For If We Shadows Have Offended... DEAL WITH IT!
A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover, with elements of other stuff...
Disclaimer: Neither Ranma 1/2 nor Sailor Moon belongs to me, and I'm not making any money from this. The idea/concept of the Sidhe is not mine either, although I put my own interpretation of the various stories and myths for the purposes of writing this thing. Robin Goodfellow (Puck) isn't my character; I'm not even sure where the name first originated.
The rather warped sense of humor and the various... err... "incidents" are completely my own creation...
It was quiet in the small neighborhood in Juuban, Tokyo, as the sun peaked above the horizon, glimmering through the small grove of trees that seemed almost isolated from the rest of the world. Long before most residents would arise and go about their dull and ordinary lives, and long after those who walk the night of neon lights and streetlamps have gone to their rest, dawn's rosy fingers slowly stretched towards the sky, in preparation for a new day. (AN: sorry... Latin/Vergil joke... couldn't resist...)
If dawn had known just what would be happening in that insignificant grove that early morning, she would have snatched her rosy fingers right back and sat on them.
It began with a curious shimmer in the air, so faint that it's existance would perhaps be attributed to a trick of the light, above a small patch of mushrooms, which, in a totally meaningless coincidence, were arranged in a small circle, or a ring, perhaps four feet in diameter. The shimmer grew more pronounced, until it resembled a mirage forming above a hot and dusty road, although it was neither hot nor dusty, and was nowhere near a road.
Tiny sparks of light seemed to dance around the wavering air, and tiny rainbow flecks of color swirled around in meaningless patterns, and an observer (of which there were none, aside from a few drowsy birds and a squirrel racing up a tree) might hear a faint sound like tinkling bells, or perhaps many small windchimes.
Suddenly, the air seemed to split in two, not as if cut with a knife, or torn like a seam, but rather like a gentle parting of a crowd, and a figure stepped through.
He wasn't remarkably tall, but not remarkably short. His hair was black and of medium length, reaching perhaps an inch below the base of his neck, with three feathers from a hawk braided into it. His eyes were a compelling blue sea, with an expressive tilt to them, and a sparkle of one who enjoys life. His skin was soft in appearance, with few callouses, but the musculature beneath spoke of someone who was not unaccustomed to hard physical labor. As he turned his head to scan the terrain around him, his slightly pointed ears showed under his hair, and a slight smile graced his lips.
He wore a red greek-style shirt which came an inch or two below his waist, with a chinese dragon, in blue, red, black, and gold coiled around on the front and back, cinched by a belt made of black and silver braid. His pants were black, and he wore a form of chinese slippers.
He finished looking around, and strode off towards the awakening city, whistling a cheery tune once popular several centuries ago half a world away.
Ranma Goodfellow, once called Ranma Saotome, had not a care in the world.
****
10 years ago, in another world
Nodoka Saotome was, to put it mildly, upset. Her husband had stolen her son two days ago, leaving behind some silly piece of paper claiming that he would make Ranma into a 'Man among men,' or else, of all things, commit seppuku. Two days, and there was no word from the authorities, and no sign of Genma or her son.
She sat on a bench by her garden and stared at a small water fountain. Her little boy was only six, and he was out in the world without his mother.
There was a rustle, and the sound of soft footsteps walking up the path. More police; maybe they had found him.
She didn't bother to look up as she asked "Is there any new developments?"
The same question every time, and every time she got the same reply, a negative. It was if Genma had simply disappeared.
"Milady, developments in what?" asked a voice, speaking impeccable Japanese, but with an accent she hadn't heard for... seven years...
She looked up, and saw a figure she thought she'd never see again. He was tall, with black hair and blue eyes, and with an almost alien cast to his features. His skin was very pale, and his ears swept up into points. He looked just the same as when he'd left.
"Robin-san? What are you doing here"
He winced.
"Call me Puck... everyone else does. Now, what is this all about?"
She broke down.
