Man, this is bad. Over four months to post this baby. Yeeks.
I could make excuses like I was away from my computer for almost
two months and that I'm a slow writer, but those are cop-outs.
Sorry for the delay.
Anyways, here it is. All C&C is appreciated, public or private.
The grammar isn't as important to me as the story itself, but
if you want to point out all the misspellings and whatnot, feel
free to. Flames will be filed with the "Delete" key and put to
filters. Honest negative criticism is appreciated, though.
Adversity makes us grow strong, after all.
Ja Ne!
Slacker
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - Free email you can access from anywhere!
http://mail.yahoo.com/
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: Small3.txt
-- Desc: Small3.txt
Well, here it is. Chapter 3. Aren't we all
happy? (Well, except for a few of you. You know
who you are.)
You might want to read the prior chapters
before getting into this one. You can find them
at my homepage:
http://www.angelfire.com/anime/Slacker
or Tannim's page:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim/index.html
Without further ado, (since ado costs too
much to waste these days) let's start the fic,
eh?
*****************
"All The Small Things-Chapter 3"
A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2 fanfic (Yes, yet another
one.)
By: Slacker (r_heins@yahoo.com)
*****************
What's happened thus far:
Ranma has enlisted Nabiki's help to "run
away from home" in order to get some time to
sort things out. Nabiki agreed to help in order
to maintain some kind of control over him. Ranma
actually did something resembling planning and
had most everything worked out. (Gasp!)
In Juban, Setsuna has freaked out the Senshi
by: 1.Smiling. 2.Making jokes. and 3.Informing
them that she was lying about Galaxia being the
last threat they would have to face before the
Great Ice. The Senshi were understandably
unhappy about #3.
Meanwhile, Ranma made his way to the house
in Juban where he would be staying. He's
decided that his cursed form would be the best
way to go.
He (currently she) gets to his destination
and is cooking dinner when some of the other
residents of the house get home: Haruka Ten'ou,
Michiru Kaiou, and Hotaru Tomoe. Haruka, having
had a VERY bad day, jumps to the conclusion that
Ranma is a burglar and jumps her.
And that's where our fic resumes.
*****************
(Unless noted, all events are now taking
place in Juban) Setsuna's house, evening.
Haruka was NOT having a good day. First,
Setsuna had been gone for two days, so she
couldn't get any information on the enemy
from her. Second, some guy dressed in black
had basically handed her head to her
earlier. Third, she gets chewed by Usagi, of
all the people, for attacking him. Fourth,
when she got home, there was a burglar in
the house.
After her day, she wasn't in any mood to
try to talk to the burglar, so she just
jumped at her with havoc on her mind. And
found herself flying through the doorway into
the front room. She landed on the couch. She got
up slowly and carefully moved towards the girl.
She sized up her opponent.
Shorter than herself, slight build, red
hair, blue eyes, rather...healthy build, Chinese
style red shirt, black pants, and black
slippers. Obviously knew some martial arts.
Faster than heck.
Haruka figured out her plan. <I'll get
in close and overpower her. There is NO way
she's stronger than I am. Not with that
build.> Hotaru and Michiru hadn't even moved
yet.
Haruka started to rush back into the
kitchen. She was just about up to full sprint
speed when a hand grabbed her shirtsleeve. <So
she's got friends, huh?> Haruka shifted her
momentum and put everything she could into a
punch.
Which was caught. Effortlessly. Haruka looked
at the hand and then up at the person who caught
it. Crimson eyes looked back. One green eyebrow
elevated slightly. Haruka recognized her
instantly. "Setsuna. Where have you been?"
In reply, Setsuna did her usual "I know
something you don't" smile and said "I'd prefer
it if you didn't attack our new houseguest. I
don't wish to have to make a trip to the
hospital."
"Oh, come on, Setsuna. You know I wouldn't
actually hurt her." Haruka protested.
"I wasn't worried about her." Setsuna
replied as she let go of Haruka's fist and waved
at Ranma. "I just stopped in to say hi and to
tell you not to try to kill our new houseguest.
Her name is Ranko Satori. She will be staying
with us for the foreseeable future. Now I have
to go and take care of some pressing business.
I'll be back later." With that, Setsuna turned
and walked to the front door. As she was opening
it, Haruka called out to her.
"Hey! How long is this `pressing business'
going to take? We've got some questions
about..." Haruka suddenly remembered their new
`houseguest' "...stuff."
Setsuna just smiled again. "As much time as
I need. Remember who I am, after all. I'll see
you tonight. Be nice to Ranko." Then she walked
out of the house, still smiling. <Oh, I'm a bad
girl. I almost hope she does pick a fight with
her. It'd be worth it for the amusement factor
alone.>
Haruka's left eye twitched. <One day she's
going to give me that smile and then I'm going
to go after her. And then...she'll clean
the floor with me.> Haruka admitted with
complete honesty.
Ranko stood in the kitchen waiting to see
if the chick in guy's clothing was going to
attack again. She didn't know who she was, or
the two other girls with her, but she
recognized the voice of the woman with green
hair. She had to talk to her a lot to get
transferred out of Furinkan, especially due to
some of the...unusual procedures she had to use
to cover herself. <That must be Setsuna Meiou.
She looks to be a pretty good martial artist,
given how she stopped that punch. Don't
recognize the style, though. Might have to see
if she wants to spar later. Have to keep in
practice, after all.>
Ranko nearly jumped out of her skin when a
hand tugged on her sleeve. She whipped around
and sank into a ready stance. She saw the short
girl in the turtleneck standing there. She
seemed shocked at Ranko's speed. <Geez, Cologne,
Tofu, Kasumi, now a little girl. Seems like
anybody can sneak up on me these days.>
Hotaru WAS in shock. She had NEVER seen a
human move that fast! Ranko, at least that was
she thought Setsuna-mama had said her name was,
moved almost as fast as she did as Saturn! She
gave herself a mental shake and decided to do
what she originally came over to do: introduce
herself.
"Hi! I'm Hotaru!" Hotaru announced
cheerfully.
"Um, hi. I'm Ran...ko." Ranma replied.
Hotaru missed the way Ranma stumbled over
her name and continued her introductions.
