As demanded by the (vast) minority, here's Chapter 4!
Send your letters of hate to r_heins@yahoo.com (Heck, send your
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moderate liking. I'm not picky.)
Ja Ne!
Slacker
=====
"Remember, a fair fight only happens
because of poor planning on your part."
---Sailor Nemesis
I am...(Drumroll, please)...Slacker!
KSC, Knight of Discordia, Lord of Discord (Hail Eris!)
Member of the Church of Ami & Makoto
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: small4.txt
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You might want to read the prior chapters
before getting into this one. Just a suggestion.
You can find them at my homepage:
http://www.angelfire.com/anime/Slacker
or Tannim's page:
http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim/index.html
Disclaimer? What's that? Oh, that's where I
state that none of these people belong to me,
and I'm not doing this for money?
Nah, I don't need to say that. Everybody already
knows. It's not like people would pay to read my
stuff, anyways. (But I DON'T own them, and I'm
NOT doing this for money. Might as well make
sure my butt is covered.)
****************************
"All the Small Things-Chapter 4"
A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By: Slacker (r_heins@yahoo.com)
****************************
"HE'S NEMESIS?"
Pluto blinked. That yell had come
simultaneously from almost the entire group of
Senshi. <I wonder if they practice that?> "Is
there a problem with that?"
"He can't be Nemesis!" Mars shouted.
"Why not? Because I'm not a girl? Or is it
because I'm not dressed in a skirt that's a
pedophile's wet dream and a uniform that screams
`Hey! I'm a target!'?" Nemesis asked with an
amused tone.
"Because you're a psychopath! You just
beat a youma to death with a hunk of pipe!" Mars
retorted.
Nemesis' eyes went cold and hard. His voice
matched. "That thing tried to hurt my Queen. Be
glad it died that quickly."
The Senshi shivered.
Nemesis continued "Besides, how am I
different from you? You use your magic to kill
youma, I used a piece of pipe. Different tools,
same result."
The Senshi just stared at him in horror.
Nemesis turned to Pluto. "Not very
talkative, are they?"
After saying that, he turned and started
walking towards an alley. Mars started to run
after him to grab him. He threw a bolt of black
energy at a streetlight and made a pool of
shadows. As soon as his foot touched the
shadows, his body turned into a solid black
shape and melted into the shadow. Mars stopped
her running. "What the hell was that?"
"Shadow-walk. It's a Chaos spell." Pluto
answered her, then turned and began to walk off.
"Wait! Where are you going?" Sailor Moon
cried.
Pluto stopped and looked back over her
shoulder as she answered. "I'm going home. I'd
suggest you go home, as well. It's late, you
know." Pluto smiled as she disappeared in a
flash of crimson light.
The Senshi blinked. Mars finally spoke. "My
place, tomorrow. And I don't care that there's
no school tomorrow, Moon! Be there!"
Moon sighed and nodded.
"Usual time?" Mercury asked.
"Of course."
**********************
Hikawa Shrine, the next morning.
Somewhere is a "Big Book of Otherwise
Unwritten Laws." If you were to look in this
book, you would find Law Number 13287: "No
Senshi meeting shall run smoothly."
Rei was determined to break that law. No
matter what. So far, she had failed on every
attempt. Mostly because of Usagi.
Today was going to be different. She had a
plan. Who cares that all of her other plans had
failed. This one WOULD work. Or else. She told
all the rest of the Senshi to show up ten
minutes after the time she gave to Usagi. She
figured that would ensure that they'd all be
there at the same time.
The plan was going perfectly. Everyone but
Usagi was sitting in the courtyard. (And
Setsuna, but that was expected.) Even Mamoru,
who was close to tying Setsuna's record for no-
shows, was there. Haruka looked angry enough to
chew nails and spit tacks when she showed up,
but soon calmed down with a little teasing from
Michiru. (When Rei asked her why she was angry,
Haruka just muttered something about a `red-
headed harlot' and sulked. Rei decided to NOT go
there.)
After fifteen minutes with no sign, they
concluded that Usagi was going to be even later
than usual and went inside. There, they found
out why they hadn't seen any sign of her.
She was sitting in front of the sacred fire.
And it looked like she had been there for a
while.
"Usagi? How long have you been here?" Rei
asked.
Usagi made a point of looking at her watch.
"Twenty-five minutes. How long have YOU been
here?"
<Twenty-five minutes? Wait, that would
mean...> "You showed up early?" Rei's voice
was thick with disbelief.
"Yes. I did." Usagi's voice was calm.
Rei just stood there and blinked a few
times. Usagi on time she might have been able to
handle. Usagi early? Not a chance. She scrambled
to find something in her flustered brain to say.
"Why?" Ami came to Rei's rescue in her usual
calm voice.
"I decided to try to use the fire."
"What?! You don't have the training!" Rei
nearly screeched.
"It worked."
Everyone froze. Eventually, Rei managed to
say something.
"It...worked?" She squeaked.
"Yes. I managed to get what I needed." Usagi
said calmly.
"WHAT?" Rei screamed as she grabbed Usagi's
shoulders and began to shake her.
"Information on Nemesis. And please stop
shaking me." Usage replied, still calm. Ami
began to get worried. Usagi was never that calm.