"It's a nightmare! My husband, Genma, stole little Ranma two days ago, and nobody can find him!"
He froze.
"Ranma?"
"Yes... Ranma; our son."
His expression darkened, and he just stood there in front of her for a moment, staring off into space with a look that could kill.
Then he sat down beside her, and gently turned to face her.
"I'll find him and bring him back to you, I promise. I was originally coming here to take him and you home, to learn about the other side of his heritage."
"Robin-san... Puck... thank you for your offer, but I'm afraid that I can't accept; my place is here, and I have things I need to do. You can take Ranma with you; he's your son, and your heir. Just promise me that he'll visit me every so often."
He sighed, and his expression lighted.
"Granted, milady."
He bent to kiss her hand.
"And now, I must take my leave... good day, Nodo-chan."
As he turned and walked down the path, Nodoka sighed.
'Robin Goodfellow... always the charmer...'
****
Puck flew on the wings of a hawk as he circled out from Nodoka's house, searching for traces of his son. He was half-sidhe, and blood calls to blood.
He caught a tug from the north, and changed direction.
He had originally met Nodoka almost eight years ago. He had been wandering this mortal world for years, searching for mischief, and she had caught his eye with her passion and liveliness. He had flirted with her, and she with him, and things took thier natural course. She had been fascinated, rather than frightened, by his nature, and enjoyed their time together almost as much as he did.
Inevitably, she got pregnant, and hastily a marriage was arranged by her family with the first prospect that they came across. To assist Nodoka, he had cast a small cantrip to prolong her pregnancy to twelve months, so that her new husband would not suspect the real reason for such haste. Then he left, thinking to return in a few years to see how his child did.
He expected perhaps to find a daughter or son fully human in nature, or perhaps half-sidhe. He hoped for a rare full-sidhe nature, or the best of both worlds; so few children were born even to two sidhe.
He did not expect to come back to find his child stolen!
The man... Genma... would have to be punished suitably.
The rest of his flight was occupied in devising proper methods of revenge.
****
The traces led to a small clearing in a forest many miles north of the city limits. He dropped down and turned back into his accustomed form. The campsite was abandoned; but not for long. He sat down beside the two packs and waited for their return.
After a few minutes, he grew bored, and started rummaging through the packs; it'd be best to learn more about this Genma character... the better to find a suitable punishment!
'Clothes... half-empty food wrappers... tent... a couple thousand yen... sheesh, this guy's a mess; maybe a geas for compulsory cleanliness?... book, maybe a diary? hmmm...'
He flipped through the small book.
'Training guide? That's right... he claimed to be taking Ranma on a "training trip."
He snorted.
Suddenly he stopped, and his face paled. Circled in red was an ominous-looking paragraph.
Start training boy in Neko-ken; need pit of cats and fish sausage. Note: will need something heavy to block him from escaping the pit once he's tossed in. Needs a week to starve cats first.
The date assigned... was today.
He hastily dropped the book and threw out millions of tiny strands around him, probing for life, human life in particular.
There were a couple of individuals a few miles to the north and to the southwest, and.. got it! A pair, plus quite a few dimmer lives, animals, only a quarter-mile east.
He took the form of a quick-silver blur and ran as fast as he could in that direction.
He arrived in another clearing, this one with a hole dug in the middle. Above it, a fat man in a white gi was holding a small struggling figure above it, wrapped in... fish sausage? The man tossed the small boy into the pit, and then grabbed a nearby stone slab and started dragging it towards the pit.
****
Genma strained as he pulled at the heavy stone slab. At last, his son will learn the dreaded Cat Fist, and will be able to win money in fights; not to mention be able to support his father in his old age. The ungrateful child had tried to escape from him; didn't he know how much Genma sacrificed for him?
He was interrupted in his musing by a quicksilver flash, the cry of a few startled
cats, and a fierce wind that knocked him over. Did his son learn the Neko-ken already?
He got up and looked behind him.
