Ranma ½ Night Shift 3

[Lawra]

‘This turned out really well.’ Kasumi thought to herself as she enjoyed dinner with her family and the Saotomes. Nodoka had taken care of everything, believing that she was feeling ill. It felt wrong to lie to her houseguest like that but she was feeling out of sorts mentally. She knew that this wouldn’t be a fast process, having seen it play out with Ranma. Memories would arrive in fits and bursts, usually related to something she was currently doing.

“Kasumi, are you sure you’re alright?” Nodoka asked worriedly, seeing her far away look.

She took a few moments to compose herself before answering. “Thank you, but I’m fine.” For months she had been trying to learn Lunarian under Ranma’s spotty tutelage but now she found herself slipping into it without thinking. Kasumi knew that Ranma hadn’t gone through this particular problem after she found the new Senshi sitting in the bathtub.

Even though her language problem was a nuisance, she was very excited for the trip Ranma was planning for tomorrow with just Nodoka and herself. A trip to a castle that survived the fall of the Silver Millenium. A place that she now knew she was a part of. Although she had no clue whatsoever where it was and how they would get there on such short notice.

Kasumi was so distracted by thoughts on what awareness of a past life would bring that she absently answered a question from Chibi-Usa in Lunarian. She smiled uneasily after seeing the look of confusion on everyones faces except for Ranma, Usa, and Genma; who continued eating without a care.

“I guess I should take it easy.” Kasumi nervously added, seeing that her father was starting to get emotional. “Auntie, if it’s alright, do you mind putting everything away? I think I should go lay down.” She met Ranma’s concerned gave briefly before standing up.

“Of course it is, I’m sure Usa-chan and Akane will be happy to help.” Nodoka volunteered the two younger females. “I’ll bring you something to drink when we’re done.”

“But I’m too short to reach anything.” Chibi-Usa protested.

“It’s an excellent training opportunity, girl.” Genma’s chopsticks flashed out and stole some food from the child’s plate. “You just have to jump.”

“Awww!”

zx

The next morning

Walking alongside her younger sister and permanent houseguest Ranma, Nabiki hovered a reasonable distance from Akane. It was already warm outside without a cloud in the sky, so she was looking forward to a wonderfully humid day that she would spend sweating in a classroom.

Ranma gave her a confused look as the currently female teen strode along the top of the canal fence. “Kasumi wakes up early to make waffles from scratch and now Nabiki is walking with us to school. I think somebody is screwing with us Akane.”

“You should be happy I’m walking to school with you, Saotome.” She replied snarkily. “Means I’m not at school preparing to sick Kuno on you.”

“You would be the one to rile him up.” The redhead stuck out her tongue. “He’s been behaving lately. Even after you told him that I had an engagement ring.”

“So don’t ruin it.” Akane added crossly.

“I said I wasn’t talking to him.” She looked away as though offended and crossed her arms.

“Well-- whatever, it’s nice that you wanted to walk to school with us.” Akane shifted over to walk a little closer to Nabiki.

“I just wanted to grace you two with my wonderful presence.” She snickered outwardly but inside she was on high alert.

Things were happening in Nerima and right now she wanted to be around the one person she knew would come out on top. Ranma may have been almost as big an idiot as Ryoga, but he had a proven track record of coming through when it mattered. And it seemed that Ranma was the center of things.

First Akane had begun to act slightly off around Ranma. Nothing that Nabiki hadn’t seen before but she had caught the almost excited glances her younger sister had been giving Ranma. That just didn’t happen, Akane got angry with Ranma, not happy to see him. Certainly Ranma voluntarily taking Akane to a fancy orchestra didn’t happen either. Complete with a limousine to drive them to and from. She was still trying to figure out where this sudden influx of money was coming from and how she could take advantage of it.

Then yesterday, Nodoka had vanished without a trace before anyone woke up. Nabiki figured that there had been a fight between mother and son after the concert. She had heard some loud voices in the room shared by the Saotomes, even if she hadn’t been able to hear the content. This led to a depressed Ranma spending the day in girl form, even after Nodoka had returned. That Nodoka hadn’t bothered her son about his form until he found hot water was really out of place.

But now Kasumi was acting weird. Talking strangely at dinner and retreating to her room alone before having hush hush conversations with Ranma. Something was definitely going on and Nabiki was being left completely out of the loop. She had been attacked by evil demons seeking to drain the life from her body and the people close to her were acting strange. Something was up!

“Nabiki, you haven’t caught what Kasumi has, have you?” Akane asked her in concern.

“Me? I’m fine, just wondering what Saotome is doing going to school as a girl.” She deflected her sisters attention away from herself.

Ranma going to school as a girl wasn’t too uncommon. The Saotome teen often found a way to be splashed by cool water and waited till the relative safety of the classroom to return to his birth form. But spending two days in a row voluntarily as a girl? That was new.

Nabiki had expected there to be some kind of banter back and forth but the two engaged teens barely said a word. ‘What is going on?’ It was starting to be a bit creepy and she was thankful for Kuno in his school uniform running towards them from Furinkan’s gate as soon as he saw them.

“Pigtailed goddess!” Kuno greeted in joy as he ran up to them. “Do my eyes deceive me or have you finally been freed from your bonds and will attend this sometimes atrocious institute of learning along with me?” The tall boy skidded to a stop in front of them to block Ranma’s path. “Oh my love!” He shouted and prepared to glomp onto the much smaller redhead.