Especially not when Rei was upset. They usually
sparked each other off.
"Um...Usagi? What do you mean by
`Information on Nemesis'?" Ami questioned.
Usagi reached up and broke Rei's grip on her
shoulders before turning to Ami and smiling. "I
got evidence that Nemesis is on our side."
Ami decided to ignore the way Usagi was
acting for the moment and concentrate on what
she had just said. "How did you get information
on Nemesis through reading the fire? Pluto said
that he couldn't be scryed. Or did she lie
again?"
"I didn't scry Nemesis. Pluto told the
truth."
"Then what did you scry?" Ami asked with
puzzlement prominent on her face and in her
voice.
"I didn't scry anything." Usagi said with a
faint smile. "I awoke more of my memories.
Believe me, Nemesis is not a threat to me."
The Senshi just stared at her for a few more
seconds while she smiled serenely. Haruka
finally broke the silence.
"I assume you can prove this." Her voice was
flat.
"You know they say about assuming, don't
you?" Usagi said in a teasing tone as she walked
over to sit in front of the fire. "Pull up a
cushion."
As everyone sat down, Mamoru sitting quite
close to Usagi, she closed her eyes and began to
breathe deeply. After about a minute, in which
they all held their breath, Usagi opened her
eyes, smiled and commented "This is going to be
unique. Try not to freak."
As they puzzled over her statement, Usagi
held out her right hand and clenched it. When
she opened it, the Ginzuisho was in her palm,
shining with a silver light. Then the sacred
fire turned the same color of silver and flared
to about three times it usual size. (Makoto
would later remark that she just about became
one with the back wall when the fire flared.
Minako said something about "Neon Genesis
Evangelion", and was ignored.)
As soon as their breathing had returned to
near-normal levels (and Makoto peeled herself
off the wall), the Senshi started to study the
sacred fire. Or more accurately, they studied
the images IN the fire.
"Kami-sama," Rei breathed, "Those are
clearer than mine." Normally, disbelief or
anger might have been present in her tone.
However, she was so shocked that neither was
possible. She had been trained in fire reading
since she was a child and the best she could
usually get out of the flame were a few hazy
images. Usagi had no training whatsoever (other
than watching Rei) and her images were better
than real.
"Wow." For once Minako was almost
speechless. "That kicks grass and bakes names."
Almost.
The rest of the Senshi just sat there and
blinked, except for Ami, who was using the
Mercury Computer to analyze the power readings
Usagi was giving off. What she was getting made
her swallow hard. <This is incredible! She's
using enough power to light Tokyo, no, JAPAN for
a week! How is she doing this?> Rather than go
insane trying to understand the readings now,
Ami decided to just set the Computer to record
and to watch the fire with everybody else.
Inside the fire were scenes that they were
all familiar with: the Moon Palace's gardens,
the ballroom, and assorted scenes from around
the Palace.
"It's like a travel brochure." Haruka
remarked sarcastically. She had a point. While
the detail was incredible, nothing was going on.
"You want to see something? Okay, I'll show
you something." Usagi calmly announced. The view
zoomed to the Palace Gardens. It followed a path
until it came upon a young girl. She had her
hair done in a distinctive and familiar style.
"How cute. We're watching the ultimate home
video." Haruka said in an insanely sweet tone.
"You have no idea." Usagi said as she
smirked. The smirk would have made Pluto react
(she would have raised an eyebrow, at least).
Luckily, the rest of the Senshi didn't see it.
The fire flared again, and they all flinched.
When they opened their eyes, no one said a word.
"WOW! It's like we're there!" Minako gushed.
(Well, almost no one.)
"Minako, we ARE there." Makoto remarked. Ami
began to frantically type on the Computer. Rei
just sat on the ground and twitched.
"Usagi, how did we get here? I thought that
Setsuna-mama was the only one who could send
people through time." Hotaru asked in a calm
voice.
"We're not in the past, Hotaru." Usagi
replied calmly.
"Then where are we? And what's with this
`I'm so calm and cool' routine!" Haruka yelled.
"We're looking at my memories of the Silver
Millenium. I tried to scry Nemesis directly, but
I couldn't, even when I used the Ginzuisho. He
truly is impossible to scry. As for the
`routine', I think it's a side effect of going
through my memories. I was a lot calmer in the
Silver Millenium, apparently. I think it'll
pass."
"And if it doesn't?"
"My teachers will be much happier." Usagi
said with a shrug. Everyone shared a glance.
Usagi was beginning to freak them out. She
snapped her fingers to gain their attention and
pointed at Princess Serenity. They turned just
in time to see her trip and fall to her knees.
She held her now-skinned knee and began to cry.
Haruka and Michiru both began to move towards
her. They were stopped by Usagi's arm.
"Don't bother. You can't help. Watch. What
comes next is enlightening."
A boy, around twelve or thirteen, walked up
to the Princess. He was dressed in a smaller
version of the uniform they had seen Nemesis
wear. He crouched down as he spoke to her. "Fall
down, Princess?"
She nodded, tears in her eyes.
He kissed his right index and middle
fingers, then placed them over the scrape.
"There! All better!"
