Interrupted Ambitions
A fan-fiction by: Rocky A. Burton
All characters and themes contained herein belong to their respective creators
Chapter 1
"Oh my God!" Diro yawned and stretched the limbs of his aching body. "A twelve hour flight with the wind roaring into my right ear and a kid screaming into my left! Ugh, somebody shoot me!" He picked up his suitcase and made his way to the immigration desk. "If I never fly in a plane again, it'll be too soon."
With his free hand, he rubbed his stiff neck. He had been looking forward to moving to Japan for years. His grandparents, rather his foster parents, had been telling him stories of life in Tokyo for as long as he could remember. His grandfather had countless tales of the time he spent training under Master Zeku; and many reports of Guy, the newest heir of the Bushin Style Ninjitsu. Even as recent as two years ago his grandmother, Mitsuko, had gone to Tokyo and come back with some odd story about five beautiful girls called the Sailor Senshi and their dashing companion, Tuxedo Mask. Diro didn't believe any of it, of course. But it sounded like Japan was the place to be for adventure, and as long as he was here; he was more than ready to look into it.
"You have papers?" The man at the immigration desk asked in botched English.
"Yeah, they're right here." Diro answered, speaking near-perfect Japanese.
Relieved to be talking to someone who knew his language, the immigration attendant looked over Diro's papers. Once he deemed everything to his liking, he placed a copy of a document on the desk. "Welcome to Japan, Mr. Kotaishi. An elderly man, Mr. Hino, is waiting for you at the front entrance."
"Thank you." Diro bowed and picked up the document. He lifted his large suitcase and went to where he was directed.
In front of the airport's glass doors stood a small, elderly, Japanese man with a wide grin that stretched across his wrinkled face. He tightened his tie and fixed his brown jacket before holding up a sign that, in kanji, read "Kotaishi."
Lumbering under the weight of his luggage, Diro approached him. "Excuse me, sir." He said as he gingerly set down his suitcase. "I am Diro Kotaishi. Might you be Mr. Hino?"
"Yes I am, but you can call me Grandpa if you like!" His grin widened even further.
"Very well." Diro shook the old man's hand and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Grandpa. Thank you for taking me in."
"It's my pleasure young man!" He reached up and grabbed Diro's wrist, causing him to lurch over to accommodate the old man's size. "Come on, I'll take you to the temple! Just wait until you meet my granddaughter, Rei. And, you know, she has four friends, too. Let's see, they are Ami, Minako, Makoto, and, uh, Usagi. A handsome young man like you ought to do well with that bunch! You remind me of myself when I was younger!"
Diro smiled in modesty and allowed himself to be led by Grandpa Hino while he dragged his suitcase behind him.
"Rei! Wait up!" She paused after hearing Usagi's voice call for her.
The raven-haired senshi placed her hand on her hip and tapped her foot as she waited for her friends to catch up to her. "What is it, meatball-head? I'm kind of in a hurry. Grandpa is taking in the grandson of an old friend and I want to get home to meet him!"
"I know." Usagi panted. The girl wasn't used to running a lot, but had been forced to do so in order to close the distance between her and her friend. "I want to meet him too, Rei! Come on! Take me with you!"
"We all want to meet him, Rei." Makoto said as she, Minako, and Ami casually strolled up to them.
"Oh, I don't know."
"C'mon Rei!" Minako burst out. "What's wrong? Are you afraid that we'll seduce him before you get a chance to?" She giggled and winked at her.
Rei's face turned a shade of beet red. "W-what are you talking about? I would never do something like that! Besides, I don't even know who he is or what he looks like!"
Minako giggled again. "Calm down, Rei! I was only kidding!"
Rei huffed and dismissed them with a wave of her hand. "Fine, you can come."
"Yay!" Usagi squealed. "Ooh, I just can't wait! I wonder what he's like! I'm gonna have to introduce him to Mamo-chan! I'm so excited! Can you imagine having a brand new friend from another country?"
Ami stifled her giggle with the tips of her delicate fingers. "Calm down, Usagi! I'm sure Mamoru would love to meet this person!" She rested her cheek on her hand. "It must be scary for him to come here and leave everything he's accustomed to behind. He must be a very strong person!"
