****************************************************************************
From: "Chibi Evil" [email protected]
****************************************************************************
Outside Influences
Part 1
****************************************************************************

Note: Near the bottom of the text is the disclaimer and some other notes
that'll keep you from being confused.

The obligatory long winded intro:

First, this is a alterverse fic. There are some changes to Ranma and SM
timelines and characters and places, though these are mostly minor things,
like the ages of some of the characters have been played with. All the
Sailor Moon characters are two years older, but otherwise there are no
changes in the SM storyline so far. It takes place at the point where
Chibi-Usa and Hotaru are friends, but before Hotaru goes all evil and stuff.
In the Ranma timeline it diverges MAJORLY right before Jusenkyo, though
there are some other changes in Ranma's history I won't go into right now.

Second, Ranma Nibunnoichi characters and concepts belong to Takahashi
Rumiko, and SM characters and concepts belong to Takeuchi Naoko. I claim
ownership of only the actual story, not the characters which are used in it,
with the exception of the ones which I created myself. Any cameos from
characters from other sources will have the disclaimers at the end of the
first chapter they are contained in. They are used without permission, and
no challenge is being made to the property rights of the intellectual
property used in this story.

Three lines represents a change of scene.

Two lines represents the start of a flashback in a scene. I'll have a lot of
these later on, but for the first part they will be relatively rare. These
will also end in two lines.

At the end of each chapter I have some notes on the events of the chapter
and my thoughts on the chapter as well.

Also, I need prereaders for parts 2+ and some other stuff. Any takers?

****************************************************************************
CHAPTER 1



Haruka looked up from her newspaper as the phone in her home rang. Her
phone never rang, unless it was Michiru or Setsuna, but both women were
in plain sight of her, sitting at the breakfast table. It might have been
the Inner Senshi, but they were more likely to use the Senshi communicators,
since only Ami and Rei had their phone number. Michiru was a bit confused
as to why the phone was ringing, and Setsuna had, as usual, a mask of calm
on her face, though it seemed slightly more thoughtful than usual.

Haruka walked over to the phone, checking the number on the display.
It was indistinguishable. That meant it was either from a pay phone of some
kind, or an out of country call. Haruka thought briefly of the people she
knew who were out of country, and came up blank.

Haruka grabbed the handset and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Hello." A young man's voice answered, sounding slightly depressed.
"Is this the home of Kaiou Michiru? I'd like to speak with her. It's a
family matter."

"Who should I tell her is calling?" Haruka asked.

"Tell her it's her cousin Saotome Ranma." The young man said.

"Alright, just a minute." Haruka covered the mouthpiece of the
handset and looked to Michiru. "Michiru, there's a call here from someone
named Saotome Ranma. He says it's a family matter."

"Ranma?" Michiru asked, looking up. "I haven't spoken with him for
three years, but if he thinks it's important..."

Michiru quickly got up and crossed the room to the phone, concern
clearly on her face. Michiru had her reasons, of course. Ranma didn't think
near-fatal wounds were important. Whatever it was would have to be fairly
significant for him to call her.

"Hello?" Michiru asked, accepting the handset from Haruka. "Ranma? Is
that you?"

"Michiru?" Ranma asked, relief flooding his voice. "Thank the kami
it's you! Something really bad happened."

"What is it, Ranma?" Michiru asked.

"Pops... Pops died, Michiru. We were training in a Chinese valley of
cursed springs, and..." A muffled sob could be heard over the phone, and
Michiru grew immediately worried. Ranma hadn't been emotionally shaken when
he and she had parted ways three years ago, despite how close they'd been.
"H-He fell into one of the springs. He got caught under a broken bamboo
branch, and drowned."

"Drowned?" Michiru asked, a soft sob escaping her throat. She and her
uncle had been on good terms, in fact he was the one of the few adult
members of her family who had accepted her choices in life. "Ranma, where
are you?"

"I'm in the Tokyo train station, Michiru." Ranma said, his voice sad.
"I've been calling all our relatives, telling them what happened... You were
the last, since I couldn't find your number in Pop's address book."

"Where are you staying?" Michiru asked, her voice still sad.

"I don't know..." Ranma sighed. "I couldn't contact Mom. Her number
wasn't in Pop's address book, and I couldn't find her listed in the phone
book either. I guess I'll just head into the forest for a while. I can last
out there untill winter, at least."

"Into the forests?" Michiru asked. "Ranma, no! You can't do that!
Why not come stay with me for a while? I wouldn't mind, and I doubt any
of my friends would, either."

"Michiru, are you sure?" Ranma asked. "I mean, I don't wanna impose
or nothin'..."

"Ranma, you will come live with me for a while." Michiru said. "You're
one of my best friends, even if we haven't seen each other in a long time."

"I guess..." Ranma said. "What's your address? I can make it to your
place fine if ya tell me."

"Ranma, just wait there. I'll be there with a friend to pick you up
in fifteen minutes, alright?" Michiru said.

"Okay..." Ranma said. "I'll be wearing a red shirt and black pants,
just so ya know what to look for. Thanks, Michiru."

"Ranma, it's not a problem. We'll be there soon. Bye." Michiru said,
hanging up the phone. Michiru turned to Haruka. "Haruka, can we stop by the
Tokyo train station on our way to school?"

"Of course." Haruka replied. "What was that about, anyway? You seem
to be sad about something..."

"My cousin Ranma, and his father, Genma, are relatives of mine who
practice Uncle Genma's family school of martial arts." Michiru said.
"They've been to many different training sites, some that were extremely
dangerous. Once they trained in a room full of moving blades. It seems
that all of the dangerous training caught up with Uncle Genma. He drowned
in China a few weeks ago..."

"Oh, Kami-sama..." Haruka said. "Michiru, are you going to be okay
to go to school today?"

"Yes..." Michiru replied. "We need to pick Ranma up and register him
at school. He needs an education."

"What's he like? You've only mentioned him a couple of times before
today." Haruka asked.

"He's a year younger than us. The same age as Usagi and her friends."
Michiru replied. "He's really naive and a bit arrogant, but the arrogance
is well deserved. I've seen him punch through a brick wall."

"A brick wall?" Haruka asked, incredulous.

"Yes, a brick wall." Michiru replied. "He's also extremely fast. I'm
not sure, but last I spoke with him, he could throw ten punches a second,
at his fastest. He's also a very skilled fighter. He's a sixth dan in karate
and an eighth in kempo. And a tenth in Anything Goes."

"So, he's a jock?" Haruka asked.

"Yeah." Michiru replied. "I guess that would suit him. But he's not
stupid. His practical skills and problem solving skills are extremely good,
it's just he's never stayed in one place long enough to keep good grades in
school. He's barely managed to stay in his grade level with all the moving
he and his father did."

"You mean that he could have been a genius?" Haruka asked.

"He IS a genius." Michiru said. "He's just been raised to be a combat
genius, not a educational genius. His father could only win nine out of ten
fights with Ranma, despite the fact he was much more skilled, and always
went all out against him. And he's passed all of his classes, even though
he's only in school for three or so months a year, before exams."

"I can't wait to meet him." Haruka said, smiling. "Maybe we should
get him registered at Mugen."

"He could pass the tests easily enough." Michiru said, thoughtfully.
"But he might not like it there. He's never liked school too much. We
should register him at Juuban High instead, with Usagi and her friends."

"We'll do it today. We can get a day off from Principal Tomoe, and
we can buy him the Juuban High uniform, and get him settled in here. We can
use the spare room we have." Haruka said. "We can introduce him to Usagi and
her friends tomorrow, since we were planning on meeting them anyways."

"But we can't talk about Senshi business in front of him." Michiru
said. "What can we do about that?"

"We'll just ask him to show up an hour or so after we meet with them.
We can introduce him after we get the Senshi business out of the way."
Haruka said.

"That sounds reasonable." Michiru agreed. "We should go now, though.
We don't want to be late picking him up."

"You're right." Haruka said, looking at the clock. "Let's go."

"Oh, and Haruka? Some of what Ranma says might sound fantastical, and
quite frankly like lies, but believe me when I tell you he couldn't lie to
save his life." Michiru smiled as she headed out the door, not waiting for
her lover.

Haruka stood confused as she watched Michiru go out the door, then
shrugged to herself and followed. She'd figure out what Michiru was talking
about when she met Ranma.

Both left, leaving Setsuna over her cup of coffee. She allowed herself
a smile as the two left, her hunch confirmed. Things were about to get much
more interesting.

Looking back on the events that followed that fateful morning, she
would realise that for once she would be in the top runnings to win the
Understatement of the Year award.(1)



Ranma sat on a bench, reading the scroll he'd found among his father's
meagre possessions.

His father hadn't left many things in this world, aside from debts,
debts, and more debts. Ranma had a feeling they would come back to haunt
him, but he couldn't be sure(2)(3). If anybody could say anything about
Saotome Genma, the first thing that would come to mind was that he was quick
on his feet when he had to be.

However, what little his father had left him was pure gold. A pair of
martial arts techniques, which were a side branch of the Anything Goes
system. Some old magical artifacts Ranma wasn't touching with a ten foot
pole, untill he could get them identified. Other things of value, which
Ranma more than suspected had been stolen from some long distant merchant
or vendor.

He turned back to the technique, trying to get it took work. He knew
he could do Ki attacks. The scroll called for advanced Ki manipulation and
speed he did not have, though. He knew on a subconscious level that the
technique was unusable to him at the time, but his stubborn mind wouldn't
allow him to bring the thought to a conscious level.

So he sat, yanking his arm back with incredible speed, trying to do
the air pressure blades at the small targets he'd set up five or six feet
away. So far, he'd had no luck other than knocking one down by causing a
slight breeze, but that was all.

A scream pierced the air, causing him to stop and look around.

On the other side of the train station, a metal monstrosity was
beginning to attack people. It looked like a cross between some of the mechs
from some of the Anime he'd seen, and a vending machine.

Ranma stood, a grim smile on his face.

Nobody attacked innocents while he was around. The metal thing was
going to hurt, then it was going to die. The creator would soon follow,
unless they had a good explaination.

Ranma ran through the panicking people, his backpack not at all
impeding his movement. He jumped over a ticket counter and drop kicked the
metal thing, sending it flying through a window and into the streets.

Ranma followed.

He landed on the thing's head, sending it crashing facefirst into the
sidewalk, and landed in a low stance. He waited as it slowly got to it's
feet, an angry look on it's eyes.

"KILL!" It yelled, bullrushing Ranma, who jumped into the air, landing
on it's back and sending it slamming into the parked car behind him. It
crashed through the car, and a stray spark from the metal on metal scraping
caused the oil to ignite, sending the car into flames.

"Everybody get away!" Ranma yelled, running at the creature, heedless
of his own advice. "The car's gonna explode!"

All the pedestrians quickly backed off from gawking at the fight, his
yells alerting them to their own danger. One girl a couple years younger
stumbled and fell, coughing raggedly.

Realizing that she wouldn't make it out of the blast radius in time,
Ranma dove in front of her, shielding her with his own body. The explosion
was muffled somewhat by the monster, who died in the blast, but the flames
and debris were not at all slowed down. Jagged pieces of flaming metal hit
Ranma's back, causing deep wounds, and the flames burnt at his back, his
shirt turning to cinders in mere seconds.

The girl he had shielded was fine, but Ranma realised he was not. His
vision was getting hazy and dark, and he felt some coppery liquid begin to
flood his mouth.

He realised, with a sort of detachment, that he should have been
feeling more pain. He slowly got to his feet, the coppery liquid, which he
idly realised was blood, trickled down his mouth. He wiped it from his
lips as he looked at the monster, which was reforming, despite the fact
it's head was lying a good foot from it's neck.

He was getting angry. Angry at the way he was feeling scared by the
thing. Angry with himself, for letting himself get injured. Angry at the
thing for attacking people. Angry at himself for putting the girl in
danger. Angry at the creator of the thing, whoever it was.

"KILL!" The thing repeated, it's arms reattaching as it began to
slowly walk towards Ranma.

Ranma was feeling more and more anger flood his body. Anger at the
way his father had taken him from all his friends. Anger at his father for
dying. Anger at himself for being unable to help his father.

Anger at the world, for causing him so much pain.

"DIE!" Ranma screamed, launching himself at the thing, an aura of red
flames flaring into existance around his body. He began to swing wildly at
the thing, causing huge dents in the metal body. He delivered a kick which
sent the thing across the street, into a lamp post.

He felt something in his mind release, flooding his body with memories
he knew did not, and could not belong to him. They revealed a hundred scenes
of places he didn't recognize, and bestowed upon him knowledge of martial
art's techniques that had been lost in the sands of time.

"Ryu Hinshi Kaifuku!" Ranma yelled, using the knowledge that flooded
his brain. He felt most of his wounds disappear, and felt more and more
strength flood his body. The red aura dimmed significantly, though it didn't
disappear totally.

He felt his hands begin to itch somewhat.

He brought his hands together, noting with some curiousity that the
flames around them intensified with the action. He felt the anger leave him,
as a ball of red began to glow in his hands.

He felt his strength begin to leave him as the ball began to grow
larger and larger. He realised, with some amazement, that he was forming
a Ki attack. He realised that this could end that monstrosity's life. That
the attack would do what an explosion could not.

"Ryu No Tamasi!" Ranma yelled, watching in amazement as the attack
raced towards the creature.

It was a stream of red energy, the end forming the head of a dragon
as it raced parallel to the street. A roar, like that of a dragon's, filled
his ears, and it smashed through the metal monster, shearing it in half at
the waist. The dragon faded, as did Ranma's energy. He fell to his knees.

The creature did not move, it's eyes lifeless, and no longer glowing.

Ranma felt someone grab onto his shoulder, and he weakly turned to
the person, fighting his way to his feet.

It was Michiru.

"Ranma?" She asked, clearly awed. "How-"

Whatever she was about to ask was lost on Ranma, as he passed out from
the strain of getting to his feet.



Ranma was seeing through eyes which could not have belonged to him.

He saw confusing images. Images of himself fighting some foe he
couldn't see make out. Images of himself bowing in front of a regal woman,
who he felt great respect and reverence on seeing, but no fear despite
this. Images of people he recognized as allies, and yet the next moment
could remember neither their sex nor any distinguishing features about any
of them. He saw himself destroying a large fleet of ships, floating in a
sea of stars, but he could not remember the names, nor the markings of the
ships he destroyed.

