Sorry this took so long to get out, I had it done in January but my
brother was slow with the editing.
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: dew-upon-oak2.txt
Dew upon an Oaks Leaves: Part two, by the Gemini siblings
"I was right! I was right!" Usagi started hopping up and down
laughing. "Woohoo!" The Senshi made shushing noises at her,
trying to stop her from saying anything more while Ranma and
Akane just stared at her in bewilderment.
"What!" Usagi protested, "I never get to be the smart one, I
want my moment in the sun, it isn't fair. I'm always the klutz
who's the last one to get to a fight and transform, I don't
always need you guys in order to moon dust a monster. I have a
brain."
"Yeah it's just on permanent vacation right now." Rei growled at
her, "That's just about the stupidest thing you've done to date."
Usagi's eyes opened wide as she realized what they were talking
about.
"Oh no, me and my big mouth, I'm such an odango atama." she
moaned.
"It doesn't matter, I probably would have told him anyway."
Makoto said, trying to comfort her.
"Besides, going by the look on Ranma's face, he's too shocked to
have even noticed it." Minako giggled. They turned to Ranma, who
looked to still be in shock from being found out. Slowly though
he snapped out of it as Azusa popped up in front of them, waving
her hand in front of his face.
"Oh, he's fainted, lets doodle on him!" A marker materialized
into her previously empty hand.
"Hey get away!" Ranma flailed backwards trying to avoid the tip
of the marker. At that moment, Rei's grandfather came down the
temple steps to see what all the commotion in the last few
minutes was about.
"Hey, what are all you pretty girls doing?" he asked. Azusa,
distracted, peered at him.
"Oh so cute! You must be Azusa's little Danielle!" she
squealed, pulling a leash from behind her back to snap around his
neck.
"Do you think she has a subspace pocket too?" Usagi asked idly,
watching the strange event. Once the collar was fastened Azusa
started dragging Rei's grandfather down the street.
"Hey get back, that's my grandfather!" Rei screamed, pulling out
a broom and chasing the figures quickly retreating down the
street.
"No he isn't, he's my little Danielle." Azusa answered back.
Hearing the commotion, Yuicchiruou popped over one of the
temple's walls.
"Oh no! Rei you're supposed to chase me with the broom!
Please, chase me, tell me you don't like her more then me! Rei!"
and he proceeded to chase after the small parade of people. The
others stared after them, sweat drops hanging from their
foreheads.
"So you guys know about Nyannichuan?" Ranma asked hesitantly,
once the figures had faded from view.
"Nyannichuan" Usagi asked, her curiosity aroused, "What's that?"
The rest, except for Makoto, were still to busy marveling over
the strange girl to even notice what they were saying.
"Wait, if you guys didn't know about Nyannichuan, why did Usagi
say she was right?" Akane asked.
"Oh, we had a couple of friends that transformed into female
fighters before. We thought Ranma did as well." Ami answered,
once she snapped out of her daze.
"Oh."
"So what's Nyannichuan?" Usagi asked again, a little
impatiently.
Ranma sat glumly on the steps, "It's a curse." He explained
about Jusenkyo as well as the real reason Shampoo had first
started chasing him.
"This is terrific!" Makoto exclaimed, "I thought something was
horribly wrong."
"What do you mean!?" Ranma yelled, "This curse has messed up my
life for the past four years, and you call it no big deal!?"
"Well, it took me a month to find out while you've been here,
I'd say that's pretty good." Makoto reasoned.
"It's more then just people knowing, it's my manhood!" Ranma
said, balling his hands into fists.
"Come on," Makoto argued, "Turning from a guy to a girl isn't
that bad."
"The Starlights are back?" asked a voice from above. Everyone
looked up.
"Hi Michiru and Haruka," welcomed everyone other then Akane.
"No the Starlights aren't back, we were talking about Ranma,"
Minako told them, and quickly gave them the highlights of the
story. About half way through Michiru started to get a strange
look on her face. Instantly noticing it and recognizing her
thoughts Haruka started looking distinctly uneasy.
"Listen tough break, we got to go, bye." and so saying she
quickly walked off, propelling Michiru in front of her. Just
then Rei came back, having successfully retrieved her
grandfather. After the group finished telling her everything
that she had missed Ranma changed back into a guy and told them
some stories about a few of the more interesting parts of his
life, such as Kuno and Kodachi, as well as explaining who Azusa
was. Although he couldn't explain why she was here.
In the middle of a story, Akane suddenly looked up puzzled, "Hey
guys, what were you talking about earlier?" she asked, "You know,
right after Usagi shouted, I'm right, about fighting and...moon
dusting?"
The scouts looked at each other, "Oh...umm...that. You
see...eh...it's all...umm." Their mumbles and attempted
explanations blended in together and they stood with their hands
behind their heads, laughing nervously. Akane peered at them,
trying to figure out why they were acting like that.
Ranma, who had remembered what they were talking about at
Akane's prompts, was scratching his chin trying to figure out
just why it rang a bell. By then the Senshi were shuffling their
feet and shifting their eyes, trying straight out to pass the
moment by without having to directly answer the question. Right
then, Ranma's thoughts cleared. Looking up quickly he snapped
his fingers and slammed one fist into the palm of his hand.
"That's it!" he said.
"What is, Ranma?" Akane asked, her eyes showing how dubious she
was that he'd really have an answer.
"You guys must be those umm...Solar Skaters, no that's not
it...um...Salmon Stars....no hmm, don't tell me, I'll get it."
Akane sweat dropped.
"SAILOR SENSHI!" Rei shouted, extremely offended.
"Yeah, something like that!" Ranma agreed happily, smiling
widely and rapidly nodding his head in agreement.
"Who are they?" Akane asked, even more confused.
"Oh, well remember the monsters I told you about in my last
letter?" Ranma asked her. She nodded. "Well these Sailor
Saints, or what ever they're called, fight them off and explode
stuff."
"SAILOR SENSHI!! WE ARE THE SAILOR SENSHI!" Rei shouted, so mad
that her face was flaming red and her hair was standing on end.
"We are the pretty suited defenders of love and justice, we kill
youma and protect the city."
"Hey!" Usagi shouted, "Those are my lines, as the leader I get
to say them you can't steal 'em!"
"I don't want to steal your stupid speeches, odango atama, why
would I want to sound that pathetic." After finishing this Rei
stuck out her tongue.
"Don't call me odango atama!" Usagi said, sticking her tongue at
Rei in return. Everyone sweat dropped as a tongue war started.
"Okay so how did you guys become Sailor Senshi?" Akane asked,
once they had stopped.
"Well, it all started around a thousand years ago. Back then we
all lived on the moon," Ami said, starting the complicated
explanation. "Only one day it was attacked and the grand
civilization of the Silver Millennium was destroyed in the
battle, as were all of us."
"My mom, the queen, couldn't stand losing us so she sent me,
Ami, Rei, Minako, Makoto, Hotaru, Michiru, Haruka, Setsuna and
Mamoru to the future along with Luna and Artemis. This used the
last of her strength and she wasn't able to completely defeat the
negaverse," Usagi added. Ami then picked the story up once more.
"However she was able to seal up the negaverse, and it took
them until we were fourteen to be able to attack. Luna and
Artemis found us one by one and gave us our powers as the battle
progressed. Since their defeat we've faced aliens, evil time
travelers, beings from parallel dimensions, dream snatchers, and
even a protector of the galaxy who turned evil. Now this."
"What ever this is." Rei tacked on.
"Who are Luna and Artemis?" Ranma asked.
Artemis poked his head out of Minako's backpack, and Luna walked
down to the step that the Senshi and others were on. "Luna and
Artemis are these cats," Usagi said, picking Luna up and shoving
her in Ranma's face.
