters. Goodbye.
I was serious up there. This is the end of the
Chapter. SO STOP READING!!!!!
=====
Always listen to experts. They'll tell you
what can't be done, and why. Then do it.
--Lazarus Long
I am...(Drumroll, please)...Slacker!
KSC, Knight of Discordia, Lord of Discord
Member of the Church of Ami & Makoto
"All Hail Eris! Eris All Hail! Hail, Hail! Hail, Yes!"
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