Kon'nichi wa minna! This is my first ever fan fiction. I hope you'll enjoy it. This is going to be a crossover between my two favorite nihon no anime no manga (japanese anime and manga). It's AU set after the final battle with Galaxia and, well, sometime after all the main characters have been introduced in Ranma 1/2. I honestly wish that I could say I owned Sailor Moon or Ranma 1/2, but then I'd be not only lying through my teeth, I'd also be rich and probably wouldn't bother doing this. Anyway, I'm sure you've either skipped this or gotten tired of my rambling so, on with the story.
~~~ indicates a flashback
^^^^^ indicates passage of time, but same scene
* * indicates a change in scene
Prologue: The End of the Begining
Staring blindly out across the landscape, she was helpless to stop the flood of images that had haunted her for weeks. She had managed to heal Galaxia and destroy Chaos, but at what cost. Even the ginzuishou was unable to bring them back this time. Their star seeds would forever reside in her, but she would never again see her fellow senshi and warriors. Her friends. Or her beloved.
She knew that they wouldn't want her to carry on like this, everyone was worried about the way she refused to move on, but she couldn't. She couldn't get past the fact that if she had just seen it sooner, if she had just figured out who Chibi Chibi was sooner...
A small smile found its way onto her lips and tears threatened once again as she thought of the way her father had helped her since that fateful morning. Even after he learned the truth behind the last two years of her life.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Tsukino Kenji sighed as he tried once again to concentrate on the morning paper in his hands, and not on the whereabouts of his daughter. She had not come home last night from her meeting with her friends and he was worried. She had said that those new boys from her school, those three idol singers, were going to be meeting her friends to do something and that they might be out late. Naturally he had tried to keep her home and away from the boys, but her mother, Ikuko had shooed her out of the house before he could catch her.
Now he was worried. She may have said late, but she had said nothing about overnight, and even if her plans had changed at the last minute, she would have called. She always called. No, something was wrong, he knew it. He could only continue to pray, as he had all night, that his baby girl was all right.
Kenji looked up when he heard a rather loud thump come from upstairs, right about where his daughter's room was. Getting up from the table to investigate, he saw his wife already halfway up the stairs, their son Shingo right behind her. He was nearly to the top himself when he heard her scream, and Shingo say something, though he couldn't quite make it out.
Curious and somewhat frightened at what he would find, he quickened his pace and found them standing, shocked, at the door to Usagi's bedroom. Slowly, his heart racing with fear, he made his way into the room, only to stand speechless at the sight of the teenage superhero, Sailor Moon, lying on his daughter's bed, battered and bruised, and liberally peppered with scrapes and cuts.
Suddenly her lashes fluttered, lifting themselves slowly from her cheeks to reveal two crystal blue eyes full of pain and sorrow beyond what any human should suffer. She didn't move from where she lay as she gazed up at the ceiling, tears flooding her eyes until they spilled over onto her cheeks.
"Minna..." her voice barely a whisper, the loss evident in the hopelessness of her tone. Kenji felt his heart melt as he went to her, hardly aware he was doing it, and took her in his arms, quietly offering his shoulder to cry on. She cried for nearly half an hour while he murmured words of comfort, before she began to drift off. Laying her back on the bed and pulling a blanket over her, he was about to go when she took his hand, once again drawing his attention to her. She smothered a yawn and turned watery, pleading eyes to his.
"Onegai, don't go 'Tousan?"
Shocked at the implications of that simple request, he did the only thing he could. With a nod, he once again sat on the bed next to Sailor Moon, no Usagi, and watched as his little girl fell into a troubled and obviously well earned sleep.
He stayed with her all day, leaving only long enough to call in to work and let them know that a family emergency would be keeping him away for a few days. Several times over the course of the day, she awoke screaming, often the names of her friends and boyfriend. She would then collapse into his waiting arms and cry herself back to sleep. It wasn't until after midnight and a light sedative in some tea, that she managed to rest peacefully. Kenji slept on the floor beside her bed.
The next morning, Kenji woke Usagi and, after another bout of crying, managed to calm her down long enough for her to release her transformation as Sailor Moon. He was glad to see that, possibly with the same magic she used to transform, she had been able to heal her minor wounds. There were, however, still a few that needed to be taken care of. After assuring Usagi that he would be right back, he brought Ikuko back and the two of them managed to convince her that a bath and some medical treatment was in order, though she insisted that her mother stay with her.
It took them the rest of the day, and well into the night, to get the summarized version of the story out of Usagi, with details being filled in over the next two days with some gentle questioning. Both of her parents went with her over the next week as she went to the homes of each of her friends families to tell them what had happened to their daughters, granddaughters and, in the case of Michiru and Haruka, nieces.
Luckily, no one blamed Usagi for what had happened. How could they, when the girl was obviously doing enough of that herself. Despite her calm, almost regal, exterior, it was obvious that the Serenity's reincarnation was suffering more than anyone. It never occurred to anyone to reveal the young lunarian princess's secret identity. Perhaps it was knowing that she, quite literally, carried their loved ones inside of her, and that they were, in some way, still alive.
Over the next weeks, Usagi gradually withdrew into herself. Although she stayed awake in class now, she paid the teacher no more mind than before. Instead she stared sadly out the window. Haruna-sensei's scoldings would barely receive a 'Hai sensei' from the girl. Once she learned of the deaths of her friends, Haruna-sensei didn't have the heart to scold her.
Naru-chan and Umino-kun didn't fare any better with her. After the first few weeks of trying to get a response out of her, they too began to drift from Usagi, sitting with her at lunch only to see that she didn't forget to eat.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Nearly two months had passed since Galaxia, and Usagi had become reclusive to the point that she would sometimes sleep through the day to avoid everyone and then spend the night gazing at her long dead kingdom of the moon, wishing she had never been reborn.
Standing there on the hillside, she could almost hear them whispering in her ear to move on, but once again, she ignored them, letting their bodiless voices wash over her as she remembered their days together.
After another hour, a weary sigh escaping her lips, she turned her unseeing eyes from the beautiful sunset and set her feet on the familiar path home, never once lifting her eyes from her sorrowful memories.
___________
Gomen nasai minna for such a short prologue, but this seemed like a good place to stop. I promise to have the first chapter out by the end of the week, and I'll try to make it longer. Please review and let me know what you think so far. Though I warn you, while I don't mind helpful and constructive criticism, I am likely to respond to flames in kind. If you don't like my story, you don't have to read it.
