A/N:

Requesting BETA READERS

Ranma multi-crossover. Tenchi Muyo, Burn Up, Sailor Moon, Ah my Goddess, Mahou Sensei Negima, Love Hina and/or others. Also I'm going by the Tenchi Muyo manga, which according to wikipedia is non-canon, but sadly the manga is all I own…

Disclaimer: All titles and characters belong to their respective creators (Rumiko Takahashi, Hitoshi Okuda, Naoko Takeuchi, Kosuke Fujishima, and Ken Akamatsu respectively) and I own nothing except the plot and maybe some OC's.

*~*~*~*~*

Kinezono Ranma

*~*~*~*~*

"Confidence is ignorance. If ya feel cocky, it's because you don't know all there is ta know. Take it from someone with experience."

-Ranma after defeating a particularly smug werewolf.

*~*~*~*~*

Kinezono Ranma was brooding.

Strange, how that worked out. Two years ago, it was something he wouldn't have been caught dead doing. Then again, two years ago life had been different. He'd been a different person then, a different being altogether. Back then, he'd been a martial artist, the best of his generation, hell, probably the best in the world.

He'd also been naive; one might even go so far as to say that he'd been stupid. Blackmail was a regular occurrence in his life, along with rivals fiancées, a perverted old grandmaster, a three-hundred year old ghoul and the occasional monster-of-the-week. Chaos was something that had been naturally associated with him back then: brooding, not so much… Brooding required thinking, something no one ever thought he was capable of outside of a fight…

Then again he doubted that anyone wanted to him to think; after all, he couldn't blindly follow someone into the abyss if he could comprehend the situation he was in, now could he?

Keep him stupid, and keep him compliant.

He wasn't stupid anymore. Hadn't been that way for a while. He knew the truths of his life. He knew who he was. He'd watched himself in the mirror and saw his very soul. He'd faced up to everything that he'd become, everything that he'd done, everything that he had been and everything that he could be…

And then he saw that he had a choice.

For the first time in his life he was no longer a slave to some self imposed sense of honour. He no longer had to keep the standard of being a man amongst men. He didn't have to be someone else's scapegoat or watchdog. He could be whatever the hell he wanted… and frankly, that had scared the hell out of him.

He'd always been "guided" before; always had his life pushed in a certain direction… He'd always believed that he'd end up doing whatever it was that made his father, his mother, and his "friends" proud… but that revelation had shattered all pretence of what his life had been.

It was, however, strange that he'd never really had to make the choice whether to change or not… It had been made for him… He'd have to change, one way or the other. There were no other options. So… he'd made his choice… but every now and again he caught himself wondering and reliving certain events. He tried not to think about them, but as one of his mentors had said before, "It was the past that makes the present man," and he found himself hard pressed not to dwell upon the events that had led him here.

Too much pain, too much deception and far too much sacrifices had been made to get him here… but in the end he actually had people who gave a crap about him, no matter what he did and that was worth something…

Didn't stop him from brooding though. That was part of who he was now, and it would be a cold day in hell before he changed it…

*~*~*~*~*

Azubu Juuban

Juuban Municipal High

Haruna Sakurada had once dreamed of being a high class educator. She dreamed of leading students onwards and forwards into the world watching as they surpassed all expectations and became the foundations for a new and brighter future. She dreamed of having them receive awards for their glory and revelling in the fact that it was she who had brought them there… instead she'd gotten youma attacks and Usagi.

Who was late.

AGAIN!

How the girl had made it to High School was a mystery. How she had done it without maturing a single iota, even more so. Her writing was sloppy, her attendance riddled with holes and her grade point average almost nonexistent… and yet for whatever reason, she still made it from grade to grade to grade… The girl was either a master of masks, or she was the best damn cheater in the entirety of Japan… and when one thought of it neither one seemed to be a plausible reason… after all this was Usagi…

Haruna sighed. Today was just going to be one of those days wasn't it? A late Usagi, a massive migraine setting in and two new students thrown in just for good measure… great…

"Are you alright Haruna?"