"That's Michiru-mama, that's Haruka-papa, and
the lady who just left was Setsuna-mama." Hotaru
pointed to the appropriate people as she made
the introductions.
<Haruka-papa? Don't ask. I have enough
weirdness as it is.> "Nice to meet ya. You guys
boarding with Meiou-san, too?"
"Yes. What are you cooking?"
"An omelet. I learned how to make `em when I
was traveling with my pop. Want some?"
"Yes, please. Could Michiru-mama and Haruka-
papa have some, too?"
"Umm, sure. I'll whip up some more. I think
there's enough for everybody."
Haruka walked over to Ranko. <'Be nice' she
says. Fine. I'll be nice.> "Hi. I'm Haruka. Nice
to meet you. Sorry about jumping you, but I've
had a really bad day."
"No problem. I've had days like that, too."
<Mostly in the last year.> "You're pretty good.
Spar much?"
"Not much, actually." Of course, this was
true. Most of her fighting was with various
people who were trying to take over the planet
(which didn't count as sparring, obviously).
"Oh. Wanna spar sometime? I need a partner
or my skills will get rusty."
"Sure, why not? Just tell me when you want
to start." And with that, Haruka started a chain
of events that would eventually drive her
insane, making her kill all of the other Senshi
in incredible bloody ways, ensuring that Crystal
Tokyo would never be formed and Chibi-Usa would
never be born. (See? Every cloud has a silver
lining.) No, wait, that's a plotline for a non-
existent darkfic. In THIS fic, it just causes
her a lot of headaches and lost sleep.
"All right. Let's start tomorrow." And thus
it began.
****************************
After dinner.
Ranko had decided to go to bed early,
commenting that she almost never had a full
night's sleep in the last year. Hotaru quickly
followed. Haruka and Michiru waited up for
Setsuna. Haruka was thinking about the way Ranko
had managed to avoid answering any questions
about her past and wondering why Setsuna had
agreed to let her stay with them. Michiru was
thinking about how warm Haruka was. She also
noted that Haruka was tense. <Let's see what I
can do to fix that, hmmm?>
"Whaa? Michiru? What are you doing? Oh, hey.
Stop. Giggle. Stop that! HaHa. You know I'm
ticklish there! HEY! HEEHEEHAHAHA-MMPPHH!" (Yes,
`MMPPHH'. Michiru decided that they were making
too much noise and decided to drop the noise
level in the most...enjoyable way.) It was just
about to hit the level of `fan service' when...
"Am I interrupting something important?"
Setsuna drawled in an amused tone.
The Outer Senshi quickly jumped up and re-
assembled their clothes. Both of them were about
to combust from their blushes.
Haruka cleared her throat, opened her mouth,
closed her mouth, cleared her throat again,
opened her mouth, and asked "How long were you
standing there?"
"Long enough to discover how adept Michiru
is at removing a bra. Now, you said you wanted
to ask me something. What is it? And fast, if
you don't mind. I've been looking forward to
sleeping all month."
"We had a meeting earlier today. Some
questions came up..."
**************************
(Yes! It's flashback time! Insert wavy lines...
HERE!)
Hikawa Shrine, afternoon.
The room was silent.
"Usagi! Give me back my manga! I haven't
read that one yet!"
Well, fairly silent. Everyone except Usagi
and the Outers were totally bushed from the
fight earlier. Usagi, because she never seemed
to get tired when Rei's manga were around, and
the Outers because they missed most of the
fighting.
Finally, Rei gave up on the manga and
decided to get the meeting into gear.
"So, Ami, what kind of readings did you get
from the youma? Or from our little helper, for
that matter?"
Ami opened up the Mercury Computer and
proceeded to bring up the data she had recorded
from the fight.
"Well, to put it as simple as possible, the
youma (for lack of a better term) was the same
as the ones we've been facing lately. That is to
say, a combination of the best of all of our
older foes and none of their weak points. Our
usual tactic of throwing energy at the enemy
until it just can't handle it anymore didn't
work, because this one was extremely resistant
to magic."
"So, how'd you guys manage to defeat it?"
Haruka asked, curious.
"We didn't." Usagi replied. "The guy you hit
in the chest with a `World Shaking' did. You
know, the one that saved my life? The one that
was helping me up and was about to introduce
himself before you tried to kill him? That guy!?
Does that ring any bells? Hmmm? Well? Are you
going to say something? Anything?"
Usagi was rising out of her seat as she
spoke and was standing over top of Haruka by the
end. She had been getting more formal and cold
in her speech patterns, as well. By the end of
her speech, the temperature in the room had
dropped several degrees.
Everyone else began to slowly back away from
Usagi and Haruka.
"Woah, Princess. I didn't know that he saved
you, remember? I just showed up and saw some guy
dressed all in black leaning over you. So I hit
him. How many good guys do you see dressed all
in black, after all? I acted on the knowledge I
had at the time, all right?" <Geez, what's with
the attitude? I've never seen her like this.
Hell, Michiru and I killed off her friends and
she didn't act like this.> "Uh, why are you
so...um, upset about me attacking him, any ways?
It's not like he was a friend of yours, after
all."
Usagi looked kind of confused. "I am not
sure. It is almost like I knew him from
somewhere. His eyes seemed...familiar, somehow.
I do not know how to explain it any better than
that."
Usagi fell silent and appeared to be
pondering something. Ami decided that now would
be a good time to speak up.
"I managed to get some readings on him."
Instantly she was the center of attention.
Ami began to tell what she knew. "The
Mercury Computer picked up huge amounts of
negative energy from him. Because of that, it
couldn't scan him very well. What I could get
was that he has several different energy
signatures overlapping each other. One of them
was almost identical in almost every aspect. The
Computer couldn't even begin to give me a good
read-out on them. It gave me an `Insufficient
Data' message. The bad news is that I can't
track him, or even find him. The good news is,
if he gets close enough I can recognize his
signature."
"Negative energy? Isn't that what Beryl and
the Generals used?" Rei asked.
"Yes. But this seems to be different. It has
a slightly different pattern from any of the
Dark Kingdom's. It fluctuated a lot. I have no
Definite idea what he would be capable of, but
it is probably quite impressive."
"Impressive? How `impressive?'" Makoto asked.