Minako clasped her hands and turned her face upward in a starry-eyed gaze to the heavens. "I can see it now. A strong, handsome prince from halfway across the planet has come to sweep me off my feet and hold me in his powerful yet gentle arms!" Blushing, she wrapped herself within her own arms and allowed a lovelorn sigh to escape from her soft lips.
An agitated twitch was apparent in Rei's eye. "You've been reading too many romance novels." She muttered. "Come on, let's go already!"
She turned on her heel and led the way to her temple. After but a few minutes of hearing Usagi's incessant boasting on her relationship with Mamoru and the girlish antics of her other friends, Rei could no longer keep a straight face.
The group of friends continued to discuss their curiosities and hopeful fantasies until their reverie was broken by a high-pitched, inhuman scream. They fell back in shock and looked at each other with questioning eyes.
"What on earth was that?" Makoto asked after a brief moment of silence.
"I don't know." Rei closed her eyes and focused her ki. She mentally scoured the surrounding area for any abnormality.
"What is it Rei?" Usagi asked. Her hands were clasped before her as she stared at her friend.
Rei looked back at her. She caught herself gazing into the girl's bright blue eyes, which were filled with tears of concern and fearful anxiety. She immediately broke the exchange and looked to the source of the disturbance. "I don't know, Usagi. It's…different."
A loud, whip-like crack echoed through the air followed by a more human scream, the tone of which cut through the girls like a dagger.
"Whatever it is, it's not good. We need to check it out now!" Makoto exclaimed and ran toward the scream's general direction, leaving her friends a good distance behind her.
The others were hard-pressed in catching up to her, and only did so once she stopped. Plastered upon her face was an expression of shock and disgust. Following her gaze, the girls saw the mangled body of a blood-red goblin-esque creature. A simple spear had been forced down its throat and protruded through its upper back. They wretched at the sight of the abominable creature as it slid down the pole of the spear leaving a trail of black gel in its wake.
"Oh my God!" Minako exclaimed.
Another creature, resembling the fallen one, noticed them and screamed a high-pitched war cry. It rose from its work and called for its allies to do the same. The four others stood up leaving a longhaired man lying facedown at their feet. The first one screamed again and prepared to attack them. It only took one step, however, before it fell to the ground.
The man that had been attacked locked the creature's legs with his arms. He strained to keep it under his control as he looked up at the girls. They stared back at him in awe. His soft face had been riddled with fresh wounds from the onslaught of these monsters. He had long bangs that hid his left eye, but the fatigue of battle was evident in his scarred right one.
The four other goblin monsters turned to him and began to kick and beat him as they had done previously. Between the periods of his sharp exhalations, he managed to shout for the girls to run. With his strength failing, he released the goblin he held. As it scrambled to get to its feet, it kicked him in the head and he blacked out.
Seeing the body go limp, Minako turned to Usagi. "Usagi, now!"
She nodded and placed her hand over her broche. The other girls grabbed their respective transformation devices and focused their thoughts upon them.
"Mercury Star Power! Make UP!"
"Mars Star Power! Make UP!"
"Jupiter Star Power! Make UP!"
"Venus Star Power! Make UP!"
Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako shouted the trigger to invoke their transformations. A brilliant magical light emitted from their bodies as their individual elements swirled about them and bestowed upon them supernatural strengths and abilities. The light grew to a blinding intensity, forcing the menacing creatures to shield their black eyes. When the light faded, the girls set foot on the ground wearing the sailor-style garb of the sailor senshi.
"Moon Cosmic Power! Make UP!" Usagi shouted as she ran her fingers over the crystal hidden within her broche. A gorgeous pink light emitted from it and broke into ribbons, which engulfed her in magic.
The ribbons of light surrounded her body and wove upon her a white tunic and a short blue skirt. Doing the same for her hands and feet, Usagi donned long white gloves and red knee-high boots. Her magical essence danced around her in the forms of stars and hearts. A crystal appeared in the middle of her forehead, and from it, a tiara materialized. In the final stage of her transformation, two ruby-red orbs imbedded themselves into the ball-shaped knots of hair at the top of her head. Completely transformed, Sailor Moon placed her hand on her hip and posed in her classic stance.
"How dare you attack this man? What wrongs has he committed against you? You vile creatures do not belong here! I will send you back to where you came from in the name of love and justice! The pretty soldier in a sailor suit, I am Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I punish you!"
