The characters in this story belong to their respective creators and
copyrights. Ranma 1/2 is the creation and intellectual property of Rumiko
Takahashi. Sailor Moon is the creation and intellectual property of Naoko
Takeuchi. All original content is the creation and intellectual property of
Samuel Phoenix. Recognition is given to John Sanchez for a small kick of
inspiration that helped produce this story.

Awkward Consequences
Chapter 2a: What Price Honor? Part 1
PsyckoSama (syp104@psu.edu)



Ranma twitched, and chucked lightly. This was great. Just what he should
have expected. How did he ever expect the kami to let him get away
scot-free. Damn his friends, damn his father, and damn himself for being
fool enough to get in this new mess in the first place.

"Goddamn it! Why?!" he screamed as he punched the Mailbox next to him. The
force on his blow struck the large cast-iron container with the force of a
cannonball. The blow crushed its front end, ripped on its mount bolts, and
sent it through the air to cave in the front of a parked Toyota.

Of course this was going to happen. The kami would have it no other way. It
would not do for Saotome Ranma to have a second's peace, or even a
consistent level of madness.

"Ranma, are you ok?" asked Hotaru in a shaken voice.

He slowly looked up. Hotaru was clearly shocked by his display, and she was
crying again. He let out a quiet sigh, a resignation to fate, and stood up.

Taking a deep breath he spoke. "Hotaru, I can't ever say how sorry I am.
This, this is all my fault. I'm so, so very sorry."

Ranma looked dejectedly at Hotaru, hoping for a reply. He could not blame
the girl for being unnerved. He doubted that she had ever seen anyone do
that to a mailbox. Even he was surprised that he got it to fly that far.

"Ranma, It's okay... It's not your fault." said Hotaru, matter of fact.

Ranma shook his head. She was wrong, she had been drawn in by his other
curse. The inescapable chaos that infused every aspect of his existence.
"No, it is my fault. It was my responsibility. I should have kept a clear
head."

Hotaru blushed and shook her head, "It is not you fault. I was there too. I
had a part in this, too."

Ranma nodded, "How... how are you sure that you're..." He then thought for a
moment. This was not the proper place for this conversation, and he was
getting more then his fair share of attention from passers by after sending
a Mailbox soaring into someone's front end.

Hotaru opened her mouth to speak but Ranma raised his hand to silence her.
"Hold on a second... this ain't a good place to talk about this."

Hotaru looked around for a moment and noticed the amount of attention they
were getting. She blushed brightly and nodded.

Before she could even yelp Ranma lifted her off her feet and bound up onto
the rooftops. As he ran, he could not help but notice Hotaru relaxed in his
arms. Almost like she trusted him. She was a fool to do so. He hurt everyone
he met, and it looks like she is the newest name on the list.

After a few minutes Ranma stopped on the roof of an unoccupied building. On
the roof there was a single plastic lawn chair. Ranma placed her down and
looked out at the view. That was why he came here. The view was great and it
was one of the few places where he could go and have a moment's peace. The
perfect place for a private conversation of this importance.

"So, Hotaru, how do you know that you're," Ranma blushed, "pregnant?"

"I'm a month and a half late with my period, I've been getting sick almost
every morning for a month, and three home pregnancy tests can't go wrong.
Proof enough?"

Ranma gulped. How does one say this right, and not sound like an insensitive
jerk? "Hotaru, are you... err... sure it is mine?"

Ranma was lucky. Hotaru did not take it the wrong way. "Yes Ranma. It is
your baby. You were my first," she flushed red and continued, "and my only."

Ranma sighed, and sat down on the roof. So much for escape. Before his life
seemed like a cage to him. Trapped on four sides by the four women in his
life. His mother, Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo. Three fianc�es and a seppuku
pledge to entrap him and ruin his life.

Now he had to deal with this. The possible roof to his prison that would
block out his last view of freedom. She sat down across from him, he glanced
at her for a moment. She deserved to know what she had been pulled into.

"Hotaru, I'm sorry that you get dragged into this."