"I think he could take out Tokyo and still
have time for a mid-morning snack." Ami said
with utter seriousness.
That made everyone just sit there in silence
for a while.
"Crap. That sucks." Haruka summed up for
everyone. "Why can't we ever face someone that's
an extreme wimp? Just for variety? No! It's
always some big, nasty, I-can-kill-everyone-in-
Tokyo-and-still-have-time-for-lunch enemy!"
Haruka just sat there panting for a few minutes.
<Crap. Did I just say that? Oh, man. I've been
hanging around the Inners for to long.>
"Umm, we don't know if he's an enemy yet."
Ami interjected.
Haruka gave her a 'look.' "A guy shows up
dressed all in black, using the same kind of
energy as the Dark Kingdom, and you wonder if
he's an enemy? Geez. I say the next time we see
him, we take him down."
Rei saw an opportunity and couldn't resist.
"Like you did? How's the head, by the way?"
Haruka just turned and glared at her.
Unfortunately, Rei's comment started Usagi off.
"Yeah, Haruka. How is your head? It looked
liked it really hurt when you hit the ground on
it." Usagi asked, with complete sincerity.
Haruka gritted her teeth. If it had been
anyone who asked, she would have proceeded to
tear them a new orifice. But Usagi asked. Usagi,
her Princess. One of the few people she
literally couldn't bring herself to hurt in any
way. "It's fine, Usagi."
"Oh, good. Are we done with the meeting? I
want to go get some ice cream."
"No, it's not done, odango-atama! We've got
a lot of stuff left to cover! Right, Ami?" Rei
said.
"Um, actually, I can't think of anything.
And some ice cream does sound nice, right about
now."
Rei just stared. Her best back-up source had
failed her. Ami...AMI!...had said there wasn't
anything that she needed to do. <I give up.>
"All right, fine, let's go." Rei grumbled.
Hope struck. "Unless you guys have anything?"
She asked the Outers in a hopeful tone.
Haruka grinned. <Oh, yes.> "No, actually,
Rei, we're fresh out of things. Let's get some
ice cream. I think I might feel a HEAD-ache
coming on, and it should help." <Heh. Don't ever
cross me girl. I'll always win.>
Hope died a painful death. <Oh, man. Here we
go again. I can already hear Usagi: "Rei! Don't
be such a meany! I just need to borrow a little
money!" I'll get you for this, Haruka.>
And that effectively ended the meeting.
And that ends the flashback. We now return you
to your regularly scheduled fic.
**************************
Setsuna raised an eyebrow. "Nice story.
Where's the questions?"
"Let's see: 1.Who was the guy in black? 2.Is
he on our side? 3.Who is our enemy? 4.When do we
meet Sailor Nemesis? 5.Who is Sailor Nemesis?
6.What's the secret ingredient in Pepsi?
7.Why..."
Haruka was interrupted by Michiru arching an
eyebrow and saying one word.
"Pepsi?"
Haruka groaned and dropped her head into her
hands. <Oh, man. I HAVE been hanging the Inners
to much.> "Ignore that last question, ok? Answer
the rest, though."
Setsuna smiled. "Ignore which last question?
`What's the secret ingredient in Pepsi?' or
`Why?'"
Haruka pulled her head out of her hands and
gave Setsuna an exasperated look. "The Pepsi
one." <I think I liked her better when she was
all uptight and mysterious, not joking and
mysterious. It freaks me out.>
"Several of the questions have the same
answer. That is all I will say." <That ought to
keep her awake all night.> "Now I am going to go
to bed. I would advise that you two do the same.
Morning comes early this time of year, you
know." <Especially for one of you.>
Haruka and Michiru watched as Setsuna walked
up the stairs. "I think we should probably get
to bed, don't you think?" Michiru asked.
"Yes, we probably should. I need some
sleep."
"Who said anything about sleep?" Michiru
replied with a `cat who ate the canary' grin.
"Why, Michiru Kaiou, are you suggesting
something improper?" Michiru said with a mock
look of shock on her face.
Michiru leaned over and whispered in
Haruka's ear. Haruka raised an eyebrow, then her
eyes went wide. She looked at her lover and said
just two words.
"Tongue depressors?"
"I'd have to show you." Michiru said with a
smile as she lead Haruka up the stairs to their
room.
*********************
5:30 AM, the next morning.
Poke.
Poke, poke.
Poke, poke, nudge, nudge.
(Wink, wink. You know what I mean? Sorry,
couldn't resist. -Slacker)
Poke, POKE, nudge, NUDGE.
Haruka reluctantly began to wake up. She had
a very late (and energetic) night. As a result,
she seriously wanted to sleep in. The insistent
jabs to her back were preventing that, though.
It took a few seconds for some basic facts to
filter through her mind. Fact 1: It was very
early. The clock on Michiru's nightstand proved
this fact. Fact 2: The warm bundle cuddled up
against her chest was Michiru. The green hair
snuggled under her chin proved that fact. Fact
3: She knew where both of Michiru's hands were.
You don't need to know how she knew this fact.
Which lead to Conclusion 1: Michiru wasn't the
one poking her.
Haruka looked over her shoulder. Ranko was
standing there with an insanely cheerful grin on
her face. Obviously, she was a morning person.
Haruka wasn't. <I'm glad we put on some
pajamas.> Haruka looked at Ranko with the glare
that every morning person gets from someone who
isn't, and asked "What do you want?" Or, at
least that was what she wanted to ask. It came
out more like "Whaaayawant?"
Fortunately Ranko had practice translating
non-morning person dialect into something
understandable from living with Nabiki.
"You said you'd spar with me. Let's go!"
Haruka blearily blinked. "Now?" Incredulity
appeared prominently in her voice.
"Of course! It's the best time to spar! When
we're done, we can watch the sunrise!"
Haruka stared at Ranko. "Not a chance. Get
out and let me sleep." With that, she turned
over and started to go back to sleep. She heard
Ranko sigh.
"You know, I wanted to do this the nice way.
I can see that won't happen. Oh, well. `A
martial artist's life is full of peril.' after
all." The faintly mocking way she said the last
part made Haruka think that she had heard it
many times.