Serenity giggled as she got up. She hugged
the boy and ran off. He watched her run as he
stood up. He continued to keep an eye on her as
he spoke.
"Hello, my Queen."
"Hello, Arin." Queen Serenity replied.
"It's Nemesis when I'm in uniform. You know
that." Nemesis told her with a half grin.
"If you insist. May I ask you a question?"
The last was said in a frosty tone.
"Why didn't I catch her before she hurt
herself?"
"Precisely." Queen Serenity's voice had just
a hint of anger in it. Nemesis turned to look
her in the eyes when he answered.
"I can't expect you to agree with me. But
when you appointed me as your daughter's
protector, you told me to do what was best for
her. That was what was best for her."
"Letting her hurt herself?" Disbelief echoed
through Serenity's voice.
"If I was always there to catch her before
she fell, if I always made sure nothing happened
to her, if I made sure that she never hurt
herself, she would grow to expect it. She would
grow to depend on it. A member of the Royal
Family CANNOT grow to depend on anyone or any-
thing! It leads to dangerous weakness. Pain is
a necessary part of the growth process. No pain,
no growth. It's as simple as that. Do you deny
my reasons?" Nemesis finished in a calm tone.
"I...I...guess I see your point."
"But you don't like it. That's acceptable."
Nemesis turned and walked in the same direction
the Princess had gone. Queen Serenity began to
walk the other way. As he walked into the shadow
of a tree, Nemesis called out.
"My Queen?"
"Yes?"
"I don't know what they're talking about."
"What?" Queen Serenity turned just in time
to see Nemesis disappear into the shadow of the
tree with a smirk.
"SERENITY!!! SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT
HIM!!!"
Queen Serenity turned back to the path to
see...a group of Senshi (minus Pluto). With
hair that matched their fukus. She lifted her
hands and began to massage her temples. "Arin,
Arin, Arin, why do you bedevil me so?"
The Senshi blinked as the scene began to
fade. Soon they were back in front of the fire
in Rei's temple. Makoto was the first one to
speak.
"That was interesting."
"Quite." Ami added. "I wonder if those were
the Elder Senshi?"
Haruka was about to add something when
Mamoru touched Usagi's shoulder, the fire flared
again, and the world disappeared in a flash of
silver fire.
"Where are we now?" Rei asked. Everyone
looked around. They were standing in the seat
section of what appeared to be an empty
coliseum. When they looked up, they saw the
Earth above them.
"Well, we're still on the Moon, at least."
Ami answered.
"Who are they?" Michiru asked, pointing at a
group of people. Queen Serenity was immediately
recognizable. They didn't recognize the rest of
the group until they walked closer.
"By the kamis! Is that Pluto?" Rei gasped.
It took a few seconds for the rest of the group
to recognize the Senshi of time. It took seeing
the Time Staff in her hands in order to confirm
it. The reason was her hair. They were used to
her having waist length hair. Not...that.
"Wow. That is SHORT." Usagi commented. And
it was. Pluto's hair was cut in an EXTREME
pageboy's cut. It couldn't have been more than
two or three inches long.
As they approached, the other two figures
revealed themselves. One was dressed in black
armor and a sword. He had a small black-haired
boy with him. Mamoru gasped. Usagi turned to
him.
"Mamo-chan? What is it?"
He pointed at the boy. "That's me. I
remember this. We need to leave. Now!"
"Why?" Makoto asked.
"Just trust me! We must go NOW! Usagi, stop
this!"
"I can't. This is your memory. It won't stop
until it plays through."
"Usagi? Something just occurred to me. If
that was taken from your memories, how did we
see what happened after you ran off?" Ami asked.
"I...hid in the bushes." Usagi admitted
reluctantly.
"Okay, now I have a question: Who's that?"
Haruka asked as she pointed at the last member
of the little group. The last member was a
short, slender woman with black hair. She seemed
to be extremely delicate and helpless, but there
was something in the way she held herself that
made Haruka want to get between her and Usagi.
"That's the Queen of Saturn. One of the
nastiest fighter ever born. She survived over
sixty assassination attempts, usually by
personally killing the assassins. She was
extremely dangerous, even by Saturn's
standards." Mamoru replied. "Can we leave now?"
"Why do you want to leave so badly?" Makoto
asked.
Mamoru groaned as a group of Senshi walked
onto the floor of the coliseum. "Too late."
"What's wrong, Mamo-chan?" Usagi asked. He
just pointed at the entrance as a young Nemesis
walked out. He appeared to be around ten years
old and was wearing a smaller version of the
uniform they had seen him in before.
"He's so cute when he's a kid!" Minako
squealed.
"You won't say that in a few minutes."
Mamoru groaned with his face in his hands.
"Why is that?" Rei asked, without looking
away from Nemesis.
Mamoru's reply was interrupted when Nemesis
spoke.
"Uranus! You publicly stated that I was
incapable of protecting the Princess. I offer
you one final chance to take those words back."
"And if I don't?" The Elder Uranus was a
tall, thin woman with long black hair, a willowy
body, and a face that was classical in it's
beauty. She was currently wearing a smirk on it.
"I'll beat you and the rest of the Senshi
unconscious." Nemesis stated in a quiet, sincere
voice. He could have been discussing the weather
by the look on his face.