The creatures shrieked in defiance of the senshi's challenge, stirring the man that lay at their feet. He lifted his head and attempted to focus his blurry vision of the sight before him. "Careful…their tongues…" He gripped his bleeding chest and fought to take in every painful breath he could. "Run!"
"What's he saying?" Sailor Mercury asked while watching him writhe in pain. She gasped and covered her mouth when she noticed the wound that ran across his chest.
"It's probably just inane babble." Jupiter replied. "The poor guy's been beaten senseless! We have to help him!"
As she began to charge them, the five monsters dropped their jaws to waist level. Jupiter stopped in her tracks. Not knowing what to expect, she just stared at them.
Shrieking a high-pitched war cry, the creatures launched from their mouths long, tongue-like tentacles. Within a brief moment, Jupiter was bound at her limbs and was lifted from the ground by her throat. She fought and struggled to get loose only to find her strength was waning.
"Jupiter!" Sailor mars cried. She clasped her hands together and brought them to her forehead to focus her magic. Flames encircled her as she shouted the trigger. "Burning Mandala!" Thin rings of fire materialized from the area around her and severed the tentacles that held Sailor Jupiter.
The senshi ran to her side as she fell, entangled in the tentacle tips. Black gel oozed from the wounds the goblin monsters had taken. They screamed in pain and anger.
"Jupiter, are you okay?" Sailor Moon asked. She gingerly lifted her friend's head and looked her over. Her magic had apparently kept her from taking a lot of damage, but it didn't protect her from being covered in what was presumably the creatures' blood.
"Can't move." She responded in a raspy voice. Convulsing, she coughed and spit up some of her own blood.
"I tried to warn you." The victim of the monster's previous attack stood up slowly. He gripped his wound and wobbled a little before regaining balance. "Their tongues are also tentacles. That's what injured me and sapped my energy." He looked himself over and flexed his muscles. "I guess it's only temporary though."
"A-are you okay?" Sailor Moon asked, hugging Jupiter closer to her.
"We'll find out." He ran toward a creature that was pre-occupied with nursing its tentacle. He leapt and struck it on the side of its head with his knee, throwing it several feet away from him. "I'll hold them off as long as I can! You girls get outta here!"
Venus pointed her finger at him. "Crescent Beam!" She shouted the trigger to her attack and the tip of her finger began to glow. A bright beam of concentrated, golden light shot out from her and crossed over the man's shoulder, striking a monster that had prepared to attack him. "It looks like you might just need us after all." She giggled.
He returned a half-smile and attacked another nearby monster. His fist struck the creature's face, splattering its blood-like fluids over his body.
"Bubble Spray!" Mercury shouted. Several large bubbles materialized from her fingertips and rounded up the monsters into a tightly packed herd. "Sailor Moon, now's our chance!"
"Right." She agreed. Carefully setting down Jupiter's head, she readied her wand. She twirled it and danced in an elegant manner while summoning her magic. Her hair flailed wildly as she spun around and shouted her trigger. "Moon Spiral Heart Attack!" An intense, heart-shaped, pink light emitted from the crystal in her wand. The creatures, bound by Sailor Mercury's spell, could do little more than screech in defiance as the light rapidly approached them. The roar of Sailor Moon's magic drowned their screams as it erased their bodies from existence.
The senshi waited anxiously for the dust to clear. They scanned the area but found the only creature left was the one that was already dead. The silence was deafening until the man who had fought along side them applauded as he made his approach.
"That was amazing! I've not seen anything like that in my entire life! Just who are you girls?"
The senshi introduced themselves and Jupiter stood up slowly. "We heard a loud scream so we came to check it out. What happened?"
"Their tongues. I didn't know then, but they are also apparently used as whips." He moved his hand over the wound on his chest. "That's what gave me this."
Sailor Mercury gasped. "Oh, yes! That's right, you're injured! Please, let me see it!" She moved his hand out of her way and bent over slightly to get a better look.
"I-it's alright!" He stammered. "It's just a flesh wound. It'll heal in no time."
"Well then, in that case, do you mind telling us what happened to that one over there?" Jupiter motioned to the one fallen creature that remained.
His eyes fell over the mangled corpse. Groaning in disgust at the sight, he spoke to them. "That, I presume, was the group's leader. It was the only one that carried a weapon. I managed to wrestle its spear from it, and shoved it down the blasted thing's throat. As grizzly as it may sound, I wanted to make sure it was dead."