Haruka heard the door open, then close. She
was just about to fall back asleep when she
heard it open again. She could hear footsteps
walking up to her side of the bed, along with
something she couldn't identify. Some kind of a
clanking, sloshing noise.
<What the heck is that? It sounds familiar.>
Haruka figured out what it was one second too
late. <Clank, slosh. SLOSH!> She looked over to
see Ranko tip a bucket of water.
Haruka had enough time to make a decision:
Roll out of bed and let Michiru get
soaked...OR...push Michiru out of bed and get
soaked herself. Not a choice at all, really.
Michiru let out a scream when she woke up
flying through the air. It was cut off when she
hit the ground. She looked over to the bed in
time to see a wet, angry Haruka chasing after a
grinning, bucket-holding Ranko.
"YOU'RE GONNA DIE!! YOU RED-HEADED
LITTLE BEEPING BEEPER...(Due to the fact that
I'm attempting to keep it fairly clean the rest
of this has been censored. -Slacker)
As Haruka chased Ranko down the stairs and
out the back door, she noticed Setsuna standing
in the doorway of the kitchen sipping a cup of
tea. Setsuna was impeccably dressed, as usual.
She was also smiling.
Haruka ran into the back yard and began to
look around for Ranko. She wasn't hard to find.
She was standing in the middle of the yard
dressed in a white shirt and black pants in the
same style as she had worn yesterday. She was
still grinning and laughing. Haruka growled and
jumped. One way or another she was going to see
Ranko soaking wet. The koi pond was just too
convenient.
Ten minutes later, Haruka hadn't even
touched her. She had touched the koi pond,
though. Frequently. She was right. It WAS too
convenient.
Setsuna smiled as Haruka went into the pond
again. <I'm glad I decided to have that pond
installed. This makes it all worthwhile.>
Eventually, Haruka decided that she wasn't
ever going to catch Ranko and went to take a
shower. The fact that Ranko wasn't even
breathing hard was just icing on the cake.
As she went in, Ranko called "Good match,
Haruka! See ya tomorrow!"
Haruka paused, twitched a couple of times,
and continued her trek inside the house. As she
walked past Setsuna, who was still holding her
tea, Setsuna remarked innocently "Why Haruka!
You're all wet! How ever did that happen?"
Haruka growled and walked past. As she
disappeared in the direction of the shower,
Setsuna called out "Now do you see why I wasn't
worried about Ranko getting hurt?"
As Haruka let the warm water of the shower
relax her, she had to admit that Setsuna was
right. Ranko was good. Very good. Quite possibly
the best Haruka had faced in a very long while.
She had been trying her hardest to catch her and
had still never even managed to touch her in any
significant way. Haruka sighed as she shampooed
her hair. <Geez, she's good. I wonder what style
that was? I didn't recognize it. I could
recognize moves from at least six different
styles in it, though. Sparring with her should
prove to be interesting.>
Haruka emerged to a delicious smell. <What
is that? It smells great!> Following her nose,
she came to the kitchen. In it, Ranko was
cooking something on the griddle. Ranko looked
over and smiled.
"Hey, Haruka! Have an okonomiyaki!" Ranko
said with a cheerful smile. Somehow Haruka
seemed to feel her anger melt away at the smile.
Ranko was so freaking cheerful it was hard to
keep a grudge against her. Kind of like Usagi in
that.
Haruka accepted a plate and sat down at the
table. When she took a bite, she had to catch
herself from falling over. <This is GOOD!>
Haruka expressed her sentiments to Ranko.
"Oh, that's nothing. You want some good
okonomiyaki, you go to my friend Ucchan. She
makes the best in the world. Period." Ranko
replied with absolute conviction.
"Oh, really? Where is her place?" Hotaru
asked.
"Um, I, uh, haven't seen her in a long time.
So I don't really know where she is right now."
Ranko stammered out.
Haruka and Michiru caught each other's eyes.
The same thought was running through both of
their minds: <She's hiding something.> They both
resolved to find out what their new houseguest
was keeping hidden.
Hotaru looked at the time and `Eeeped!'
"I'm gonna be late for school!" Hotaru said
as she jumped off her chair and ran out the
door. Haruka and Michiru looked after her and
smiled. Hotaru was a lot stronger after her
rebirth. While not as strong as she should be
for her age, she no longer got winded from a
short run like she used to.
Ranko watched Hotaru run out of the room,
too. <Hmmmm. She's a little on the weak side for
her age. Some Tai Chi would add flexibility and
muscle tone without hurting her. Why not ask?>
"Hey, you two. Where are Hotaru's parents?"
"Why?" Haruka asked cautiously.
"Weeell, I wanted to ask them a question
concerning Hotaru. So where are they?"
"Her mother is dead and her father
disappeared a couple of years ago. It's kind of
a sensitive subject with her, so don't bring it
up to her. We're her guardians, so any questions
you have about her are our concern. Now what do
you want?" Haruka replied.
"Well, I couldn't help but notice that she
seems a bit weaker than she should be at her
age. I was gonna ask if I could teach her some
martial arts. I was thinking maybe Tai Chi. It
would give her a better muscle tone and
increased endurance. Heck, I could teach you
guys, too, if you want."
"I'm not sure if Hotaru would like to learn
martial arts. She's only twelve. Maybe we should
wait a little while." Michiru hesitantly
replied.
"The best time to start is when you're
young." Ranko retorted.
"I don't know..."
"How about this: I ask Hotaru. If she says
yes, I train her for a month. Then we ask her
again. If she still says yes, I train her until
I'm happy with her. Ok? That work?" Ranko was
getting impatient with their indecision. Either
she could train Hotaru or she couldn't. If she
could, she wanted to get started. If she
couldn't, she wanted to get started on trying to
change their minds. Hotaru needed to get some
exercise.
Haruka and Michiru looked at each other.
They could see each other's thoughts clearly in
their eyes. <Why not? Most likely Hotaru will
say no and that will end it.>
"Ok, we'll let you ask. If she says no,
you'll leave it alone, though. All right?"
Haruka finally replied.
"No problem." <Heh. This'll be great.>
Setsuna chose that moment to walk into the
kitchen. She pointedly looked at the clock then
at the trio at the table. "Nice morning, isn't
it. Hard to believe you're going to be late for
school."