Someone began shaking him, but after many long years of training
under his father and waking up the Saotome way, which generally involved
being thrown over the sides of buildings, into crocodile infested waters,
or some other stupidly dangerous environment had rendered Ranma immune to
such petty jolts as a gentle shaking of his shoulder.

He suddenly felt himself focusing on one person. Her face was unclear
but occasionally Ranma could see a flash of detail, but it was gone before
he could make out anything clear. He felt many emotions as he stared at the
woman. He felt love, pure, unsoiled, and given freely and accepted without
condition. He felt hatred, dark and black, fighting her with all he had. And
overriding these two conflicting emotions was a sense of acceptance on both
sides about the situation.

His shoulder was being moved more forcefully, but still not close to
enough to wake him. After hitting the ground after falling from the second
floor of a building, then deciding five more seconds of sleep was worth the
punch his father would get in, it kind of dimmed his perception of the world
while asleep.

The memories of her began to fill his mind. Laughing quietly at some
long forgotten ball of some kind. Playing some game at a small table in
front of a fireplace. Sharing one last, brief, kiss, before they fought for
the final time.

Someone was speaking his name while shaking him forcefully, not even
close to waking him up. After waking up while the front door was kicked down
and Chinese police ran through the shanty town he and his father had been
staying at, yells filling the air, someone speaking his name in conjuction
with shaking him would avail them nothing.

The fight between he and his lover had been a brutal, drawn out one.
No quarter was given nor expected, and it had ended in his death. He still
remembered the look of sadness playing over her usually collected face, as
his blood stained her gloves and the grass around them. Her tears had
mixed with his blood on that fateful day. He had not damned her for the
attack which would result in his death, nor would she have damned him if
their situations had been reversed. They loved each other despite being on
the opposite sides for that final, fateful duel.

The shaking was growing more intense, and the person saying his name
saying it louder and with more emotion. Not a single bit of it reached him,
so deeply asleep was he. After waking up in a bear's cave, with the bear
awake and near ready to slash his head off, the roar echoing off the stone
walls, no amount of talking would rouse him.

Her face was in the dark, hidden by some hood she wore with the rest
of her outfit, a stunning gown made of a material he couldn't identify. The
color was muted, but the way it was presented made her look all the more
beautiful. Light slowly began to crawl up her face, and he was beginning
to make out her features.

Finally, he awoke. Michiru was shaking him, and frantically saying his
name, and some girl was sitting in the front seat of the car. He shook his
head and slowly climbed out, reflexively scanning the area for danger and
finding none.

The house in front of him was huge. It was a big as some of the inns
he and his father had stayed at during their travels and those were meant
to hold thirty or more people comfortably.

"Shall we go inside?" Michiru asked, grasping Ranma's arm lightly and
picking up his bag in one hand. Well, she attempted to, but it wasn't going
anywhere. Haruka frowned and tried to help as well, but yielded little more
than a scraping sound on the ground, and the bag moving a few inches.

"Oh, sorry 'bout that." Ranma said, chuckling a bit as he casually
shouldered the bag, to the astonishment of the two girls. He rolled his
shoulders, allowing the bag to settle into a comfortable position. "The
bag's two hundred pounds, without anything in it. It's part of my martial
art's training.(4)"

"Excuse me, but weren't you fighting that monster with that on your
back? Was'nt it kind of cumbersome?" Haruka asked politely, respect clearly
in her eyes.

"Not really." Ranma said, chuckling. "I hadta swim to China with this
on my back. It kinda made it feel a little lighter."

"Swim... To China?" Haruka asked, her breath a bit shallow. To think
that this young man, younger than her and without any magical enhancements,
could swim to China was by itself an amazing feat. But to do so with that
heavy backpack? She was being forced to constantly reappraise the young
man in front of her.

"How has your training been coming along, Ranma?" Michiru asked, her
shock mostly gone. She began to lead him to the house. "What have you been
doing over the years?"

"Well, after last time Pops and I saw you, we went to this place
in Little Honshu. It was some cave filled with youma, I think. Or was it
keui? It don't matter, I guess. Anyway, these things could only exist in
the night, right? So what happened was Pops and me hadta fight them all
night. We stayed there for a few weeks, fightin' em off every night an'
sleeping durin' the day." Ranma waited while Michiru unlocked the door,
and followed Michiru and Haruka inside the house. Taking off his Chinese
slippers and putting them next to Michiru and Haruka's shoes, Ranma
followed them to a pair of couches. Michiru and Haruka sat across from
him in one, and he sat down in the other couch. "After that, we stowed
away on a ship for North America..."



Ranma stood, over an hour later, having given them what he considered
a brief telling of the last three years of his life. His cousin and her
girlfriend seemed to be in varying states of shock, but he figured they
were just surprised at how simple his life had been.

Their's had probably been more exciting, right?

"Well, it's getting close to noon." Ranma said, smiling at the two
girls. "I'm gonna go practice a bit outside, okay?" When the two girls
nodded their approval, Ranma walked outside.

"Michiru?" Haruka asked, still trying to sort through everything that
poor young man had gone through in his life. Haruka had thought her life
had been harsh, and yet after hearing just the past three years of the
boy's life, she knew she was definately wrong.

"Yes, Haruka?" Michiru asked. She was surprised at how tame some of
the months had been in Ranma's life, but put that down to her uncle getting
older and the many travels Ranma had gone to get from site to site. But
other than that, it seemed like nothing out of the ordinary (For Ranma) had
happened.

"I think I know what you mean by his story sounding fantastical and
like a huge lie." Haruka said. "But after what he did to that daimon at the
train station, which would have destroyed any one of the Senshi in a one
on one fight by the way, I'm inclined to believe him."

"It's quite odd." Michiru said, her lips quirking into a small smile
at the woman she loved. "Usually Ranma's travels are a lot harder to
believe than that, but it's probably all the travelling they did."

"Harder to believe?" Haruka asked. She was now progressing from pity
to outright shock that Ranma was a socially functioning person. "What do
you mean, harder to believe?"

"When Ranma was six, barely two months after being seperated from his
mother, he was repeatedly thrown into a pit of starving cats while bound
with fish sausage and fish paste smeared on his skin." Michiru replied. "He
goes insane around cats now, reverting to a cat-like state himself. If he
ever does that, just pretend he's a big cat and he'll eventually snap out
of it."

"Acts like a cat how?" Haruka asked. "Walk around on all fours and
lick his hands act like a cat?"

"No, jump ten times his height, fall double THAT and not make a mark,
attack enemies with his claws in a frenzy act like a cat. If he ever, and I
mean EVER, acts like you're an enemy, don't move no matter WHAT. He can go
through ANYTHING like that." Michiru was dead serious, with the smile gone
from her face. "He becomes faster, stronger, and gains quite a nasty set of
claws with it. He could probably take on Beryl like that, if what we saw at
the train station is any indication."

"Beryl?" Haruka choked. Sure, she knew that all nine scouts could do
that easily enough NOW, but when the Inners had fought Beryl it had been a
life and death deal, with the Inners barely coming out alive. Sure, by now
they were facing daimon only slightly less powerful than Beryl was, but for
him to be able to do so...

"Kami-sama..." Michiru gasped.

"What?" Haruka tracked Michiru's eyes, and was shocked by what she
saw. Ranma was in their backyard, practicing his kata while blindfolded.
While an impressive feat in and of itself, the real amazing part was that
an aura of bright red flowed around him like flames, bathing the yard in
a soft red light. He didn't appear to be aware of this aura as he went
through the form, biting his lip as he concentrated on performing the kata
perfectly. "How is he doing that?"

"I don't know." Michiru said. "But I think Ami-chan should scan him
with her computer tomorrow after our meeting when we introduce him, don't
you think?"

"Yeah." Haruka agreed. The aura was slowly dimming as Ranma's kata
came to an end, and winked out of existence as he stopped. Furthur proof
of his unawareness of the power. He wiped his forehead, frowning as he
did so.

"'Scuse me." Ranma mumbled, walking past Haruka and Michiru. He went
to his backpack, easily picking it up one armed, and began to root through
it for a spare shirt. With a small cry of triumph he did so, peeling off
his old one and putting the new one on.

"So, Ranma. When do you want to go get your uniform?" Michiru asked,
smirking as he suddenly grew nervous. Michiru groaned inwardly. Ranma never
liked uniforms, and she doubted he'd gained a liking of them over the
years.

"Uniform?" Ranma asked nervously. Ranma realised where this was about
to lead, but decided on giving it a try. Who knows, she might not even be
THINKING about school.

"You know, a uniform." Michiru said. She could tell he was trying to
play dumb, forcing HER to come out and say it, but she'd play along, for
now.

"Why would I need a uniform?" Ranma asked, feigning confusion. He did
so badly, even HE could tell that, but he wasn't about to just roll over and
go to school. Why waste time sleep- er, LEARNING, when he could be doing
katas and practicing the Art.

"Oh, you know." Michiru said. She couldn't help but smirk a bit at her
cousin's bad acting. She knew that he knew that she knew he wasn't confused,
but she was pretty sure he didn't know that she knew he knew that she knew
that he was confused. "It's something MOST kids who are your age do."

"What would that be?" Ranma asked. He knew she had painted him into a
corner. She'd say the word, but he was the one who brought it up.

"School. Learning. Getting a highschool diploma." Michiru said. She
realised that she was too used to being with Setsuna. Trying to figure out
what she meant by whatever she said was confusing and was making her think
too far ahead.

"Oh, that. Why would I wanna do that?" Ranma asked. Hah! He thought.
I have her! What's she gonna do, force me?

"Ranma, you have to go to school." Michiru said. "Unless you want to
be a ronin all your life. You have to have a college degree in Physical
Fitness to be able to teach martial arts legally."

Damn, Ranma thought. I didn't know I hadta do that. He nodded to
Michiru, his shoulders slumping in defeat. At least he had tried.

"Ranma, let me show you to your room." Michiru said. "After that,
Haruka and I are taking you shopping!"

"Shopping?" Ranma deadpanned, thinking back to the girl he'd gone out
with a few times when he was fifteen. Shopping was bad. It meant many hours
at the mall, gazing into different windows, and listening to mindless
chatter about absolutely NOTHING and doing absolutely NOTHING(5). "Oh,
goody. Shopping."

Ranma didn't miss the sinister smile on his cousin's face.



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

(1) Something that Ranma has aspired to many times...

(2) Such as in this case.

(3) Bets against this coming back to haunt him? didn't think so.

(4) Hey, he's no Ryouga when it comes to strength, but in later episodes
of Ranma Nibunnoichi he picks up Ryouga's umbrella when he finds the lost
boy in pig form, and Akane has trouble lifting it with both hands. I figure
he can lift this easy.

(5) This is Ranma. If it doesn't concern martial arts or food, it's nothing.

A few notes on this chapter and the story in general:
Ranma is okay with Haruka and Michiru not because he understands what
Lesbianism is, but because he DOESN'T understand. In canon, Ranma's general
philosophy on things he doesn't understand is generally 'If it don't hurt
anybody, it's not bad'. Also, this is his cousin, someone he trusts and
generally likes, kinda like the relationship he has with Ukyou, so he's okay
with it anyway as long as it makes her happy. You'll also notice I've made
reference to a girlfriend. Ranma is not scared of girls. He's scared of
hypersensetive tomboys who belt him into the stratosphere for putting his
foot in his mouth. He's scared of homicidal Chinese amazons. He's scared of
insane obsessed 'eccentrics'. Of all his fiances, Ranma has no fear around
Ukyou, and ONLY Ukyou! Personally, I have no favourite, just to keep the
facts straight, except for possibly Akane, in some cases. But Ranma is ONLY
totally relaxed with Ukyou. Also, he chases girls. Evidence in the first OVA
when he goes to extraordinary effort to get Shampoo back. Note that the
Ranma in the OVAs is generally more of a sexist jerk than is portrayed in
canon, however.

****************************************************************************
CHAPTER 2



Ranma was in a thinly disguised part of hell.

This part consisted mainly of a collection of shops in the clothing
district of the mall, all offering various clothing designed for young men
and women.

Most of the guy's clothing, however, was just plain ugly in Ranma's
opinion. The shirts were all copies of each other, just with different
colors and logos. They'd have impeded him in a fight as well, he saw. Plus,
they were made of a material so unlike his silk shirt they felt odd to his
skin. The pants were all cut wrong, too. They restricted leg movement so
badly Ranma felt confined just LOOKING at them, and weren't baggy enough to
hide the beginnings of a kick.

Michiru, however, was making him try them on anyways. She insisted
(as did many of the other females in the store) that he looked good in the
clothes, but he felt strange in them. Eventually, he agreed on three pairs
of jeans and six various colored t-shirts that nearly form-fit his chest.

As they walked to the food court, the clothing in a bag at Ranma's
side, Michiru suddenly grinned at Ranma.

"After we eat lunch, we can get you some NICE clothes." Michiru said
to Ranma, the grin never leaving her face. To say that the changes on
Ranma's face amused her would be an understatement. She watched as he went
from shock, to denial with a smile on her face.

"Nice clothes?" Ranma asked. Ranma knew he would likely be on the
losing end of the argument, but he had to try. He'd try to draw a line
here, but she'd cross it subtly, forcing him to draw a new one. This would
repeat many times, in all probability. "Whaddaya mean by that?"

"Oh, you know. Some dress pants, a few dress shirts, maybe a jacket
or two." Michiru smirked as he tried, and failed, to act indignant about
his situation. "You can't wear your Chinese shirts forever, even if they
are nice."

"Yeah, but..." Ranma knew, on some level, that Michiru had tossed in
that compliment as a way of throwing him off guard. He recognized it as
such, but was still unsure of whether or not he should raise the issue. It
was only some shirts and pants, right?

"Ranma, I'll even get you one of those chinese shirts you like so
much. I saw one that would suit you perfectly." Michiru said. Michiru had
seen the shirt in the window of a clothing shop on the way to Mugen once.
It would be easy to purchase on the way home from the mall.

"Sure." Ranma said, his shoulders sagging in defeat for the second
time that day. He realised that arguing Michiru was about as pointless as
arguing with a rock. No matter what he said, she'd wait then win.