"Of course I am Meioh-san."

Dammit! Haruna knew she hadn't faltered, she knew that her smile (fake though it was) was still plastered on her face, she knew her tone hadn't in any way changed; so then why? Why did this woman, barely out of University, always know? Better yet, how had she made it to vice-principal in a matter of less than a month? Granted, she did a much better job than their last, but still.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure Meioh-san."

Oh yes, she was sure… Sure that the woman before her wasn't all she seemed...

It wasn't so much that Meioh was the youngest vice-principal in the school's history, or the fact that the she seemed, at times, omnipresent, that made Haruna dislike her. Rather, it was Meioh's smile that irked the hell out of her. It was the kind of condescending smile that a parent might give a child. The kind of smile that said 'I know far more than you could ever begin to learn'. The kind of smile that Haruna vowed she would one day wipe off of Meioh's face… She didn't know when, or even how, but she knew she would…

Some day…

"Well then, if you are sure, perhaps you can take the new students to their classes. They've been waiting outside for the last six minutes."

Haruna blinked… She wasn't that good… was she?

She opened the office door and took a glance into the hall.

Apparently she was… but damned if she gave Meioh the satisfaction of knowing that she had, once again, 1upped her colleague.

"Well, so they are. I'll just bring them to class then."

Some day Meioh.

Some day.

Antonym. By definition it was "a word having a meaning opposite to that of another word". Haruna had learned that particular word when she was in the fourth grade, and now in one of her many thirty-three years of life, she'd discovered that some words had personifications. Granted she'd always thought of Usagi as being the personification of the word "stupid", but now looking at the new students, she could see what a word personified really was… Hell, the more she looked at them, the more they seemed to fit the bill.

Tall - Short.

Male – Female

Gakuran – Sailor

Black - Blond

And so on and so forth. Really, Haruna could count at least ten differences right off the bat, but none unnerved her so much as their eyes… Despite the fact that both of them had the most amazingly blue eyes she had ever seen, they were still the biggest difference that they had. While one looked bright, innocent and filled with the curiosity of youth, the other's were old, hard, cold and cynical… A simple look at those eyes would tell the greatest difference, and to imagine, it was the only thing about them that seemed even remotely similar.

Even as they walked to their destination, they stayed synchronised, moving perfectly in time with one another, almost as though to enhance the differences that made them. Then again, with the way they moved, Haruna wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what they were doing. She shook her head slowly… it was going to be a very interesting year…

"Stand."

"Bow."

Ah the usual morning monotony, possibly the only time Haruna ever gained the full respect she deserved. She loved it, revelled in it, basked in its glory… Some might say that she took too much pleasure in the little things that life had to offer. She would tell them all to sod off. She only enjoyed this because for those few precious moments she had what she always wanted… control…

"Sit."

But as with all things her control had to end. Too bad, so sad. Time to introduce the new hellions.

"Ohayou gozaimasu minna-san."

Fake smile

"Today we have some new students joining us."

Superb Fake smile

"Could you please step forward and tell us about yourselves?"

Brilliantly fake smile

Damn she was getting good at those. She should have gone into acting rather than teaching.

"Ohyaou minna-san. My name is MacDougal Sarah. I am sixteen years old, and I hope to follow in the footsteps of my father and become an archaeologist. Yoroshiku onegaimasu."

As expected, it was the cheerful blond that stepped forward first. In a way Haruna was reminded of Usagi. Blond and bubbly, yet it was there that the compassion ended. This girl, Sarah, was graceful; resoundingly so. She moved like a dancer. Every action had a purpose and every purpose was made beautiful. She could have been a radiant sun – could have, except for the aura of black that assaulted her from the side.