Hotaru blinked and looked at Ranma inquisitively. What was he talking about?
"Dragged into what?"

Ranma groaned and rubbed his temples. "My life."

Hotaru cocked her head, and said, "It can't be that bad." She couldn't see
his life being worse then her own.

Ranma laid back and laughed, "Hotaru, you have no idea! I have three
fianc�es that I know of, probably more out there somewhere. There are
countless people out to kill me, I'm cursed, and if I don't live up to my
mother's twisted version of manliness I'm honor bound to commit seppuku."

This has to be made up. It's too weird. While her life was bad, what he just
described was beyond twisted. Wait, what was that last part? Hotaru
blanched, "Seppuku? Your mother wants you to commit seppuku? Is this some
kind of sick joke?"

"Yeah, I wish! When my dad dragged me off on that training trip she made us
sign a contract that said if I didn't become a 'man among men' we would kill
ourselves."

Hotaru looked at him wide eyed. He sounded serious. Dead serious. She
mentally kicked herself for that pun. After a moment she realized that the
trip had been ten years long. "How old were you?"

"Six."

Hotaru gawked at him. "Six, you were six! She expects you to kill yourself
because of something you signed when you were six?" How could any
self-respecting mother ask their child to kill themselves, especially over
something they signed when they were that young!?

"I didn't exactly sign it," groaned Ranma.

Hotaru gave him a funny look. "What did you do."

"I put hand prints on it. I think I was just playing in the ink or
something," Ranma replied nonchalantly.

Hotaru blinked. He didn't even know what he was doing, and she holds him to
it? "Your mother is insane."

"It's even worse with my curse," Ranma replied in a monotone.

Hotaru plopped onto the ground. So far this had been a very strange day, and
she had a feeling that it was not done yet. Not by a long shot.

"So what else?" she asked.

Ranma sighed, "Besides the multiple fianc�es, and the constant string of
people out for my head, not much."

"Explain the fianc�es." Hotaru gave him a dirty look. She did know what was
going up, but if he was just some form of Casanova he was getting her glaive
somewhere dark and tender.

"It ain't my fault. The first one is the girl you saw at the dojo, Tendo
Akane. The second is my childhood buddy, Ukyo. Then you have Shampoo, the
crazy Amazon chick."

Now she knew who they were, but how did he get engaged to them. "Explain."

Ranma scratched the back of his head. "I blame my old man. He engaged me to
one of the Tendo daughters before I was even born, but that didn't stop him
from engaging me to lots of girls, including Ukyo, for food and stuff. Even
the whole Shampoo thing is because of his big stomach."

Hotaru gawked at him. "Damn..." This was just too screwed up. What kind of
father did he have? Hotaru silently swore that she would never let his idiot
parents near her baby. That was if... the other option, she just did not
want to think about.

Ranma laughed. "You have no idea. You just have no idea."

"Before, you mentioned a curse. What we're you talking about?"

"Hold on, I'll be back in a second. It'll be easier if I showed you," said
Ranma as he jumped off of the roof.


Hotaru wondered what he was doing. She stood up and walked over to the edge,
just in time to see him jump back up. He was holding two paper cups

"What is this about?"

Ranma sighed, "Two years my father took me to a place called Jusenkyo.
Jusenkyo had hundreds of pools each with it's own curse. If you fall in one
of the pools you're cursed to turn into what fell into it last when you get
wet."

Ranma dumped one of the cups over his head, shrinking into his cursed form.
"I fell in the Spring of Drowned girl."

"My god, you're a Starlight!" He had just turned into a girl. While she was
not that surprised, she had seen it before, but it was still a shock. Oh
well, at least he was cute both ways.

Ranma blinked. "A what?"

"Nothing. So, how do you turn back?"

Ranma shrugged and dumped the other cup over her head, changing back. "Hot
water."

Hotaru sat and looked at him. He had just shown her some very strange
things. How would he react to her secret? She though for a moment. She would
not tell him that she was a Sailor Senshi, but she would show him her power
of healing.