"Great!" Michiru said, smiling as she led the trio into a restaurant.

"Is she always this cheerful?" Ranma asked Haruka, eyeing his cousin.
She was almost giddy with excitement.

"Almost." Haruka said. Ranma was oblivious to the slightly sad tone
which entered her voice, for which the young woman was grateful. She didn't
want to explain Michiru's and her own other half to Ranma, and she was sure
Michiru didn't either.

They quickly got a table, and, after making their orders, began to
talk about the one thing Ranma had been wanting to truly avoid since he'd
gotten to the mall.

School.

"Ranma, you have an important decision to make." Michiru said. "I'm
pretty sure I could get you into Mugen with Haruka and I, since I know you
could pass the admissions exam easily enough. However you might want to go
to Juuban High with some friends of ours instead."

"What're the two schools like?" Ranma asked, curious.

"Mugen is an elite academy for the best and brightest of Japan. Only
extremely intelligent people can get into the school." Haruka supplied.
"Both Michiru and I got in easily. From what I've seen, you could get in
for a martial arts scholarship there, or a general physical education
scholarship. You could also try for other subjects, but those would be much
harder to get into."

"Hmmm, that sounds like a good school. What's the uniform like?"
Ranma asked. He hoped it wasn't something stupid looking.

"The uniform you'd be wearing, unless you want a dress, is a brown
jacket with the school crest on the left breast over a white dress shirt
and a pair of grey dress pants." Haruka said. "It's quite comfortable."

"So, what's the other highschool like?" Ranma asked. "I wanna know
about both before I make a decision, right?"

"Juuban High is the local school for the average students." Michiru
said. "It's not exactly for stupid people, in fact one of our friends goes
there and scored highest on the national intelligence test, but it doesn't
have the same quality courses as Mugen does."

"And the uniform?" Ranma asked. "That's what I *really* wanna know
about. Is it like Mugen's uniform?"(1)

"No. The uniform is a high collared dark blue shirt, with no school
markings on it. A set of dark blue pants goes with it. It's actually a
bit similar to your clothes right now, but more restricting." Michiru
said.

"I dunno." Ranma said. "What do you guys think I should do? Both have
crappy uniforms, and Mugen sounds like a good place to go. I mean, I need
my education to be a good sensei, right? But Juuban sounds a lot better,
since it'd be easier."

"Ranma, do you like taking the easy way out?" Haruka asked. This got
an immediate, and EXPECTED, response from the boy. Haruka was a bit shocked
at how quickly and easily she could read him. (2)

"I don't like taking the easy way!" Ranma said, his voice a bit
angry. "I'll go to Mugen, and I'll be the top student in my class, too!"
Ranma was angry for a second before he realised that he'd been cornered.
He'd now have to do extra homework and pay attention in class, if he
wanted to pass. He realised that the hereditary Saotome Foot in Mouth
disease had again kicked in, leaving him in a difficult position.

"They sell the Mugen uniform at one of the stores here, don't they
Michiru?" Haruka asked, a smile on her lips as Ranma banged his head off
the table repeatedly. "We'll go for a fitting after we get him the nice
clothes we promised him."

They shared a laugh together as Ranma lifted his head and gave them
a defeated glare.

"Why me?" Ranma groaned. His thoughts of self pity and plans for
revenge against the oni that possessed his cousin and her lover were, in
a split second, forgotten as the scent of food filled his nostrils.(3)

The Saotome Stomache growled, awaiting it's offering. Ranma's mouth
began to water as the food he'd ordered was placed in front of him, and he
was about to tear into it with his usual vigor when he realised he was in
a fairly expensive restaurant with his cousin, who was usually disgusted
by his eating habits. Picking up a pair of chopsticks, he did something
most Saotome men had deemed to be impossible.

Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes, and the
current prime example of a Saotome man, ate his meal at a normal pace, AND
at the same time neglected to steal a single MORSEL of food from any of
the nearby plates.(4)

Michiru blinked, seeing her cousin eat like a normal human. She
looked at both her and Haruka's plates, and failed to see ANY food vanish
in a blur of chopsticks.

Haruka ate her meal, unaware of the danger her plate would be in at
the next meal. After a few minutes of staring at Ranma, and seeing none of
the usual Anything Goes table manners, Michiru began to eat her meal as
well.

The Saotome Stomache growled in rage at having it's offering only
half delivered, and swore revenge on the being that caused it to, for the
first time since the moment it was born, leave the place of it's master's
meal unfilled.



Usagi Tsukino was awoken abruptly by the impact of a chalkboard eraser
glancing off her head. She coughed through the dust, already knowing what
was about to come.

"Tsukino-san, is the class boring you?" Her teacher asked, an evil
look which rivaled Beryl's in her eyes. She had her arms crossed, and one
foot was tapping the floor impatiently while she awaited an answer.

The rest of the class was already continuing the work, Usagi's fate
sealed with a snore. Not like it was an unusual occurance anyways. Most
were just surprised she'd held on untill fifth period today.

"Umm, yes?" Usagi said. While she knew that no matter what she said,
she would be sent into the hall, saying yes meant that instead of having a
big lecture, it just meant the teacher would sigh and hold her head like
she head a headache.

For once in her life, Usagi's predictions were totally correct.

"Tsukino-san, hallway." The teacher said, sighing and holding her head
in agony. How one student could be so disruptive, and yet maintain a passing
grade, she would never know. She attributed it to luck. No other reason
could allow for so much disruption and the maintainance of an average above
sixty percent.(5)

Sitting in the hallway, looking around and ignoring the sign around
her neck totally, Usagi began to daydream about the exciting things she and
Mamo-chan would be doing that weekend.



Ranma had thought that shopping for what Michiru considered 'casual'
clothes was bad. He was wrong.

Ranma was currently standing on a slightly upraised platform, with
his arms stretched out to his sides in his boxers and an undershirt, while
a giggling young woman took measurements. Thanks to Ranma's training, he was
broader in the chest than most students were, and thicker in the legs. That
meant he needed to get a uniform custom made, which wouldn't be delivered
for a week.

A wolf whistle in the backround caused Ranma to turn beet red, though
he couldn't identify the source. He was fairly sure it was one of the girls
that had gathered at the store's entrance for the free show.

Michiru and Haruka were looking on, amusement plain on their faces.
They had thought that it would be easy for Ranma to get a uniform at Mugen.
However, since the store was low on stock due to it being so close to the
start of the school year, and Ranma's build was so unusual they only kept
one or two sets in, Ranma was stuck being measured for a custom fit. Sure,
it cost more, but it'd be quicker in the end.

Besides, the entertainment value wasn't to be passed up. Ranma's face
was varying from only pink to a bright red. One suggestion by one of the
girls making catcalls had made Ranma's pigtail stand on end for a moment.(6)

Ranma was considering bolting for his shirt and pants. He'd REALLY
wanted to keep them on for the measurements, but because the material was
thick and the cut of the clothing foriegn, his uniform would have been a
bad fit if he hadn't taken off his clothes.

And he was paying for it. He'd never been so embarrassed in his life,
and he was fairly sure that he never would be. An ill-fitting uniform would
have been preferable to this.

"We have the measurements." One shop girl said, almost sad that the
measuring was over. Sure, he was a little young, but with a body like that,
it didn't really matter to her. Most of the men she dated didn't take care
of themselves half as well as this guy did.

As soon as the words had left the mouth of the shop girl, Ranma made
a small jump, flipping over the group of girls next to the podium, landing
right next to his clothes. He quickly donned them, much to the crowd's
disappointment. They dispersed, seeing as the free show was over.

"Where next?" Ranma asked, relief clear in his voice. Michiru and
Haruka were still smiling from his recent ordeal, and he scowled slightly
at them. "I've got enough stuff now, don't I?"

"No, of course not, Ranma." Michiru said, gesturing across the mall
to another store. In the window was a mannequin wearing a white dress shirt
and black dress pants.

"Oh, no..." Ranma groaned. He allowed himself to be lead to the
store, while silently praying that they had his size. He knew for a fact he
couldn't and wouldn't go through another 'measuring'.

Had Ranma not been (trying) to act on his best behavior, he would have
screamed and run as if a million cats were chasing him.



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

(1) Ranma hates uniforms, and would wear one only if he had to. The reason
he gets away with wearing his Chinese clothes to school in canon is probably
because of his hydrotransexuality, not because the school admins are afraid
of him. While, not through any actions he's taken towards them.

(2) This is Ranma. He's about as sharp as a rubber ball when it comes to
hiding and expressing emotions and when it comes to lying.

(3) The center of Ranma's life, second ONLY to martial arts.

(4) Yes, he's capable of this in extreme cases.

(5) Actually, there is one. Having someone like Ami hounding you to study
and studying with you might do it, even if you were as lazy as a sloth.

(6) This particular suggestion would have had Shampoo blushing, and Ryouga
would likely have died from blood loss. And no, I won't tell you what it
was, you naughty naughty person.

****************************************************************************
CHAPTER 3



Ranma sat at a console in Mugen academy, his mind working in overdrive
trying to answer the questions put forth to him in the entrance exam. So
far, he'd been at the console for nearly an hour, and by the display on the
screen, he was only half done.

He'd breezed through History and Geography, as all the travelling he
did helped sharpen those skills. However, when he'd reached the Science area
of the exam, he'd panicked. Only half the questions could he be sure of, and
the rest were just guesses. He'd blanched when he'd reached the Math area.
He'd fumbled through the questions, sure of maybe one in ten questions at
the most. After going through the World History section and regaining much
of his confidence, he'd finished it quickly and nearly groaned aloud at the
next section, which was Computer Programming. After rapidly skipping ahead
to the next section, Ranma found something he thought would be easy.

World Religions was a lot harder than he'd imagined. After getting
much if not all, of the Asian religions questions correct, Ranma had been
presented with Western European religions he had no idea about. While he
and his father had travelled from one end of the world to another, he had
only spent four or five months of his life in Western Europe, due to his
lack of ability to speak good English, though he could speak enough to get
by now. After stumbling through the World Religions portion, he was told to
report to the teacher at the head of the class.

"Um, excuse me." Ranma said, walking up to the front of the class.
The woman, who was in her late twenties, looked up at Ranma, a slightly
annoyed look on her face.

"Can I help you Saotome-san?" She asked angrily, inwardly shaking
her head. Why couldn't these stupid children just leave her alone and finish
their exams? She'd already dealt with no less than five students leaving
the exam because it was too hard. After the fifth, she'd told the students
to just leave if they wanted to give up.

"Uh, yeah." Ranma said. He was a bit surprised at the anger and venom
in her voice, but put it down to a female thing and left it at that. "The
computer told me to report to you."

"Excuse me?" The teacher asked, surprised. No way could this kid be
done the test this fast. It was meant to be taken over a two hour period at
the earliest, and it was just past an hour.

"The computer said ta report to you." Ranma repeated. What the heck?
Is she deaf or something? I'm pretty sure I said it loud enough for her to
hear, Ranma thought.

"Let me see." The teacher said, following him back to his desk. To her
surprise, there was a note onscreen stating for him to report to the teacher
for furthur instructions. She turned to him, a bit shakily. "Uh, go to the
gym on the third floor. One of the physical instructors will continue your
exam there."

"Thanks." Ranma said, smiling at her and walking for the elevators. A
short ride followed by a short walk later, Ranma stood in front of one of
the school's physical instructors.

The man was tall and broad shouldered, with short black hair which
looked like it had been washed very recently. He had on a tight school shirt
and shorts, and carried a clipboard with him.

"Are you Saotome Ranma, kid?" He asked. Gruff and straight to the
point, Ranma observed. I think I like this guy.(1)

"Yeah, that's me." Ranma said, waiting for his instructions. He hoped
it wouldn't be anything too easy.

"Get on one of the treadmills, and run untill ya feel tired, kid."
The burly teacher said, gesturing to one of the treadmills which lined the
wall. He watched as Ranma got onto the treadmill, and began to fiddle with
the controls. He was about to yell at the kid for making it easier, when
the speed visibly increased to almost triple what it had been set for.

He sighed, shaking his head at the cockiness of the kid. It'd cost him
marks, since only the amount of time spent on the treadmill determined the
mark, not the speed. He was only tiring himself out.

A full fifteen minutes later, the impressed teacher walked over to
the student, tapping him on the shoulder with his pen. Ranma did a half
turn, keeping his speed while facing the teacher.

"Yeah, what is it?" Ranma asked, bored. He could and, in fact, HAD
kept the pace he was at up for close to twenty five hours. If the speed of
the thing could go any higher it would have been set at that.

"This part of the test's over. You got 100% for this part." The
teacher said, gesturing for him to get off the treadmill. Ranma did so,
without any of the usual shows of grace he normally would have performed,
had there been anybody around. "Next, get on that bar and start doing
chinups untill you can't do anymore or I tell you to stop."

"Alright." Ranma said, hopping up to the bar. He began to do chinups
with both arms, to do them faster. After around five minutes, the teacher
tapped his leg, and he hopped down. "Yeah? What is it? I barely got
started."

"You're done this part too, kid." The teacher said, respect in his
voice. The maximum the test was supposed to last was for forty chinups or
five minutes, whatever took longer. The kid had done close to one hundred.
"Next is a reflex test."

He led the young man into a room with five buttons, each a transparant
plastic, underneath which was a light. They were space six inches apart, and
in a one hundred and forty degree arc to insure that they were an even
distance from the student.

"This test requires you to continue to press the lighted buttons
untill you miss one, or you get to the end of the test." The teacher knew
that not even this young man would be fast enough to do the latter. The
last two lights were at opposite ends, lasting half a second each and
occuring within half a second of each other. "If you accidentally press one
of the unlit buttons, the test ends."

"'Kay." Ranma said, focusing his mind on the task at hand. The lights
began at a laughably easy pace, slowly building up to a faster pace. Soon,
Ranma was hitting the buttons at speeds which defied description. Then, the
test ended, while the dumbstruck teacher stood at the computer control.
"Hey, how'd I do?"

"You hit every damn one of 'em..." The teacher mumbled, looking at a
video repeat of the end of the test in slow motion. It was amazing, seeing
the arms still blurred at half speed.

"What's the next test?" Ranma asked.

"Come with me." The teacher said, shaking his head and going through
the door. They walked over to a group of mats evenly spaced from eachother
on the ground. "Do situps untill I tell you to stop."