Uranus' smirk grew larger as she began to
obviously fight back laughter. "Oh yes. *snort*
I am sooooo scared. *chuckle* Please don't hurt
me! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Nemesis raised an eyebrow as Uranus doubled
over in laughter. He turned to Queen Serenity.
"My Queen? If you would say when, please?"
"You will not turn from this course?" Queen
Serenity inquired.
"It's not my place to turn. Uranus is the
one who refused to accept my ability to protect
the Princess. All I require is for her to
acknowledge my ability." Nemesis paused and
looked at Uranus expectantly.
"Not gonna happen." Uranus snorted, still
chuckling a bit.
"Very well. My Queen?" Nemesis continued.
Serenity sighed and raised her hand. As she
dropped it, she stated "You may begin."
As soon as the words left the Queen's lips,
Nemesis was in motion. He dashed towards Jupiter
before anyone could react. Before she could even
react, Jupiter received a broken nose courtesy
of his foot. As she reached up to clutch at her
nose, Nemesis dropped into a crouch and drove
the heel of his right hand into the side of her
knee, causing it to let out a loud *CRACK* and
removing Jupiter from the fight in an effective,
if brutal, manner. She crumpled to the ground,
clutching at her knee and nose. Nemesis quickly
kicked her in the side of her head and moved on.
Mercury was the next to fall. A simple punch
to the stomach followed by a head-butt was all
that was necessary to render her unconscious. He
quickly dashed towards his next target, Venus.
Venus was ready for him. She quickly pointed
at him and sounded her battle cry. "CRESENT
BEAM!" Nemesis ducked and rolled under the blast
of golden energy. His roll ended a few feet in
front of her. He uncurled from his roll into a
crouch, and pointed the palm of his hand at her.
"Nice. Try mine." He stated with a grin.
"CHAOS LANCE!" A beam of pure black energy shot
out and hit Venus directly in the center of her
chest. She was thrown back to, and through, the
wall around the arena. And the first three rows
of marble benches.
"Now, that HAD to hurt." Nemesis managed to
state before having to jump away from a white-
hot blast of flame. The area where he was
formerly crouched was turned into a bubbling
mass of red-hot glass. He touched down a few
feet away and turned to face Mars, who still had
her hand outstretched from throwing the blast.
"That wasn't very nice. If I didn't know
better, I'd say you meant that blast to hit me.
Of course, seeing how crappy the shot was, it
must have just been a warning shot." Nemesis
began to run towards Mars in an erratic path,
dodging the blasts she continued to throw. "I
mean, if you wanted to hurt me, the blast would
have been something like...I don't know,
maybe...THIS! CHAOS FLARE!" Nemesis slammed both
palms to the ground in front of him. A small,
black flame ignited in front of him and swiftly
traveled along the ground towards Mars, gaining
speed and size as it went. By the time she
realized what was happening, the fire was too
large for Mars to dodge. She braced herself for
it to hit. The impact sent her flying twenty
feet into the wall, smoking and visibly charred.
Nemesis winced. "Hmmm, maybe that was a bit
much. What do you two think?"
Twin balls of energy answered his question.
Neptune and Uranus had wisely decided to
take advantage of his momentary pause. The
energy slammed him into the wall. Nemesis shook
his head a bit and looked up. Just in time to
see more energy about to hit him. "Ah, SHIT!"
Uranus and Neptune continued to hit him for
several minutes. Finally they stopped when they
couldn't even see what they were aiming at
through all the dust. "I think that should do
it. No one could stand up to that." Neptune
stated calmly. They began to walk off the arena
floor. Uranus sarcastically asked Neptune. "So,
what was he saying about `beating'?"
"I said I'd beat you unconscious."
They froze as Nemesis' calm voice responded.
They turned back just as the dust finished
settling down, revealing a still-conscious
Nemesis. He looked like hell. His clothing was
in tatters, one eye was swelling shut, he was
bleeding from a multitude of small lacerations,
and the skin they could see was already purpling
from bruises. He was visibly swaying as he
stood. He turned his head, coughed up some
blood, and continued. "That really hurt. I think
you actually managed to do some real damage. My
father would be impressed. I, on the other hand,
am pissed."
Nemesis stepped back into the shadows and
sank into them. As Neptune and Uranus began to
scan the surrounding area, he rose out of
Neptune's shadow. "Back here, stupid."
As Neptune flipped around just in time for
Nemesis to jump and nail her nose with his knee.
He continued the jump over her head, grabbing
her hair as he went. He landed behind her and
bent over at the waist, still holding her hair,
resulting in her flying over him in an arc. She
met the ground at a decent speed, face-first.
Nemesis took a few short steps, lifted her up by
her hair, swung her around, and re-introduced
her to the ground. Then he swung her around and
threw her into Uranus with enough force to send
both of them to the ground. Uranus got up.
Neptune didn't.
"You little bastard. I'm gonna make you
pay." Uranus ground out as she wiped a thin
trickle of blood from her lip.
"Bring it on, Uranus. I survived almost a
decade on Nemesis. Compared to that, you're an
easy win."
