It's been too long since I've had time to just sit down and write.
I'm putting this out in part to see how much I've dulled...

---

My footsteps echoed down the emptied streets, and I felt the fear
that had emptied them.  Fear, or perhaps concern - no matter, the
result was the same.  In my hours of travel, I had only seen a few of
the residents, most of the others no doubt warned of my arrival.

There were exceptions.  Like now: a mother and her child approached,
walking towards me on the sidewalk.  The mother only took one look at
me - one long look, her already big eyes widening, then looked away.
She knew what I was, or at least she thought she did.  She knew where
I came from, anyway, and that was enough.

Her child lacked her wisdom and restraint, and so kept staring at me.
I can not imagine what must have been going through the youth's mind;
foreigners of any type were rare where I came from, and certainly no
one from this land had ever ventured into my corner of the world.  I
smiled - though I must have showed my teeth, for the child backed
away suddenly.  This fear was only momentary, and as we approached
one another, the child kept staring in open curiosity, reaching out
to-

"DON'T TOUCH HER!"  Mother yanked child away and squeezed against the
buildings next to us, giving me room to pass without stepping into
the street.  As I passed, she averted her eyes and whispered, "Sorry,
ma'am."  I nodded but said nothing, and kept on my way.  She might be
one of those who inhabited this unholy place, but she was not my
destiny.

For an unholy place, though, this was quite a wonder.  A giant city,
easily as large as the whole country I came from.  One monumental
urban sprawl, interrupted by the occasional rural district, with more
beaches and oceanfront property than could logically exist.  Each
section of the city - which had once, I reminded myself, been a
village like my home, before growing up and merging together - had
its own look and feel, though adjacent districts were similar enough
that it could be hard to tell where one stopped and another started.
The more futuristic districts tended to have names starting with
"Neo" or "Mega".

And almost every single resident was something other than human, even
the ones that were based on humans.  Light reflected unnaturally off
their skins: rather than smooth shades while going from the lit side
to the side facing away from whatever nearby light there was, they
had sharp distinction between shaded and unshaded sections of skin.
They had red, blonde, brown, and black hair - as well as green, blue,
purple, cotton candy pink, and a riot of other colors.  Even some who
had not yet entered puberty had full, thick white hair, not yet
touched by age, yet displayed no other sign of albinism.

They were afraid of me, though not for the reason they should have
been.  Those from our world were known to be weaker, more fragile
than the inhabitants, at least in the most blunt physical ways.  And
yet, our bodies were veritable hives of disease - all the wonderful
viruses and bacteria our world had bred, which much of this world
remained unexposed to.  I wondered for a moment if the mother would
fall sick and die just from breathing air I had recently passed
through, and if her child would join her or be left an orphan.  If
one could get past that, we also had the tendency to bring
world-shattering insights, obvious to us but to which they were
utterly blind - often to a level that could seem like willful
denial, only thinly veiled as noncomprehension.

Of course, those insights included the Word.  Which was why I was
here: to demonstrate the power of He Who Is Holy.  I might have been
a simple girl back home, destined to an unremarkable fate until I
talked to a young foreigner and learned of this place.  My parents
had been extremely upset about the conversation - but surely it was
just because they knew of my change in destiny.  Here, I was to be
something far more; even the infidels in my world who doubted the
Word, would probably give thanks for what I was to do.

I had been watched, herded, since shortly after I entered the city.
They never showed themselves, but I could feel their suspicion, their
concern for my well-being or their hatred of foreigners, trying to
direct me to the "safe" areas.  I took their unspoken direction on
occasion, by my destiny lay in one of the least safe of all: Nerima.

I only knew I had entered the district from the warning sign I
passed.  Apparently, even the damage-resistant residents of this city
occasionally had problems with this place.  From the sudden dropoff
of a feeling of being watched, I guessed that most of my observers
stopped at the district border, not daring to set foot in here.
Fortunately, I knew where I was going and who I needed to speak to.

I had been walking for hours, but it felt like only a few minutes.  I
was not tired, nor was I very hungry, yet I proceeded straight for a
certain restaurant.  Perhaps my progress was too direct, for there
was a boy with thick glasses standing guard outside.  He spotted me
from a block away, and pointed down the street.  "Stop right there.
Do not come any closer.  Go to Ucchan's.  Whatever you want, she can
help you."

I considered protesting - the old matriarch of the establishment had
been the most likely to know the whereabouts of the one I sought -
but declined.  Going in on a hostile note would be unlikely to get me
her cooperation.  Besides, it was not like the other major restaurant
owner would necessarily be clueless, and if she didn't know then I
had an excuse to come back.

So I headed for Ucchan's.  Sure enough, the chef was looking straight
at me the moment I opened the door.  I could see her mouth working -
words, maybe excuses, coming to her lips but falling flat before she
voiced them.  I began to ask...

"SWEETO!"

...when fate intervened.  I stepped outside and looked - sure enough,
Happousai was coming down the street, a pigtailed girl in close
pursuit.  I had heard that fate manipulated chance encounters on a
regular basis, so I had planned on not taking long to complete my
quest.  Still, to properly bait the trap, I feigned surprise and
stepped into his path.

I nearly had time to blink before he was hanging from my breasts,
squeezing and fondling them.  Even though he was not actually
touching my flesh, I could feel his aura of violation.  Steadying my
nerves, I looked down at him.

"Cutie!" he spoke into my breasts.  "I haven't seen you around here
before!"

I looked up.  Ranma was looking back in shock.  "Happi!  Step away
from the Normal!  NOW!"

Normal.  Their polite code-word for "Real", which is what we were and
they, being our imagination somehow given life, were not.  Biting
down both revulsion and arrogance, I hugged the elder tight, locking
my arms together to contain what was about to happen.  "Aww, but he's
so CUTE!"  

"Ahh?"  Happousai looked up at me, confused but smiling, and rubbed
his bald head against my chest.  He somehow started to disrobe me
without using his hands, getting a clear look at my nearly flat chest
and heavily stuffed bra...and then blinked, even more confused.  "Is
this your bra size?"

I just smiled, hugging the old man tighter to press him further into
my bosom.  Maybe my smile was too predatorial, or maybe Ranma
recognized what I had padded my bra with; I'll never know.  Either
way, I saw him flee out of the corner of my eye.  No matter: he was
not my target, nor was he nearly as unholy and corrupt.  He could be
spared a while, perhaps even converted some day - by someone else.
For me, only one thing remained.

"C4.  What a strange system you foreigners-"

Destiny.

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