"C-C-CA-CA-AT-T-T-S", Ranma stuttered, backing up the temple
steps with a horrified expression on his face, he flailed
backwards then turned and ran straight into the temple, "CATS, I
HATE C-C-CA-AT-TS!"
Usagi, surprised at this reaction to a harmless cat, chased
after him into the temple.
Akane sighed, putting her head in her hand, "That dolt.
Terrified of a couple of cats." She shook her head, "You'd think
after all he's gone through with it since coming to Nerima he
would have gotten over it already."
"What are you talking about?" Ami asked staring in the direction
Ranma and Usagi had run off with a curious expression upon her
face.
"Ranma has a little phobia. The basis of it is that if he sees
a cat he starts shaking like a little baby. If he gets near a
whole bunch of them he goes into a state of..." she paused trying
to think of a suitable word, "catatonic shock, he can't think
like a human, he basically becomes a cat. It's really kind of a
dangerous problem if I'm not around."
"Why is it only if you're not around?" Makoto asked, her eyes
begining to narrow jealously.
"Because I'm the only one that can calm him down when he's like
that, everyone else he tries to attack." Akane explained, "It's
actually really embarrassing since he insists on sitting on my
lap while calming down." She blushed slightly recalling the
first time he'd been in Nekoken state around her. Makoto eyes
narrowed further.
"Isn't there any cure for this? Psychiatrists have made
wonderful strides in curing phobias," Ami commented.
"Can you really see Ranma going to a psychiatrist?" Akane asked
dubiously.
Ami frowned, "I can see your point. What caused such a deep
seated fear anyway? I have never heard of such a violent
reaction to something in my life." Her statement proven as,
Ranma, with Usagi still chasing him, ran screaming around the
yard for a third time.
"His irresponsible dolt of a father got his hands on a manual
that teaches a legendary technique when Ranma was five. The
instructions say to fill a pit with starving cats and wrap the
trainee in fish sausages, then throw him in. His father
unfortunately followed them to the letter. And of course he
didn't bother reading the second page before doing this, which
states that the technique causes deep psychological scarring.
Not only that, but when he found out it instilled a fear of cats
into Ranma he threw him back into the pit a three or four more
times, trying to cure him."
Ami stared at Akane, as did the rest of the scouts, Ranma ran
past in the background screaming before heading into the temple.
Finally they gave the only real answer there was to such a
horrible act.
"Oh my!" Akane shrugged, frowning they all moved into the
temple, arriving to see Usagi on the floor where she had tripped
and Ranma in the corner cowering with Luna, who had gotten thrown
when Usagi fell, on his lap. Ami walked over and took Luna off
his lap, hiding her in a closet so Ranma couldn't see her.
Once he had calmed down, Ranma asked, "So, out of millions of
people on the moon to send, your mom chose...c-c-c-aa-cats?"
The Senshi sweat dropped, "Out of reincarnation, time travel,
aliens, beings from parallel dimensions and people powerful
enough to destroy galaxies, you pick cats to question." Makoto
asked, incredulously.
"Yeah." Ranma said.
"Like I said before, after living with him, his friends and his
father, we tend not to find to many things weird." Akane pointed
out.
Luna, who had ventured out of the closet without anyone noticing
commented, "That is probably helpful if you're going to be
staying here."
Ranma promptly lost it, incoherent screams about demon cats
coming from the corner he had fled to, while Akane flailed
backwards, screaming.
"What's the matter?" Usagi asked her, slightly bemused.
"That cat just talked!" Akane answered her eyes wide in
amazement.
"Maybe it would be better if I transformed for the moment." Luna
suggested. Usagi nodded in agreement. Once she was done, Ranma
quickly snapped out of his stupor and ran over to Luna. Grabbing
her hands and saying, "You're cursed, just like me, only, only
you can transform without water! Could it be that I've finally
found someone who can give me a cure?!" Ranma started dancing
around chanting, "never gonna be a girl again, never gonna be a
girl again..." Then he quickly grabbed Luna once again, trying
to pull her along saying, "Come on, you have to teach me that
technique!"
"Technique, what technique?" Luna asked, flustered.
"You have to show me how to transform from a guy to a girl
without water. Come on don't be stingy." Ranma said.
"I really have no idea what you're talking about." Luna
protested with a confused expression upon her face.
"Oh, Ranma, no, Luna can't help you turn from a guy to a girl
without water, it's a magic that only she can access allowing her
to change from a cat into a human. She isn't cursed." Ami
exclaimed, once she realized what was going on.
"Well why'd she have to go and get my hopes up like that
anyway!" Ranma said, sullenly.
Luna looked at all of them confused, having missed out on the
story earlier. "I'll explain later." Usagi promised.
Meanwhile, Akane was staring wide-eyed at Luna still. "The cat
talks, I heard it talk. Plus I saw her transform into a human,
without aid of water." She pinched herself, "Nope, I'm not
dreaming." She reassured herself.
"I thought you weren't surprised by much." Minako said to her.
"You certainly aren't taking this very well for someone used to
strange things."
"Yeah, well I've never seen an animal talk before." Akane
defended herself, "I mean even Mr. Saotome, Shampoo, and Mousse
can't talk."
"Who is Mousse?"
"Mr. Saotome and Shampoo are cursed too?" Usagi and Makoto asked
at the same time.
"Oh, umm, Mousse is a boy who's in love with Shampoo, who turns
into a cat. Mousse turns into a duck and Pops is a panda." Ranma
explained.
"Oh, I guess that explains the panda waving signs that make
sense at your house," Usagi said, "Talk about a strange
collection of people." This was muttered to herself, although
everyone could hear.
"Yeah, but none of them talk." Akane pointed out again.
"Yeah, P-chan don't talk either." Ranma's voice was sly and
teasing again.
"P-chan's a pig, why would he talk!?" Akane demanded.
"The cat talks." Ranma protested, all innuendo gone from his
voice and his eyes widened in an unsuccessful attempt at looking
innocent. Holding this look he started to back up out of the
room before she exploded. Halfway across the floor though, he
tripped on a pile of unused water balloons that had been left
there earlier during the fight.
"Dolt." Akane muttered.
"And to answer your previous question, as the queen's advisors,
she felt it imperative we be here to advise the princess." Luna
explained, trying to get back to business.
"Wait, that's right, as the queens daughter you're royalty, why
don't you live in a palace?" Akane asked.
"Because, only the Senshi, you guys and the Starlights know who
I am." Usagi replied, "and at the moment, we'd like it kept that
way." She tensed up until both Akane and Ranma agreed to keep it
a secret.
"Okay, now that you know about us, onto the million dollar
question. Do you guys now who the enemy is?" Rei asked, getting
bored with all the chatter.
"Actually, I just found out during the last attack." Ranma said.
"So who are they, and why are they here?" Ami asked.
"Well it's this guy we know from Nerima." Ranma said, trying to
approach it slowly.
"It's Ranma's perverted, ecchi old master, who he managed to
piss off again before he left, bringing him and his wrath here."
Akane said, cutting through the bush Ranma was beating around,
then adding as an after thought, "where he probably became
obsessed with your bodies and decided to stay so he could see you
more."
"SO I WASN'T JUST IMAGINING IT!" Rei yelled triumphantly.
"So how do we manage to stop him?" Ami asked.
"Well, me and Akane have been talking about it and we thought
that maybe a trap would be the best way to go." Ranma said.
"You're right, in the long run, after we factor in all the
variables a trap, would seem the best and safest route." Ami
said, once Ranma and Akane explained just what it was they were
up against.
"Then it's settled, we work together and give this old geezer
exactly what he deserves." Usagi agreed. They called the outers
and Mamoru to explain what was being set up, and for the rest of
the day they worked on a plan to capture Happosai--and more
importantly what they would do to, or with, him afterwards.
