[FFML] [FFML][Fanfic][Ranma/SM] Hailstorm

Hailstorm - Chapter 1
http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1098190
http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_st.php?id=28098

Inspired by Dark Phoneix's story "Who's Your Daddy?"
http://tannim.anifics.com/Daddy/Daddy.html

C&C welcome at laqjr_200@hotmail.com

*********************
Chapter 1
***************

Disclaimer:

I do not own Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon or Ranma 1/2. Characters used
without permission.

Acknowledgements:
The original idea behind 'Who's Your Daddy' and 'Hailstorm' is courtesy
of Rift120, from the Delphi Boards.

***************
Dear Father...
*********************

Walking home wearily and with a bit of trepidation, Ami felt very
paranoid about her current situation, the sensation of someone watching
her not having left her since early that morning when she arrived at
school. She'd been feeling jumpy all day, and nearly told everything to
her friends when Usagi snuck up on her at lunch. It wasn't very kind,
she supposed, to keep her friends in the dark about revealing her heroic
identity, but if her friends knew she told someone, their anger at her
dissention may be enough to break the trust held between them.

Perhaps her fear was the cause of her indecision regarding the other
Senshi. They all held the same fear in not revealing their identities,
and all the other girls had so far complied with the unspoken rule of
secrecy. The only breech before now had occurred when Chibi-Usa found
the Silver Crystal in Usagi's brooch, and Usagi had to explain to her
why she had it.

In any case, Ami wasn't so sure she wanted to go home yet. Her mother
had had a very strange reaction to her situation last night. When Ami
told the woman that her daughter now fought intergalactic monsters and
demons as an extracurricular activity, Atsuko stared at her, some
unknown fear coming alight in her eyes. Seemingly entranced by it, the
woman slowly spoke, saying, "Happosai."

The whole situation was very eerie. Anxious that her mother may have
gone comatose from learning her earlier revelations, Ami gripped her
mother's hand and asked her if she was okay. Atsuko looked up at her
momentarily, then said she needed to sleep, got out of the furo, and
headed out to the changing room.

Ami and her mother never really got along well, more because they were
always too busy apart from each other to do anything together than any
other reason. Last night, when her mother had found her in the furo and
thought that.. that had happened, she'd shown more emotion to Ami than
Ami could ever remember seeing her mother show. Then, when she learned
the truth, her newly discovered and very emotional mother disappeared,
and her more familiar mother, Atsuko Mizuno, returned, weary of her
place in life and always troubled by something.

Maybe she wasn't being as fair to her mother as she should have, but
for Ami, her mother's timid, distant love was all she really knew of the
woman. Her mother often avoided making any emotional connections with
people, and Ami never once saw the woman looking at guys or even
consider dating one. Ami herself was the closest thing her mother had to
a friend, and even then Atsuko did not regularly confide in her.

The fact that Atsuko wasn't her biological mother helped dampen her
feelings for the woman, to an extent, but it wasn't by much. Mizuno
Atsuko had been there for Ami nearly all her life, far longer than she
could remember. Ami met her biological father, once, when she was seven
years old. When she found out who the man in her mother's apartment was,
she'd asked him why he didn't live with her mother, and he'd said he
couldn't let anyone know where he was, or she might be in danger. When
Ami asked her mother about the whole thing after the man left, she'd
learned that her mother, her biological one, couldn't take care of her,
so she'd been passed on to her father. In order to keep her safe, though
Ami did not learn from what, she'd been passed on to her father to take
care of her, and from there had ended up with Atsuko. Ami had gone to
bed angry at her real parents, and acted petulant toward Atsuko for four
days, refusing to call the woman her mother. On the fourth day, Atsuko
came into her room and hugged her while she cried, and Ami fell asleep
and woke up in Atsuko's arms.

Ever since then, Ami found no qualms about calling Atsuko her mother,
and the fact that her real father and mother existed elsewhere in the
world no longer bothered her. She would live her own life, and her
successes would always come because her mother was there for her.

In any case, Ami was home now. Standing in front of the apartment door,
Ami again had second thoughts about entering, but finding strength in
telling herself nothing too earth-shattering could possibly happen, Ami
unlocked the door and entered cautiously.

*********************

Meanwhile...

In Osaka there stood a tall young man wearing a strange combination of
yellow and black, his distinguishing trademark colors. Enemies feared
his wrath and cringed when he attacked. This man's name is Ryoga Hibiki,
and he... was currently lost.

"Which way is it to China?" he asked an old man sweeping in front of his
restaurant.