Her opposite was glaring, and for once in her life Haruna was glad that she wasn't the centre of attention. To say that the glare was intimidating was like saying that youma were harmful- it just didn't cut it. The English phrase "if looks could kill" definitely applied here. Which made Haruna wonder… was the girl really not feeling the pressure of that aura, or was she just that oblivious.

Sarah smiled as she bowed, her countenance never wavering, as she turned back to face them.

"Aduladora."

It was a word, spoken so softly, so faintly that Haruna had to strain to hear it. She barely made it out, and as she did she realised how much better off she was not hearing it in the first place. His voice was cold… as in arctic cold, and Haruna couldn't suppress the shudder that went through her spine.

Sarah, on the other hand, took it in stride, countering in kind.

"Idiota," she said with a grin, "ahora bese el extremo, consiga lejos con el asesinato más adelante."

Now, though she may not have been the best linguist out there and her spanish may have been severely limited, but she definitely knew the word for "murder" when she heard it. Oh yeah, this one was nothing like Usagi… speaking of which maybe the odango-atama wasn't so bad after all. At least she didn't know how to speak in a gaijin language to plot someone's death.

"Go ahead baka-kun, it's your turn."

The glare intensified exponentially. How the heck did that girl stand it?

He stepped forward, slowly, deliberately, taking every motion into account as he redirected his glare against the class. Several of them flinched instantly. Others managed to hold their own for a few seconds, but they were all shifting uncomfortably in the span of a minute.

'Possibly the longest minute of their lives' Haruna mused silently.

One day she would get him to teach her that.

"Che," he scoffed, more from habit than anything else, "Kinezono Ranma desu… sumimasen."

A strange greeting if she ever heard one. He'd just met these people, although he had glared most of them to soiling themselves, but other than that what did he possibly have to be sorry about?

"WAAHHH! I'M LATE!"

And there came Usagi, and only fifteen minutes past the hour, seems she was getting up earlier, or maybe she was running faster… Nope she was definitely running faster… without stopping… Why the hell wasn't she stopping?!

"Ranma move!"

If he had heard Haruna at all, he didn't acknowledge it. Instead he stayed silent, unmoving, at least until –

"AHH! LOOK OUT!!!"

Then he became a blur, and Usagi became airborne.

Perception was a strange thing. For many of the students time had sped up, and they struggled to keep up with what had happened. For Haruna time had slowed to an almost slug like pace. She'd seen when Ranma's foot lashed out, when Usagi's own feet were pushed off the earth and when Ranma caught her bridal style, completely unfazed by the entire thing.

She blinked.

What the-?

How could he-?

Kami-sama that boy was fast…

"A-arigato," Usagi said with a blush, "Ano, who are you?"

Ranma looked at her, not a glare this time, but a look; a knowing look. He shook his head.

"Kinezono Ranma," he said, just before he unceremoniously dropped her to the ground, "and like I said before sumimasen."

Haruna had thought it before, and now she was thinking it again.

It's going to be a very interesting year…

*~*~*~*~*

A/N

Sumimasen- sorry, familiar form.

Kami-sama- God

Aduladora- Flatterer

Ahora bese el extremo, consiga lejos con el asesinato más adelante- Kiss butt now, commit murder later (very crude translation on my part)

Yoroshiku onegaimasu- Please take care of me.

Massive thanks to all who read, even more to the two guys who gave me reviews, it was much necessary and appreciated.

NOTE: Some of you may be asking questions, I HAVE ANSWERS. I will reveal everything piece by piece in accordance with the plot. Too much at one time and I will ruin it. So please bear with the out of character Ranma without explanation for the while please.

Also, I think I have Sarah's character down, considering how she first acted when she met Narusegawa, but if you have complaints please don't hesitate to say something. But do factor in that Sarah is sixteen years old at this point, and Ranma would be eighteen going on nineteen.

Why he's in the same grade as Sarah?

Explained next chapter.

REVIEW PLEASE!

I WORKED HARD ON THIS DAMMIT!