Ranma complied, lying on his back and beginning to do situps. After
about ten minutes, the teacher signalled for him to stop, which he did. He
got to his feet, dusting off his shirt out of habit.

"Five hundred situps..." The teacher said, awed. "Saotome, you're in
the best shape anybody can BE in. How the hell did you get to such a level?"

"Well, I've been training in my family's school of martial arts for
my entire life." Ranma said, following the man to the gym's exit. "Added
to this are my martial art's training in Kempo, Karate, and some Wu Shu."

"What are your Dan ratings?" The man asked. He was becoming more and
more impressed with the student by the minute. So long as he didn't fail
the exam, he was going to get into Mugen based on his physical exam
alone.(2)

"Seventh in Kempo, sixth in Karate and Wushu." Ranma said. "And even
now I'm the Grand Master of my family's school, so I have a lot of training.
It's not like I've been slacking over the years."

He left the teacher speechless as he headed for the elevators, lost in
his own thoughts.



Usagi was currently dodging the clumsy attempts to grapple by her best
friend, while at the same time attempting to read the latest volume of her
favourite manga.

Rei was trying to throttle the annoying blonde she'd devoted her life
to, while at the same time trying to retrieve her manga without damaging it
and at the same time damaging said blonde.

The Inner Senshi and the two Outer Senshi present ignored the usual
goings on, winding down their discussion on the recent daimon attacks and
how to effectively counter them. They all sighed in disappointment at
having to be on constant call once again.(3)

A polite, but firm knock on the door brought a smile to the faces
of Michiru and Haruka, while the others had realisation, followed quickly
by expectation, dawn on their faces.(4)

Rei walked over to the door, making a last swipe at Usagi, which
connected, and opened it.

What greeted her was a young man standing there, a red chinese shirt
slightly tight on his firmly muscled chest. A pair of black slacks, which
were currently quite loose, but clinging in the most interesting places,
covered his bottom half. Chinese slippers were over his feet. His hair was
a black pigtail hanging down his back, and blue eyes peered into and
around the room as he took her and the rest of the people in with a casual
glance.

"Hey, Ranma." Michiru said, smiling and waving her cousin in. He
stepped in, and was met halfway by three seperate, but distinct voices
yelling out his name in surprise. One was much louder than the others,
and he DEFINATELY recognized this one.

Ranma's eyes shrank to pin points as he recognized the three voices
and he began to panic. Three thoughts ran through his mind in the space of
a second.

'I'm gonna die.' This particular thought was brought about by the
recognition of the three seperate but distinct voices as three girls he had
gone out with briefly at varied points in his travels throughout the world.

'Why the heck are they all here?' This thought occurred as Ranma
realised that at the time he'd dated these three seperate but distinct girls
they'd been in different areas. One had been in England, one had been in
Brazil, and one had been in Kyoto.

'The kami are having some REAL fun with my life, aren't they?' This
thought was thrown at the god or goddess who was supposed to watch over
him, as he realised that once again, the three fates had come together and
played another game of 'Let's Screw over Ranma'.



Somewhere in Asgard, Urd smiled as she watched her charge in his
latest mess, which she had not, for once, caused in any way. Skuld shook
her head in pity for the poor mortal boy, while Belldandy clucked her
tongue and made a vain attempt to lessen the effects of fate on him.



In Nifleheim, Mara typed furiously on her laptop, tracing the source
of Urd's amusement, and then broke out into laughter as she saw another way
to try to mess up the Goddess. She immediately began her work.



Nearby, Toltiir smiled as his primary source of amusement was once
again screwed over in an almost methodical manner, and his most recent
contributer to a private bet shook her silver hair from the helm it was
contained in. Lenneth began to wait and listen for his soul to be readied
for the transition to being an Einherjar.



"You know him!?" Hearing this question in stereo caused Ranma no end
of trouble. He realised that he had to smooth things over as quickly as
possible, but had neither the time nor the ability to do so. He also began
to realise that no matter how things turned out, someone was about to give
him a serious ass kicking he couldn't stop due to the fact these were girls
doing the ass kicking.

He hated his life sometimes.(5)

"Hiya guys." Ranma said, smiling sheepishly as his cousin and her
lover put two and two together and began laughing a bit. He turned to the
blonde he didn't know and the priestess who'd answered the door and gave
them a slight bow. "I'm Saotome Ranma. Sorry 'bout this."

All at once his three former girlfriends stood simultaniously.

"HE'S your cousin, Michiru?" Ami asked, for once the fine control over
most of her emotions shattered at the sight of her former friend. Ranma
smiled a bit at the way she'd grown up over the past two years. While their
relationship had been more platonic than anything, being pressed together
for that time had made them grow close.

"Saotome Ranma, did you break your promise to me?" Makoto asked quite
a bit angrily, her hands on her hips and a red battle aura, which he could
feel was composed almost entirely of jealousy, sprang around her.

"Ranma, you DATED two of my best friends!? How could you!" Minako
looked betrayed and a bit confused as well, but he had learned not to
mistake that for being dull or anything. She was sharper than him.

"I guess I'd better explain, huh?" Ranma asked, his voice sheepish
and a bit apoligetic. He glanced over at his cousin, who merely smiled a
smile that promised this would be discussed in great deal later.

Seven nods caused him to take a seat opposite the couch Minako, Ami,
and Makoto had been sitting on. The blonde and priestess joined them on the
couch, interest clearly in their eyes.

"Well, first off, for the two of you who don't know me, I'm a martial
artist from Japan. Don't ask me where I was born, I haven't talked to my
mom in ten years and my Pops died before I could ask him. I've been all
around the world refining my skills, and I'm the best fighter, bar none,
of my generation. I'm fairly sure there's NOTHING I can't beat in a fight.
Anybody who knows me'll tell you that." Ranma paused a moment while the two
he didn't know took this in. "The first time I met Minako was in England.
It was only for a few minutes at school, when I was introduced and she
said hi and stuff. Next time I saw her was when she was getting mugged by
some guys. She was reaching into her purse for pepper spray or something,
and I jumped in and knocked all of 'em unconscious before they knew what
hit 'em."

"What happened next?" Makoto asked, shooting a curious glance to her
old boyfriend. He was growing nervous under the speculation, but despite
this continued with his story.

"Well, she offered to repay me for saving her by buying me lunch. I
said sure, since I hadn't eaten for four days 'cause my old man ran off
claiming I needed to learn some survival skills." Ranma said.

"Waitaminute here." The priestess said. "Just how old were you when
this happened?"

"I was thirteen, I think." Ranma said. "It was three years ago. But
after she offered, we went to some cafe and ate lunch. We talked for a few
hours in the park afterwards, untill my Pops ambushed me and started to
attack me. After maybe ten minutes of fighting, I sent him through a wall
and he passed out. We talked for a few more hours, and then I had to leave,
since my old man said I had to train with some old friend of his. We went
out a few other times, but then I had to leave for India to study under
some old guy in an Indian martial art."

"When did you meet Ami?" The blonde asked, looking between Ranma and
the girl. Ranma was acutely aware of how interested she was in the entire
event, and that she was reserving judgement on which side she was rooting
for untill later.

"I met Ami when I turned fourteen. Pops and me were in South America
for some training grounds in Brazil, and I met her while she and her mom
were on vacation. We spent a lot of time together, since I was the only one
there who could speak Japanese, and she was a lot more comfortable speaking
it over English. After we went out for some walks and stuff for a while, my
old man decided to move on after we trained in the training grounds for a
few days." Ranma frowned. "Baka old man. I got a curse there."

"A curse?!" Ami asked. "You never told me anything about that! What
kind of curse did you get!?"

"Uh, just the standard becoming a Nexus, why?" Ranma asked. He was
pretty scared about the intensity in her voice.

"A Nexus? What's a Nexus?" The priestess asked.

"A Nexus, according to the guy at the training grounds, is a focal
point of reality which much of Reality relies on during some periods of
time, like a demon invasion or a war of the kami. Something that'd cause
more damage to Reality than it normally takes. What that means is if the
kami or whatever are unable to continue maintaining Reality, for a while
I keep Reality anchored to existence." Ranma smirked at the girls, who
were all now white as sheets. "The downside to all of this is that demons,
kami, and everything else of magical nature is naturally attracted to me,
and I'm attracted to things of a magical nature."(6)

"When did you meet Mako-chan, Ranma? She never actually mentioned
your name to us, though she did talk about you a lot." Minako asked. She
was glancing between the two, noticing how flustered Ranma got at the
mention of her friend's name. "Come on, tell us!"

"Well, I came back from China with pops sometime after I turned
fifteen." Ranma said. He sat down on the floor, looking up to the confused
girls. "You may wanna sit down, this is gunna take a while. It all started
after pops and I got back to Japan, and went to Kyoto..."



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

Urd, Skuld, Belldandy, and Mara are all copywrite by Fujishima Kosuke.
Lenneth Valkyrie is copywrite by whomever created the PSX game Valkyrie
Profile. Toltirr, in the incarnation used here, is copywrite Gregg Sharpe.
All are used without permission.

No challenge to the intellectual property is being made to any of these
people by my writing this story.

(1) What can I say? After training under his father, and having little
interaction with normal people, Ranma would get impatient with people who
pontificate. I think this is why Kuno annoys him so much.

(2) This is Ranma. The same guy who swam to China, fought on a level close
to Cologne, and regularly walks to school balanced on the top of a chain
link fince. A physical for normal people is supposed to phase him?

(3) You think something as regular as Usagi and Rei fighting would distract
them?

(4) Every girl, with the exception of Ami, is boy hungry. And even Ami
would want to meet someone who could impress Haruka.

(5) Fate and most gods, however, love it at such times.

(6) Heh. Explains a lot don't it?

A few notes on this chapter and the next:
Next chapter will be a flashback to the five or so months Ranma and Makoto
were with each other. It will consume the entire chapter, so I won't be
using my normal stuff for seperating flashback sequences. Chapter 5 will
resume as normal. Anybody wondering why Ranma dated so much? The truth is,
he really didn't see it as dating, per se. It was more of being friends with
the people first, then slowly realising they were more than friends, not the
actual process of going out with the girls to get to know them AS potential
girlfriends. Hey, stop laughing! Worked for me. 'Sides, that's how he works
in the Anime and Manga. Offhand I can only recall two dates he EVER went on,
and both consisted of him being bribed/bullied/coerced into doing so, not
him going out and doing so himself...

****************************************************************************
CHAPTER 4



"When I first arrived in Kyoto, pops and me went to a dojo owned by
an old friend of his. He enrolled me in the advanced class before he took
off to take care of some other obligations, so I could learn some of the
more advanced techniques of his friend's family style, which he'd agreed
to teach me instead of the Shotokan Karate he taught to the self-defence
class. When I got there, the blackbelt's class was just getting started in
their sparring, and Makoto challenged me, thinking I was one of the
students there..."



Ranma looked over the girl in front of him, casually evaluating her
skills based on her body language and her aura. What he found was a decent
fighter, though nowhere near his level. He judged her to be a second dan
in this style, though her body language told him she could use a few others
as well. (1)

"Well?" Makoto asked arrogantly, her hands on her hips. She had a
defiant look in her eyes, as if daring him to refuse to fight her based on
some stupid reason, such as the fact she was a girl. "Do you want to spar
with me or not?"

"Sure." Ranma said, smirking. He was about to teach her a lesson in
humility, one she wouldn't soon forget. He ignored the fact he should have
been taught one a long time ago. "What's your name, anyways?"

"Kino Makoto, why do you want to know? And what's your name?" Makoto
asked, appraising him herself. He could feel her eyes lingering on the more
visible parts of his body, but put it down to a couple scars he had.

"My name is Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes, and
I want to know who I'm about to beat." Ranma said, falling quickly into a
defensive stance and waiting for her to attack.

"Don't make me laugh!" Makoto said, throwing a punch which appeared to
be designed to test him. He easily deflected it with a flick of his wrist,
and at the same time jumped over her follow up leg sweep.

Ranma continued to dodge her attacks, sending easily avoidable attacks
her way to keep her attention on her defense as well as her offence. She was
a decent fighter, for someone of her age. Nowhere near his level, but a
decent fighter. He hadn't trained nine years in THE most punishing training
regimen known to mankind for nothing.

Eventually, every student in the dojo had stopped their sparring and
were watching in rapt amazement as the girl none of them could easily beat
was casually being defeated. They all saw that despite the fact Ranma was
dodging at a frantic pace, he could have ended the fight at any time quite
easily.

After dodging an extremely fast flurry of punches, Ranma decided to
end the fight. Smashing through her defences with a single open hand strike
to her stomache, Ranma sent her halfway across the dojo, where she landed
on her feet, winded but otherwise alright. (2)

She bowed to him, while he returned the gesture. She crossed the
distance to him and shook his hand, respect clearly in her eyes.

"You fight well, Saotome." Makoto said, smiling. She had left the
words unsaid, but 'much better than I could.' was clearly implied. Ranma
knew she was too prideful to ask him for training, but he knew she wanted
to train with him badly.

"I've had to." Ranma said, returning the smile to her. "With the
number of guys trying to kill, maim, or otherwise injure me in challenge
fights, I haven't had much room for mistakes."

"Kill?" Makoto asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Yeah. Someone screaming 'Saotome Ranma, prepare to die!' then trying
to take off my head with a sword, punch, or whatever kinda clued me in to
that fact." Ranma said.

"Saotome-san, is that you?" A man's voice asked from behind. Turning
and smiling at the old man, Ranma nodded after performing a bow of respect.

"Sensei, are we gonna train now? Or after the class is done?" Ranma
asked.

"Now, if you'd like, Saotome-san." The old man bowed, while Ranma did
the same. They dropped into their respective stances while the class melted
away in anticipation of the upcoming fight.

With some unseen, unheard signal, the two launched themselves through
the air, one powered by muscles born from hard practice, the other enhancing
his normally feeble body with spiritual power which gave him the strength to
fight the superhuman strength Ranma possessed.

They traded blows at speeds which defied description, their exchanges
over before they began. The most expert students among the blackbelts could
barely follow the fight, the less experienced not at all. Makoto, however,
was following the fight with a well trained eye used to facing superior
opponents. She saw every punch, every kick thrown by the pair as they waged
their battle.