"Hey, ain't you that Hibiki boy? When're you gonna marry my Ukyo?" The
man looked closely at him, and Ryoga felt very nervous about the
situation. Kuonji-san was one of the few people Ryoga did not need to
see right now.

Ever since Ranma disappeared all those years ago, Ryoga's own problems
seemed to escalate, and many of Ranma's own predicaments seemed to pass
themselves over to him. Truly, this was all Ranma's fault.

Running as fast as he could, Ryoga Hibiki disappeared into the horizon,
headed hopefully to where his greatest nemesis lay in wait.

*********************

Hearing the door to the apartment open, Atsuko filed away the paperwork
and bills she'd been sorting through and stood up to greet Ami as she
entered.

"Tadaima," Ami called softly from the entryway.

"Okaeri-nasai," she called back, then, walking up to her, she said,
"Ami, don't take your shoes off yet, we're going out as soon as I put my
own shoes on."

"Where are we going?" Ami asked. She seemed worried by something.

"Today we're going to the gym so I can get you started on strengthening
your body to handle your new.. occupation." Taking Ami's school books,
Atsuko placed them aside on a rack near the entrance before pulling on
her running shoes and grabbing a pair of duffel bags near the door.

"The gym! But I have to go to cram school today, and Makoto and Minako
and I were going shopping afterward and... I mean..." Ami hung her head
and wrung her hands as she trailed off, not sure why she'd spoke to her
mother so, so... forcefully.

Ami looked abashed by her outburst, but her mother smiled for her.
Resting a palm on Ami's shoulder, Atsuko said, "Don't worry about it,
Ami. I've seen you studying so hard all the time. Do you have a test
tomorrow you didn't study for? Do you really need to go to cram school
today? We could go tomorrow instead, if it's important."

"I don't know," Ami said, looking up at her. "I mean, Minako, and all of
us, were going shopping, later... and I don't want to desert them now."

"I'm sure we can get back before they finish shopping. Don't worry so
much, they can go a little while without you. Hey, why don't you call
one of them and tell them you'll be a bit late? Here, use the cell."

Taking her mother's cell phone, Ami still felt unsure as to whether or
not she wanted to go her Mother to the gym.... They hadn't done anything
together in a long time, and Atsuko was offering to spend some time with
her. Perhaps it would even be fun to work out together.

Maybe her friends would be put off by her being late to go shopping, but
it had been a while since she'd gone out and done something with her
mother. They'd not done anything together for some time now, and Ami
knew she'd look forward to the rest of her day, even if they spent it
fighting youma treadmill machines.

*********************

Usagi ran home as quickly as she could, then, after entering, slammed
the door shut behind her. Taking off her running shoes, she quickly put
on her house slippers while shouting, "Tadaima!"

An answering "Okaerinasai!" resonated from the kitchen before her mother
appeared in the doorway. "I thought you were going out for the night,
Usagi-chan."

"I was going to, but you know, I changed my mind. I'm going upstairs to
my room, call me if you need me!" Usagi said as she ran past the living
room.

"Usagi, don't run in the house!" her mother shouted after her.

After entering the safety of her room, Usagi threw herself down on her
bed. Today had been a tiring day, and to top it all off, Chibi-Usa was
stealing her boyfriend from her without even trying! Mamoru was just
humoring the girl, really, but he showed Chibi-Usa much more affection
than he'd shown her when she was around. It just wasn't fair!

Not wanting to be disturbed anymore for the evening, Usagi took off her
communicator and stuffed it under the t-shirts in her drawer while
pulling out some clean clothes for a shower. She never once heard it
ring for the rest of the day.

*********************

Ami never really thought her mother's strength building training regimen
could be so exhausting. After an initial five minute stretching phase,
her mother had her check out the barbells to find one she was
comfortable with. Proud that she could comfortably lift a mass of 20kg
in each hand (appx 45lb each), Ami did a few repetitions of curls to
start out. Afterward, she'd watched her mother demonstrate some specific
exercise designed to emphasize certain muscles and then emulated her
movements. With her mother spotting her as she relearned the various
exercises and used the different machines, Ami felt good about exerting
as much as she could into the exercises, encouraged by her mother's
presence and enthusiasm.

Now, Ami wasn't so sure if trying so hard was such a good idea. Her arms
ached even more than when she sustained bruises from battle, and she
felt very fatigued by the workout. Ami wasn't as sure as her mother that
working out for an hour and a half every day was actually healthy for
her body, but since the woman had been doing this much longer than her,
she must have a better idea of how far to push herself before submitting
to exhaustion.