Ranma held up her hand and Kuno instantly stopped. “Can you at least say hello first?”

The samurai wannabe blinked repeatedly at the dainty hand pointed towards his face before he took a step back and coughed into his own hand. “I’ve been rude. Greetings on this most wonderful of mornings! But it cannot match my goddess who hath bound fire itself to be her hair. Or the beauty and poise of Tendo Akane. A shame it is that this day would be marred by the dark shadow miasma in the form of her elder and far lesser sister.” He finished, eyes sliding over her as though she was a worm who had crawled out of some hole.

“And what did you want?” Ranma asked, clearly as unmoved by Kuno’s speech as the two born females.

“Why to greet you and perhaps to ask you to accompany me on a date.”

“Sorry, I’m going somewhere tonight.”

“Tomorrow?”

“My week is full.”

“Whilst I am disappointed, I will persevere, and hope that your schedule next week shall not consume all your time.”

“That’s great.” Ranma looked at her wrist as though she was wearing a watch. “But shouldn’t we be getting to class, it’d sure be a shame if we had to deal with your crazy coconut headed father. Right?”

“Of course!” He shouted and pulled a boken out from nowhere. “Fear not! I shall go and vanquish my parental nuisance and free this hall of learning from his tyranny!”

Nabiki watched with her sister and Ranma as Kuno left them in a rush towards school. “Didn’t he hear that pineapple head is gone for the month?” She asked incredulously. “We threw a party.”

“Are you really going to look a gift horse in the mouth?” Akane asked.

 

[Wharpt]

There is an itchy sensation between my shoulder-blades which compells me to ask... What role have you chosen for the observant-but-obsessed Nabiki?

 

[Lawra]

There is an itchy sensation between my shoulder-blades which compells me to ask... What role have you chosen for the observant-but-obsessed Nabiki?

Not much of one. She's just a little bit leery of being out on her own after nearly being the victim of a murderous monster attack. So she's going to stick to Ranma for protection. Not that she would ever admit such a thing.

Keeping her close to but out of the loop for as long as possible is kind of my goal. What role were you expecting?

 

[Lawra]

As she turned away from her shoe locker with her smaller set for days like these, Ranma found herself facing Akane’s two friends, Yuka and Sayuri. Holding her slippers in front of her and looking between the two girls in confusion, she glanced over to where Akane’s locker was and saw that she was already rushing to class. ‘No help there.’

“Ranma-san.” Yuka said, snapping her attention back to the two schoolgirls.

“Yea?” She bent down slightly to slip on both of her slippers. “What’s-- up?” Ranma asked, not used to conversing with either of the two.

“We heard that you like Sailor Theia.”

“Hiroshi and Daisuke are liars.” Her shoulders drooped and she groaned. That stupid rumor was still going around.

“We know.” Sayuri nodded. “But Akane showed us the crazy autograph she got from Sailor Theia and said that you got it for her.”

“Oh.” Ranma’s eyes darted back to the doorway Akane had disappeared through in a rush. “What about it?”

“Did you really get it from her?” Yuka asked excitedly.

“Is it really in an ancient language from the Moon?” Sayuri added on, equally excited.

“Akane told you that?” She asked, angry that Akane had already let slip information, but she had to take her ego into consideration. Leaning back against the stack of lockers and casually crossing her arms, she looked away absently. “I mean, why do you want to know?”

“Ranma-san, this is no joke. If you know a Sailor Senshi please tell us.” Sayuri requested seriously.

“It’s not my place to say.” She thoughtlessly played with the end of her more intricately braided pigtail. “But if you need help with something maybe I could handle it? I am a rather great martial artist after all.”

Yuka turned to look at Sayuri. “It sounds like he knows something.”

“Agreed, Ranma-san isn’t a very good liar.” Sayuri agreed.

“Would you look at the time.” Ranma tried to gracefully extricate herself from this conversation. “Class is about to start, we better hurry if we don’t want to be late.”

“Please could you just give this to her?” Sayuri held out a sealed envelope.

“What is it?” She asked, taking the offered envelope. “And why is it so important that I need to deliver it to someone that I may or may not know?”

“Might as well tell you so you don’t peek.” Yuka started. “We’re starting up a club in her honor. It’s an invitation to come to our first real meeting so we can thank her for saving all of us the other night.”

“Oh-- I’m flattered.” She said honestly, taking a more careful look at the expensive paper used for the envelope.

“Why would you be flattered?” Sayuri asked in confusion.

“That you trusted me to deliver your letter, of course!” Ranma laughed nervously. “But class is about to start so bye!” She kept her letter in hand as she rushed away from the two girls. ‘Hmm, maybe just this once a Senshi will make a public appearance.’

----------

The senshi have a magic PO box that sends all the received mail to a private location where a certain pair of Mau sort through it.

 

[Wharpt]

There is an itchy sensation between my shoulder-blades which compells me to ask... What role have you chosen for the observant-but-obsessed Nabiki?

Not much of one. She's just a little bit leery of being out on her own after nearly being the victim of a murderous monster attack. So she's going to stick to Ranma for protection. Not that she would ever admit such a thing.

Keeping her close to but out of the loop for as long as possible is kind of my goal. What role were you expecting?

Personally, I'd like to be a dimension-hopping invulnerable immortal with a multi-layered starship disguised as a high tech aircraft and run by a wise-cracking AI... but that's not important right now.