Uranus just growled and started to gather
energy. Nemesis smiled pleasantly and began to
murmur under his breath. He brought his feet
together and placed his palms together at chest
height, then closed his eyes. Uranus raised both
hands over her head and clenched them. She swung
them down sharply, opened them facing towards
Nemesis, and cried "URANUS WORLD DEVASTATION!!",
releasing a massive ball of energy. Nemesis
calmly stood in it's path. He opened his eyes,
revealing them to be totally black. His voice
was calm as he stated "Chaos Dance." As soon as
the words left his mouth, Nemesis was wreathed
in black flame.
What followed next was brutal. Nemesis
swatted Uranus' blast aside and charged at her
at an astonishing speed. Uranus had just enough
time to flinch slightly before he started his
assault. The unmercifully barrage of punches and
kicks slammed into her chest, head, and legs. A
particularly hard punch sent her flying into the
stands near the Queen.
Uranus shook her head as she tried to get to
her feet. She raised her head just in time to
see Nemesis land in front of her and stride over
to a marble bench. He grabbed the edge of it and
ripped it off.
"Oh, damn. This is going to hurt." Uranus
groaned.
"Not for long."
Uranus was strong. Uranus was tough. Uranus
had Neptune slammed into her at high speed, then
had the most potent hand-to-hand attack in Chaos
Magic used on her. It still took three solid
blows before she finally passed out.
Nemesis looked down at her and smiled. The
black flames surrounding his body finally died
out. He staggered a bit. "Wow. That was fun.
Reminded me of sparring with my father."
He turned and started to walk towards the
Queen. He stopped as a low moan sounded. He
turned in the direction of the moan. "Mars?
She's still conscious? Amazing. Well, I can't
have that."
Nemesis picked up the bench top and broke
off a fist-sized piece. He hefted it a few
times, and then threw it towards the twitching
Mars with a flick of his wrist. The chunk of
marble slammed into the center of her forehead
with a meaty *THWACK* and she spasmed once, then
laid still.
Nemesis continued to walk to Queen Serenity.
He stopped in front of her, bowed, and said "My
Queen. By your leave?"
Serenity waved a hand. "You may go."
"Thank you." Nemesis paused as he walked
past Pluto. He took her right hand and kissed
it. He grinned at her as he straightened. "You
know, you'd look really great if you grew your
hair out."
As the scene started to fade, they could see
Pluto touching a hand to her hair.
****************
Setsuna's house, earlier that morning.
Ranma jerked awake with a start. He looked
down. Boxers, check. Tank-top, check. Female?
Check. No black clothing. No chain wrapped
around his left forearm. Most importantly, NO
pipe in his hands. <That was one INTENSE dream!
Worse than the earlier one.>
Ranma staggered out of bed and walked over
to stand in front of the mirror on the dresser.
He hung his head for a few seconds before
looking at his reflection. He raised his head
to look in the mirror. Nothing on his forehead.
Nothing unusual about his reflection at all.
Just the normal black hair, blue eyes, and
pigtail. He started to turn away. <Wait. Black
hair?>
Ranma's gaze snapped back to his reflection.
He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them. No
change in his reflection. He glanced down at his
chest. Yes. Those were breasts. He looked up at
his bangs. Red as a fire truck. He looked at the
mirror again. A black-haired, blue-eyed, and
above all, MALE Ranma stared back.
"What the hell?" Ranma whispered in
confusion as he reached out his left hand to
touch the mirror. As his hand neared the glass,
his reflection began to...shift. His tank-top
and boxers shifted to the same outfit Ranma had
been wearing in his dream, black with silver
detailing. A chain snaked its way around his
left forearm. Ranma snatched his hand back
quickly. His...reflection? slowly lowered it's
hand. It smiled as a symbol seemed to burn
itself into its forehead with a black flame. The
symbol was an upside-down black crescent moon.
"That symbol...." Ranma murmured.
His reflection grinned. "Hi there. We meet
again for the first time."
Ranma gathered his scattered wits. "Who the
hell are you? You're not my reflection."
"Oh, I am. In a way. I am known as Nemesis.
You can call me Arin. We're gonna get REAL
close, REAL soon." As he said this, the figure
lifted his right hand and flicked at Ranma. At
his gesture, the mirror warped and flowed
towards Ranma. He jumped back, but was too slow.
The glass wrapped around him, squeezing him,
cutting off his breath. He could see blackness
edging his vision, and felt himself growing
faint and falling...falling...falling....
*THUD*
*SKRIIP*
"AAAAHHhhh...huh?" Ranko jumped to her feet.
She looked down. A set of sheets and a blanket
lay ripped to shreds on the floor. She had
gotten tangled in them and fallen out of bed.
<All right. That explains THAT.>
She scanned the room. Nothing out of place.
She scanned himself. Tank-top, boxers, female.
No problem there. She warily made her way over
to the mirror. She stood back a little ways and
examined her reflection. Red hair, not black.
Nothing on her forehead. Tank-top and boxers,
not a black and silver uniform.
"What the hell did I eat? Three freaky dreams
in one night? Akane's cooking didn't even manage
THAT! By the goddess, it's like the Twilight
Zone has decided to rent out my skull!" Ranko
rubbed her eyes. "And I feel like crap. It's
like I was up all night fighting."