No quarter was given nor expected on either side. They wordlessly
fought each other with a rare intensity most humans could never aspire to,
yet always tried for.

Eventually, though Ranma made an effort few could match, he was slowly
but surely began to lose the fight. Blows were getting in rarely, but the
sensei was still blocking all the strikes sent his way. It was only a matter
of time on Ranma's part before he made an error and lost.

The error came when a punch was extended a mere millimeter too far.
The wrist connected to the hand was grabbed, and Ranma was hurled across the
dojo, where he hit the wall with a dull thud, a spiderweb of cracks
spreading from the point he hit the solid concrete.

To the amazement of the class, and indeed, the sensei himself, Ranma
got to his feet and gave a low chuckle, his head snapping up and gazing at
the sensei with a gaze which said the fight had only begun. Ranma fell into
a stance which was slightly more defensive than the one before, and waited.

He did not have to wait long. The sensei charged with a loud kiai,
throwing a flurry of blows Ranma barely managed to dodge. Ranma became on
the defensive, rolling with the few punches which connected and dodging the
strikes which would have dealt too much damage to be worth taking.

Eventually, Ranma was sent into the wall again, this time by a one
inch punch which smashed through Ranma's guard like it was nonexistant. He
did not, however, get up this time. He was conscious, however.

"I... I lost..." Ranma gasped, slowly climbing to his feet. "...How
could I lose?" The thought was incomprehensible. This hadn't been like a
normal sparring match, this had been a challenge match to determine who had
better martial arts skills.

And he'd lost. He couldn't believe it. Had he been lax in his training
lately? Was it due to the fact he and his father had skipped the last of
the training grounds when they'd been in South America?

"You are a very impressive Martial Artist." The sensei said, bowing to
Ranma, who returned the gesture. There was a deep respect in the sensei's
eyes, unlike the usual scorn in his old man's. "I have been practicing my
art for over fifty years, and you are the true first challenge I have ever
had for one your age."

"But... I lost." Ranma said, his eyes downcast.

"Ranma, losing is not everything. One of us had to win, and I employ
skills you have no knowledge of, whereas I know much of the Anything Goes
style due to practice with your father, and your style is based heavily on
Kempo, which I also practice. I used several of my techniques on you to
win that fight. Had I restricted them to myself I would have lost." The
sensei smiled at Ranma, his face mirthful. "And besides, this is why you
have come to train with me, Ranma. So that you can learn my techniques. I
have no doubts that if you know them you can defeat me."

"Another fall, sensei?" Ranma asked politely.

"I'm afraid not, Ranma. I have doubts as to the building's safety if
we do. From now on we will practice in the park, in the morning. But for now
I must teach the class. Will you be joining in?" The sensei asked. Ranma
nodded without hesitation. "Good. Class! Five laps, then we shall learn a
new kata form."



"...And so the training began. During the mornings I would spar with
Hiryu-sensei, and after that he would teach me some of the Hiryu-do. Makoto
would walk with me to school, and we'd usually spar after school. Then we'd
go to the dojo for the advanced class, and afterwards we'd go to the park
or something. It went on like that for four months, and we actually got
really close. Then, one day while Makoto and me were walking in the park,
Pops ambushed me."



"So, Ranma..." Makoto began, her eyes hopeful. Ranma knew what she was
going to ask him. It was about the school dance at the end of the week. She
wanted him to go with her, so they could be a couple at the dance. "Do you
want to-"

The question was rudely cut off as Ranma was belted in the side of the
head by his father, sending him into a nearby tree, which splintered on his
impact with it. He fell to the ground and rolled away from the follow up
kick which likely would have embedded his head into the walkway, which
cracked as the foot hit it.

Ranma leaped to his feet, and in one smooth motion delivered a snap
kick to his father's stomache, sending him flying back into a tree on the
opposite side of the walkway. Ranma refused to press the advantage, however,
choosing instead to set himself for the coming attack.

"Boy, you must be getting lax in your training if I can sneak up on
you!" Genma said, giving his son a disgusted look as he rolled to his feet.
"Why, a child could have sneak attacked you like you were!"

"Hey, Pops." Ranma said, his voice dangerous. "Nice ta see you too.
It was kinda rude for ya to hit me while I was talking to Makoto here, so ya
better apologize to her right now."

"I'll apologize when you defeat me, boy!" Genma responded, trying to
bait Ranma into making a reckless and easily countered attack. He was a bit
surprised when Ranma failed to do so, but chalked it up to learning under
Hiryu-do.

"Come and get it, old man." Ranma said, gesturing with one hand. "Or
is a geezer like you too old to make an attack of his own?"

"Geezer? Foolish boy, you WILL respect me!" Genma yelled, closing the
distance and beginning an attack Ranma couldn't hope to avoid.

Well, couldn't have avoided a few months ago. As it was, he dodged
through the pattern of attacks and dealt a solid knife hand to Genma's
stomache, seriously winding the older man, and allowing for Ranma to follow
up with a vicious palm strike to the stomache, which doubled Genma over.
Ranma finished the combo with a sharp elbow drop to Genma's back, sending
him sprawled over the ground.

Ranma snorted in disgust, and turned towards Makoto.

Which was why he was unprepared for the leg sweep his father performed
which was followed up with a solid axe kick to Ranma's gut, stunning him. He
was picked up and bodily hurled across a large expanse of land, to hit the
koi pond dead center. Ranma sat up, spitting water out of his mouth and
glaring at his father.

"What'd ya do that for, ya old fool! How'd ya like me to dunk you in
here a few times?" Ranma demanded angrily, getting to his feet and shaking a
carp from his pant leg. He leaped out of the water, and pulled off his shirt
to wring it dry, all the while eyeing his old man with a dangerous look in
his eyes.

"What are you gonna do about it, boy!?" Genma demanded, taking a
arrogant stance which screamed 'I'm better than you' to Ranma. Genma and
Ranma both knew Genma had more experience, but that Ranma made up for that
in skill and inventing new techniques and tactics. "Quit being a woman about
it!"

"Whatdja call me!?" Ranma demanded, closing in on Genma with a speed
born of rage.

Makoto could only watch in shock as Genma was beaten using sheer force
as Ranma kicked, punched, and generally inflicted pain with a capital P on
the older man. When he was done, and Genma was barely conscious, Ranma put
him into the koi pond with a snort.

"Stupid old man..." Ranma grumbled, looking at the sputtering man, who
was climbing out the opposite side and shaking his Dogi top dry. Ranma
turned to Makoto, a smile on his face. "Wanna go to the movies?"

Makoto, still slightly shocked from the downright violent display of
martial skill that occurred between Ranma and his father, could only nod her
acceptance.



"After that date, Makoto and me went to the dance. Then for another
month, life settled into another cycle, almost the same as the first one,
but with my old man stuck in, ambushing me between or during the times I
spent doing the other stuff. But then, a day after Hiryu-sensei finished
teaching me the last secret technique of Hiryu-do, my old man came to take
me to China to train at Jusenkyo and some other places. Without saying
goodbye to Makoto. I wasn't too happy with the old man..."



"What do you mean, we're leaving now!?" Ranma demanded, glaring at
his father with what could be generously called 'contempt'. There was more
than contempt in Ranma's eyes, however. There was an emotion Genma had
rarely seen in Ranma's eyes before.

Rage. Pure, unhindered, rage. (3)

"We have to leave now, boy." Genma said sternly. He tried to brow beat
Ranma with the words, which he followed up with a rocky, unrelenting stare.
"The train leaves in half an hour."

"But I gotta say goodbye to Makoto." Ranma said angrily. "I'm not
leavin' another friend behind. Especially one as good as her. Everytime we
stay somewhere for a while, you make us leave without a word. Not this time
old man. I'm sayin' goodbye to Makoto, and there's nothin' you can do to
stop me."

Genma said nothing, as he and Ranma stared at each other, awaiting
the move of the other. Ranma, having less patience and experience than
Genma, moved first.

It was also his last for a while, as Genma knocked Ranma out with a
well placed blow to the base of his skull. Ranma sunk to the ground as he
watched his father stoop to pick him up.

And then, there was only darkness.



When Ranma awoke, he found himself being carried along a countryside
road, far from Tokyo. He shot out of his father's grasp, rolling along the
ground and coming up in a defensive stance.

His father followed suit, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

"POPS!" Ranma screamed. A battle aura manifested around him, though it
wasn't controlled, and would have little effect on the outcome of the battle
ahead. It only served to unnerve Genma, for he hadn't been expecting this
much yet. "Why didn't ya let me say goodbye to Makoto!? It'd only take me a
few minutes!"

"Boy, the Art stops for no man!" Genma replied self rightously. "Why,
I never was allowed to talk to anyone! Consider yourself lucky to even be
able to speak with such a girl!"

"Pops..." Ranma growled. His voice was low and dangerous, and it made
Genma very very scared. He hadn't heard that tone from his son before, and
the only thing it promised was swift brutal violence with him as the target.
"Makoto's been my best friend for the past four months. The only other
person I've ever gotten this close to was Ucchan. And you didn't even let
me say goodbye to him. Not this time, pops. I'm goin' back to Tokyo, and I'm
gonna say goodbye to Makoto."

"Ranma..." Genma said, trying to keep his son in line. He failed, and
he and his son realised it. Genma knew the only way to stop Ranma from
going back was to knock him out again. And Genma also knew that he wasn't
likely to do it, with the state Ranma was in.

When Ranma got angry, truly angry, he became like death incarnate. He
made faster decisions in the heat of combat, threw harder punches with more
speed and precision than he'd be able to access normally. Genma had only
ever seen his son this angry once, and it was an experience that still gave
him the willies. When he was THAT angry, the boy just wasn't human. (4)

"Pops, you've got TWO choices. I go and see Makoto and we meet up at
the next town. Or I go and see Makoto and we meet up at the next hospital.
Your choice, old man." Ranma said, never dropping his stance, and never
taking his eyes off his father.

"Fine, boy." Genma said, dropping his stance and turning down the
road. He sighed a bit, realising that Ranma would do this no matter how long
it took. "I'll set up camp five miles down the road if I don't come across
a town first. If I get to a town, you'll meet me in the nearest park."

When he turned, Ranma was already gone.



Makoto was crying on her bed, her face pressed into the pillow to
muffle her sobs. She felt so betrayed and used, she thought she could swear
off men forever.

Ranma hadn't showed up for her date with him. He hadn't called, left
a message, or done anything to tell her he was going. When she'd called the
Hiryu dojo, she'd been told Ranma's stuff was gone from his room and that he
and his father had been seen walking off.

That had been over twelve hours ago, and she realised that if he had
cared...

He hadn't cared. He'd just been interested in her for her looks, like
all the other boys. He hadn't cared about those long discussions. He hadn't
given any value to those long hours of training together under Hiryu-sensei.
He was scum, just like all the other sweet talkers.

He would have called her if he did. He would have left a note. Ranma
would have done something, ANYTHING, to let her know he cared enough to say
goodbye in some form or another.

She heard a tapping on her window. Makoto slowly lifted her head from
the pillow, wiping the tears from her red eyes.

Ranma was hanging on the window upside down, like he had for countless
nights before. He had a sad look on his face, and he waited for her to come
to the window to open it for him.

"Ranma?" Makoto asked, watching as he stepped in. Shock and anger were
evident on her face, as well as relief. She wasn't sure which was dominant.
Her mind was a swirl of emotions. "I-I thought-"

"Sorry, Makoto." Ranma said, sighing. He sat down on her bed, and gave
her an apoligetic smile. "Pops clocked me on the head and dragged me off
before I could come and say goodbye. I just got back to Kyoto now. I hadta
threaten the old baka with a hospital bed before he'd let me go."

A weary look came across his face.

"I hadta travel for six hours, at top speed. The old man had gotten a
ride from some farmer halfway out. Sorry I couldn't have gotten here sooner,
but this was the best I could do." Ranma sighed, looking up to Makoto. "I
guess you know I'm leaving, huh?"

Makoto nodded, still trying to work out the feelings inside. He cared,
he really did. He'd come to see her personally, instead of just moving on.
After being well over sixty miles away, if the speed he could keep for as
long as he wanted was any indication of how fast he ran. Probably faster,
though.

"Makoto, I... I have feelings for you." Ranma said, his voice growing
a tad shaky. Makoto hoped and prayed that Ranma wouldn't chicken out, like
he had in other times, like after the dance, or at the movies. "I care for
you... I really do. I wish I could stay."

"But..." Makoto prompted, determined not to lose him without a fight.
He loved her! He was as likely to admit it right now as he was to being able
to lose, but he'd said he'd cared for her, and that he had feelings. She
knew this was likely the best she'd get right now, since getting Ranma to
talk about his feelings was like pulling teeth.

"But I... I hafta continue training. I'm gonna be the best. Pops and
my... My mom..." Makoto realied how hard this was for Ranma. He rarely, if
ever, had spoken with his mother. "I hafta continue the Saotome school. I
hafta be the heir they need. So I gotta train..."

"And it's a decision between me and your future, isn't it?" Makoto
asked, not wanting to skirt the issue any longer. She noted that she'd
stopped feeling sad. She'd stopped feeling, period.

Ranma nodded soberly, conflict warring on his face. She knew he wanted
to stay, but he wanted to go. She couldn't go with him, and he couldn't stay
if he wanted to be the best.

"Then... Then promise me." Makoto said, an idea entering her head. "I
want you to promise me you'll come see me when you inherit the Saotome
school from your father. Promise me you'll come back and see me."

"I... I promise." Ranma said, his eyes beginning to water a bit. "I...
I've gotta go. Goodbye, Makochan."

"Goodbye, Ranma." Makoto said. Ranma leaped from her room, an
emotional mess. She couldn't be sure, but she thought that she saw a flash
of moonlight reflect off a tear, but it was gone before she could confirm
or deny it, as was Ranma.



Ranma sat against the wall of the grungy alley, forcing himself to
calm down and ignore the emotional wreck he was, and find his father to
continue his training.

After all, real men didn't cry, right? (5)



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

(1) Makoto is also a brawler, as evidenced by some of her more devious
attacks when fighting the daimon in canon.

(2) Likely, the REAL reason Ranma doesn't hit girls in canon is because
of the trouble it causes. When he first arrives in Nerima, the last girl
he hit had chased him across most of Asia to kill him for it. Besides, he
DOES hit Kodachi, Rin Rin and Ran Ran, and others.