 

[Lawra]

Personally, I'd like to be a dimension-hopping invulnerable immortal with a multi-layered starship disguised as a high tech aircraft and run by a wise-cracking AI... but that's not important right now.

Didn't ask what you want to be, asked what you thought would become of Nabiki that made you ask that question?

 

[Lawra]

Waiting as patiently as she could to use the locker room, Ranma leaned against the cinderblock wall with her arms crossed, watching as several boys passed her by on the way to the mens side. It stunk that she had to use the womens one but swim class meant that she had to be female and the staff was quite adamant that she not strip in front of a group of hormone addled boys.

Not that she enjoyed that kind of attention on the normal days where she changed in there. None of the showers had any hot water so their was always an abundance of cool water to be on the alert for. So, as soon as class would begin, and all the girls were supposed to be out, Ranma was free to enter.

Checking the time to make sure all the girls should be in the class, Ranma entered into the normally forbidden zone. Instantly she heard the voices of classmates who were taking their sweet time to get into the pool area. Ignoring them so she could go enjoy the cool water, Ranma ran through the combination to get into her locker.

“Oh look, it’s Saotome.” Emiko jeered with a slam of her locker, causing the girl’s three friends to giggle.

“Hi Emiko!” She greeted with sickeningly sweet and completely false cheer. Hurriedly removing her shirt and tank top, the last thing she wanted to do was listen to Emiko. The only one she wanted to talk to right now was Akane, who had been avoiding her all day long.

“I always wanted to ask, Saotome.” The black haired girl came up to stand a short distance away to Ranma’s right. “Is Jusenkyo some place for super perverts to get their jollies?”

Ignoring the girl’s question, Ranma continued to get changed.

“Guys like you who do nothing but work out are supposed to be all muscle. It really doesn’t make much sense for you to look like you do.”

“If that’s your idea of a pick up line, you’re not my type.” Ranma rolled her eyes at how hard Emiko tried to make jokes at her expense.

“But seriously.” The normal teen pressed on. “It must be nice to come by your looks magically. Cause naturally you’d probably look like some freaky body builder.”

“It is very nice to know that you think I’m cute, Emiko.” Ranma snickered as she slipped on her navy one piece swimsuit, hearing the outer door open and then close with a loud bang. “Thanks.”

“I’m saying you’re a fake.” Emiko spat harshly. “Just some sicko crossdresser who gets off on being a big breasted bimbo.” She sneered.

“You should really relax.” Ranma sighed in an overly dramatic way.

“Or what?” One of Emiko’s friends asked, feeling emboldened by having numbers on her side.

“Everybody knows you’d never hit a girl.” The other added.

Ranma closed her eyes and laughed slowly before focusing her blue eyes on Emiko’s average brown. “No-- I don’t like to hit people weaker than me.” She took a single step towards the normal girl, who’s eyes opened wide, and reached up to pick a fallen hair from Emiko’s shoulder and throw it to the side. “And I couldn’t imagine anyone weaker.” Ranma smiled pleasantly, enjoying the way the other girl’s face turned a dark shade of red.

“I’m not weak, you freak.” Emiko was shaking she was so angry.

“Hey!” Sayuri yelled from the end of the locker row, stopping Emiko from doing something really stupid. “Shirokawa-sensei wanted to know why you’re taking so long?”

“Nothing.” Emiko and her two friends made a hasty retreat past Sayuri now that someone else was here to hear them.

Ranma just shrugged and closed her locker. It was understood that she would be a couple minutes late.

“Ranma-san, does that happen often?” Sayuri asked in concern.

“Does what happen?” She asked cluelessly.

“Them talking to you like that.” The born female clarified.

“Nah-- but occasionally someone feels like taking some kind of swing at me. No big deal.” Ranma was more annoyed by how Emiko insinuated that this was just some fake magically created body than anything else. Seeing that Sayuri looked a little perturbed by finding out that people took advantage of her easy going nature, Ranma added. “I’ll just be sure to accidentally splash her in that nice cool water.”

“If you say so.” Sayuri looked doubtful as she led the way outside.

‘I’m so happy this is the last class of the day.’ Ranma smiled giddily at the opportunity to cool off after a long hot day sitting. Once out in the bright sun, she immediately searched for, and found Akane at the shallow end decked out in water wings and a big ring around her waist.

“Hey Akane!” She greeted, amused by the useless goggles and snorkel. “Why have you been avoiding me all day?”

“Uh.” Akane grimaced and tried to make a big show of adjusting the goggles to fit on her face. “I wasn’t.”

“Yea okay-- I just wanted to remind you that--.” Ranma paused to make sure no one would overhear. “Me being a Senshi is supposed to be a secret.”

“Ranma, I just mentioned that you got that autograph for me from a Senshi. It’s no big deal.”

“Alright, but please remember that I’m trying to keep it a secret.”

“Whatever Ranma, you should be more worried about Kasumi speaking in that weird language in front of the family than me talking to a couple friends.” Akane said dismissively and jumped in the water.

‘No one knew what language she was speaking.’ Ranma thought, no longer able to speak freely as the teacher came over to give her the needed exercises to do for the day.

 

[Wharpt]

Personally, I'd like to be a dimension-hopping invulnerable immortal with a multi-layered starship disguised as a high tech aircraft and run by a wise-cracking AI... but that's not important right now.