Ranko shook her head and pulled on some
clothes. She made her way down the hall to the
bathroom. If she hadn't been so busy pondering
her dreams, she would have noticed the shower
shutting off as she neared the bathroom. If she
hadn't been gazing at the floor, she might have
noticed the robe hanging on one of the hooks by
the door, or the lingerie hanging on the others.
If she hadn't still been a bit groggy from the
abrupt awakening, she DEFINITELY would have
noticed the humming.
Unfortunately, she WAS pondering her dreams,
and she WAS looking at the floor, and she WAS
still a bit groggy. Which meant she walked into
the bathroom and looked up at just the right
time to have almost no warning before she walked
into a very surprised, and very naked, Setsuna
Meiou.
That would have been bad enough, but when
Setsuna jerked from surprise, the rug on the
floor chose just THAT moment to slip, which made
her start to fall. Right onto Ranko, who
reflexively caught her.
Of course, everybody knows that bad luck
runs in threes. This was proven when Ranko
wasn't able to support Setsuna because of the
rug's sliding and her surprise. So they fell
down. Ranko instinctively yanked Setsuna close
and wrapped her arms around her, holding her
tightly so she wouldn't get hurt as Ranko took
the brunt of the fall.
Ranko's breath went out of her in a "Whoof!"
as her back slammed into the hard tiles with
Setsuna landing on top of her. She glanced down
to see if Setsuna was okay. All she could see
was skin. Lots of it. Lots of deeply tanned,
smooth, wet, naked.... Ranko slammed her eyes
shut and whacked the back of her head against
the floor a few times. <What the hell am I
doing? I shouldn't be looking at Setsuna naked!
Even if she does have a great...> Ranko slammed
the lid shut on THAT thought and riveted it
shut.
"You know, you should be glad I'm not
Haruka." Ranko's thought were interrupted when
Setsuna spoke.
"W-w-why is that?"
"Because she'd either kill you, or keep you
on this floor for a couple of hours."
Ranko's face scrunched up as she tried to
figure out what Setsuna meant by the floor
remark. "You can get up, you know."
"No, I can't." Was the calm reply.
"Why not? You aren't hurt, are you?" Concern
started to grow.
"No. You just haven't let go of me yet."
Amusement was evident in Setsuna's voice. "And
you really shouldn't be holding on to me there,
either. After all, we've just met."
<'Holding on to me there'? What's she
talking about?> Ranko checked both of her hands.
Her right hand and arm was wrapped Setsuna's
shoulders. Her left arm was wrapped around her
waist with her hand holding on...to...her....
Ranko snapped her hand off of Setsuna's butt
so quickly it was a surprise she didn't leave
friction burns.
"Please get off." Ranko asked in a small
voice as she removed her other hand, as well.
Setsuna didn't reply as she stood up. Ranko
heard a rustle of fabric as Setsuna spoke.
"You CAN look, you know. I'm sure I don't
have anything you haven't seen before. After
all, we're both girls, right?"
Ranko THOUGHT Setsuna's voice had a faint
teasing tone as she asked the question. <Does
she know? She said she had ALL my school
records. Does that mean she has all of Rankos's?
Or all of MINE? Dammit, I wish I knew if those
records held up!> She kept her eyes tightly shut
as she sat up and turned around. Finally, she
decided to ignore the question for the moment
and ask something that had been bothering her
since the previous morning.
"Um, Setsuna?"
"Yes?"
"Why did you give me that bucket of water to
use on Haruka yesterday?"
"Haruka was out late, after I had warned her
that she should go to bed early. I figured she
would need some motivation to get up that early.
Besides, it made for some great pictures."
"'It made for some great pictures.'" Ranko
repeated in a dull tone of voice.
"Yes. And it made her go all-out in fighting
you. She would have held back, otherwise. She
needed to be shown that you are much better than
her. That way, she will be ready to learn from
you, rather than just humoring you."
"Oh. That makes sense. But you should have
warned me that Michiru was with her. I had NO
right to involve her in it. Why was she in
Haruka's bed, anyways?"
Setsuna cast a glance over at Ranko's back
as she dried off her legs. The puzzlement in her
voice was unmistakable in its sincerity.
"I'll...explain later." <Like when you've
had remedial sex education classes.> "Could you
hand me that underwear?"
"Sure." Ranko grabbed the underwear off the
hook and passed it over her shoulder, trying NOT
to notice how much of it was composed of lace.
And failing.
"Thank you." Setsuna took the lingerie from
Ranko's hand. "Could you hand me the blouse and
skirt now?"
Ranko quickly did so and breathed a sigh of
relief when Setsuna announced it was safe to
turn around. This time, there was an
unmistakable tone of amusement in her voice.
Setsuna gathered her bathing things and
started to walk out. She paused in the doorway
and looked back.
"Ranko?"
"Hmmm?" Ranko looked at her questioningly.
"Are you okay?"
Ranko blinked. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"You've got some pretty heavy bags under
your eyes. Did you sleep well last night?"
"No. Had some bad dreams. Don't worry about
it. I'm fine." Ranko assured her.
"All right. But, if you ever need to talk,
I'm available." Setsuna closed the door behind
her as she left. Ranko quickly locked it.