Later that night as Ranma and Makoto were heading out for a
moonlight picnic, Ranma noticed Makoto seemed more quiet than
usual, or in other words she wasn't yapping his ear off tonight
like she usually did. After trying to start a conversation with
her and only getting one syllable answers, he decided to leave
her be. At least until she was ready.
They had reached the picnic spot and set everything up by the
time that happened.
Makoto sat slightly apart from Ranma gazing at the moon with a
frown, "Your life has been a lot more difficult then I imagined,"
she finally commented, still frowning.
Ranma watched her carefully, recognizing that this wasn't her
usual conversation. "Oh, I dunno, it's been weird at times, but
you adapt. Sides, yours hasn't seemed to be much easier.
Fighting super strong armies daily." He watched as Makoto's eyes
grew slightly distant. He'd noticed them doing that occasionally
before when he'd made off hand comments about certain things,
he'd just thought she had a lot on her mind and brushed it off,
but now he wondered if it was something deeper. When he thought
about it, it seemed to happen to the rest of the girls too. He
thought back, realizing that none of them had gone into much
depth on the subject of their other halves and what they had gone
through. Usagi had seemed to try and brush it off as much as
possible in fact, just glossing over most of it. "Tell me about
it." He requested, trying to place as much care as he could in
the simple words.
Makoto laughed nervously, "I'm sure you don't want to know about
that," she told him, hands clasped nervously, "It's not that
interesting, really, monster attacks, Senshi transform and we
defeat it." she shrugged quickly, trying but not succeeding in
hiding the slight tremors Ranma could see rolling through her
body.
He frowned not liking that she was so upset, or that she
wouldn't tell him about a large part of her life. "Come on, tell
me, how bad could it be?"
Makoto stared at him, "Leave it alone Ranma, please, I don't
like remembering and I especially don't like talking about it."
Her voice was low, pleading with him, begging him to stop
stirring up old memories.
Ranma frowned, upset that she was blocking him out but unwilling
to cause her discomfort.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Makoto, tired of
the quiet, suggested, "Why don't we take a walk to get an
appetite up." Ranma nodded in agreement and stood up, watching
her all the while with troubled eyes. He helped her up and kept
holding her hand as they walked, glancing over at her
occasionally, trying to think of a way to snap her out of her
mood.
"Okay, if you won't tell me about most of your life, answer me
this." Makoto glanced at him out of the corner of her eye,
"What's your best memory? What thought makes you smile no matter
how upset you are."
Makoto turned to stare at him, "My best memory?" she asked,
Ranma nodded, proud of himself for finding a way to change the
subject. Makoto thought, remembering the first time she'd met
Usagi and Ami, or a time when all the Senshi were laughing about
a tongue war between Rei and Usagi. She thought to times when
she and Minako had hung out together, or group parties, trying to
pick a favorite. Slowly she started to chuckle as she recalled
one particularly fun memory.
Ranma watched her face slowly brighten, "Well, are you gonna
tell me?" he asked.
"My favorite memory would have to be the time Chibi-Usa went and
messed up gravity and all of the Senshi were trapped in the air
at an ice-cream parlor, we had to watch while Usagi tried to
fight a monster without the help of gravity." She giggled
slightly. "Ami was stuck upside down for about ten minutes before
it came back. Once it did we all fell to a big pile." she
laughed, then turned to Ranma, "What's your favorite memory".
"Uh..." Ranma tried to think of one, "Well, it would have to be
the time....no, that turned out bad. Hmm...how about when
Ryouga...no that was just a bunch of trouble, maybe the first
time my mom....no, no, no to many lies involved for that to be a
good memory." Makoto sweat dropped as she watched Ranma struggle
to recall a good memory, untainted by trouble.
"How about the time when we fought the seven lucky...no all that
water...or there was surfing on that abandoned......no the old
pervert ruined that....or how about when I first started
school..." Ranma shook his head violently, "What am I saying,
there was nothing good about that!" Ranma cocked his head and
frowned making various noises of dissatisfaction.
"Uh...that's okay Ranma, we'll get back to it." Makoto said,
looking at him nervously out of the corner of her eye as he
started glowing with chi, trying desperately to recall a good
memory.
"Okay." Ranma agreed quickly, glad to abandon this depressing
train of thought.
"They had reached the lake by this point and were circling it
quietly holding hands and enjoying the absolute isolation from
the busy streets of Tokyo.
"It's very peaceful here." Ranma said a slight smile on his
face, thinking that if he was in Nerima right now, Kuno would pop
up here with a bouquet of flowers for him.
"Yeah, that's one of the things I love about Jubaan, the
silence, at least, the silence that exists when theirs no
monsters trying to drain energy or destroy the world, or take
over the future in the past." Makoto joked.
Ranma laughed, "Sounds like you've had your share of
excitement."
"Hey, you know, school, friends, dates, evil monsters intent on
destruction, all a normal days work for someone as wonderful as
me." She struck a joking pose.
Ranma smiled. "Definitely wonderful," he said, and then winced
at how lame the line had sounded, despite the fiancees he still
hadn't had much experience with romance. Makoto blushed and
clasped her hands in front of her, bowing her head to study the
intertwined fingers nervously. Then immediately raising it again
when Ranma yelled, "DUCK" before launching himself at Makoto,
just in time to receive a bonbori to the head in her place.
"Girl get too too annoying, time to get rid of, Airen no love
her!" Shampoo shouted, apologizing to Ranma and tossing her now
cracked bonbori to the side before pulling out a sword.
"Arrgghh!" Makoto screamed, "I'm getting really fed up with
you!"
She was busily trying to escape a sword at this point, "Ranma,
what's, pant, the diff, gasp, ernce between this and, and, pant,
the kiss of death, gaaasp!?"
A rather muffled, and more than a bit incoherent, mumble came
from where Ranma was striving to pull his head from the ground.
Taking a guess that he would have confirmed her thought that
there wasn't much in the way of a difference she quickly started
retreating, a quick yelp snapping Ranma out of his daze.
"Sorry." He quickly jumped back into the fight, trying to keep
Shampoo away from Makoto so she could escape. Makoto however
just ducked behind a tree and shouted out her transformation
phrase before jumping back out.
"Hey you, you, you...Amazon slut! I want you to stay away from
_my_ Ranma!"
Shampoo turned around to face this new threat. "What you mean
your Ranma?!" she questioned furiously. "Ranma is Shampoo
husband, not some funny outfit girls."
"Oh yeah!" Sailor Jupiter laughed. "I challenge you then, winner
gets Ranma!"
"Well gladly beat you, stupid costume girl, should no take
Amazon so lightly, I not easy to beat!" Shampoo charged her.
Jupiter crossed her arms in front of her and yelled, "Jupiter
thunder Crash!" A bolt of electricity shot out of the rod upon
her tiara and struck Shampoo right before she could hit her. She
fell to the ground unconscious.
"Oh my god!" Ranma exclaimed, "Is she dead?"
"Oh! No!" Makoto exclaimed sounding horrified just at the
thought. "She's just lightly stunned, it wasn't a very powerful
bolt, just enough to knock her out, she should wake up any
minute." However as several minutes passed without any signs of
the young Amazon awakening she seemed slightly less confident
about her statement.
"Why'd you do that?" Ranma asked, "Now she'll really be after
you."
"Well she was already trying to kill me."
"She was probably only going to seriously maim you." inserted
Ranma. "Whatever," continued Makoto, "anyway, I figured, how
much worse could the kiss of death be?" Makoto said reasonably,
Ranma shrugged unable to think of an argument to that statement.