Didn't ask what you want to be, asked what you thought would become of Nabiki that made you ask that question?

With Ranma disappearing at odd times and a new red-headed Senshi showing up; plus Akane's new autograph and who got it for her; add her older sister now beginning to speak in tongues, it would lead me to believe she could add 2 plus 2 together and strike gold on whom Sailor Theia is. With that knowledge she could either destroy the Senshi or be a big boon to their cause.

 

[Lawra]

With Ranma disappearing at odd times and a new red-headed Senshi showing up; plus Akane's new autograph and who got it for her; add her older sister now beginning to speak in tongues, it would lead me to believe she could add 2 plus 2 together and strike gold on whom Sailor Theia is. With that knowledge she could either destroy the Senshi or be a big boon to their cause.

Like the discussion the girls had, Nabiki would just find reasons why Theia is another redhead. Ranma's out and about town enough to not be missed and wearing the sailor fuku? Nabiki has no clue that Akane has a gift from Theia. She has no idea what language Kasumi was speaking in and considering the odd and magical like nature of some diseases in Ranma, she may just think there's something weird going around she could catch too.

Nabiki won't find out until Ryoga-chan comes calling to their home. At which point she'll keep her mouth shut.

 

[Wharpt]

Nabiki won't find out until Ryoga-chan comes calling to their home. At which point she'll keep her mouth shut.

Ryoga comes a-calling? OH SH..!!!

 

[Lawra]

Nabiki won't find out until Ryoga-chan comes calling to their home. At which point she'll keep her mouth shut.

Ryoga comes a-calling? OH SH..!!!

No more direction problems. :snigger:

--------

Kasumi fretted over her appearance as she waited for Ranma to return from school. Her obi had been tied three times, her hair had been removed from her ponytail, brushed, and carefully put back two times. She was wearing one of her best kimonos, it was a dark blue with white snow falling over a small amount of yellow flowers. Reaching up to adjust her bow once again, a knock on her door made her accidentally pull it off.

Sighing and trying to calm her nerves, she rose from her bed to answer, and found Nodoka standing on the other side. The Saotome matriarch looked as regal as ever, long hair pulled up in a loose bun, wearing one of her usual burgundy kimonos, and family blade held in both arms.

“Am I interrupting?” Nodoka asked, noticing the yellow ribbon held in her hand.

“No not at all.” She hastily answered. Ranma had explained that Nodoka would be coming on this trip, something that Kasumi was having a hard time wrapping her mind around.

“Do you mind if I come in?”

“Of course not.” She stepped to the side, allowing the older woman to enter her room before closing the door.

“I take it you haven’t seen my son either?”

“No, he hasn’t come back from school yet.” She held the ribbon between both hands in front of her hips. “It’s not that strange, he likes to stay out after school to watch for any monsters.”

“I didn’t know that.” Nodoka admitted, having only spent a small time around her son, and wouldn’t have been able to notice the pattern. “But it’s good that he takes his duty seriously.”

Falling into an uncomfortable silence, Kasumi really didn’t know how to talk to Nodoka now. She had been expecting the woman to be screaming about manliness, waving her sword around, and trying to force Ranma and Genma to commit seppuku. “Are you excited to see the castle?” She finally asked, trying to gauge Nodoka’s actual interest.

“I’m not sure what to expect.” Nodoka admitted, taking a seat on Kasumi’s bed, and laying her sword down. “But this all seems very important to my son and I’m trying to be patient.”

“I don’t know what to expect either. Ranma’s told me a great deal but I’ve never seen anything for myself.”

“This castle-- does my son go there often as well?”

“You would have to ask him.” She didn’t badger Ranma with questions of where he spent his time away from the Tendo property. “Maybe I should give his cell a call.” She mused, quickly tying her ribbon back into a bow around the elastic holding her hair in place. “I think I will.”

“He has a cell phone?” Nodoka asked in surprise, following her as she went to go use the phone downstairs. “There’s so much I don’t know.” The woman admitted sadly with her eyes staring at the floor.

“I’ll write the number down for you.” She offered as they ran into Akane carrying her schoolbag. “Welcome home.” She greeted her younger sister.

“Hi Kasumi, Hi Aunty.” Akane returned her greeting cheerfully before noticing that they were both overdressed for the home. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Ranma was going to take us someplace-- yes.” She answered hesitantly, just as unused to talking to her sister about Senshi things as she was with Nodoka. It was strange that Ranma would invite both of them but leave her sister out of it. Even if Ranma did just take Akane to a fancy concert.

“Where?” Akane asked.

“That’s for Ranma to say.” Kasumi smiled gently and went to the phone to call him.

zx

“I’m just getting done now, I’ll meet you in my room.” Ranma finished a brief conversation with Kasumi and put her cell phone away.

Scanning the small alleyway for any more monsters, she had found a trio waiting to ambush people and had made short work of them. It had almost seemed like they were purposely waiting to be found by her. That wasn’t too strange, but there had been another somewhere who had stayed out of things, and had apparently gone back to wherever the demons hid before she had destroyed the third. At the next meeting she would have to mention the oddity.

Remaining in Senshi form, she leapt up to the nearest rooftop and headed towards the nearest teleport network location. It had taken a significant amount of time and effort to create the network with Sailor Mercury. Initially it was only to create a link so Ranma could more easily visit the other Senshi. They had slowly expanded the amount of access points as soon as they had worked all the kinks out. Juuban and Nerima were covered by dozens of them and they had even made a few at farther out places, like a small tropical island retreat Setsuna had purchased.