"What?" Haruka looked at the clock. "Oh,
CRAP! Come on, Michiru!"
Haruka was about to go out the door when
Michiru stopped her.
"Aren't you forgetting someone?"
"Huh?"
"Ranko."
"Oh, yeah."
"Don't worry about her. She's found her own
way there." Setsuna called from the kitchen.
<Over the rooftops. But they don't need to know
that.> "In fact, she'll probably beat you
there."
Haruka snorted. <Yeah, right.> "What about
you?"
"I'm already there." With that
pronouncement, Setsuna turned and walked through
the doorway.
<Huh?> Was Haruka's only thought before she
ran out the door.
Meanwhile, Setsuna had casually walked back
to the kitchen to finish her breakfast. She
slowly finished of her food with great pleasure.
Looking at the clock she realized that she had
only five minutes until she was late. It was a
ten minute drive, even with Haruka doing the
driving. She smiled as she transformed her
clothing into her Senshi fuku and teleported to
her office at the school, where a simple act of
will turned her fuku into her usual business
suit. <I think it's about time I tell them about
that little trick.> She waved calmly at Haruka
as she squealed into the parking lot. Smiled
inwardly at the look Haruka gave her. <Maybe
not. That look is priceless.>
Then Haruka noticed Ranko leaning against a
tree by the school.(Taking the rooftops had let
her go straight there, unlike Haruka, who had to
follow the roads.)
"Hey, Haruka! What took you so long? I was
here five minutes ago!" Ranko grinned at the
pop-eyed look Haruka gave her. <Man, I'm having
fun. I should have tried this a long time ago.
Just getting an entire nights sleep has helped
me a lot. Of course, staying in my cursed form
sucks, but they won't think to look for it.
After all, I hate it.>
Ranko's day just seemed to flow from that
point. She went through the usual `first day at
a new school' routine: getting introduced to the
class, getting a seat assigned (near the back by
a window), meeting people, etc. The day had
both a high point and a low point. The high
point was meeting some of Haruka's and Michiru's
friends. Ranko particularly liked the blonde
with the funny hair, Usagi. She seemed so...
exuberant. Ranko thought back to the meeting.
***************
(Yes! It's a flashback! Thrilling, isn't it!)
Lunchtime, Juban High
"HI! You're Ranko, aren't you? I'm Usagi
Tsukino! Haruka and Michiru told me all about
you! Where are you going?"
Ranko was startled by the sudden appearance
of a blonde with one of the most ridiculous
hairstyles she had ever seen. It looked like two
meatballs on top of her head.
"Um, yeah, I'm Ranko. And I'm going over to
that tree to eat." Ranko replied as she motioned
to a tree with no one around it.
"But you'd be lonely! Come over her and eat
with us!" Usagi motioned to another tree with
several people under it. Haruka and Michiru were
there, along with a tall brunette, a shorter
red-head, and a girl with bluish-black hair who
had her face buried in a book. Haruka gave a
little wave.
"Bet you Usagi gets her over here in under
five minutes." Makoto commented.
"No bet. I know she will." Haruka replied.
They were right, of course. Usagi convinced
Ranko to eat lunch with them in under three.
"That's Makoto Kino, and that's Naru Osaka,
and that's Ami Mizuno, and you already know
Haruka and Michiru. Now we all know each other!"
Usagi said in her usual insanely happy tone.
Ranko had a weird feeling of Deja vu during
the introductions. Almost like she knew all of
them. It was particularly strong with the red-
head, Naru. She felt as though she knew her, and
they weren't friends by any stretch of the
imagination. The feeling passed quickly and
Ranko shrugged it off. If any of them were a
danger, her Martial Artist Danger Sense (TM)
would have let her know.
Lunch passed fairly quickly. They talked and
had an enjoyable time. And Ranko learned why
Haruka and Michiru were in the same class as
Usagi and her friends. Apparently, their old
school had some kind of a gas explosion and all
their records were lost. So they had to enter
Usagi's grade.
"That sucks." Ranko commented. <Gas
explosion, huh? Sounds like the stuff the cops
came up with to explain the damage from my
fights.>
"Yeah, it does." Haruka replied. <Of course,
we've got the records, but this way we can keep
a closer watch over our Princess.>
******************
<That lunch was fun.> Ranko mused. <Have to
do it again. That Vice-Principal, I could do
with out, though.>
The meeting with the Vice-Principal,
Mrs.Konabi, had been...bad. She didn't like the
fact that Ranko wasn't even going to try to
conform, and Ranko hated the fact that Mrs.
Konabi was going to try to make her. Ranko was
thankful for Dr. Tofu's note saying she couldn't
wear a school uniform for medical reasons. And,
since Dr. Tofu was currently out of town on a
medical research trip, Mrs. Konabi couldn't
refute it. Of course, Ranko had to modify the
note a little to fit her current name, but, when
you've learned Martial Arts Calligraphy, forgery
is easy. Ranko came out of the meeting on the
Vice-Principal's hit list.
<A girl's uniform. Feh. As if.> Ranko
thought in disgust. <Definitely the low point of
my day.>
Other than that, the day went a lot better
than days at Furinkan. Ranko had actually gotten
an entire night's sleep, which helped her stay
awake in class. Of course, class was still
boring.
<Man, it'll be great to get home.> Ranko
thought as she roof-hopped back to Setsuna's
house.
Ranko landed about a block from Setsuna's
house and walked the rest of the way there. When
she walked in the door, Setsuna was sitting in
the kitchen drinking tea.
"Hey, Setsuna." <Did she even move today?>
"Hello, Ranko. Have a cup of tea. How was
school?"
"No thanks. And school was better than I
expected. I made some new friends."
"Yes, I know. I work there."
"Yeah, you're the school guidance counselor.
Why do ya mention it?"
"Because I've seen your records. All of
them. You will do better. I will make sure of
it. Personally, if necessary."
"Uh, thanks." <This sounds like fun. I hope
the false records held.>
"Don't thank me yet. You haven't had to
learn from me. Now, you have homework that needs
to be done, do you not?"
"Yeah."
"Then go do it."
As Ranko started to walk up the stairs,
Setsuna called out. "Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru,
and I have some business to take care of
tonight. It will take us some time, so don't
wait up."
"Right."