<"I'm available"? You know, I think that's
the first time anyone's offered to hear me out.
Weird.>
Ranma quickly showered, luxuriating at the
feel of being back in his real body, however
temporarily. He braced himself and turned the
water back to cold. As she dressed, she grinned.
<All right, Haruka. It's almost seven o' clock.
I've let you sleep in this morning. Time to wake
up.>
Ranko opened the door and almost walked into
a bucket. She stopped and looked at its bearer.
Setsuna smiled as she spoke.
"It's already full. And I've got a new
camcorder I want to try out."
Ranko chuckled as she took it. "Again? How
long do you want me to use this?"
"Until you don't need to anymore. I'm not
holding my breath. Oh, and Michiru is in her
bedroom."
Ranko nodded in thanks as she walked down
the hall. A few seconds later an outraged
scream was heard, followed by a cheerful "THIS
IS YOUR WAKE UP CALL!!"
*********************
Hikawa shrine
The room was silent. The assembled group sat
and stared at the now-normal flames.
"By the kamis. And he's on OUR side?" Rei
whispered, horrified.
Any response was cut off by a soft sigh from
Usagi as she collapsed into Mamoru's arms. The
rest of the group was around the pair so fast it
looked like they teleported.
"USAGI! Are you okay?" Echoed from multiple
throats at once. A hushed silence fell as
everyone strained their ears to listen for a
reply. Faintly, they could hear a sound. It
sounded like....
"Snoring?" Rei asked incredulously. "She's
asleep? SHE'S ASLEEP!?!?"
Usagi mumbled a bit at Rei's scream and
snuggled into Mamoru's lap. A happy smile could
be seen growing on her face as Mamoru started to
blush nervously.
"Usagiiii...." Rei started to growl.
"Give it up, Rei." Luna interrupted. "Once
she's out, nothing wakes her up. Listen to the
person who's had to get her to school on time
for the last several years."
Makoto smiled. "I've got a way."
"What is it." Rei's voice was flat.
Makoto reached down and opened a previously
unnoticed bag. She pulled out a plate with...
"Muffins. Chocolate."
*SNATCH* Makoto's hands were suddenly empty.
She blinked. She looked over at Mamoru. He was
staring at the now-revived Usagi, who was busily
shoving muffins into her mouth.
"Mmmph? Whht?" Usagi asked, spraying crumbs.
"Well, she's back to normal." Haruka wryly
noted. Rei started to rub her forehead. The
meeting proceeded as usual from that point,
ending with the usual Rei/Usagi fight.
***********************
Tendo Dojo
It had only been two days since Ranma had
"disappeared", and already Akane was getting
unbearable. She had already established that
neither Ukyo nor Shampoo had seen him. She would
have checked with Kodachi, but no one with half
a brain in their heads went anywhere near either
of the Kuno's willingly. (Not that she thought
Ranma HAD half a brain in his head, but she
wasn't going to risk going anywhere near Kuno.)
Nabiki shook her head as she heard Akane's
door slam shut. <No control whatsoever. She
REALLY needs to work on that.>
She leaned back in her chair and
contemplated her ledgers. She suddenly stood up
and walked over to the corner of her room.
Bending down, she lifted an unremarkable board,
revealing a safe underneath it. She set the
board aside and opened the safe. She re-locked
the safe and replaced the board as soon as she
had removed a folder. It was sloppy things such
as that got most people. Nabiki was too careful
to allow even a little chance to exist to screw
her over.
As she sat back in her chair, she glanced
over the contents of the file. Given to her by a
contact in Tomobiki that very day, it contained
a report on Ranma's activities there.
<Let's see.... Caught in a rather
compromising position with Lum, insulted several
of the more dangerous residents, and leveled a
good portion of the school. In just one day. I'm
impressed. It took him a lot longer to level
portions of Furinkan. Of course, Tomobiki High
already had destructive nuts in place. We just
had Kuno, who's just crazy instead of
destructive.>
Nabiki smirked as she finished the report
and put it back. <He didn't even bother to
change his name. I give him a week, tops. Even
with my help.>
Downstairs, Kasumi paused in her
preparations to cook dinner. She put down the
frying pan and massaged the bridge of her nose.
Kasumi was not having a good day. First, there
was the headache she had woken up with, which
had turned into a full-blown migraine by mid-
morning. Then, it was made worse by having to
listen to both her father's wailing and Akane's
screaming about Ranma vanishing. On top of that,
both Ukyo and Shampoo had shown up after school
to look for Ranma, which had the usual results.
The repairmen said that it would take at least
two days before they had time to fix the house.
(Kasumi wouldn't have been quite as upset if HER
room hadn't been in the section of house that
had been leveled. With her supply of Belgian
chocolates. She'd gone four hours without a hit
of chocolate now. She was getting twitchy.) And
to top it all of, it was THAT time of the month.
All in all, Kasumi was having the one of the
worst days in her life. (Not the worst, though.
Nothing would ever beat the day her mother died.
Nothing. Although the funeral came close.)
Then it got worse. Much worse. Worse being
Akane coming in, with THAT look in her eyes. The
"Damn it! I can be domestic, too!" look. The
look that always heralded Kasumi having to
basically rebuild and restock her kitchen from
the ground up. (Including pots, pans,
appliances, and the tiles on the floor.)