Activating the node, the world vanished from view before being quickly replaced by her room. “Ready to go?” She asked before noticing that Akane was also with Nodoka and Kasumi. “Oh.” Ranma smiled sheepishly.

“You were going to invite me-- weren’t you?” Akane asked, dangerously close to blowing her top.

“What? Of course I was.” She answered quickly. “Why do you think I was trying to talk to you in school?” Ranma tried to deflect blame off herself. This trip was primarily for Kasumi and Nodoka’s benefit, it’s not like Akane could consume all her free time.

“Son.” Nodoka’s voice silenced any further questioning by Akane, the woman looking at Ranma’s uniform with clear disapproval. “If you were going to keep us waiting, you should have called.”

“Sorry.” She looked down and adjusted the bow on her chest. “I had to take care of a few monsters but I’m ready now.”

“So where are we going?” Akane asked.

“It’ll be a good surprise.” She quickly went around the three women and maneuvered them into a rough circle with Akane on the far side from herself. “Alright, now hold hands.” Ranma instructed, holding out her own for Nodoka and Kasumi to take. “I’ve never tried to teleport this many people before so don’t let go.”

Seeing the suddenly dubious look Akane gave her she rolled her eyes and added. “Hey, don’t blame me if you end up somewhere west of Jupiter.” Closing her eyes, Ranma felt her hair and bows start to rise and flutter as she gathered the needed power. With a flash of rainbow colored light bright enough to see through her eyelids, the world dropped away.

---------

3000th post

 

[Wharpt]

3000th post

Congradulations!!!

 

[Lawra]

Here's the scene that's supposed to go between Hotaru/Setsuna and then Ranma finding Nodoka.

--------

Ranma didn’t know what consequences would come from showing off in front of the entire family. She was already stuck as a girl for a short amount of time because she used her Senshi magic as a male the night before. She knew that neither Genma or Soun would allow her to get by without an explanation on how she had made Happosai vanish mid-leap. The two would hound her to the farthest reaches of the universe in order to find out that secret. No doubt they were just waiting and trying to figure out the best way to dig the information out of her.

But that future annoyance was second in her mind to her concern over her mother. Nodoka didn’t act like this. Her mother didn’t just vanish or have a delayed reaction. It was so out of character that Ranma almost prefered to have a sword being waved in her face so that she knew it was real.

“You!”

Ranma tiredly turned to Chibi-Usa, the little girl stomping towards her with a pair of hairbrushes held in one hand. Her eyes widened at the cascade of pink hair that reached down past Usagi’s hips. “What’s with the hair?” She asked, having never expected to see the girl’s hair out of her odango style for any reason.

Grunting as Usa fell into her lap, she stared at the wall of pink now taking up her field of view. “Brush.” The little girl demanded.

“Brush?” She grabbed Usa under the armpits and lifted her to be sitting on the floor in front of her.

“You complained about my hairstyle, so you do better.” Usa turned around long enough to shove the brushes in Ranma’s hands along with several hair ties.

“Kasumi is more into hair than me, you should ask her.” She suggested.

“Backing down from a challenge?” Usa teased.

“Fine.” She snorted. “Something for training.”

“I want something cute!”

“You’ll get what you get.”

“You’re right! No matter what I’ll look cute!”

“I would never say that.”

“Are you saying you can’t do it?”

“Shut up.” She snorted, tugging on Usa’s freshly washed hair. “How’d you dry it so fast?” Ranma asked curiously, knowing that Usa hadn’t used a blow dryer or waited the hours it would have taken to air dry.

“Magic.” The little girl giggled.

“And who taught you that?” Ranma asked, purposely being rough as she brushed tangles out of the child’s hair. Whenever she was randomly splashed with water and became a girl, she would discretely use a spell to dry herself off. The elder Usagi certainly didn’t know how to do that and never showed any interest in everyday magic.

“Momma did.” Usa answered as Ranma’s hands became a blur. “She likes to help with my hair.”

“Sounds about right.” She could imagine no one else who would enjoy spending entire days brushing and braiding hair than Usagi. Finishing preparation, she paused to grab a couple handfuls of pink to consider a style that would be good for training, and if she could get away with tricking her into something silly.

“In the Silver Millenium, did your mother ever do this?” Chibi-Usa asked suddenly.

“What made you think of that?” Ranma paused in confusion.

“Just curious.”

“I don’t remember her.” She had a lot of vaguely positive emotions tied to Euryphaessa’s mother but that was it. Truthfully her memory made swiss cheese look solid. Maybe sometime in the future she would remember, but obsessing over a detail never filled in the gap. “That was a really long time ago.”

“Queen Serenity?”

Ranma finished up half the braid before answer. “Why would you ask about her?” She asked slowly in a flat tone.

“Weren’t you two close?”

“Not like that.” She scoffed at the idea. “I was her guardian before the other Senshi grew up. We were only close because I was always at her side.” Leave it to a little kid to imagine such a ridiculous idea.

“So did you see all the secret hush-hush stuff no one else was supposed to see?” Usa asked conspiratorially.

“If I did, I wouldn’t tell you.” Ranma finished with the other side of the gir’s hair and quickly tied the elastic tie into place. “Done, go bug Pop.” She flicked one of the new pigtails over Usa’s shoulder and pushed her lightly.