"And anyways, this way she'll be after my Scout form, not my
human one. You said that she has to chase me to the ends of the
earth and kill me if she's beaten, well this way she'll be
chasing someone who for large periods doesn't even exist." Ranma
brightened at this realization. However before he could comment
Shampoo rustled, then slowly stood. "Do you admit defeat,
Amazon?" Jupiter asked harshly.
"Hai, you beat Shampoo."
"Then Ranma is mine?" Jupiter pressed.
"Ranma is yours so long as Shampoo stay beaten by you." Shampoo
agreed again, then she moved over to her and took Jupiter's face
in her hands and kissed her cheek. "Now Shampoo really kill!"
Another bonbori and sword appeared in her hands. "Aiyaaaa!!"
Jupiter leapt off, followed closely by Shampoo. Ranma wandered
off to the picnic and sat nibbling a squid on a stick, waiting
for her to come back. Thirty minutes later she was back, she sat
beside him and leaned her head on his shoulder tiredly.
"So how'd it go?" Ranma asked, gazing at her with the closest
expression he had to tenderness.
"She's gone chasing me on the other side of town." Makoto smiled
and bit off the rest of his squid, as he was about to pop it into
his mouth. They sat smiling at the stars, more grateful then
ever for the silent reprieve.
The next morning found nine Senshi, Mamoru, Akane and Ranma in
the courtyard of Rei's temple, Usagi was half asleep cradled in
Mamoru's arms, Makoto, although awake, was also cradled in
Ranma's arms, Michiru and Haruka were merely holding hands.
"Okay, lets just start a tournament going, until we have a
victor." Ranma said, "Then I'll work with you guys to train your
strengths and weaknesses. Ranma looked at them trying to decide
whom to set whom against. "Umm...lets have the first match be
between Haruka and Usagi." Everyone looked up amazed at the
choice, well everyone except Ami and Usagi. Of course the only
reason Usagi didn't was that she was lightly snoring and hadn't
heard, the reason Ami wasn't surprised was because she knew about
the lessons Usagi had asked Ranma to give her, she'd also
participated in them.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, I mean, well...give her a
chance, pit her against Ami or Hotaru." Rei protested. Ami
flushed with anger at being grouped with a thirteen year old but
kept quiet.
"I know what I'm doing." Ranma said, and ignoring Akane's raised
eyebrow, went over to Usagi, who Mamoru had woken up. Usagi let
Ranma lead her off to the corner where Ami was standing and
started doing stretches; Ranma bent down and started doing them
with her, making it look as though he was leading her through
them. Although after a month of doing them daily she new them
well enough to do them by herself.
"Ranma?" she asked worriedly, "are you sure this is a good
idea?" she was frowning and looked incredibly nervous. Ranma
looked at her worried face, he'd been surprised when after the
third day of classes she and Ami had come up to him after he a
demonstration of what he could do, asking for him to train them
both in secret, telling no one. At first he had thought it was
another of their schemes to set him up, but he had had that
thought proven untrue quickly. Even so it had seemed hopeless,
since fighting didn't seem to be either of their strong points,
heck walking didn't seem to be a strong point of Usagi. However
after about a week of training without any results, Ranma had
come up with the perfect techniques to train both of them. After
that it had just been perfecting the details and Ranma now had
every confidence that Usagi could hold her own if not beat
Haruka. However if Usagi didn't get some confidence that would
never happen.
Ranma stood up after saying some meaningless words that hadn't
calmed Usagi at all, and led her towards the blocked out rink,
coincidentally taking her right past Mamoru.
Mamoru pulled Usagi aside, as they passed, "Don't worry Usako,
just try and dodge her punches I'm sure she'll go easy on you."
Usagi's eyes flared and she turned towards Ranma once again, a
look of determination on her face. Ranma gave a satisfied smile,
it was exactly what he had hoped would happen, they had explained
when questioned that they were tired of being the weakest of
their friends, a statement that made a lot more sense now that he
knew about there secret identities, he knew a comment like that
would be the exact thing she needed.
Ranma patted her shoulder, "You'll do fine, you're more then
ready." Usagi nodded and moved to stand in front of Haruka.
Ami's hands clenched and she silently encouraged Usagi to beat
Haruka, not that Ami had anything against the girl, but she _had_
been nodding along with everyone else when Rei had made that
Hotaru comment, and a girl couldn't always be forgiving. She
watched as Akane called for starting positions, Haruka's was a
tight, if relaxed one, she was giving no openings and seemed
entirely confident. Usagi on the other hand, was seemingly
nervous and stiff, for that reason, her stance seemed sloppy in
the extreme to the inattentive, however Ami had never been
accused of being that. When Ranma had first explained his idea
of the perfect fighting style for Usagi, Ami had been positive it
wouldn't work out in a million years, and after hearing where he
got the idea in the first place, she had raised that to three
million. Drunk fu, to her hadn't sounded all that promising as a
martial arts style, however revised, to klutz fu, so dubbed by
Ranma, the style was surprisingly effective. The best thing
about drunk fu was the ability to cloak the fighter's moves,
which mainly came about due to the fact that the fighter didn't
truly know them himself. Ranma had taken this part of the style
and trained Usagi to use her natural tendencies towards sudden
spills and other mishaps to cover attacks. It also had the added
benefit of making most people positive the hits she scored were
accidental, in fact the first two times Ami had fought her, even
she had been fooled and she'd watched Usagi training.
Akane called the start and Haruka and Usagi bowed to each other
then stood for a moment, each waiting for the other to move
first. Finally Haruka rushed towards Usagi, who moved to meet
her, around halfway there, she slipped and as she fell braced her
arms, using them to catch herself, she then swept her leg around
and knocked Haruka's feet out from under her, causing her to
tumble to the ground. Immediately after Usagi tried to regain
her feet, however she didn't quite make it and as she scrambled
uselessly for some ground wrapped both of her hands together,
bringing them down onto her opponent's head as she fell.
Everyone winced as they watched Haruka fall flat, and Usagi
crash to her knees, hitting her chin as she did so. Both
fighters managed to get to their feet, with Haruka once again
rushing Usagi. However this time Usagi backpedaled away from
her, quickly losing ground until she slipped on a patch of mud.
As she fell backwards, Haruka lunged forward at her with a fist
stretched out, however when it met nothing she lost her balance.
Usagi recovered quickly, waiting until Haruka was about to
stumble and then lashing out with her leg, pushing herself up
with her arms to cover the extra foot of space between them that
she couldn't reach otherwise. Her foot proved to be right on
target as it hit Haruka's jaw with a crunch. However Haruka, not
to be distracted, tried a repeat of her previous blow as she fell
and managed to catch Usagi's temple. Usagi's arms slipped out
from under her and she sat with her hand on her head, shaking it
lightly to try and clear it. Haruka fell to her side and lay
trying to get her breath back while watching Usagi through
narrowed eyes.
Usagi climbed to her feet, getting into her defensive pose once
again, with Haruka doing the same, although a tad more cautious
this time. Instead of rushing Usagi she backed up, encouraging
Usagi to rush her. Usagi circled her warily, before trying a
crescent kick into Haruka's stomach; Haruka blocked it easily
with her forearm, continuing to move her arm outwards until it
hit Usagi's stomach. Usagi winced then rushed forward,
pretending to slip again allowing her to slide under Haruka's
next punch and tackle her. A few moments later Haruka tumbled
out of the ring.
"Winner, Usagi!" Akane called before turning to Ranma, who had
moved to stand by her, "Drunk fu?" she asked, with a snicker and
laughing eyes.
Ranma shrugged, "You work with what you have," he whispered
back, looking proudly at Usagi, a girl who a month ago could
barely block a simple kick.
"What happened?" Rei demanded of Haruka, "How'd _Usagi_ manage
to beat you?"