Ami and Atsuko left the gym after changing out of their gym garb into
more comfortable clothes, jeans and a dark green blouse for Atsuko while
Ami wore a beige skirt that came down a little past mid-thigh and a dark
red sweater over her t-shirt. They were walking home to the apartment
when a scream came from one of the various shops ahead them. The new
cake shop was being attacked by a droid on its opening day!

Running toward the source of the scream, Ami found Chibi-Usa, Luna, and
Artemis watching the battle between the cake droid and her fellow three
Senshi, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus. So far, the droid appeared to be
winning. Looking around once to make sure no one but her mother could
currently see her, she pulled her transformation pen out and transformed
into Sailor Mercury.

"Chibi-Usa," Ami said, walking up to the trio, "you need to take Luna
and Artemis and get away from here. Be careful, and stay out of trouble,
okay?"

Chibi-Usa turned to her, nodded, picked up both cats, and ran toward the
Tsukino household.

"Alright, now to take care of this monster." Walking through the door,
Ami took a deep breath, exhaled, struck a pose, then shouted, "Droid,
sweets are meant to be savored, eaten for pleasure, not used for
destruction. Just as sweets always melt away when placed in water, so
will I, Sailor Mercury, wash you away from existence!"

Casting a Shabon Spray to obscure the enemy's vision and give her
friends time to escape their sweetened entrapments, Ami took careful
stock of the situation. Because they were in the sweets shop, there was
not a lot of space available for free movement to dodge. With four of
them and one monster, the limited amount of space could as easily be a
hindrance as help them.

Suddenly the monster burst forth from the mist, catching her with a
rapid fire donut attack. Rolling with the blow, Ami attempted to get as
far away from the droid before it could encase her in the icing she'd
seen Jupiter and Tuxedo Mask stuck inside of. Just as she was sure the
monster would attack her, a shadow dropped down before her, landing a
kick on the monster's head and knocking it to the side. The mist cleared
then, giving Mercury and the other Senshi a good look at her benefactor.
The man was tall, his red Chinese style shirt and black pants tied at
waist and ankles looked a bit worn or aged, and his hair was black,
pulled back in a ponytail. When the man looked back at her, Ami saw his
face clearly, even into his deep blue eyes. She knew this man. Ami could
recognize him anywhere.

The man was her father. What was he doing here?

The man turned around to face the droid as it rose from the ground. He
watched the thing closely, then backed away so she could get a clear
shot at it. Ami understood at once. Either he had no attack or
projectile weapon that could hurt the monster, or he felt her own
attacks would do better. Either way, he only backed up enough so she
could fire at the droid, but Ami could see that her father was close
enough that should the cake monster attack, he could easily defend her
from it. Another connection was made in her mind, even as she watched
the monster rise.

Her father knew who she was. Atsuko must have told him.

The droid attacked again, this time aiming for its new human target with
what looked like peppermint candies and cream. Ami saw something
glistening behind the droid and looked down at the floor behind it. The
droid was leaving tracks behind it wherever it went. Water wasn't just a
vulnerability, it actually weakened the droid.

Seeing the man kick the droid away from himself, Ami carefully aimed her
attack, then shouted out her attack phrase and shot a sizeable beam of
water at the droid.

*********************

The next few moments were very confusing, details nearly impossible to
describe because of how little time passed. Ami remembered attacking the
droid with her water attack, and her father immediately jumped back and
up, then disappeared as if he were an illusion. Venus, Jupiter, and Mars
tried simultaneously attacking the droid, but it was still too strong to
be destroyed.

"We can't kill it!" shouted Mars.

"Where is Sailor Moon?" Ami asked between dodges. "We can't stop this
thing without her!"

"I couldn't get ahold of her," said Jupiter, while preparing another
wave of thunder. "I tried the communicator, but she's not answering!"

Sometime during that interval, Ami's father had reappeared. Attacking
the droid to keep it occupied, he said, "It can't be killed? I'll take
care of it."

He jumped back just as Jupiter let loose another Supreme Thunder Dragon.
Taking a stance, he stood silently for a moment before cupping his hands
together and shouting, "Moko Takabisha!" And then, a shimmering beam of
light shot from him, impacting the droid and completely demolishing it.
Ami was close enough to feel the heat of its passing. Having looked at
the droid and seen it obliterated by the beam, Ami never saw her father
disappear from the scene.

Her father incinerated the droid. No, he completely eradicated it. Was
he even human?

Were any of them human?

*********************

Author's Notes:

First chapter's done. I don't really like how the Senshi battle seems
chopped up and fed in small bits, nor do I like my poor word choice
throughout, but that's how it'll stay for now.

C&C welcome at laqjr_200@hotmail.com

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