“But I have to help you find your mom.” Usa spun around while feeling her new hairstyle. Behind her bangs, two braids pulled her hair tight as they curved backwards to the base of her skull before turning into two pigtails that ended mid back. “I like it!” She cheered and fell forward to hug Ranma. “Lemme do yours now!”

“You’ve done enough to my hair.” She looked away with a haughty sniff.

“Don’t worry--” Usa didn’t ask for permission before she got up and ran around to rip Ranma’s hair tie out. “I swear you’ll like it!” She announced as she began to unbraid Ranma’s pigtail.

‘Whatever, I’ll just put it back when she’s done playing.’ Ranma thought, looking out the dojo doors in boredom.

Her boredom turned to annoyance as Genma came stomping out of the home towards the dojo. She was in no mood to deal with her father’s endlessly annoying training tactics. There was simply too much on her mind to put up with hours of being tormented.

“Boy, enough slacking off, it’s time for training!” Genma froze in his tracks as he finally noticed Ranma’s glare. The elder Saotome’s beady eyes slowly moved to where Usa was and his sweating increased. He gulped slowly before taking a step back. “On second thought perhaps we’ll take the day off and enjoy this beautiful morning. Bye!”

zx

Genma knew that he was safe as soon as he was out of Ranma’s line of sight. Breathing a sigh of relief, he also took solace in the fact that no one but his little niece had seen him run away. Although Usagi giving him a similar doom glare had been something he was unprepared for.

He had learned over the many years he had spent raising Ranma, that when his son gave him that look, it was in Genma’s best interest to not push the issue. Especially now that with all the boy’s training with Happosai and Cologne, it took every sneaky trick in his arsenal to keep up with his child.

Tomorrow morning or maybe the next he would start up training with Ranma again. That would give him enough time to get over whatever it was.

‘I wonder where Usagi learned how to do that glare?’ He wondered, shivering at the memory of those little red eyes mimicking her cousin perfectly.


-------

It'll be added to the Nodoka scene that Ranma was given a fishtail braid.

 

[Christopher Robin]

Are the implications that Ranma is Chibi-Usa's mother deliberate?

 

[Lawra]

Deliberate red herrings. He's neither the father or the mother.

 

[Dumbledork]

Deliberate red herrings. He's neither the father or the mother.

No, he's both at the same time. Now that would be funny.

 

[Lawra]

Deliberate red herrings. He's neither the father or the mother.

No, he's both at the same time. Now that would be funny.

Outside of some short little crack omake, that's not a very funny idea.

Maybe about 40 seconds long.
http://youtu.be/C0KvL8T2vEY

 

[Wharpt]

‘I wonder where Usagi learned how to do that glare?’ He wondered, shivering at the memory of those little red eyes mimicking her cousin perfectly.

Oh, somewhere around 50 to 850 years in the future!

 

[Lawra]

Oh, somewhere around 50 to 850 years in the future!

Actually Ranma was mostly absent or just in the background for her entire life. :evil2:

 

[shiki]

So... how much longer are you going to be in the introductory stage? Not that I don't find Usa amusing but I've been wondering how much longer this will go on.

 

[Lawra]

So... how much longer are you going to be in the introductory stage? Not that I don't find Usa amusing but I've been wondering how much longer this will go on.

Akane getting interviewed is not going to last past this chapter and that's with Minako/Ami going to get 'introduced' at the castle. (there to be supportive of kasumi and don't even know Akane is going to be there) Past that none of the senshi are really going to be brought in until they are dealing with Ryoga's plans at which point Akane is a very unimportant concern.

Ryoga at the end of this chapter will do something that's going to accelerate things from the monster side of things. Then in the next will be quickly giving her own declaration of war on the senshi that warrants their full attention.

I do remember posting a rough outline and I am trying to stick to it and have this only be something like 6-7 chapters at the very most. I'm kind of amused by the reception for a character who's usually disliked vehemently. Didn't think that was going to happen. She was supposed to just be this really in the background character who's motivation only becomes important at the end, rather than a way to give out background details and for amusement.

 

[shiki]

I may not like canon Usa but slightly annoying troll Usa is great. In fact, she is my favorite part of this story and was the number 1 reason that I continued reading this fic in the first place.

 

[Lawra]

Forgot to throw this up here. If anyone wants to comment on the stuff as I am working on it, here's the google doc link.

Some spoilers at the bottom and in a few of the comments.

 

[Lawra]

Kasumi watched through an oscillating rainbow of colors as the room around her dropped downward. She felt lighter than air with her ponytail floating straightly to the right side of her vision. They were flying upwards but there was no wind or feeling that they were moving. Akane nearly crushed her hand as her younger sister looked around in a panic. Nodoka wore a similar look of awe as herself, with the Earth already dozens than hundred of kilometers beneath them as their speed appeared to increase.

“I told you to hang on.” Ranma remarked in amusement, not looking at where they had been or around them but straight up.

Their path arced over the Earth away from the Sun and she barely noticed a sudden burst in speed that sent them out into space. Passing by the Moon, she nearly missed the blue light they were approaching with all the stars that suddenly seemed so much brighter. “It is a castle.” Kasumi didn’t know what she had been expecting but a literal straight from a book castle wasn’t it.