(3) Ranma's old enough to comprehend what's going on now. Makoto and he
are nearly as close as he was with Ukyo, but this time Ranma's old enough
to know this is gonna be bad.

(4) See canon anytime Akane is seriously threatened. Look what happened to
Saffron, for examples. Serious overkill there, and Ranma wasn't like he is
in normal fights. No continuous insults. Just methodical slaughter. I mean
it's one thing to beat someone in a fight. Ripping the idiot stupid enough
to piss him off limb from limb is another thing entirely.

(5) Likely, Genma was well on his way to making Ranma a social reject by
this point even if it is moderated by Makoto's presence. Crying and most
emotions have been shown to be unmanly in Nodoka's, and therefor in Genma's,
eyes.

Ah, thank kami-sama that's outta the way. This chapter was hard to write,
and I got writers block in several places. This delves into some of the
reasons Makoto is so hung up on her old boyfriend. I know this is an almost
typical pairing in SM-Ranma crossovers, since EVERYBODY and their dog seems
to equate Ranma as her old boyfriend, since he does, despite his lack of
redeeming characteristics, inspire an almost mindless loyalty from the
girls he meets. But I promise this won't last. I'm not going for the boring
and easily predictable path here.

****************************************************************************
CHAPTER 5



Ranma was finished his tale, and now all of the girls had questions
for him, which he was answering as best he could. Could he REALLY jump from
roof to roof? Could he beat some of the daimon attacking Juuban?

And the big one. What had happened after he last left Makoto?

All of them he answered honestly. Even the big one, much to the
surprise of Michiru and her lover. Ranma sat back and smiled at the girls,
who all seemed happy with his answers, for now. (1)

"So, what about you guys? What's happened with you over the past years
anyways? I've told you my story. Now it's your turn." Ranma noted, with some
curiousity that ALL of the girls, including Michiru and Haruka, that there
was a general nervousness surrounding the topic.

"Nothing much, really. Some daimon attacks in the area, but we haven't
had anything to do with them." Ami said, her voice calm. And lying. Ranma
wasn't sure, but he got the distinct feeling he wasn't being told the truth
about it. He wasn't sure why she would lie, though. And she was speaking for
the entire group.

Ignoring it, Ranma glanced at the clock, which read it to be quite
late in the day. It would be dark outside in less than an hour. He got to
his feet, stretching.

"Listen, I gotta go. It was nice seeing all of ya, and nice meeting
you two." Ranma said, bowing to them all politely. "But I have some stuff
I hafta take care of, so I'll see you later."

With that, Ranma departed.



Ranma leaped from rooftop to rooftop, ignoring the light rain that had
sprang up out of nowhere. His destination was clear in his mind, and he only
hoped that he would make it before it closed.

He was in luck. He skidded to a stop outside one of the local dojos.
This one was an older one run by an old friend of his father's, the
Tendos(2). He had called them ahead of time, promising to tell them what had
occured in China.

He was kind of worried, though. Tendo Soun, whom he had talked to on
the phone, had been happy to hear from Ranma. Too happy for his liking. It
was as if his father had been planning on visiting there anyways. Ranma
didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing, but he thought it would
end up a bad thing.

He was about to knock on the door, when he got an idea from the sign
at the side of the gate. The one that read 'Challengers use side entrance'.
Ranma quickly jogged around to the side of the home, locating the smaller
entrance. He knocked on the door loudly.

"Challenge!" Ranma yelled, then patiently waited while the rain's
intensity increased. After maybe half a minute of waiting, an older man in
a dark green gi, with long black hair and a trimmed mustache, answered the
door, his face serious. He guessed it was Tendo Soun, the owner.

"You wish to challenge the Tendo School of Anything Goes, young man?"
The man asked in a fatherly manner, his tone firm but at the same time very
rebuking. He obviously didn't consider Ranma a challenge.

"Yes, I do." Ranma said, his voice grave. "I am fully aware of the
skills the practicioners of the school possess, and I am quite willing to
challenge any whom you wish me to fight. Do you answer my challenge?"

The man nodded, gesturing for Ranma to follow him. Ranma walked behind
the man, and they eventually entered a well kept dojo, with a shrine on the
north wall. Ranma clapped twice as he entered, to appease any spirits. The
man nodded in approval.

To the side of the dojo were three young women in casual clothing, (3)
to bear witness to the fight. He guessed them to be the man's daughters, as
they didn't appear to have been students.

"What is the nature of the challenge? A match for points, or a match
with the loser admitting defeat or being knocked unconscious?" The man asked
seriously.

"The loser must admit defeat and beg for mercy, or must be knocked
unconscious." Ranma said, walking into a position three meters from the man
and bowing.

"Might I know your name before the match begins?" The man asked,
returning the bow "As you probably know, I am Tendo Soun of the Tendo School
of Anything Goes martial arts."

"My name is Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes."
Ranma said, watching Soun's eyes widen in recognition. He fell into a ready
stance, and Soun did the same, watching with weary eyes. The young women
at the side each had a look which mixed speculation and shock on their faces
as they waited for the fight to begin.

A brunnette, one of two, the shorter haired one, stood halfway between
the two, raising one hand.

"Hajime!" She yelled, chopping the fist down.

Ranma immediately charged, throwing a series of punches and kicks
designed to test the older man. It was obvious that he hadn't trained very
intensively for the past few years, but had retained most of his skill and
technique despite this. He expertly dodged or blocked all of Ranma's blows,
throwing some counters in which Ranma easily deflected.

Ranma leaped back, doing a flip in midair to dodge a kick sent at his
midsection by the older man. Ranma decided to draw out the fight, so as not
to embarrass the man. He had good skills, but both Ranma and Soun knew Ranma
was much better. Besides, going for the quick defeat made the opponent aware
of a greater extent.

Ranma got in close, throwing three punches in rapid succession, then
ducking under a sweep kick meant to knock him across the dojo. Grabbing
Soun's leg, Ranma tossed the older man away.

Soun came up in a roll, and Ranma admitted he'd underestimated the man
even if only by a little bit.

Ranma smirked, and decided that he had ket the fight go on long enough
and it was time to finish things. He ran forward, ignoring the single shot
Soun was able to get in before Ranma rained punches on the man, breaking his
feeble defence and sending him to the ground, barely conscious.

"Do you give up?" Ranma asked, squatting next to the man. He got to
his hands and knees, shaking his head. Ranma sighed. He had to do it the
hard way. "Sorry 'bout this."

Ranma hit him in the face, putting him unconscious. Ranma immediately
began to administer first aid.

"Why'd you do that, you jerk!?" The sole girl with black hair demanded
of Ranma, walking next to her father and helping. "You'd won the fight, you
didn't have to hit him again!"

"Yes, I did." Ranma said, giving her a pointed look. "The rules of the
fight stated only the loser admitting defeat or being knocked out would end
the fight. Had I not finished it, I would have insulted both him and the
Tendo School of Anything Goes. And your father knows that it's against the
prime tenants of the school to admit defeat."

"Yeah, but-" She continued.

"Besides, I didn't do anything permanent. I only hit him hard enough
to knock him out. Sure, he's got some bruises, but he's not gonna even have
a concussion or nothin from the fight." Ranma added. "Look, it's pointless
to try and convince me I did somethin' wrong here. I won, your pops lost.
Nobody died or got maimed, and nobody was even hurt too bad."

"Oh my. Does father need a compress?" The oldest of the sisters asked,
a girl with long brown hair in a ponytail that fell over one shoulder. She
handed one to Ranma, who placed it on Soun's forehead.

"Do any of you know why my old man was gonna come here after we went
ta China? And why was your pops so happy about me coming here, anyways? Did
he engage me to one of you or something?" Ranma asked. He wasn't encouraged
by two of the girls blushing and one of them smirking at him. He was
beginning to become suspect of the purpose of his father's planned visit to
the Tendo Dojo. "Oh, great. Just great! Not another one. I don't need this
kinda crap."

"Excuse me?" The middle daughter asked, her tone indicating she felt
more than slightly insulted by what he'd just said. "Care to explain that
little outburst to us, Saotome?"

"I've got TWO fiances already." Ranma said, shock hitting all three
girls at the same time. "One is a girl named Daitokuji Beiko, a student at
Gravitron High. Her pops owns a major company or something. The other is a
girl I used to know named Mido Miko. Neither one was my choice, both were
arranged by my old man."

The eldest looked a bit surprised at this, but seemed to take it in
stride. She appeared to be an unflappable sort. The brunnette with the short
hair seemed a bit nonplussed, and looked to be in deep thought about the
situation already.

The youngest was emitting a visible blue battle aura which seemed to
be crackling with anger. It was beginning to scare Ranma a bit. She was
muttering something about 'bakayaro hentais' but he put it down to a bad
day or something. However, he did slowly inch away from close range.

"Look, I've got other stuff to deal with tonight. I didn't expect to
stay long, and the fight took longer than I thought it would. Tell your pops
I'll be by tommorrow to talk about this, but for now I gotta go." Ranma said,
getting to his feet and bowing politely.

"Where can we reach you if my father wants to talk to you earlier?"
The middle daughter asked.

"He won't." Ranma said, leaving the dojo, a satisfied smirk on his
face as he left the household grounds.



Setsuna looked through the Gates of Time, trying to reach her future
self. She was surprised, and a little bit scared, to find the timestream in
utter chaos. The future of Crystal Tokyo was certain, still, which gave her
cause for some measure of relief, however, what she was seeing was still
scaring her. The only constant thing seemed to be a battleworn young man,
who appeared to be married to one of the scouts.

Which one he was married to varied, untill finally settling on the one
person she had prayed it wouldn't. She could have handled this stranger
marrying any of the Inners of the future, even Chibi-Usa. She could have
stood for him being married to Saturn, or even Michiru or Haruka. Setsuna
would even have settled for herself.

But not Neo-Queen Serenity. That would mean both a serious disruption
in the Timestream, and Chibi-Usa could change. She was happy to note the
only change APPEARED to be a pigtail, which meant Usa wouldn't fade from
existence.

Yet. Setsuna bent her magic to stabilising the current timestream,
working through the layers and layers of possibilities untill she found a
way to control the degradation furthur. Using most of her strenght in the
enourmous task, Setsuna solidifed the current path destiny would take. She
knew it was only a temporary fix. It wouldn't last more than three days.

She teleported to her room in the home she shared with Haruka,
Michiru, and Michiru's cousin. The pigtailed boy, Ranma.

She sat on her bed, realising the implications. He was clearly a very
powerful entity, his battle at the train station had proven that. But if his
past self was malevolent or benevolent towards the senshi remained to be
seen. She regretted she couldn't look to the future, but if she did so the
timestream would degrade furthur and any answers she recieved would become
worthless as soon as she got it.

She searched her memories, trying to find the source of Ranma's own
previous incarnation. He hadn't been using magic in his attacks, such as
she herself and the other Senshi did, but another source of energy she could
only recognize as the life energies all living things possessed. Ki.

That narrowed down the list of possible candidates less than she would
have liked, but it was a start. There was the possibility he could have been
any of the minor Earth nobles slain in the battle on the moon, however they
had all relied on magic.

Possibly a member of the dragonoid race of the Harae, but she had
her doubts. They were flighty creatures at best, and had been slain much
before the final battle by the youma under Beryl's command in a merciless
and delibrate attack.

She lay back in her bed, trying to think of any other possibilities.
Perhaps he was able to manipulate his Ki at will. She doubted it, however.
Such a power would have been noticed by everyone around him, unlike magic,
which was undetectable to all but the most powerful magic users.


'What's wrong with me?'


She started, a sudden memory bombarding her senses. She remembered
where she knew the attack from. It had been something only one person she
knew of could ever achieve.


'Am I a youma?'


It was him. Koh.


'Why is this happening to me? Did I do something wrong?'


Koh had been a young man she'd known from a witch hunt on Earth. He'd
killed a group of bandits trying to mug him with a blast of energy the local
mages had determined was NOT magic. He'd been ten when they'd tried him for
execution.


'Where's my mom? What's going on!?'


Queen Serenity had pleaded with the king of Earth to stop the killing.
She had sensed an enormous potential in his abilities. Eventually, and very
reluctantly, the king of Earth declared him an exile from Earth, and he was
raised next to Queen Serenity as Princess Serenity's brother.

He'd trained hard for three years, growing close to the Inner Senshi
at the same time. He'd refined his abilities to a level usually reserved
only for highly trained mages, able to battle any of the Inner Senshi to a
standstill in practice.

Then, one day he'd disappeared, causing all of the Inner Senshi no
small amount of pain. The hardest hit had been Sailor Venus, the pain of
losing the one suitor she held intense feelings for disappear tearing her
soul apart.

A year later, the day of Beryl's attack, he'd reappeared, fighting on
Beryl's side. For reasons never made clear to her, he'd obliterated half of
Queen Serenity's fleet, mowing through the ships with a careless ease.

It was moments later when he was confronted by Venus. She had never
gotten the details from Venus, but the pained look told her volumes. The
fight had been mutually painful for all the Senshi, but Venus took his
death the hardest.

Ironic, considering he had died by her hand. Venus had become much
more emotional after that, something which bled over into Minako.

Setsuna was not reassured by Koh being 'alive', nor by the fact he
could be Ranma, and that he could be going after Usagi as a lover. She could
furthur disrupt the timestream and perhaps pray for Ranma to not end up
with Princess Serenity, and solidfy THAT timestream for the present.

But at the moment, she couldn't. She was too tired from the exertions
at the Gates of Time. She would rest for the moment, but she would fix the
problem as soon as possible.

And she prayed, as she felt herself fall into a slumber, that there
would be no adverse affects from her leaving that small gap in time. (4)



Somewhere in Japan, a flash of light heralded the arrival of a young
girl, perhaps thirteen or fourteen years old. She had long pink hair pulled
into a pigtail which ran down her back, trailing to the level of her knees.
She opened her red eyes, glancing up to the sky.(5)

"This must be Tokyo." Usa said, looking around and recognizing some of
the landmarks, while unconsciously looking for any signs of hostility or
any witnesses to her arrival. There were none. "I'd better go find mom and
the old man."

With that, Usa started her journey for the country of Japan, her goal
firmly set in her mind. She had to find her father, and she knew where to
start.