What he saw was not what he expected. A tall figure dressed in foreign clothes was holding Ranma, who had several scratches all over his body. The figure practically radiated hostility, and his blue eyes looked familiar, somehow.
"W-what are you doing with my son?" he blustered.
"Your son?" the figure asked. "What exactly were you doing to this child?"
"I was teaching him to become a great martial artist! Now hand him over and go away!" Inside, Genma was slightly nervous. The man had moved far faster than he believed possible.
"Hand him over? I think not! Besides, he isn't your son any more... not that he ever was."
"Huh? What are you talking about? Of course he's my son!"
The man gave a smirk, and held up the boy, who's opened blue eyes were just now focusing on the rest of the world. Then the man opened his own eyes wide. They looked... the same. Then the man swept back his hair to reveal slightly pointed ears, and did the same to Ranma, who's ears looked just the same.
"Look familiar, you fat idiot?"
"Who... wha... how..."
The man's features turned to a snarl.
"And for your kidnapping and abuse of MY son, I sentence you to live a life as the animal you are!"
And with that, he took a small flask of water from a pocket and, walking forward towards the stunned Genma, cracked it open on his head.
"Growlf?"
To his horror, he suddenly felt... odd. The man, still smirking, held up a mirror. In it was the face... of a panda!
"Furthermore, although you can switch back to human form, I curse you to be forever hungry, to serve you for your greed, yet you can never stomach food other than that which a panda eats!"
And with that, the man disappeared in a flash of shimmering air, leaving behind one shocked and horrified martial-artist-turned-panda, and a small kettle lying on the ground.
Author's Notes: Well, this came from a melding of a couple of odd ideas that I had. The crossover part comes later on in the story, as Ranma (Puck Jr.) takes on both sides of the conflict in the Sailor Moon universe... and makes merry fools of them both (esp a certain green-haired Senshi...)! C&C and reviews welcome. deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com and www.geocities.com/thesunhawk (my rarely-updated webpage).
A Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon Crossover, with elements of other stuff...
Disclaimer: Neither Ranma 1/2 nor Sailor Moon belongs to me, and I'm not making any money from this. The idea/concept of the Sidhe is not mine either, although I put my own interpretation of the various stories and myths for the purposes of writing this thing. Robin Goodfellow (Puck) isn't my character; I'm not even sure where the name first originated.
The rather warped sense of humor and the various... err... "incidents" are completely my own creation...
It was quiet in the small neighborhood in Juuban, Tokyo, as the sun peaked above the horizon, glimmering through the small grove of trees that seemed almost isolated from the rest of the world. Long before most residents would arise and go about their dull and ordinary lives, and long after those who walk the night of neon lights and streetlamps have gone to their rest, dawn's rosy fingers slowly stretched towards the sky, in preparation for a new day. (AN: sorry... Latin/Vergil joke... couldn't resist...)
If dawn had known just what would be happening in that insignificant grove that early morning, she would have snatched her rosy fingers right back and sat on them.
It began with a curious shimmer in the air, so faint that it's existance would perhaps be attributed to a trick of the light, above a small patch of mushrooms, which, in a totally meaningless coincidence, were arranged in a small circle, or a ring, perhaps four feet in diameter. The shimmer grew more pronounced, until it resembled a mirage forming above a hot and dusty road, although it was neither hot nor dusty, and was nowhere near a road.
Tiny sparks of light seemed to dance around the wavering air, and tiny rainbow flecks of color swirled around in meaningless patterns, and an observer (of which there were none, aside from a few drowsy birds and a squirrel racing up a tree) might hear a faint sound like tinkling bells, or perhaps many small windchimes.
Suddenly, the air seemed to split in two, not as if cut with a knife, or torn like a seam, but rather like a gentle parting of a crowd, and a figure stepped through.