"Hi, Kasumi! I thought I'd give every one a
surprise tonight and cook dinner!" Akane
announced in the voice of someone who just
didn't understand why biohazard and haz-mat
teams were on the family's speed-dial.
"Oh, you'll give them a surprise, all
right." Kasumi muttered.
"What was that, Kasumi? I couldn't hear
you."
"N-nothing!" Kasumi cheerfully answered. If
Akane had bothered to look, she would have
noticed that Kasumi's smile seemed a bit forced.
Akane, however, was too busy getting out her
ingredients. (Violating a MAJOR rule among
cooks: NEVER, EVER use another cook's kitchen
without permission. People have been maimed for
doing it.)
Kasumi twitched with every new ingredient
Akane pulled out. The vinegar wasn't so bad. The
wasabi wasn't unexpected, either. The cleanser
was frequently used in her cooking, too. The rat
poison was new, though.
<How can she miss the "WARNING: POISON!"
labels?> Kasumi thought incredulously.
"Anyways, Kasumi, why don't you leave? That
way you can be surprised by the food! Don't you
think it's a great idea for me to cook tonight?
I know that everyone will just love it! I've got
this new recipe I found today! Of course, it was
a bit bland, so I made a few changes."
Akane continued to talk, but Kasumi tuned
her out. Akane reached over to the chopping
block and pulled out the largest knife there.
THAT snapped her to attention. Kasumi was proud
of her knives. She polished them. She balanced
them. She sharpened them by hand. Her knives
could cut the electrons from an atom. They were
the one thing that she treasured above all else.
They were a gift from her mother, you see. The
last thing she gave to Kasumi before she died,
to be precise.
Having Akane start to work her (black) magic
with one of HER knives was just too much for
Kasumi to take on top of everything else that
had happened. She grabbed the knife out of
Akane's hand.
"What? Kasumi? Why did you do that?"
Kasumi slammed the knife 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.
"W-w-w-what do you mean?" Akane stammered.
"What do I mean? I mean 'Get Out Of MY
Kitchen!' Now! Or I'll THROW you out!" Kasumi's
voice was still in it's sweetest mode. The
rather manic look in her eyes betrayed that,
though.
Akane slowly backed out of the kitchen, then
whirled and ran upstairs. Kasumi collapsed into
a chair and rested her head in her hands.
(Remembering to put the knife away FIRST.
Otherwise, it could have REALLY hurt.)
In a few seconds, Kasumi heard footsteps
coming towards the kitchen. She recognized them
well before Nabiki spoke from the doorway.
"So, what's this I hear about you being
possessed again?" she drolly asked.
Kasumi just whimpered. Nabiki sat down next
to her.
"Want to talk? What's wrong?" Nabiki wasn't
exactly what you would call a social person. Or
an open person. Or even a nice person, really.
Most of her time was spent making money,
counting money, or figuring out ways to keep the
money she already had. There was one thing,
however, that she cared about more than money:
her family. While she might use Akane to make
some quick cash, she wouldn't actually do
anything to HURT her. So, when Kasumi, of all
the people, was sitting in a pose of quiet
despair, Nabiki got VERY concerned, VERY quick.
Kasumi looked at her.
"I've got a migraine. My room is totally
destroyed. The house has huge holes all over it.
Akane decided she wanted to cook. And we're out
of Midol. Do any of those count as 'What's
wrong'?" Kasumi's voice was lackluster, at best.
"Yeah, I'd say that they do." <Midol, huh?
Well that helps to explain it.> "All right,
Kasumi. Do you know what we're going to do?"
"No, what are we going to do." Kasumi
replied in a lifeless voice.
"I'm gonna call for take-out. Then you and
me are going to go upstairs to my room. Then,
you're gonna get into that red dress of mine.
Then, we're going to go and...unwind."
"Your red dress? Wait, that dress is a..."
"Miniskirt. Trust me. You need this."
Kasumi was still weakly protesting as Nabiki
grabbed her wrist and hauled her upstairs. She
stopped protesting by the third club.
The next morning, Nabiki groaned as she
climbed out of bed. It felt like a jackhammer
was pounding on her skull. She started to
whimper as she heard Kasumi singing as she hung
up the wash to dry.
<Figures that she would be one of those
people that don't get hang-overs.>
****************
Author's notes:
And that's where I'll end it.
"What? No cliffhanger?" you ask?
That's right! As I've said before, I end
where I feel I should. And for this chapter,
it's right there. (Hey, if I wrote any more,
it'd take longer to get out. Death threats are
kinda fun to read, but they DO get a bit
worrisome after the first fifty or so.)
Now, for the important part of the Author's
Notes: the Thank You's!
First, to the 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
Then, to some of the people who've helped me
get some cool (Read: evil) ideas:
Andrew Wilson
Werefox
Simkin
Harold Ancell
(And a lot of other people whom I can't remember
just now.)
And, of course, special thanks goes out to you,
the person who actually bothered to read this
far.
Ja Ne!
Slacker
12/15/2000
PS. 22 people remembered to floss. Thanks! (Your
dentist thanks you, too.)