Ranko was in her room before something
occurred to her. <`Business?' `Some time?'
`Don't wait up?' With Hotaru? She's, like,
twelve! What the heck could they be doing?>
Ranko pondered and reached a decision. <I'm
gonna wait up for `em. Now I'm curious.>
*******************
10:00 PM, Setsuna's house.
Now Ranko was bored. She had actually gotten
her homework done (Amazing how much easier it
was without people trying to kill her.),
discovered that there was nothing on TV, and
practiced her katas. She was out of ideas. She
went up to her room, plopped down on the bed,
crossed her arms behind her head, and stared up
at the ceiling. She sighed.
<Now what do I do?>
Eventually, as is usual when you lay on a
comfy bed, she fell asleep.
***********************
Meanwhile, somewhere in Juban, the Senshi
were almost as bored.
*Find anything yet, Mercury?* Mars asked
over the communicator.
*Not a blasted thing.* Ami wasn't happy. The
enemy was changing patterns. Every night for
weeks they had an `incident' early in the
evening, usually around nine to ten. It was now
almost one and there was no sign of activity.
Ami hated it when the enemy changed
patterns. It made all the data she gathered out
of date. Then she had to collect it again. She
was about to tell everyone to call it a night
when the Mercury Computer beeped.
She opened it up and grimaced. A portal had
opened up several blocks away. <That's what you
get when you complain.> She opened her
communicator.
*Guys, we got one. Home in on me.* Then she
went to find out what ugly creature came through
this time.
************
"Well, this one doesn't seem all that bad."
Jupiter commented.
Indeed, it didn't. Usually their foes had
spikes, tentacles, slime, or something similar.
This one didn't have any of them. It would
almost pass as human, if not for a few small
problems. Like the lime green skin. Or the neon
orange hair. Of course, the glowing red eyes
were a dead give away.
"Not all that bad? It looks like a reject
from `Saturday Night Fever'!" Mars protested.
"Who cares what it looks like? Lets just
kill it so I can get to bed!" Moon interjected.
"Seems like a good idea to me. Mercury, what
are you getting off of it?" Uranus asked.
"That's the problem. I'm not getting
anything off of it. It's acting abnormally. It's
not attacking anyone, it's not enacting any big,
obvious plans, it's just standing there, like
it's just waiting for us to come and kill it."
"Well, far be it from me to disappoint it."
Uranus smiled. "WORLD SHAKING!"
The blast hit the youma high in the chest
and knocked it back into light post. It slumped
down.
The Senshi jumped down from the rooftop they
were standing on and landed across the street
from the youma. Uranus bowed to Sailor Moon and
gestured towards the youma.
"My Princess, I present to you one youma for
removal. Do your stuff."
As Sailor Moon got ready to cast her attack,
the same thought was going through everyone's
mind. <Well, this was anticlimactic.>
Then the youma looked up and smiled, which
revealed another reason it wouldn't pass as
human. It had rows of needle sharp teeth, many
of which had unpleasant looking stains on them.
It stood up just before Sailor Moon finished
her attack, held out it's hand, and cried "WORLD
SHAKING!" in Uranus' voice.
If Tuxedo Kamen hadn't been so fast on his
feet, the ball of energy would have hit Sailor
Moon directly in the chest. As it was, he would
be looking for a new cloak after the fight.
All the rest of the Senshi scattered.
"Holy Kamis! Mercury! What the hell did it
do!" Jupiter yelled as she dove for cover.
"It threw a World Shaking!"
"I know that! How?"
"I don't know! Either it absorbed it, or it
duplicated it! I-"
Mercury was interrupted as the car she was
crouching behind was reduced the scrap metal by
another blast. The blast itself wasn't that bad,
but hearing the youma cast it in Uranus' voice
was.
Mercury groaned as she picked herself up.
<Well, that answers that.> "Hey, Jupiter?"
"Yeah? You Ok?"
"I'm fine, a bit shook up, but fine
otherwise. As for your earlier question, it
duplicated the World Shaking."
"Oh, really? Let's see it duplicate THIS!"
"NO!!!" But she was too late. Jupiter had
already threw her Oak Evolution at the youma.
<Oh, crap.> It promptly replied by throwing it
back, followed by a World Shaking. Jupiter
narrowly dodged her own attack, but got tagged
by the follow-up. She proceeded to make a nice,
pretty imprint in a wall. She looked like she
wasn't going to be leaving it for a while.
"Don't throw anything at it! It'll just send
it back!" Mercury warned.
"We'd figured that out already! How do we
kill it!?" Mars shouted.
"I'm working on it! Just give me some time!"
"We'll try!"
If Mercury hadn't been so busy, she would
have noticed a small notice flashing on the
screen of the Mercury Computer. It wasn't there
for long before Mercury removed it with her
frantic calculations.
*********************
Setsuna's house, near the same time.
Ranko dreamed.
In her dream, she was standing on some kind
of a plain. Looking around, she could see a
large gathering of what appeared to be guards
surrounded her. In front of her, there were
several young girls in fukus.
They all appeared ready to attack, with the
exception of a red-head in the back, who was
doubled over, coughing and rubbing her throat
and a woman with dark green hair holding a
staff. The green-haired on appeared to be in
shock about something. Behind the fuku-clad
girls, were two regal-looking blondes. The older
one had platinum blond hair and was saying
something about "abusing our trust, betraying
your oath," or something like that.
It wasn't important, so she ignored it. The
younger blonde had a young man in black armor
hovering protectively over her. He was holding a
red rose in his right hand.
Looking behind her, she could see the ruins of
what appeared to be part of a palace. Over the
palace, far away in the sky were the remains of
a planet. Directly overhead, the Earth floated.
<I'm on the moon. This is one WEIRD dream.> By
this time, the platinum blonde had finished her
speech and was holding up some kind of crystal.
She said something and a beam of white light
came out from it and hit Ranko in the chest,
where it did absolutely nothing.
Everyone seemed shocked by this. Ranko ran
at them. They proceeded to throw fire, ice,
lightning, water, and various energy blasts at
her, all of which she ignored. At least until
the rose hit her in the shoulder. That HURT.