He wasn't remarkably tall, but not remarkably short. His hair was black and of medium length, reaching perhaps an inch below the base of his neck, with three feathers from a hawk braided into it. His eyes were a compelling blue sea, with an expressive tilt to them, and a sparkle of one who enjoys life. His skin was soft in appearance, with few callouses, but the musculature beneath spoke of someone who was not unaccustomed to hard physical labor. As he turned his head to scan the terrain around him, his slightly pointed ears showed under his hair, and a slight smile graced his lips.
He wore a red greek-style shirt which came an inch or two below his waist, with a chinese dragon, in blue, red, black, and gold coiled around on the front and back, cinched by a belt made of black and silver braid. His pants were black, and he wore a form of chinese slippers.
He finished looking around, and strode off towards the awakening city, whistling a cheery tune once popular several centuries ago half a world away.
Ranma Goodfellow, once called Ranma Saotome, had not a care in the world.
****
10 years ago, in another world
Nodoka Saotome was, to put it mildly, upset. Her husband had stolen her son two days ago, leaving behind some silly piece of paper claiming that he would make Ranma into a 'Man among men,' or else, of all things, commit seppuku. Two days, and there was no word from the authorities, and no sign of Genma or her son.
She sat on a bench by her garden and stared at a small water fountain. Her little boy was only six, and he was out in the world without his mother.
There was a rustle, and the sound of soft footsteps walking up the path. More police; maybe they had found him.
She didn't bother to look up as she asked "Is there any new developments?"
The same question every time, and every time she got the same reply, a negative. It was if Genma had simply disappeared.
"Milady, developments in what?" asked a voice, speaking impeccable Japanese, but with an accent she hadn't heard for... seven years...
She looked up, and saw a figure she thought she'd never see again. He was tall, with black hair and blue eyes, and with an almost alien cast to his features. His skin was very pale, and his ears swept up into points. He looked just the same as when he'd left.
"Robin-san? What are you doing here"
He winced.
"Call me Puck... everyone else does. Now, what is this all about?"
She broke down.
"It's a nightmare! My husband, Genma, stole little Ranma two days ago, and nobody can find him!"
He froze.
"Ranma?"
"Yes... Ranma; our son."
His expression darkened, and he just stood there in front of her for a moment, staring off into space with a look that could kill.
Then he sat down beside her, and gently turned to face her.
"I'll find him and bring him back to you, I promise. I was originally coming here to take him and you home, to learn about the other side of his heritage."
"Robin-san... Puck... thank you for your offer, but I'm afraid that I can't accept; my place is here, and I have things I need to do. You can take Ranma with you; he's your son, and your heir. Just promise me that he'll visit me every so often."
He sighed, and his expression lighted.
"Granted, milady."
He bent to kiss her hand.
"And now, I must take my leave... good day, Nodo-chan."
As he turned and walked down the path, Nodoka sighed.
'Robin Goodfellow... always the charmer...'
****
Puck flew on the wings of a hawk as he circled out from Nodoka's house, searching for traces of his son. He was half-sidhe, and blood calls to blood.
He caught a tug from the north, and changed direction.
He had originally met Nodoka almost eight years ago. He had been wandering this mortal world for years, searching for mischief, and she had caught his eye with her passion and liveliness. He had flirted with her, and she with him, and things took thier natural course. She had been fascinated, rather than frightened, by his nature, and enjoyed their time together almost as much as he did.
Inevitably, she got pregnant, and hastily a marriage was arranged by her family with the first prospect that they came across. To assist Nodoka, he had cast a small cantrip to prolong her pregnancy to twelve months, so that her new husband would not suspect the real reason for such haste. Then he left, thinking to return in a few years to see how his child did.
He expected perhaps to find a daughter or son fully human in nature, or perhaps half-sidhe. He hoped for a rare full-sidhe nature, or the best of both worlds; so few children were born even to two sidhe.
He did not expect to come back to find his child stolen!
The man... Genma... would have to be punished suitably.
The rest of his flight was occupied in devising proper methods of revenge.