"I don't know, I'd almost swear that all those hits were an
accident, but that last maneuver was planned, I was totally
prepared." Haruka frowned, "It's almost like she knew what she
was doing."
"Well she has been taking self defense classes for over two
months at school." Minako pointed out.
"So have you, do you think you can beat me?" Haruka challenged,
Minako quickly shook her head.
"I can't believe I beat Haruka!" Usagi whispered excitedly to
Ami over in their corner.
"Yeah, Ranma's training really paid off." Ami said, "I just hope
I can do as good."
"Oh, come on, I've seen you during training," Usagi breezed,
"Trust me, you're totally up to any of their skill levels." Ami,
naturally rather weak, hadn't seemed to have any natural fighting
advantages, just like Usagi. However, once Ranma found out how
smart she was, he got in touch with Dr. Tofu and taught her as
many pressure points and weak spots on the body as they could
come up with. He then worked on her speed so she could hit them
enough times to knock out an opponent before they had the chance
to block or land any attacks.
"Next match Ami vs. Mamoru." Ranma called, at this everyone
sweat dropped.
"Nani!?" Rei screamed, "Are you out of your mind, no way Ami
against Mamoru is a fair fight!" The rest of the gang nodded in
agreement, including Usagi.
"I have to agree." She said, then paused until everyone was
focused on her. "Mamoru would never have a chance against Ami."
Everyone's sweat drops grew.
"I know you're mad about that comment I made earlier Usako."
Mamoru protested, "but it's not necessary to insult me."
"Oh I'm not trying to insult you Mamoru, "Usagi said, while
thinking, 'Although that is a nice side perk.' "I just don't want
to insult Ami." Ranma shook his head, and worked his way over to
them.
"Okay Ami, are you ready?" he asked, Ami shook her head.
"Oh come on Ami, you can so totally beat him!" Usagi cheered.
Ranma ignored both of their answers. "Okay, right now, Mamoru is
stronger and probably as fast, if not faster then you," he
assessed.
"You were born to make these pep talks, weren't you?" Usagi said
sarcastically, this time Ranma took the time to glare at her.
"Not only that, but you aren't strong enough to block his
punches." He continued, listing her weaknesses, "However you do
have enough power in your punches to hit some pressure points
hard enough to get a reaction, so I want you to take out his legs
first. Immobilizing him will give you a chance to dodge in and
out again fast enough so you don't get hurt." Ami nodded, "After
that concentrate on the neck and his bottom row of ribs." He
squeezed her shoulder. "Don't worry, you can do it," he told
her. She nodded again, a look of determination on her face.
She moved into the rink, opposite of Mamoru, her starting
posture tight, without any openings. Akane called the fight and
Ami sprang into the air, attempting a kick to start off. Mamoru
reached forward and blocked it effortlessly, by sweeping upward
with one arm, a move intended to knock her off balance. However,
Ami, who had studied all of their fights, was expecting this move
and she used it to flip over his head. She landed awkwardly,
almost tripping over her feet in the process. Once steady she
quickly gathered her strength and hit the small of his back as
hard as she could, springing back almost immediately afterwards,
putting as much distance between them as she could while she
waited for it to work.
Mamoru spun around, ignoring the strange tingle in his legs as
he ran after Ami, almost catching her. Right as he was about to
grab her though his legs buckled. Ami spun around at the sound
of his falling, while he was distracted trying to figure out what
happened she darted in, with a quick kick to his floating ribs,
and then another to his collar bone. She then executed a punch
to his neck in a move that would hopefully leave him short of
breath for a moment.
Mamoru reached out to grab her, and she backpedaled to a safer
distance, waiting for an opening while trying to decide on her
next move. Mamoru watched her closely, he didn't know what she'd
done to his legs but he wasn't going to give her a chance to do
it again, and he _wasn't_ going to be beaten by a girl half his
size.
Ami finally decided on a move that would send his body into
convulsions, and darted in preparing to strike his neck. However
as she got within reach, Mamoru grabbed her and flipped her over
his head. As she felt herself being lifted she desperately
punched out, managing to hit the nerve before being flung over
his head, out of the ring and into a tree. She quickly climbed
to her feet and moved by the ring again, right as Mamoru's spasms
ended, and he choked out, "I give up!" not realizing he'd already
won, "I give up, just promise to never do that to me again!"
Ami smiled at the small victory, she might have technically lost
but she had still forced someone two times her size to claim
defeat. She giggled lightly.
Akane called the winner and Usagi ran over to Ami. "Are you
okay?" she asked anxiously, Ami nodded, "That's was terrific,
what in the world did you do to him?"
"I struck a nerve in his neck that makes your whole body go into
intense convulsions, it's like having a calf cramp throughout
your whole body, over and over and over. If struck with enough
force they can last indefinitely until, another nerve point is
pressed, but I can only manage to make them last for thirty
seconds."
Usagi smiled, "Cool, I'm going to gloat, good job!" She skipped
over to her boyfriend giggling.
"Where in the world did you learn that?" Haruka asked Ami,
having listened in on her conversation, "Did Ranma teach you?"
"Kind of, you'll learn the whole story in a little while," Ami
said, before hurrying over to where Usagi was sitting with
Mamoru's head in her lap.
After Mamoru regained use of his legs, the rest of the fights
quickly started, first Minako went against Setsuna and lost, then
Rei fought Hotaru, after complaining about getting a weak
opponent. Makoto fought Michiru, and won, then went against Rei
for a second victory, Usagi fought Mamoru and lost, partially
because she had a hard time, as always, fighting him. Setsuna
then beat both Mamoru and Makoto.
"Good," Ranma looked at Setsuna with respect. He'd had a hard
time believing their stories about her being extremely old and
observing most of the earth's history, but some of the moves
she'd used had been from ancient fighting styles he'd only heard
of. "I now want you guys to all attack Akane." This time no one
bothered protesting, although he did get several weird looks.
They all moved into the middle of the ring where Akane was
standing to surround her. Ranma called the fight and they all
rushed in. A minute later he walked over to the pile of people
on the ground and asked if anyone was hurt.
Akane pushed a hand through her hair to straighten it, "That was
pretty good, I haven't had any light sparring matches that good
since before Ranma came, when I was still having warm-up fights
before school everyday."
"We all just rushed you and you call it a nice warm up like a
sparring match before school!" Haruka protested, from her
position on the bottom of the pile.
"Relax, she just compared fighting you ten to fighting more then
fifty boys." Ranma explained.
Rei turned to stare at Akane, "You used to fight more then fifty
guys everyday before school!? Jeeze, what a tomboy!" she
exclaimed.
Akane's eyes started to glow and she pulled a large rock out of
the ground and shouted, "Shut up, you don't know what you're
talking about!" She prepared to throw the rock at Rei, but
before she could, felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Why did you have to fight all of them every day?" Usagi asked
with a friendly smile.
Akane dropped the rock; the sound causing most of the Senshi to
step away from her. "Well it's like this. Before Ranma came and
got engaged to me, a boy from our school announced to everyone
that if they wanted to date me they had to defeat me in combat.
They attacked every morning and didn't stop until Ranma came and
totally clobbered their leader. Once that happened they realized
they'd never win and gave up."
"Wow! You had more then fifty guys who wanted to date you."
Minako exclaimed, "You're so lucky!"
Akane moved away from Minako, eyeing her warily before sidling
up to Ranma and motioning for him to continue. "Okay, now I want
everyone to transform and attack me, no magic or ki attacks,"
Ranma announced.
Haruka, who was slightly mad at being beaten by Usagi asked,
"Can I use my sword?"
"Sure weapons are fine." Ranma agreed. Everyone transformed and
rushed him when Akane called the fight. After a short fight
Ranma was announced the victor and they moved to sit in the
temple while Ranma explained his reasons for the morning session.
"Okay, I'm sure you're wondering why I did that." he said," It
had two purposes actually, first I wanted to prove a point,
yesterday, you guys set up the trap and were talking like it'd be
easy to get him into it. However although Happosai has a very
large weakness we can exploit, that will only get us so far with
him, if I fought him at the speed I took you guys out at today,
he'd clobber me, I wouldn't even get a halfway decent shot in."
Akane nodded in agreement.
"The second point of this was for me to see what level you're
at. If you'll let me, I'd like to train you, like I've been
doing with Usagi and Ami so that this trap idea works. By having
you guys all fight and fight both me and Akane I can see where
you stand and what methods would be most effective."
"You're forgetting one detail, we weren't using our magic!"
Haruka pointed out, "You wouldn't have done half as well as you
did if we hadn't been holding back. Besides I don't want to take
lessons from a runt like you." She muttered the last part.
Ranma moved over to a tree and executed the Kachu Tenshin
Amiguriken before throwing a Mouko Takabishi at a rock. He
turned to Haruka, "Those were light attacks compared to what
Happosai can dish out by himself. Plus this time he's apparently
surrounded himself with Youma. Chances are your magic attacks
will be able to be dodged by him or else they're going to be
exhausted fighting the Youma, I don't want you guys to have to
rely on them.
Haruka considered this for a moment then turned around with her
arms crossed stubbornly, "I'll train by myself then, I refuse to
be trained by a runt like you."
Forty minutes later Haruka found herself jogging down a street
in Tokyo along with the other Senshi. Ranma was in the lead
followed by Akane, Ami and Usagi. The rest were in a small group
a little ways behind. All of them except for those three had
five pound weights on their feet. Akane and Ami had higher
amounts as well as Usagi, who was busy with special training of
her own. The basis of it was, Ranma dumping objects in her path
that she was required to dodge and pick up along the way. If she
tripped, which happened often, she needed to incorporate a kick
or a punch into the movement. Everyone was currently chanting
after Ranma.
"I don't know but I've been told!" Ranma shouted.
"I don't know but I've been told!" the rest responded.
"Ami's brain's getting pretty slow!"
"Ami's brain's getting pretty slow!"
"Sound off!"
"Sound off!"
"One, Two!"
"One, Two!"
Twenty minutes later, all the scouts except Haruka, Mamoru,
Makoto and Ami and Usagi were twenty feet behind and starting to
show signs of exhaustion.
"I'm not sure but I have found!" Ranma said jumping around
energetically.
"I'm not sure but I have found!" most of them managed to gasp
out.
"Usagi's getting pretty round!" Usagi growled at this and sped
up, almost managing to hit Ranma before he danced out of the way.
"Usagi's getting pretty round." the others droned.
After another ten minutes Haruka and Mamoru were twenty-five
feet behind, while the rest of the Senshi were around fifty and
just barely in hearing distance. Ranma was still hopping about
easily, while Ami and Usagi, who were still slightly mad, were
tripping along behind him.
"Eat your minerals eat your soy!" general mumbling accompanied
this as the Senshi tried to make a sound. Only Ami, Akane, Usagi
and Mamoru were really able to repeat it.
"Haruka wants to be a boy!" Ranma finished snickering. Haruka's
eyes flashed and she shot out at him, managing to get within five
feet of Ami.
"I don't know but I've been told!" Ranma shouted thirty minutes
later, right after most of the scouts quit. "Mamoru's a
perverted letch, dating a thirteen year old!" The second part
was squeezed together and rushed to fit it all within the chant
parameters.
Both Mamoru and Usagi sped up at that one, managing to keep up
for about fifteen minutes, before Mamoru started lagging again.
"She can't kick and she can't hit!" Ranma said after slowing
down from the required speed boost. "Akane's built just like a
brick!" While Ranma continued with his rousing song, Usagi
decided to drop back to talk with Haruka.
"I don't know, I think he's enjoying this way too much." Haruka
muttered. "The first seven were funny, then they started to get
annoying."
"So in other words they didn't get annoying until he started on
you," Mamoru pointed out.
"I still don't think it's fair that the worst he said about
Makoto was that she was thin, I mean he ripped the rest of us to
shreds." Usagi complained, looking up to stick her tongue out at
Ranma just in time to see Akane break her weights' chains and
start to swing them around her head eventually chasing him out of
sight.
Ami dropped back to talk to them as well as they all slowed down
and sat on the grass. After panting for around ten minutes,
Usagi popped up off the grass. "Well what are we waiting for, bet
Makoto's at her apartment cooking breakfast! Race you!"
Mamoru gaped up at her, "You really want to run after that
torture session?!" he asked.
"No, dummy, I want food." Usagi pointed out, with a look that
said, I'd think that'd be perfectly obvious.
"You actually have the energy to move after that?" Haruka asked,
"I don't even know how _you_ managed to keep up for so long."
Ami stood up, "If you walk I'll come. And actually," she turned
to address Mamoru and Haruka, "That was only a light jog compared
to what he usually has us do, I'm only fatigued, not worn out and
I bet Usagi's barely even tired."
"How can you not be tired?" Mamoru asked, "You were doing more
work then any of us, what with having to dodge al that stuff."
"Oh well see," Usagi started as they all got up to walk, "First
of all, since I'm always late I run everywhere, this gave me an
amazing amount of endurance, at least I think that's the word
Ranma used." Usagi said, wrinkling her nose and turning to check
with Ami. "Plus I've been doing it for a month now for two hours
at a time, we only stayed at under an hours running for the first
week. Ami wouldn't be so tired either, except Ranma just
increased her weights."
"You're carrying more weight then us!" Haruka demanded
incredulously of Ami. She frowned as Ami nodded. Walking beside
them silently the rest of the way there.
Before this when she had met Ranma, she had thought he seemed
kind of cocky and a little insolent, which hadn't rubbed well at
all. And that had just gotten worse when he decided to announce
he was going to train them. It had seemed ludicrous to her that
he thought he was that much better then the Senshi, no matter
what little light shows he decided to put on. But this new fact
as well as the display in the ring today did back up his attitude
a bit.
'Hmm, I wonder if I was wrong about him.' Haruka thought.
They finally reached Makoto's place where everyone was passed
out on cushions and breakfast was almost ready. Usagi
immediately raced to the kitchen to see what she could beg out of
Makoto. However one look at her face immediately cut off that
train of thought. For the time being.
"What's the matter?" Usagi asked Makoto. "I thought you'd be
happy you and Ranma get to spend even more time together, plus he
showed how much he cared about you to all of us!" Usagi eyes
turned into hearts, "He said you were too thin! What a terrific
compliment, it was so romantic, how he put all of us down just to
make you look good." Makoto giggled at that unique spin on
things.
"I'm not sure if that's the real reason he insulted you, I mean
he was pretty on target with most of those chants about you,
Usagi." she teased.
"HEY!" Usagi pouted for a moment, then turned serious again. "No
really, what's bothering you?"
"Where are Ranma and Akane?" Makoto asked in an apparent change
of subject.
"Oh he said something insulting to her and she chased him off,
why?" Usagi asked.
"Because I just realized something, I noticed something odd a
couple of days ago, but couldn't put my finger on it till now."
Makoto paused then looked up with worried eyes, "Last Wednesday
after the dinner at the hospital we went to Ranma's house first,
since it was on the way. Not only did he not invite me in, but
the light was on."
"So he forgot to turn it off when he left, I do the same thing
lots." Usagi said frowning.
"That's what I thought to, but I realized something when Ranma
picked me up today." Usagi looked at her intently, but Makoto
didn't continue.
"Well! What did you notice!" she pressed finally.