<I thought you couldn't feel pain in a
dream?>
The rose slowed her down just long enough
for the woman with the staff to level it at her
and whisper something. The ball of dark red
energy that flew out and hit her didn't feel too
good, either. Ranko shrugged it off and
proceeded to her goal. The red-haired chick. She
got to her goal and proceeded with her mission:
wrapping her hands around the red-head's throat
until she stopped breathing. She had to gently
knock the other fuku-clad girls out of the way,
but who cared? In the back of her mind, she
could feel their attacks hit her. Just before
another one of those red balls hit her again,
she heard the redhead's neck give out a sharp
"CRACK!" Then the energy hit her and everything
went dark.
Ranko jerked awake with a scream. She was
covered in sweat and the bed was soaked with it.
<What in the HELL was THAT!?!?! I don't know
what I ate, but I'm NOT gonna eat it again!>
She got out of bed and looked at the clock.
<1:15 in the morning. Oh my Kamis, what am I
doing up this late.> She walked over to the
window. As she looked out at the city, a feeling
of intense dread swept over her. <Princess!>
Before she even thought about it she was out
of the window and heading into the city at her
top speed. She didn't know where she was going,
but she was gonna get there fast. As she ran,
she analyzed what happened. <I was looking out
the window, felt something, and took off. It
kinda felt like when I'm about to be attacked.
Weird. Hold on a second, `Princess'? What the
heck's with that? I don't know any Princess.
Couple of princes, but no Princess.>
In just a few moments she was at her
destination. She landed on a roof and surveyed
the street. <It looks like a war zone. Who or
what did this?> Just then, a body flew through
the air and impacted the wall below her. When
the dust cleared, she could see a small girl
dressed in a fuku with a dark skirt, a black
neckerchief on the front, and a black bow on her
back. Ranko looked along her trajectory and saw
several other fuku-clad girls fighting
something. <They'll be fine for a while. The one
below me might not be.>
Ranko was about to jump down when something
occurred to her. <I can't meet her like this.
She'd know me later.> She looked around for an
idea. A few seconds of looking were all that
were needed. <A costume shop. How convenient.>
She jumped across the street and went into the
shop. A few seconds of looking and some hot
water and he was ready.
Saturn was not having a good night. The
youma proved to be unable to replicate their
weapons, so that meant they could hurt it. Of
course, it had the stereotypical regenerative
ability, so it didn't stay hurt. They couldn't
use any of their attacks for fear that it would
just throw them back at them. She didn't even
want to THINK about what it could do with a
Silence Glaive Surprise. And the thing was so
incredible fast they could hardly fight it up
close.
<I think I'll just rest here for a while
before I fight again. Yes, just a little rest.>
"Hello, there." A voice interrupted her
thoughts. It was deep and pleasant. She cracked
her eyes and looked to her side. A man dressed
all in black was crouching down at her side. He
had silver studs on his right forearm and a
silver chain wrapped around his left. His shirt
had a light pattern done in silver starting at
his left shoulder and winding down to his left
hip, where it continued down to the bottom of
his pant leg. The design was mirrored on his
right side. He had some kind of symbol on his
head that was obscured by his hair. His eyes
were the deepest shade of blue she'd ever seen.
She stared into them.
Saturn shook herself out of her reverie and
answered him. "Um, hi."
"And what would your name be?" He asked as
he offered his hand to help her up.
"I'm Sailor Saturn." As she got up, she
marveled at his grip. She could tell he was very
strong, but he helped her up with such
gentleness. "Who are you?"
"Me?" He seemed bemused by something. "I
guess you would call me...Princess!"
"Princess? What?" Saturn realized that the
man was no longer holding her hand to help her
up. She looked around and saw him standing about
ten feet away. He was holding something in his
arms. <What is he...?>
Then she saw two blond ponytails and she
knew. <Oh, no. `Princess?' Usagi!> In a flash,
she was there.
The man turned and looked at her. His eyes
were hard as stone. He handed Sailor Moon to
her.
"She'll be fine. Just a little dazed. I
caught her before she could hit the wall and do
any real damage. Take care of her, Saturn. I'm
going to find what did this and kill it.
Painfully." Saying that, he turned and started
running towards the fight.
Saturn shuddered at the utter ruthlessness
in his tone. <I hope this guy never gets angry
at me. He's scary.> Her attention was diverted
by Sailor Moon snapping out of her daze.
"Saturn? What happened?"
"You were thrown at a wall. Some guy caught
you before you could hit and do any real
damage."
"`Some guy'? What's his name?"
Saturn started to answer, then realized
something. "He never told me his name. I don't
know it."
"Well, what did he look like, then?"
As Saturn described him, Moon whispered,
"It's him."
"What?"
"It's him! The guy who saved me at the train
station! I knew he was on our side! Come on!
We've got to help him!" With that, Sailor Moon
took of running back to the fight.
<Wow. Usagi running TOWARDS a fight. That
has to be a first.> Saturn thought as she
followed her leader.
******************
The street was in ruins. The Senshi's fights
had a tendency to create property damage, but
this would beat some of the destruction caused
in Nerima.
The Senshi had been fighting the youma for
almost twenty minutes at this point, and they
were getting tired. Most of their fights lasted
five minutes, tops. They just didn't have the
stamina necessary for drawn-out battles.
"Mercury! How are we doing?" Mars panted.
"Not good. I still can't find a weak point,
and it's not being weakened enough by our
physical attacks." Mercury replied, a bit of
despair creeping into her voice.
"Well, why not? I've seen the Space Sword
cut through steel, and you know what the Silence
Glaive can do. Why aren't they hurting it?"
Jupiter asked.
"I told you: I DON'T KNOW!" Mercury rose
from her resting place. <Time to give us another
break.> "SHABON SPRAY!"
As the fog blanketed the area, Mercury sank
back into her cover.
"Man, I wish Pluto was here." Jupiter
remarked as she joined Mercury.
"I am."
Both of the Senshi screamed and jumped as
the voice answered Jupiter's comment. They
stared as Pluto emerged out of the fog in front
of them.
"Please stop doing that!" Mercury panted as
she tried to regain her breath.
Jupiter cut straight to the point. "Why the
hell aren't you fighting this thing with us!"