The senshi stared at the creature's dead body. Jupiter tore her eyes from the sight and forced herself to keep down the bile churning in her stomach. "Mars, would you please get rid of that thing?" She pleaded.
Sailor Mars clasped her hands together and closed her eyes. Beneath her breath, she muttered an inaudible phrase. A great heat began to radiate from the body as its form melted away. Within a brief moment, all that remained was a small puddle of fluids around the spear that still protruded from the ground.
The young man smirked at the sight. He turned to face the senshi with a thoughtful expression. "Weren't you girls dressed differently a little while ago?"
Sailor Moon stepped back and stammered in an evasive manner. "W-what are you talking about?"
"When you first arrived." He answered. "I could've sworn you were wearing different school uniforms."
"Uh, you must be mistaken." She countered and quickly tried to think of a way to keep their identities a secret. "As I recall you were really mussed up. So, uh, I guess maybe your vision was blurry or maybe you remember wrong, or something!" She began to laugh almost hysterically.
He rubbed his chin skeptically. "Maybe."
Mercury, having deemed his wound harmless, looked up at his eye. Seeing the scar that ran down his face just over it, her inquisitive nature took over. "You didn't get that in the fight, did you?"
He brought his hand up to his face and smiled slightly as he ran his fingers over it. "This? No, I've had it for a while now."
"Oh, okay." She said, blushing at her lack of manners for that moment. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright, Miss Mercury." He said as his expression became friendlier. "Think nothing of it." He smiled and winked at her. At least she thought he winked. She couldn't tell as his left eye was still covered by his long bangs. "In any case," He continued, "I thank you all for your assistance, but I gotta go." The senshi, not knowing what to say, watched as he turned and left. "Oh, yes!" He called out to them. "I never really believed the senshi existed before, but it's good to know that you do! See y'round!"
"Oh!" Venus exclaimed, "We never got his name!"
"Yeah." Jupiter agreed. "But we've got more important things to worry about right now."
"Ohh." Sailor Moon whined. "Not another new enemy!"
"'Fraid so." Mars said. "Let's just go to my temple for now. We'll worry about everything else later." She reverted back to her natural form as Rei Hino and walked off. The other girls followed suit.
"Rei! Oh, Rei!" She looked up as she ascended the temple stairs to see her grandfather waving at her.
"Hi Grandpa!" She smiled and waved back at him.
The old man squinted his eyes upon seeing four figures following her. It took him a moment, but he managed to recognize them. "Oh! You brought your friends with you! Hi girls!"
"Hello, Mr. Hino!" Usagi squealed as she bounded up the stairs to greet him. "Did your friend's grandson get here today?"
"Yes he did." Grandpa Hino smiled. "His name's Diro. I think you girls will like him, he's a very fascinating young man, and handsome too!" He winked at the girls who, in turn, blushed.
"Well, where is he Grandpa?" Rei asked.
"He's lying down right now. The poor lad's all tuckered out. I told him that I'd wake him up as soon as you got here."
"Well, let's go then!" She replied eagerly.
Rei and her friends followed the old man to the front door. A cool, gentle breeze rustled her hair as cherry blossom petals from the nearby trees floated down upon her. She raised her face in the direction of the setting sun and drew in a long breath to catch the scents of spring.
"You girls wait here, I'll go get him." Grandpa Hino slid the door open and disappeared inside. "Come on, Diro, the girls are waiting on you!" Grandpa Hino ran to the doorway to greet them with a wide grin on his face. "Girls, I want you to meet Diro Kotaishi."
Diro lumbered sleepily behind the old man. His eyes locked onto those of the girls and he managed a faint smile. The girls, however, could do little more than stare in awe at the well built, longhaired young man. They were especially lost in him when they looked at his soft face, which had a scar that ran down it just over his right eye.
"Good evening ladies." He said, and bowed slightly. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
Author's Notes:
Well there it is, the first chapter of my great Sailor Moon, Street Fighter, and Ranma ½ crossover. It'll take a little while for characters from the latter two to show up, but don't worry about it, it'll be great. Actually, I recently published this in the Sailor Moon section before deciding to move it here. So, I will be updating once a week until I finish writing chapter 11. Be forewarned, however, I tend to update rather slowly but trust me it's worth the wait. By the way, you will notice that my writing style improves later on. Get better with practice, y'know?
The Rockstar "Prince of Crossovers"