"I noticed that whenever Ranma comes from his apartment, Akane's
always with him!" Makoto said triumphantly. Usagi's face
developed a blank look.
"Don't you see, whenever they come to school, Akane's always
with him when he picks me up or when they're late, and when we
meet on the weekends, she's with him when he arrives!"
"I still don't see what this has to do with your being upset, do
you think he's spending too much time with her?" Usagi asked
frowning.
"NO! Well, actually, yes--but that's not what this is about!"
Makoto said slamming her fist onto the counter. "I think they're
living together!"
"What!" Minako, Rei and Ami shouted, as the door burst under the
pressure of the combined Senshi's weight.
"You have to be kidding, you think Ranma's pulling you along, as
well as Akane?" Haruka asked from behind the Inner Senshi.
"That can't be right, Akane knows Ranma's dating you." Ami
pointed out.
"Yeah and she _really_ doesn't seem the type to be to tolerant
about that sorta thing." Minako tacked on.
"Maybe, but it still seems weird, and for that matter-" Makoto
said, flipping the last of the pancakes onto a plate.
"I wouldn't worry about it." Setsuna commented, "I really don't
think he's been cheating on you." Makoto looked over at her,
trying to decide whether that was just intuition talking or
actual knowledge, but had to give up before deciding when the
door opened.
They watched as Akane dragged in a severely beaten Ranma. At
the sight Usagi nudged Makoto and whispered, "Besides unless
Ranma's into bondage and beatings I don't think they'd be that
great a couple." She then raised her voice as Makoto started to
protest Akane's treatment of Ranma. "So since we're all here can
we start eating?"
"Usagi how can you think about eating pancakes when Ranma's so
hur-" Makoto cut herself off as at the mention of breakfast and
pancakes Ranma untwisted himself from the knot he was in and
jumped up, completely healed.
"Breakfast? All right! I'm starved!" They watched him bound
over everyone and sit at the table. Slowly everyone else
followed shaking there heads at the strangeness. After having
quickly devoured the food they set about training for another
couple of hours, only pausing as the heat became too much to work
in.
"So what do you guys want to do now?" Makoto asked, once back at
her apartment.
"We could start a game of baseball." Rei suggested
enthusiastically.
"No way!" Minako protested. Usagi nodded in agreement, only to
shake her head as she continued, "If we're going to play a sport
I want to volleyball."
"Come on, no one other then you likes that stupid game!" Rei
yelled.
"Hey! I happen to be on my schools volleyball team, I think it'd
be fun." Akane protested.
Seeing the argument start to heat up, Makoto broke in. "Come on,
we don't want to play a sport, that's to much work, we're
supposed to be relaxing, and you know that's not going to happen
if we break into teams and start trying to beat each other."
"Yeah," Usagi agreed, "You know you're both way to competitive
for that."
"Us?" Rei and Minako asked together, "What about you?"
"Me?" Usagi strived to look innocent. "You know I never get
competitive over anything!"
"Oh yeah, what about that skiing contest?" Rei challenged, and
before Usagi could protest continued. "And there was the ice
skating incident, and the fight with Ann over Mamoru, and there
was the fight over the role of snow white. And just who refuses
to ever lose any argument?"
Everyone started laughing at Usagi's red face, finally she
clamped a hand over Rei's mouth and muttered, and "I think you've
made your point, don't you?"
"How about an amusement park?" Michiru asked loudly, trying to
get them back on track.
"Yeah that sounds fun." Makoto agreed.
"But I've been to the amusement park three times this month,
isn't there something new to do?" Usagi whined.
"I know," Haruka said with a small smirk and a mean glint in her
eye, "We could go to that new water park that just opened, didn't
you say you and Ranma used to love them when you were younger?
Think of it as reliving old memories."
"Maybe you forgot, but water parks are out for me." Ranma
growled, "Remember? Ancient Chinese curse plus cold water equals
girl?"
Just then, Makoto, who had gone to the kitchen after hearing
Haruka's suggestion, came back out and stood over Ranma, "No
problem." she said, then dumped a glass of water on him, "Just go
as a girl."
Haruka started to snicker, "Hey, it's just like ramen
commercials: want instant soup, add a cup of hot water and you
have it, only this time it's want buxom girl, just add a cup of
cold water and instant Ranma-chan!" she doubled over laughing,
until Michiru reached over and lightly hit her over the head.
"Behave!"
Meanwhile Ranma was arguing with Makoto, "No way am I dressing
up in some girls bathing suit, I'm not going to go outside as a
girl! I'm a guy damnit!"
"Oh come on, it's not like anyone'll ever know! We'll have fun!"
Makoto persuaded.
"Yeah, and look, I have this old bathing suit, it's too large in
the top and real stretchy so it should fit you fine!" Usagi said
cheerfully, waving a bikini above her head.
"No way I'm wearing that! Ugh, find yourself another guy!" Ranma
said, backing away from them.
"Well I'd put it on Mamo-chan, but I don't think even this is
stretchy enough to fit." Usagi said, getting weird looks from
Mamoru and causing Minako and Rei to start laughing. "So since
that's the case, guess it'll have to be you."
"No, no, no, nonononono! I'm not wearing it!" Ranma said
crossing his arms.
"Oh come on Ranma, it's not like it'll be the first time, and
this ones a lot better then some you've worn." Akane pitched in.
The Senshi all turned to look at Ranma with odd expressions.
Twenty minutes later, several cheerful girls, a relatively happy
Mamoru and one slightly glum Ranma arrived at the park.
"What ride should we go on first?" Usagi asked jumping up and
down.
"That double water slide looks fun." Mamoru pointed.
"Cool, lets team up, I call Mamo-chan!" Usagi squealed, hugging
him.
"I'll take Michiru." Haruka said, doing the same.
"I'll ride with Ranma-chan!" called Makoto before pulling him
into a tight hug, showing no sign of embarassment, and kissing
his cheek.
Ranma-chan pushed against her, "Hey, I _am_ a girl right now you
know."
"Oh, so what, it's not like your preferences switch." Makoto
argued, and then turned a little doubtful, "Do they?"
"No! I'm always a guy, my thoughts don't change!" Ranma-chan
yelled.
"Well, see, there's your answer!"
Rei turned to Minako, "I'll ride with you, but don't expect any
hugs."
Minako laughed, "I'd be worried if I was."
Ami turned to Akane, "Guess that means you and I'll be riding
together."
They were walking towards the ride when Ami noticed Akane
looking at Makoto who was hanging on Ranma strangely. "Is
anything wrong?" she asked her, wondering if maybe she was
jealous, her and Ranma were technically engaged after all, and to
all appearances appeared to be living together.
"I can't understand how Makoto can be so open with Ranma's
female form. I mean she doesn't seem to care which form he's in
at all," Akane said.
"Well don't forget, we've had friends who switch genders before,
it wasn't all that surprising for us at all, plus we had already
figured it out so she's had some time to get used to the idea.
Besides Ukyou and Shampoo both know and they both still like him
right?" Ami questioned.
"Well yes, but both of them were a bit put off when they found
out, and neither deliberately turned him into a girl before going
on a date, they'd never consider it if they knew they could go on
a date with him in male form even easier."
Minako and Rei, who had been eavesdropping on their
conversation, fell back to where they were walking. "Well, you
know, you do have to consider the fact that Makoto was flirting
with Haruka even after she found out that she wasn't a guy." Rei
said, with a devilish glint in her eyes.
"You mean she's gay!" Akane asked.
Minako hit the back of Rei's head. "No of course she isn't,
trust me Mako-chan is anything but gay, however, I really don't
think she's as disturbed by that kinda thing as most people.
Maybe because she lived on the street for a while, I'm sure that
would really lower the amount of things you have trouble with."