Pluto gave her a calm glance. "Do you really
want this thing to have access to my power? I
assure you, I do not. And I am not a front line
fighter unless absolutely necessary. And it is
not necessary."
"Oh, really? And why isn't it necessary? In
case you hadn't noticed, we're getting the crap
kicked out of us!"
Pluto smiled and pointed through the now-
thinning fog.
"That's why."
They looked to where she was pointing and
saw...
"That's the guy from the train station."
Mercury stated calmly.
"And he looks seriously PISSED!" Jupiter
noted.
Mercury began to scan him with her visor and
computer. "It's definitely him. Same energy
signatures. Quite a bit stronger this time,
though."
"That would explain the lightning, wouldn't
it." Jupiter remarked.
"Lightning?" Mercury looked up from her data.
What she saw made her skin crawl. The man had
electricity crawling over his skin. That wasn't
so bad. The fact that the lightning was jet
black was.
He held out his right hand. A crackling ball
of electricity began to gather in his palm. He
spoke, and his voice held an ice-cold killing
rage.
"Hey, ugly. You the one that threw the
Princess?"
The youma turned and snarled at him in
response.
"I'll take that as a yes." He reared his arm
back in preparation to throw.
"WAIT! It duplicates any attacks used
against it!" Mercury screamed, but she was too
late. He had already thrown.
The ball of electricity flew towards the
youma, who stood there and waited for it to hit.
The Senshi all started to back up. The man
grinned a nasty grin and made a motion with his
right hand.
Just before the energy hit the youma, it
stopped and hovered. The youma looked at it
curiously. It reached out to touch it. Just
before the youma touched it, it disappeared. The
youma stood there and stared at where the energy
had been. So did the Senshi.
"Ok, what did THAT accomplish?" Uranus asked
in a peeved tone. She had been nailed in the
ribs early in the fight and they were just
barely knitting.
"It's called a `distraction.' The idea is to
`distract' the `enemy' from your `real attack.'
You should try it sometime." A sarcastic voice
said from BEHIND the youma. The youma turned
around to face it just in time to catch a jagged
piece of steel pipe in it's right shoulder. "As
you can see, it works quite well."
As he walked out of the shadows, the man
picked another piece of pipe. He continued to
talk as he walked towards the youma.
"As you've no doubt noticed, this youma
duplicates any magical attack used against it."
He ducked under a swing from the youma's good
arm and slammed the pipe into it's right knee.
KLANG! "Now, the solution to that problem is to
make sure you don't use magic against it."
KLANG! Left elbow. "You shouldn't even use
magical weapons, as they can be duplicated if
you hit it enough." KLANG! Ribs. "It heals
itself with the energy it gets from your attacks
and weapons." KLANG! Ribs again. "In effect,
every time you hit it with your weapons, you
helped it to heal." CRACK! Right shoulder,
driving the piece of pipe deeper. "Nevertheless,
killing it is quite easy if you know how."
SMACK! He hit it up against a wall. "You just
have to keep hitting it until it dies." CRACK!
The pipe in the right shoulder was driven into
the wall. "It's really very obvious." SLAM! The
other pipe was driven through the left shoulder,
into the wall. "Of course, you have to make sure
that there's no danger to yourself." SCRACK!
SCRACK! Two convenient pieces of rebar were
driven through it's hips. "Now that it poses no
threat unless you're stupid, you can just beat
it to death with non-magical weapons." He
reached out and patted it on the head. It
snapped at his hand. "Or you can finish it the
fast way." As he said that, he grabbed it's head
and twisted. SNAP-CRACK-CRUNCH!
The youma proceeded to do the `fade into
dust and disappear' routine. As he walked
towards the Senshi, the man dusted his hands off
and commented "My that was refreshing. Brought
back memories."
Sailor Moon chose that moment to finally
arrive at the scene. She ran over in front of
him and exclaimed "Thank you for your help!
What's your name?"
He looked at her, smiled, and dropped to one
knee. He took her hand and declared "The Queen
is dead. Long live the Queen! My Queen, I am
your humble servant. My life is yours. I am
yours' to command."
Mercury looked thoughtful. <Where have I
heard that phrase before? Let's see, it was...Oh
My...GOD! It couldn't be.> She turned to look at
Pluto, who looked at her, smiled, and softly
said "Finally figured it out, I see. Took you
long enough."
"Figured what out?" Uranus asked, having
overheard Pluto's comment.
Mercury pointed at the black-clad man who
was now standing up and walking away.
"He's Sailor Nemesis."
The newly recognized Nemesis turned towards
Mercury and gave an evil grin.
"Real kick in the pants, ain't it?" He
replied.
End of Chapter.
To be continued...
**********************************
Author's rant:
Yes, it's another cliffhanger. Yes, I'm away
several of you swore to do several very nasty-
mean things if I ended in another cliffhanger.
To them, I reply: 1. I end where the story
seems to hit a natural ending point. And 2. Come
and get me! Muahahahaha!
To the rest of you, sorry for the delay in
getting this out. Circumstances have resulted in
delaying my writing. (And I'm damn slow to begin
with.) I've also been working on other projects,
as well. The prequel to "The Problem With
Angels." (See Ted? I'm working, I'm working! Now
please leave me be! Just kidding!) and several
new ideas have taken up my time. (*Sigh* So many
ideas, so little time.)
I'll try to get Chapter 4 out in less time
than it took me on 3, I promise. (Slacker hides
crossed fingers behind back.)
Loads of Kudos to my Pre-readers:
Aaron Blomenkamp
anchan
Aaron Moorman
CCMax
E_Nebedum
Gil F. de Noronha
I'm Apathetic
Lord Anthrax
Mr. P
'tsuki-chan
William Dix
Xaldaran
And a special thanks to Harold Ancell and Jay
Kominek, both of whom offered extremely helpful
C&C. Thanks guys!
And thanks go out to you, the reader. Without
you, I'd be nothing.
Ja Ne!
Slacker
Ps. Here's a snippet from Chapter 4, just for
you as a bonus:
`Kasumi slammed the knife down point-first
into the table between Akane's fingers.
"No, Akane, I think it would be best if you
DIDN'T make supper tonight!" She ground out in
her sweetest voice.'
I'm sorry, it was suggested to me and I have
to use it. It's just SO DAMN FUNNY!