She sat down and looked at him for a moment. Did he have anything that
needed healing? It would be best to ask. "Ranma?"

"Yeah, Hotaru?"

She gulped. She was about to be cast off and she knew it, but after what he
told her, she felt he had to know. "Do you have any scrapes, bruises, or
minor injuries?"

Ranma blinked. "Well, yeah. I was in a fight with my buddy Ryouga a few days
ago. He gave me a few good blows to the ribs, and their still kinda tender."

"Show me."

Ranma did as he was told and removed his shirt. Hotaru blushed as she saw
his physique. Wow, was he was built. On the left side of his torso there was
a faded blue discoloration. The remains of what had once been a very nasty
bruise, maybe even lightly cracked ribs. Fighting down a blush she placed
her hand on his side and used her powers.

Once the injury had faded to a healthy pink she removed her hand and stepped
back. Hotaru gulped, and looked at Ranma with pleading eyes.

Please don't reject me. Please don't reject me. Please don't reject me...

Ranma gave his side an experimental poke and blinked. He smiled brightly and
looked at Hotaru. "That was cool! Howd ya do it?"

Hotaru's mouth was agape. He was not rejecting her. He actually thought it
was cool! "You... you didn't think it was weird?"

Ranma laughed. "Of course not! Do you know how much I wished I could do
that? Training would be a lot easier of you could make all your aches,
pains, scrapes and bruises vanish when you were done?"

Hotaru was blow away inside. He did not think she was a freak. He actually
envied her powers. "You don't think I'm a freak?"

Ranma sat down across form her. "Of course not! You have a gift! How could a
pretty girl like you ever think she was a freak?"

Hotaru jumped onto Ranma crying in joy. He didn't think she was a freak. He
didn't care. Using all of her strength she embraced him. In a joyful voice
she said, "Thank you, Ranma. Thank you."

Ranma's brain ground to a halt. There was a cute girl hanging off of him.
No, she was not cute. She was beautiful. And she was hanging off of him. He
expected Akane or one of the other girls to show up right about this moment.
As she cried on his shoulder he was pleasantly shocked to see that he had
not a mallet, spatula, or any Amazon instruments of death flying for his
location. He guessed the kami had fulfilled their "Ruin-Ranma's-Life" quota
for the day.

He looked down at Hotaru for a moment. She really was beautiful. She could
she not see it. The contrast of her white skin and jet black hair made her
look aristocratic while at the same time, slightly exotic. She had a kind
face, and beautiful. He also noted, with a blush, that she also had a really
killer body.

"Ranma? Why are you looking at me like that" inquired Hotaru

Ranma blushed and looked away. "It's nothin', Hotaru..."

Hotaru sighed and looked down, moving away from him. "Ranma, am I really
that hideous? Am I just a hideous freak?"

She wrapped her arms around her knees and forlornly down at the roof.

"Hotaru. I was wrong, you're not cute. You're beautiful."

Hotaru shook her head, "No, I'm not. I'm alone. Almost everyone is afraid of
me. I have almost no body who cares. It's because I'm a hideous freak."

She was beautiful, she wasn't a freak. It was not her who was at fault. It
was everyone else. "Hotaru. You're not a freak. You gifted and beautiful.
You're a very special person."

Hotaru looked up at him, tears in her eyes. For a moment Ranma though he saw
another look behind those tears. One he though he recognized.

"Really?" she asked, with a sniff.

Ranma nodded. "Really."

Hotaru smiled at him. Ranma recognized the look. He did not like it.

In a weak, anxious voice Hotaru said, "Prove it. Make love to me."

"What?!"

Notes: Please comment. All C&C will be appreciated, applause will be happily
accepted, criticism will be considered, ideas would be useful, and flames
will be quickly discarded. Thank ye! ^_^

Thanks to Strider, Thermopyle, Kit, and my others for suggestions, ideas,
and listening to my near constant chatter. ^_^

I swore to everyone that I would post chapter 2 by the end of the week.
Because of the rewrite I could not finish it, so I divided it into two
parts. PsyckoSama is a mad-man of his word ^_^


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