At that moment Usagi came back to them and tugged on their arms,
telling them to hurry up.
However as they passed her she got a thoughtful frown on her
face, 'I wonder why Makoto is like this, maybe....' then Usagi
shook her head, 'no I'm sure it's not that. But still, I need to
talk with her about this.' She nodded once and then completely
forgot about the matter as they got to the line for the ride.
After about two hours of running, getting wet, and yelling, even
Ranma was having a good time, and everyone was laughing as they
moved to the picnic area to enjoy the lunch Makoto had packed.
Once everyone was settled with some food, they started to
discuss where to go next. "I say lets go on that big raft ride."
Mamoru said.
"No I think we should go on the lazy river." Minako suggested.
"What about that wave pool decorated like a cove, I thought that
looked fun." Makoto said. Once they realized they couldn't
agree they decided to split up. Mamoru, Rei, Haruka and Michiru
went on the raft ride, while Usagi, Minako, Ami and Akane decided
to try the lazy river. Only Ranma and Makoto wanted to try the
wave pool, which suited them just fine.
"This has been so much fun!" Makoto enthused once they were in
the pool by a cave where there was some privacy.
"Yeah," agreed Ranma, "I really missed water parks, there aren't
any by the Tendo's, and last time I had this much fun in the
water was on vacation last year and that trip ended up being
sorta a disaster."
"What happened?" Makoto asked, so Ranma went and told the story,
by the time he got halfway through the story of the search for
Kasumi Makoto was howling with laughter.
"--and then, later my old man told me that when he and Ryouga
were searching for her he told him that man eating squid had
probably kidnapped her and the moron believed him!" Makoto
doubled over in laughter, almost falling off the ledge she was
sitting on.
"Your dad always was good at saying the most ridiculous things
with a totally straight face." Makoto reminisced. "Remember the
time he found out my friend Azusa liked you so he made you work
in that vineyard then told her that the berry juice on your feet
was a deadly disease that was spread from eye contact!"
Ranma started laughing, "Oh yeah! She'd been chasing me and Pops
didn't approve of her for some reason or another."
"She started wearing huge hats and sunglasses around you
remember?" Makoto reminded him, "I'd never really understood just
why you didn't want him to know we were dating till then."
"Yeah, no telling what he'd have done if he knew we were
dating," Ranma agreed. They sat laughing lightly for a minute
before Makoto prompted Ranma to finish his story. By the time he
was finished, she was stretched out on the ledge holding her
sides, which were aching from laughter.
"That was a great story," Makoto said, leaning her head on
Ranma's shoulder, "it sounds like you've had some really amazing
adventures."
"We sure have, if you thought that story was funny though you
should hear about the time Akane was kidnapped."
"She was kidnapped _again_?" Makoto asked incredulously, raising
her head from his shoulder.
"Mmm hmm." Ranma said noncommittally.
"Well tell me what happened!" Makoto said grabbing his bathing
suit straps and shaking him lightly.
"This prince of the seven lucky gods martial artists came
looking for a scroll that Akane just happened to be holding at
that moment. The deal with the scroll though was that whoever
was holding it had to marry him. So the prince kidnapped her and
we all went to save her only to find that by the time we got
there she'd almost killed him herself...with her cooking!" Makoto
started giggling.
"Really, you have to be exager--"she started only to be
interrupted by a glowing Akane.
"So I'm not the worlds best cook, so what if I'm not exactly
Delicate! That doesn't mean anything!" Akane yelled, using her
mallet to blast him into the wall on the opposite side of where
they had been sitting. Rei and Usagi peeked out from behind a
tree.
"Are you sure that was necessary?" asked Usagi, only to fall
back waving her hands in front of her face and babbling calming
things as Akane turned to her growling.
"Apparently so." Rei said idly watching as gravity slowly peeled
Ranma from the crater in the wall where he had hit.
Makoto, who had finally realized, after spending the day with
them and listening to Ranma's stories that a hit like that
wouldn't hurt him, simply turned to look at Akane.
"So, sounds like your vacations are usually pretty interesting,
guess we don't have to worry about you finding this one strange,
huh?"
Akane laughed. "Just what has he been telling you?" she asked,
they'd only gotten there in time to hear his comment about her
cooking.
"Oh he was telling me about how you guys got trapped on that
island and kidnapped, and how he came and rescued you, it sounded
really romantic." she said, with only a little jealousy in her
last comment.
"_Romantic_? After the way that jerk acted when we were in the
bridal contest?" Akane asked scornfully.
Makoto's eyes widened, "What do you mean after the way he
acted?" she asked.
"Just what _did_ he tell you about the contest?" Akane's eyes
slitted suspiciously.
"Only that he went into the palace undercover and rescued you
when you won after slapping the prince for some reason." Akane's
eyes opened and she pulled Makoto to her feet.
"That rat, he totally left out all of the embarrassing stuff he
did!" Her mouth turned up in a crafty smile. "Boy do I have a
story for you. Come on Rei, Usagi, Minako, I think you'll enjoy
this too." So saying she pulled them away to a small fast food
stand and told them the real story of the bridal contest.
By the time Ranma found them a half hour later, the story and
several others had been told, much to the Senshi's amusement.
"Hey Ranma, bet you looked real good in turquoise!" Usagi yelled
at him as he walked up.
"Oh I don't know I really think he would've looked better in
something purple." Minako said, "I really don't see him being a
summer." Ranma felt his face heat up and he turned to Akane.
"You told them!" he protested.
"You told them about my cooking, _besides_ Ranma it's not like
they really care." Akane pointed out. Ranma looked at them
carefully, he'd gotten used to being disliked because of his
curse, but could only see amusement on their faces. He took a
deep breath of relief, he'd actually been afraid about losing
their friendship.
"My favorite part was when you jumped up to the prince and told
him you'd been saving yourself for him!" Makoto said laughing,
just as the rest of there group walked up.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Mamoru asked leaning over Usagi's chair.
"Nothing!" she answered giggling.
"Long story, we'll tell you later." Minako added. Ranma rolled
his eyes.
"Okay, anyways Usagi, we better get going, your parents have
that dinner thing in an hour and a half and we still have to get
ready." Mamoru said, deciding it'd be easier to just ignore it
for the time being.
"Oh right! I totally forgot about that!" Usagi said jumping up
and quickly herding everyone towards the parking lot.
"Oh, so you're actually going to be on time for once in your
life?" Rei jeered, prompting Usagi to stick out her tongue at
her.
"Shut up pyro!" she yelled, Akane giggled.
"I'm just going to walk home." Makoto announced as they reached
the cars, there's a gourmet store near here I wanted to stop at."
she paused turning to Ranma, "Want to come?" she asked. Ranma
nodded, drool leaking out of the corner of his mouth at the
thought of her cooking.
Usagi giggled, "Boy Ranma, you eat even more then me, I bet
you've never turned down anyone's food in your life!"
Makoto laughed as well, "That's just cause everyone who wants to
cook for him is a gourmet chef."
"That's not true," Ranma protested, everyone paused as they
waited for him to say something sweet and romantic about Makoto's
cooking. "I always turn down Akane's cooking, there's no way
anything she makes could be considered gourmet, it's more like
toxic waste!"
Akane started to glow blue. "Ranma!" she growled, before taking
out her mallet and proceeding to make an extremely rare gourmet
dish, served by a very small select group of female cooks only.
Ranma Pancakes.
The End of Chapter Two
Gomen Nasai, I never thought chapter two would take so long to
write. It seemed I got writers block every time I picked up the
pen. However on the plus side, it seems to have totally
disappeared and I have the next chapter, the last one, all
planned out. Now all I have to do is beef it up and type it out.
I'll try and hurry.