"Juuban, here I come."



Ranma was walking home from the Tendo dojo, happy with his match, and
a little angry at being sold yet AGAIN by his father. He respected his
father as a fighter and parent, but he had been a real idiot sometimes. He
had three unwanted fiances or MORE wandering around.

He was thankful for one thing, however. It looked like none of the
three girls at the dojo wanted to be engaged to him, something he was very
thankful for.

Both his other fiances wanted him for purposes unknown. Beiko he could
kind of understand. Her father had said she would be cut from the will if
she didn't enforce the engagement, and he knew she stood to inherit quite a
bit from her father. That didn't explain much, since she practically owned
the company anyways.

Miko, however, confused him hopelessly. She'd caught up with him and
his father somewhere in the area of Hokkaido. Ranma had become good friends
with her, however she always had this gleam in her eyes he didn't like. On
the one hand, she also had this aura of fear around her. It was something
he'd barely been able to sense, and it was instinctive, nothing she'd been
doing consciously, but it creeped him out.

On the other, she was his friend, and she appeared to have some VERY
serious feelings for him. He'd returned them, to a point. But after about a
month or so, their friendship had passed some unidentifiable point, and she
became more and more aggresive in her pursuit of him.

It was at this point he and his father had had to leave. He'd left her
a note he was sure she'd recieved, and left for some stupidly dangerous
training grounds, a smile on his face.

His thoughts were cut off as he reached his new home. He walked in,
intent on a nice, long, rest.



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

Mido Miko is copywrite Maeda Toshiro. Daitokuji Beiko is copywrite
Nakajima Katsuhitsu and Shirasaka Kazumi. They are used without permission,
and no challenge is being made to the property rights of the intellectual
property used in this story.

(1) Not for long, not when Setsuna speaks with them.

(2) Yes, I know that the Tendo Dojo isn't in Juuban, it's in Nerima. But
that's in Canon, not this fanfic.

(3) We all know this is Akane, Nabiki, and Kasumi, right? Well, Ranma
doesn't know who they are yet. So I'll refrain from using their names untill
he hears them.

(4) Forshadowing...

(5) followed immediately by instant gratification! aren't I nice?

Ah, the plot thickens. Seriously though, this chapter created a lotta loose
ends, didn't it? Well, this is part 1 of an unknown amount of parts. 'Till
it's done, I guess.

****************************************************************************
CHAPTER 6



Michiru awoke, languidly stretching the kinks from her back out as
she got to her feet. Today she had school, and she was planning on stopping
by the principal's office for Ranma's test scores.

She didn't have to, she discovered. His acceptance letter was among
the bills in the mail as she got up. She set about making coffee, after
which she sat down with the envelope, pushing the bills aside for now.

She looked at it, unable to discern a pass or fail from the outside
of the envelope. She couldn't be sure, so she decided to open it. No doubt
Ranma would only be interested in whether he passed or failed, not in the
flowery acceptance letter or any of the other stuff Michiru would wind up
dealing with anyway.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Saotome, Ranma Applicant #0234
Scholarship Type: Sports (Martial Arts)

GENERAL SPECIFIC
History 89% Physical Stamina 100%
Geography 94% Upperbody Strength 100%
Science 74% Physical Reflexes 100%
Math 41% (omit) Lowerbody Strength 100%
World Religion 91%
Programming 0% (omit)

OVERALL: 93.5%

ACCEPTED

Welcome to Mugen, Saotome Ranma.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


She nearly dropped the letter in shock as she read it, her eyes wide
as she realised the implications of what was contained therein. Ranma had
not only scored well, but he'd achieved a mark passing the acceptance by
well over three percent, overall. Considering the passing mark was an ninety
percent this was extremely impressive.

Also, she felt a little jealous. Ranma had attained a higher entrance
grade than she had. By only two percent, but it still irked her. But, she
realised, it wasn't fair to judge by that alone. Her specific courses were
much harder than his, and he was in excellent shape, ensuring the four
perfect marks easily.

A pair of arms draped themselves over her shoulders, engulfing her in
a tight hug. She turned and kissed Haruka, handing her the acceptance slip.
Haruka took it, glancing over the results. Her eyes widened as she read the
paper.

"Impressive." Haruka said. She smiled at Michiru, her face a bit
mischievious. "He got it based on his physicals alone, it seems. Like we
told him, he could get in for a Martial Arts scholarship easily."

"Yep. Looks like he'll be in one of your classes from now on, love."
Michiru said, getting to her feet. "I'm heading for a quick shower. We have
classes soon."

Haruka followed, leaving the slip of paper on the table.



Ranma awoke, and found Haruka and Michiru eating a light breakfast
at the kitchen table. Ranma followed suit, eating some bread and jam. His
cousin flashed a smile as she tossed him an opened envelope.

Ranma caught the envelope, looking inside. There was a bunch of paper
he was planning on ignoring, and a small slip of paper. Ignoring the numbers
he read the only word that mattered.

Accepted.

"YES!" Ranma shouted, jumping out of his seat, raising his arm in his
moment of triumph.

"Well, Ranma. Time to go to school." Michiru said, gesturing to the
clock resting on the wall. "You want to be there early, so you can go to
the office and get a student to guide you for the day."

"Huh? Why would I wanna do that?" Ranma asked, curious. "I found my
way around fine for that exam thingy."

"Ranma, Mugen's the biggest school in Tokyo. You won't be able to get
to ALL of your classes without being late if you don't know your way around
the place." Haruka said. "Michiru and I both got lost on our first days,
too. It's not a big deal."

"Fine." Ranma said, grumbling. While he didn't want to be late for
any of his classes, he didn't want to admit to a weakness, either. "I'll get
a stupid guide. Happy?"

"Not really." Michiru said, grinning. "You still don't have a uniform
yet. Make sure you get a note from the office for that. Can't have you get
in trouble over not wearing a uniform, right?"

Ranma nodded. He didn't want to wear the uniform, but it appeared he
would have to if he wanted to go to Mugen, and he'd accepted a challenge
from Haruka. He never lost a challenge. Saotome Ranma didn't lose. (1)

Ranma followed Haruka and Michiru out to the car. It was going to be
a LOOONG day.



Usa smiled as she walked up the walkway to the house. Her father had
described the house in quite good detail, down to the way the windows were
cleaned and the colour of the shinjles on the roof.

She walked to the door, plucking the golden ties on her chinese shirt
with no small amount of nervousness. What would she say to her father? What
would she say to the Puu of this era? She wished she'd brought Artemis or
Luna along, but she'd been told she could meet them here anyways.

She swallowed her nervousness, and knocked on the door.



Setsuna heard the knocking on the door, and quickly got to her feet,
making her way to the door. She looked out the peephole, and saw Chibi-Usa,
though she looked strange.

Chibi-Usa was wearing a white silk chinese shirt, similair in design
to Ranma's, but with gold ties instead of wood ties, and a embroidered
emblem of a dragon in gold on her left side. Her hair, instead of being in
the usual carrot top style Setsuna was used to, was wild, and appeared to
be pulled back into a rough ponytail.

She opened the door, smiling, and was glomped onto by the energetic
young girl.

"Hi, Puu!" Chibi-Usa said, nearly cracking Setsuna's ribs. Setsuna was
surprised, to say the least. Normally Chibi-Usa wasn't so... violent, in her
shows of affection. "Where's my old man? Is he out with mom today?"

Something seemed very, very, wrong here. While Chibi-Usa wasn't very
formal most of the time, she at least made the attempts to do so. Right now
she was using a very disrespectful term for her father, and it looked like
she forgot all of her language lessons.

"Small Lady?" Setsuna asked, confused. Chibi-Usa gave her a strange
look, wondering what was going on. "I'm sorry, but Usagi is in school, as is
Mamoru. Why do you ask?"

"Mamoru?" Chibi-Usa asked, in genuine confusion. "Who's that? I was
talking about my pops! Not that guy, whoever he is."

"What?" Setsuna was now confused. Then it clicked. The change in her
attitude. The chinese clothes and pigtail. The rough speech pattern.

The confusion at the mention of Mamoru's name.

"Puu?" Chibi-Usa asked, waving one hand in front of Setsuna's face.
"Are ya okay? Should I go get the doctor or something?"

"Um, Small Lady... Your father is Chiba Mamoru, right?" Setsuna asked,
her voice calm and centered. She would figure out what was going on here.

"No, 'course not! I ain't never heard of the guy! You know my old man
is the greatest fighter in the Moon Kingdom! Saotome Ranma of the Saotome
School of Anything Goes martial arts!" Chibi-Usa said, puffing up with some
pride. "An' he's been training me since I was four! I can almost beat him
now! Unless he uses his Chestnut Fist or something."

Setsuna, sat down, hard.

"Puu, you okay?" Usa asked. Setsuna was sure this WAS Usagi's child.
Her aura had the same aura of the Moon Kingdom in it, and she had the royal
crescent on her forhead. But this wasn't the Chibi-Usa she and the other
Senshi knew. This was a different one.

It was beginning to make her head hurt, as she realised where she had
made her mistake. She had solidified the Timeline in the hopes of keeping
the Chibi-Usa she knew the same. She hadn't realised THAT future Pluto would
send this Usa back as well. Nor had she realised, untill this point, that
since Usa had already become part of THIS time's history, and since she had
the powers of Neo-Sailor Moon, she was safe from being lost in time.

This was the result. There were now TWO Neo-Princess Serenitys walking
around, both Usagi's child, and both from different fathers. Mamoru would
burst a vessel when he found out.

Most likely Ranma's. (2)

Ranma, on the otherhand, was about to get the shock of his life. He
hadn't even been 'reborn' yet, and he was about to face his possible future
daughter, when he got home from school.

"Oh my."(3) Setsuna said, looking at Usa.



Ranma walked through the halls, only half paying attention to his
guide for the day. The place was radiating evil Ki, and it clung to him
like an unpleasant smell.

"Ranma? What's wrong?" His guide, one of the older students, asked.
She had short silverish hair, and was wearing a strange bracer on her left
arm. Strange, that.

"Nothin..." Ranma said, continuing to follow her.

His guide was worried. Here was a wonderful specimen, perfect by any
standards, and he seemed to be able to sense the Negaverse energies in the
building. This did not bode well for her.

She would have to summon a daimon to dispose of him. On the bright
side, perhaps he possessed a pure heart crystal, and maybe even the artifact
they searched for. She sent the mental command, and smiled a bit as the
daimon responded.

She felt the daimon getting closer. It was Sonica, the half radio
daimon. She was really embarrassed sometimes. Why they were given the
ability to speak was beyond her, as they obviously were too stupid to make
use of it. (4)

"Prepare to die, humans!" Sonica roared, coming around one corner. She
was a woman, but with speakers for hands and radio casing for clothing. "I,
Sonica, will -urk!"

The daimon's long and stupid speech was cut off by Ranma's feet
planting themselves into her head. He flipped back, sending her into one of
the hallway walls. Students streamed past him, running from the monster.

Soon, only he and his guide remained. Ranma cracked his knuckles while
giving the daimon a smirk. This was stuff he understood. No mental foes to
deal with here, this was something he could deal with HIS way. With his
fists and feet.

"How dare you!?" Sonica demanded, getting to her feet. She pointed one
of her speaker hands at Ranma. "SONIC BLAST!"

At the end of those two words, the air rippled while a high pitched
screetching filled the air. It hit Ranma, sending him into a wall. He got
to his feet to Sonica's surprise and his guide's relief.

"That wasn't very nice." Ranma said, wiping a thin trickle of blood
from one lip. He'd cut his lip from that, and his shirt was now torn to
shreds, leaving his chest bare and scratched. "I think I should kill you,
daimon. But I'll give you a chance to run, first. After that, you're dead.
Just like that stupid vending machine in Tokyo Train Station."

"You killed Vendar? She was weak, anyways, boy!" The daimon sneered,
giving Ranma a look of contempt. She was too smart, in her opinion, to be
fooled. The boy was obviously weak from her initial assault. "Prepare to
die, human! SONIC BLAST!"

This time, Ranma was ready, and he easily dodged to the side. The
attack hit the wall, causing it to shatter, leaving a classroom of students
cowering under their desks. Ranma closed the distance, and slammed a kick
into the side of Sonica's head. She was sent reeling by this, and Ranma then
tackled her out the window.

As he was falling he realised the upside and downside of the situation
he was now in. The upside was that the daimon was most likely about to die
from the fall. The downside was so was he. He was near the top floor when
he'd jumped.

Sonica was looking at the clearly insane human, trying to comprehend
what the stupid boy had just done. He'd committed suicide, and was taking
her with him.

"SONIC BLAST!" She screamed, anger filling her voice. Ranma dodged.
It was impossible, but he dodged. He did a flip in MID AIR, getting over the
blast. Ranma gave her a strong palm strike to her stomache, sending her
flying out of control and unable to aim at him.

Ranma turned his attention to the rapidly approaching ground. There
was a small pool, a batch of bushes, and a few other semi-soft areas he
could land. He decided on the small pool, and hoped it was at least four
feet deep.

SPLASH!

As Ranma's head lightly impacted on the bottom of the pool, Ranma
reflected that learning under that American diving sensei had been a very
good idea. He got out of the water, turning his head to the daimon. She was
trying to stand, her legs broken and her left arm twisted at an odd angle.

"S-Sonic... Bl-" She began, laughing insanely. The pain must have
driven her over the edge, and she looked like she wanted to finish Ranma. He
began to dodge.

"Venus Crescent Beam!" A white hot beam of light lanced through the
much weakened daimon's arm, causing it to seperate from it's elbow down. The
shrieks of pain from the daimon filled the air, and Ranma turned to whoever
had shot the beam.

The Sailor Senshi stood there, in full fuku. Sailor Venus had a huge
smile on her face. She looked happy to have saved him from the daimon's
attack, like it would have hit.

"Are you okay?" Sailor Venus asked, concern in her voice. Her oddly
familiar voice. Something told him he knew her, but for some reason he had
no idea from where, or even if he was sure he did. "Did the daimon hurt you
with it's attacks?"

"Nah. Just tore up my shirt pretty good." Ranma said, gesturing to the
tattered red shirt that hung from him in rags. He noted that many of the
girls were staring at his bare chest. "It had a pretty weak attack. Barely
stung when it hit. Only danger I was in was from the fall."

"Fall?" Sailor Mercury asked. She was kneeling in front of a miniture
laptop, with some kind of visor on her head. She raised it and looked at
him. "What fall was that? We got here just as the daimon was beginning it's
attack."

"Uh, from somewhere near the top floor. The stupid daimon was gonna
hurt someone with those attacks, and I hadta get it out of the school before
a student got hurt." Ranma said. He looked them over, and felt a strange
compulsion to talk to their leader. Something about her beckoned to him, in
a way nobody had ever effected him before. He wanted to protect her, to be
loved by her.

He cut that thought off violently. He had ENOUGH problems without
dealing with women. He didn't need yet ANOTHER suitor capable of causing
mass destruction. The cat fights between Beiko and her friend Aiko were bad
enough without adding the Senshi to the mix. (5)

"Look, it's getting kinda chilly here, and I gotta get to class."
Ranma said, giving them a slight bow. "Seeya around."

Ranma walked into the building, heading for his locker.



The Senshi stood there for a moment, confering on what to do next.

"I think we should learn to start getting used to extremes around
Ranma, huh?" Rei asked, looking at her friends. She looked up, along with
the other Senshi, and could barely make out the shattered window. "Not even
we could survive a fall like that unscratched, like he was."

"Yeah. And he looked like he brushed off the daimon's attack without
being hurt." Makoto said. She smiled. "Could he be a child of the Moon
Kingdom? He seemed pretty anti-daimon here! What do you think, Luna?
Artemis?"

Luna and Artemis were shivering in fear. They both looked at eachother
and on thought crossed their minds at the same time. Koh.

"Sailor Moon, we have to kill that young man." Luna said. She got the
expected looks of shock and anger from her charges, but silenced them with
a dangerous glare. "That young man is a reincarnated Negaverse General. The
strongest. He was the one who cost the Moon Kingdom Silver Tokyo and the
war. That young man destroyed half of the Imperial Fleet with ONE ATTACK!
He was barely stopped by Venus at the height of her power!"

"Artemis, is this true?" Minako asked, looking to her advisor. He
nodded grimly, for once no humor in his voice or manner.

"Minako, Koh was a very dangerous person. Mentally unbalanced and very
powerful in his own right. Queen Serenity saved him from being killed in a
trial on Earth when his powers first manifested. She raised him as her own
son, and then, three years later, he disappeared in the night." Artemis
said. He looked to Luna, who nodded.

"After he disappeared, Beryl began to move her forces on the Moon
Kingdom. The final assault came almost one year later. Koh was leading it.
He destroyed the Imperial Fleet, as well as much of the enemy fleet as well,
simply as a backlash of his power. While his forces engaged the Imperial
Fleet, he alone came to Silver Tokyo to assassinate Queen Serenity. Venus
was the only one who stood in his path, and their fight was long and brutal.
Eventually, she shot him through the heart, and he died, leaving no reason
for his betrayal." Luna sighed. "It was quite sad, really. I expect your
memories of him will be returning now that you've been prompted."

"But we can't just KILL Ranma!" Makoto said. The others nodded in
total agreement, even Usagi and Rei. "He hasn't done anything wrong! And he
what if he decides to be on OUR side? He'd be a powerful ally, and I don't
think the Negaverse would attack their own General."

"Koh was borderline insane." Luna said. "The only reason the Negaverse
trusted him was because he was too powerful to risk angering. He became a
twisted individual in the end, unable to even recognize the woman he called
his sister."

"That's so sad..." Usagi said, a tear coming to her eye. "Who was his
sister, Luna? Was it one of us?"

"Usagi, it was you. You were his sister." Luna said. Artemis nodded,
flopping to the ground. "Pray he doesn't awaken, or that he doesn't remember
the last year of his former life. That's all we can hope for."

The Senshi departed, going to return to their schools.

"Luna, we can't let him live. He's much too dangerous. He's just like
Sailor Saturn, but with no self control." Artemis stated. "And the girls
don't want to kill him. They're all emotionally attached to him."

"Artemis, leave it be." Luna said, sighing. "Usagi and her friends
won't kill him, Michiru and Haruka LIVE with him, and Setsuna isn't around,
nor is Saturn. Besides, Usagi will lose her trust in us if we do this the
way it should be done. Let's just hope Usagi has made the right decision,
like she has in the past."

The cats stood there, gazing at the distant hole in the window above.
A testament to the already immense power the boy possessed.



Ranma sat in the Mugen dojo, watching the dojo instructer teach the
students the wrong moves. Finally, he'd had enough. He got to his feet.

"You don't actually expect that to work, do you?" Ranma asked. "The
punch is all wrong! It has no power, and you can see it coming from a mile
away!"

"Oh, and who are you to judge me, Saotome?" The teacher demanded. "I
am a third dan in Shotokan Karate! I've studied my entire life, and I think
I know what I'm talking about."

"That's it?" Ranma asked, a derisive snort causing the man to become
angry. "I'm a seventh dan blackbelt in Kempo, a sixth in Shotokan Karate and
in Wushu. I'm also the Grandmaster of the Saotome School of Anything Goes.
That's who I am to judge you! I'm willing to back my credentials up with a
challenge match if you don't believe me!"

"Fine, Saotome!" The teacher growled. "Front and center!"

Ranma walked to the front of the dojo, facing the instructer. He did
not bow, for he had no respect for those as full of themselves as this guy
was. (6)

It wasn't a fair fight. It couldn't be called that. The teacher had
rushed in, and the next thing he knew he was being hurled across the dojo,
to hit a padded wall and then knocked unconscious. He dusted his hands, and
turned to the class.

"Since the sensei appears to be unconscious, I'll teach the class
today. Unless anybody thinks I can't teach 'em nothing?" Ranma asked. He
recieved no complaints. "Now, when you punch, you get the power from your
hips..."



Usa smiled as she played with Setsuna. They were currently in the
middle of a game of Chinese Chess, and she was winning, if only by a little
bit. Setsuna had an imperceptable mask on. That was all it was, Usa knew. A
mask.

"Your move." Setsuna said, smiling inwardly. She hadn't had a good
game of chess, Chinese or European, in a long time. This was becoming very
fun indeed.

"Jiang." Usa said, moving her cannon. Setsuna was surprised at how
well Usa played. She hadn't expected the little girl to be such a good
strategist, but put it down to being raised by Ranma.

Setsuna almost let a groan escape as she realised no matter where she
moved, she would lose her single remaining cannon. She moved her king, and
Usa quickly took Setsuna's cannon. Setsuna realised she could only take it
with a horse, which would open the way for one of Usa's pawns. She did it,
only afterwards realising her mistake.

"Jiang again, Puu." Usa said, smirking as she moved another piece in
striking distance of Setsuna's king. Setsuna frowned a bit, trying to find
a way of getting out of her situation.

A knock on the door interrupted their game. Setsuna got up, grateful
for the small break. She was a little scared by how analytical this Usa was
in anything resembling combat.

At the door was Usagi. Setsuna inwardly groaned. This wasn't going to
be pleasant by any means, and Usa would be causing a LOT of confusion soon.
She let Usagi in, and she was immediately glomped onto by Usa.

"Usa, what's going on?" Usagi asked, returning the hug.

"Dad and Puu sent me back for a while! Pops says I gotta train so I
can get better at the Art." Usa said, smiling. "And he also wanted me to
meet you and him when you were younger."

"Setsuna, what's going on?" Usagi asked, confused. "This is making my
head hurt! Why does Usa have a pigtail, and why is she dressed like Ranma?"

"It appears that a disruption in the timestream caused by some unknown
source caused a divergence. This Usa is the result of you and Ranma getting
married, as opposed to you and Mamoru." Setsuna said. "I'd solidified one
alternate timeline to gather energy and to make sure Chibi-Usa wouldn't be
harmed, even temporarily. My future self from that timeline sent this Usa to
us."

"Huh?" Both Usagi and her daughter asked, confused.

"There are two Chibi-Usas running around right now." Setsuna said.
"Both are YOUR daughter, but the one we know is by Mamoru, and this one is
by Saotome Ranma."

"Wait a minute." Usa said. "Puu, did you say there were TWO of me? And
one wasn't fathered by my old man!? Mom, how could you cheat on the old man
like that?!"

"But..." Usagi said, still totally confused. "How could I have two...
What happened to Mamo-chan... My head hurts!!"

"Mom, it's okay..." Usa said, giving her mother a hug. "It's not your
fault. Puu, so I'm the anomaly? I'm not the one that's supposed to be alive
right now?"

"That's a harsh judgement." Setsuna said. "You aren't a temporal
anomaly. You're just from a different timeline, where Ranma and your mother
married instead of what we've been expecting. It's what I've been aiming
for, but somewhere down the line a divergence must have occurred. You are
just as alive, and you aren't any less real then the other Usa."

"So, I'm real and the other Usa is real." Usa said. "So what's going
on, then!? Why did pops and mom get married, if that's not what was supposed
to happen here?"

"A disruption in the Timestream apparantly caused a divergence, making
Ranma and Usagi grow closer while Mamoru and Usagi grew apart. That's all I
know." Setsuna said. "And your father hasn't even remembered himself yet. He
only knows himself, not his former self."

"That's bad." Usa said, her face growing grim.



Ranma walked along the streets, lost in thought. The battle he'd
fought today was one of the simpler ones, but he continued wondering why
it had chosen him, instead of chasing after the fleeing students. What was
so special about him that he was more valuable than forty or fifty people?
Not that he wasn't the best, but they had to have more Ki than him. He
wasn't THAT good yet.

His thoughts were cut off by a fist impacting his face, sending him
flying through a wall, and into a garden. A trio of women were sitting
there, drinking tea. One was fairly young, only sixteen or seventeen. She
had long brown hair in two thin braids. One was around thirty or so, with
short copper hair. She wore a kimono and held a silk bundle in one arm. The
third was an older woman.

Ranma got to his feet, looking at the daimon who had smashed him
through the wall. It was a cross between a trashcan and a woman. She was
damn ugly.

"I, Trasher, will smash you to junk!" She roared. "FLAMING GARBAGE!"

"Oh god, not another one." Ranma swore, slamming aside the flaming
bits of paper, orange peels, and other disgusting and slimy things. He ran
forward, smashing her in the gut with a heel kick, following up with an
uppercut which sent her flying into the street.

"BARRAGE OF DAIPERS!" A hailstorm of soiled children's undergarments
was sent at Ranma, who dodged, allowing them to hit the garden wall with a
series of splats. He ran forward, and was batted back into the garden by a
lucky hit.

"Are you okay?" The oldest woman asked. "Yohko, use the Soul Sword!"

"I don't need no help!" Ranma yelled, jumping to his feet. He was
getting angry again. Very angry. These stupid daimons didn't know when to
quit! This was the THIRD TIME in as many days he'd been attacked by them!
He was going to kill the stupid B-movie reject!

Ranma's aura burst into existence, sending a sharp wind over all of
the assembled entities. The daimon, being the source of Ranma's ire, was
soon being mercilessly pounded on by the enraged boy.

Ranma finished with an uppercut which nearly took the daimon's head
off. It sent it flying into the air, unable to defend against the brutal
assault. Ranma gathered his hands, and was pleased to note the red aura
once again gathered at his hands. He needed no prompting this time.

"Ryu No Tamasi!" Ranma yelled. The dragon roared, racing towards the
airborne daimon, smashing through it and blasting it in half from the force
of the hit. Then, the dragon released it's energies in a concentrated blast,
obliterating the daimon where it was falling. A few bits of black dust was
all that remained of the creature.

Ranma collapsed to his hands and knees, and the youngest girl ran out
and helped him to his feet.

"Are you okay?" She asked, amazed. She was excited. Here was a boy who
could be a potential boyfriend, and he was able to help her fight devils to
boot! She hoped the boy her grandmother engaged her to didn't show up. He
could spoil everything.

"Yeah." Ranma said, nodding as she helped him into the house. He felt
his knees buckle, and he fell to the ground. He looked up at the concerned
girl. "I'm Saotome Ranma. Sorry 'bout this."

Ranma passed out. Had he stayed conscious he would have heard a whoop
of sheer joy and satisfaction.



END PART 1
****************************************************************************

Aiko is copywrite Nakajima Katsuhitsu and Shirasaka Kazumi. Devil Hunter
Yohko is copywrite it's respective owner. No challenge is being made to
the intellectual property of these people.

(1) Yet another example of Genma's destructive teaching. He imbued Ranma
with an unreasonable amount of stubborness.

(2) Every male Ranma ever comes across blames him for any problems they
have in life. Mamoru just has some reason for it right here.

(3) It fit. It was the only thing that did.

(4) As proven any time a daimon opens it's mouth.

(5) Watch Project A-ko. It explains this.

(6) He ignored the fact he was ten times as full of himself. At least HE had
the skills to back it up.

Well, that's it for this block of chapters. Lotsa surprises and unexpected
stuff, huh? Well, I need a few prereaders. Someone who'll read through my
future messes and tell me what they think. Email me if you want the
position. Also, if anybody's wondering, the second Usa that came back is
just under Ranma in terms of ability when not in Senshi form, but in her
Senshi form (as Chibi-Moon or Neo-Moon, take your pick of names) she is
WAAY more powerful. As in easily kicking the crap out of any two Senshi
at once powerful. What happens, and I'll explain this, is since her all of
her physical attributes are highly enhanced while in Senshi form, she can
make much more effective use of her her abilities. The reason is that while,
in terms of RAW power, she's got less power than say Sailor Mars, she is
able to use much more of it and more effectively. Sailor Moon and company
have little in the way of combat training, with the exceptions of Makoto
and possibly Haruka. A lot of their fights degenerate into hucking magic
around like there's no tomorrow and clumsy dodging of the enemy's magic,
if they even bother. Most of the time they cover their faces and hope for
survival. Imagine Ranma with much more raw Ki. You get the picture.

Okay. I need Comments and Criticism. Good stuff though, please. None of
this flat out BS, consisting solely of "You Suck!" or other such drivel. I
am perfectly happy to have my faults and mistakes pointed out to me, so long
as it's done in at least a semi-polite manner and they tell me why.

I can be reached at the address at the top of this file.

My website is at:

http://www.geocities.com/chibievil/

'Till next time,
-Chibi Evil