****
The traces led to a small clearing in a forest many miles north of the city limits. He dropped down and turned back into his accustomed form. The campsite was abandoned; but not for long. He sat down beside the two packs and waited for their return.
After a few minutes, he grew bored, and started rummaging through the packs; it'd be best to learn more about this Genma character... the better to find a suitable punishment!
'Clothes... half-empty food wrappers... tent... a couple thousand yen... sheesh, this guy's a mess; maybe a geas for compulsory cleanliness?... book, maybe a diary? hmmm...'
He flipped through the small book.
'Training guide? That's right... he claimed to be taking Ranma on a "training trip."
He snorted.
Suddenly he stopped, and his face paled. Circled in red was an ominous-looking paragraph.
Start training boy in Neko-ken; need pit of cats and fish sausage. Note: will need something heavy to block him from escaping the pit once he's tossed in. Needs a week to starve cats first.
The date assigned... was today.
He hastily dropped the book and threw out millions of tiny strands around him, probing for life, human life in particular.
There were a couple of individuals a few miles to the north and to the southwest, and.. got it! A pair, plus quite a few dimmer lives, animals, only a quarter-mile east.
He took the form of a quick-silver blur and ran as fast as he could in that direction.
He arrived in another clearing, this one with a hole dug in the middle. Above it, a fat man in a white gi was holding a small struggling figure above it, wrapped in... fish sausage? The man tossed the small boy into the pit, and then grabbed a nearby stone slab and started dragging it towards the pit.
****
Genma strained as he pulled at the heavy stone slab. At last, his son will learn the dreaded Cat Fist, and will be able to win money in fights; not to mention be able to support his father in his old age. The ungrateful child had tried to escape from him; didn't he know how much Genma sacrificed for him?
He was interrupted in his musing by a quicksilver flash, the cry of a few startled
cats, and a fierce wind that knocked him over. Did his son learn the Neko-ken already?
He got up and looked behind him.
What he saw was not what he expected. A tall figure dressed in foreign clothes was holding Ranma, who had several scratches all over his body. The figure practically radiated hostility, and his blue eyes looked familiar, somehow.
"W-what are you doing with my son?" he blustered.
"Your son?" the figure asked. "What exactly were you doing to this child?"
"I was teaching him to become a great martial artist! Now hand him over and go away!" Inside, Genma was slightly nervous. The man had moved far faster than he believed possible.
"Hand him over? I think not! Besides, he isn't your son any more... not that he ever was."
"Huh? What are you talking about? Of course he's my son!"
The man gave a smirk, and held up the boy, who's opened blue eyes were just now focusing on the rest of the world. Then the man opened his own eyes wide. They looked... the same. Then the man swept back his hair to reveal slightly pointed ears, and did the same to Ranma, who's ears looked just the same.
"Look familiar, you fat idiot?"
"Who... wha... how..."
The man's features turned to a snarl.
"And for your kidnapping and abuse of MY son, I sentence you to live a life as the animal you are!"
And with that, he took a small flask of water from a pocket and, walking forward towards the stunned Genma, cracked it open on his head.
"Growlf?"
To his horror, he suddenly felt... odd. The man, still smirking, held up a mirror. In it was the face... of a panda!
"Furthermore, although you can switch back to human form, I curse you to be forever hungry, to serve you for your greed, yet you can never stomach food other than that which a panda eats!"
And with that, the man disappeared in a flash of shimmering air, leaving behind one shocked and horrified martial-artist-turned-panda, and a small kettle lying on the ground.
Author's Notes: Well, this came from a melding of a couple of odd ideas that I had. The crossover part comes later on in the story, as Ranma (Puck Jr.) takes on both sides of the conflict in the Sailor Moon universe... and makes merry fools of them both (esp a certain green-haired Senshi...)! C&C and reviews welcome. deus_ex_mach42@hotmail.com and www.geocities.com/thesunhawk (my rarely-updated webpage).