Surrounded by a sphere of pale blue atmosphere sat the castle perched on an upside down pyramid twice as tall as it was wide. Tall structures made of white stone with red and gold accents were spread out in an irregular pattern across a forested landscape. Several impossibly thin towers rose upwards nearly as tall as the pyramid on the opposite side. The look was that of a European castle but many of the structures had a clear Greek influence.

Memories tickled at Kasumi’s mind as they quickly slowed and altered their position to descend down to the circular platform made from a dark gray and highly reflective stone. Gravity slowly reasserted its hold over her body as her feet made contact with a large circular decoration in the center of the platform made of a black stone with star-like flecks over it’s surface.

‘This is where guests arrived.’ She thought, ignoring her sister and Nodoka as they took in a the grassy courtyard surrounding them before a giant hall. Finally getting her sister’s death hold on her hand off, she shuffled over towards the great dark wood doors leading inside the hall. ‘I don’t stand there-- I should stand over here.’ She finally found a spot that felt right and turned to face the landing area. ‘Maybe a little over this way.’ She took a step to the side and was satisfied that she was able to match something up with a memory she could barely recall.

Kasumi found herself being stared at by Nodoka and Akane in concern. Uncomfortable with the attention she bowed her head and clasped her hands together. A small hand on her arm made her glance over to see that Ranma, still in her Senshi form, was standing next to her with a reassuring smile on her face.

“It’s alright.” Ranma let her hand fall from Kasumi’s arm.

“It’s embarrassing.” She answered in a small voice. Here she was, at a magical castle out in space, and she was the center of attention.

“You’re home, that’s all that matters.” The red head sounded so reassuring and confident that Kasumi almost forgot that there were two others witnessing their brief conversation.

“What’s going on?” Akane demanded in panic, having had no clue what was going to happen. “Where are we?” She looked around wildly at the courtyard.

“Welcome to Castle Neith.” Ranma announced and swept her arm to the side and back, sounding overly excited to show off.

“A castle--.” Akane gulped loudly before looking up at the bright star filled sky. “And we’re in space.” She noted in shock.

“Yup.” Ranma smiled smugly. “We’re in a stationary orbit around the Earth, just past the Moon.” Before the red head had finished her explanation of their location, tiny flecks of white light gathered to envelop everyone but Ranma’s bodies below their necks.

“Ranma, what is this?” Kasumi asked, raising her hand to watch as the light danced above her skin while lightly tickling her.

“I don’t think Lautia likes your clothes.” Ranma answered with a tired sigh.

“It’s my school uniform, not the best but none of them are.” Akane grumbled, trying to brush away the light from her arms and body. “And it’s expensive so this glitter stuff better not ruin it.”

“Son, I think a better explanation is required.” Nodoka added, trying not to sound concerned or overwhelmed by what was going on.

“Well Lautia?” Ranma asked, looking absently out into empty space.

“I’m sorry.” A soft voice similar to Ranma’s but higher in pitch answered. With a deceptively loud pop, a tiny version of the Senshi, complete with little sailor fuku, appeared floating chest high before her. “You were running so far behind schedule that I assumed your guests hadn’t had time to change into appropriate clothing.”

Kasumi thought about exclaiming how cute the little floating Ranma was but something told her that was not a wise thing to do.

“She’s adorable!” Akane nearly squealed, rushing up to stand next to the small duplicate, leaving a trail of light particles that slowly caught up with her. Her momentary childish glee ended as she narrowed her eyes and added sarcastically. “Wait-- of course only you would be so egotistical as to have a fairy mascot in your own image.”

“Fairy mascot?” The small girl asked in shock and outrage. “Why you little ragamuffin.” The girl fumed before Ranma pulled her duplicate away from Akane. “You’re lucky I don’t vent you out into the vacuum!”

“She doesn’t know-- can you just finish up?” Ranma asked nervously, standing between the angry miniature Senshi and Akane.

“Oh alright-- I just thought your guests would enjoy a show.” The duplicate nodded her head and all the light around them started to dissipate from the top down.

Kasumi felt the weight of her kimono vanish, to be replaced by a much lighter garment. Now she wore a sky blue one shoulder evening gown, the back ended so that it would trail along behind her while the front only came down to her ankles. ‘I guess I shouldn’t have made a fuss over my kimono.’ She twisted a bit to see that there was a large bow with tails as long as the dress positioned at her lower back.

She froze as the small copy of Ranma flew over to hover in front of her. “Um-- hello.” She greeted awkwardly.

“It’s a pleasure to see you again Pyrrha-sama.” The little girl returned the greeting with a small bow of her head. “I hope you don’t mind that I took that dress from your closet.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you-- again as well.” She bowed her head, not remembering ever meeting the guardian or having this dress, but not wishing to be rude. “But my name is Kasumi not Pyrrha.”

“Oh-- of course!” The mini Senshi agreed and clapped her hands together. “I kept everything as you left it. As best I could of course, it has been quite some time, and some of the things were perishable unfortunately.”

“Alright.” She didn’t know how to respond so she just smiled pleasantly and glanced over towards her sister.

Akane’s dress was similar but with two shoulder straps, no back bow, and in a dark turquoise. The short haired girl’s face was a mix of confusion and muted excitement. Nearby, Nodoka stood inspecting her own garnet dress also with dual shoulder straps. The Saotome woman had a long back bow like Kasumi but with the bows forming small wing shapes.

“Son, where is my kimono?” Nodoka asked, fidgeting uncomfortably with a gold ring at the base of each shoulder strap. “I appreciate this gesture but I prefer my own clothes.”

“Lautia you should have asked first.” Ranma chastised the smaller version of herself, the guardian crossed her arms and spun away with a huff. “How about you give them back their clothes.”

“This is no way to have guests in the castle.” Lautia sniffed haughtily. “Presentation standards must be maintained.”

“If I wear it do I get to keep it?” Akane asked hopefully.

“I’m sure you can.” Kasumi answered without thinking. “But be sure to thank her for the gift.”

Akane’s eyes widened in shock before she bowed to Lautia. “Thank you very much for the gift.”

“No thanks are needed.” Lautia floated a bit higher with a proud little look on her face. “As an Earthling, you can’t be expected to know all the mores of proper society.”

“Lautia.” Ranma warned.

“Apologies Ranma-dono.” The little girl responded with clearly false cheer. In front of Akane a small plain brown box appeared and hovered at shoulder height. Nodoka’s dress shimmered briefly before returning to her original kimono. “I have other duties to attend to” She added before vanishing with the same popping sound as her arrival.

“Sorry about that.” Ranma apologized tiredly, mostly towards Nodoka. “She’s been here all alone for a really long time and she’s set in her ways.”

“It’s alright.” Nodoka checked for some kind of flaw with how her kimono had been returned. “Everything seems to be in order. But what did she mean when she mentioned being behind schedule?”

“Honestly I don’t know.” Ranma answered with a shrug. “She’s keeping it from me too.”

‘Definitely set in her ways.’ Kasumi nodded to herself.

“And what is with the mini-you calling Kasumi ‘Pyrrha’?” Akane asked, having caught the little conversation between Kasumi and the guardian.

“That’s because Kasumi is reincarnated like me.” Ranma answered simply, gesturing towards the large doors, and leaving to walk down the short path without offering an explanation.

“Kasumi gets to be a Senshi too?” Akane eyes got very large and Kasumi could see that her younger sister had all the facial tics indicating that she was desperately trying not to declare this to be the most unfair thing ever.

“Oh no-- I could never be a Senshi.” Kasumi answered her sisters suggestion nervously. “I was Sailor Theia’s advisor.” She hastily added even though she didn’t directly remember her position yet.

“Ranma, why in the world won’t you start warning us before you drop these things on us?” Akane demanded, storming up the path and into the hall. “I bet you didn’t even-- tell-- oh.”

Kasumi followed after her sister worriedly, partially agreeing that Ranma hadn’t made it that clear she was going to start receiving memories from another life. “Oh my.” She gasped and slowed to a halt, distantly noticing that Nodoka had followed and was now at her side.

The building on the outside had been a four story high rectangle built with white stone with a footprint the size of the Tendo property. Inside it was the completely opposite. The floor was made of black marble, polished to a mirror finish, and with a thin white marble band separating each of the two meter square slabs. There didn’t seem to be any walls, just equally spaced large pillars running up one third of the distance to the roof before curving inwards to connect to it’s partner forming a half circle vaulted ceiling.

The walls that did exist were made of a dark gray stone that blended into the dark floor and only went to where the pillars started to curve inwards. As masterful as all the stonework was, the real eye catching feature were in the bays between arches. Beautiful three dimensional projections of all the planets jutted slightly out into the room, spinning serenely with stars twinkling far behind them. Underneath each planetary display was a small empty display on a meter high pillar of black marble.

At the far side of the room, taking up the entire wall was a larger projection showing the Sun, Earth, and Moon. There was even a little representation of the castle floating in it’s position around the Earth. Underneath the projection was a platform raised up two steps with two ornate gold and red plush seats. The one to their right was larger with an upwards facing crescent formed into the taller back near the top. (5)

Ranma strode confidently towards the two thrones, heels making a loud echo against the hard stone. “Sorry this is so old fashioned.” The red head turned enough to address them, voice carrying to be like she was right next to them. “This was made to be grand and impressive.” She gestured widely with her arms before stopping near the steps up to the thrones, giving a polite bow of her head towards the larger one, she spun around to face them. “Why are you standing at the door?”

Kasumi was the first to start forward, still in awe at the magical hall surrounding her. “You lived here?” She asked in a daze, voice also carrying clearly across the room.

“Of course not.” Ranma laughed lightly and realizing how rude she was being, came back towards the group. “This is all for show. But the first time I came here I practically lived in this place, just watching the planets spin.” The red head slowed to a stop and gazed up at the bright blue image of Neptune.

“It is amazing but I think I may need to sit down for a while.” Nodoka added. “This bigger on the inside look is making me dizzy.”

Ranma practically teleported to be next to Nodoka. “You alright? Not everyone can deal with the effect.”

“I’m fine son.” Nodoka smiled warmly at her childs concern. “I’m just not used to all of this.”

“Right.” The Senshi nodded rapidly. “Let’s just keep going to the actual home.” She gestured towards a doorway in the wall that was designed to be overlooked.

Kasumi agreed with moving on for now and letting the alien nature of the building sink in before seeing it again. ‘I do hope they paid the cleaners well.’ She made the mistake of glancing down and realized another unnatural feature, the floor didn’t reflect any of them, just the room.

--------

5 - That is Queen Serenity’s seat so she’s always there to watch over the proceedings

 

[Wharpt]

Borrowing Gallifreyan technology for the Grand Hall? I like it! The semi-reflective floor is an especially nice touch! :yay: