Fated Pasts, Chaotic Future
A Ranma ½ and Sailor Senshi crossover Fanfic
Written by: Konsaki
This Fanfic was inspired by and uses source material from 'Lines of Destiny', a dead Fanfic created by Louis-Philippe Giroux.
oOo
A cloth bag holding hung from the hand of the brown haired woman who strode down the street. Sticking out the top were a few stalks of green which betrayed the produce held within; the latest purchase to supply her hobby of culinary excellence. Makoto loved to cook and was looking forward to the smells and tastes that these materials would combine to create later that night. Still, the look of happiness she wore, while not false, wasn't one to tell the whole story.
A look into her eyes would show a glint of malcontent behind the overlaying layer that showed a happy teenage girl. Most wouldn't notice and the few who did couldn't figure out why the beautiful female felt that way. Had she not hid it well from her friends, though, they would have figured it out in quickly… Kino Makoto was restless and bored.
Though she would never admit it to her friends and team mates, the green eyed beauty missed the late night calls to action. The secret life of the girl was one of action and excitement, as she and her sisters in arms fought tooth and nail to keep the world safe from otherworldly or extra-dimensional beings. At least, that's what she would have been doing if it weren't for the fact that all the youma and other enemies they fought had dried up after the last campaign to take over the world.
Makoto let her smile drop for a second into a pout as she thought about all the stress she was able to rid herself of using her Sailor Jupiter persona. Before then, she had been notorious for being expelled from different schools due to the fights she had been in routinely. She prided herself on the fact that she hadn't let herself regress back to that, she was more mature now and knew other ways to sate her aggressive nature… Still, that didn't stop her from hoping for another attack so she could feel the excitement and thrill that only flinging magically charged lighting at youma's can produce; though she'd never admit it to her friends…
Shaking her head slightly, with a grin, the auburn haired high school student pushed those thoughts from her head. Striding onward towards her apartment, she glanced at a passing clock. 'Hmm… Mamoru probably arrived at the station already', she thought to herself. Grinning a bit wider, she saw an image of Usagi crashing into her boyfriend in her mind.
As soon as that passed, though, she let out a wistful sigh. When she heard Rei's cousin was a martial artist, her imagination was running wild. A smile adorned her lips which matched her sigh as she unlocked her apartment door, entered and set about putting away her purchases. Her wild imagination was quickly reigned in and locked down when she found out he was coming with his wife. 'Yeah… those ideas and dreams nosedived into the dirt pretty quickly', she wryly thought as she put away the last of her food stuffs.
After a quick laugh at her own situation, she locked up her apartment as she set out again. A few excuses went through her mind as to why she was headed to the Hikawa Shrine that her friend Rei lived at, but she really wanted to see what her cousin looked like. If she let herself go to the fantasy, she could conveniently forget that he was taken… or so she deluded herself as she waked the familiar streets.
It wasn't long later when she turned the last corner towards her destination. Even as she saw the gates to the shrine, her eyes were drawn to a black haired man who wore it in a shoulder length braid. The red Chinese shirt he wore contrasted greatly with the loose black pants he wore, but there was no escaping the look in his eyes as he pushed open the gate. The hand he held out to the woman with him left Makoto no question as their relationship as he escorted her through the gate even as the brown haired senshi approached.
With the last flash of the two, Makoto saw the suitcases they both held as they walked through the gate. 'Maybe that was Rei's cousin…', she thought as she walked to the distance to the gate.
oOo
The gate closed behind Ranma with a deep wooden thud that only old wood can produce. The knowledge of that flashed through his head in an instant then was disregarded is inconsequential by his analytical mind. Instead, he chose to focus momentarily on his wife as her eyes wandered over the area, the sight producing a grin from his face. A second later, he himself was following his wife's lead.
"It's so serene", Akane breathed out as she looked about before finally laying her eyes on the shrine itself that sat at the top of good set of stone steps.
"Yeah, you ain't kidding", her husband agreed with a nod. "Let's see what's up top", he suggested, offering his arm with a smile. The woman beside him smiled back as she held on to it, both moving up the stairs at a relaxing pace, still looking around as they ascended.
As the pair reached the top of the steps, they saw the shrine before them. After another few silent moments, in which they looked about the new area, Ranma set down his suitcase to the swept ground. Putting his right hand to his face, the martial artist called out, "Oi! Rei! Are you here? It's me, Ranma!"
His dark blue haired wife just shook her head as she let out a sigh. Her husband had changed a good bit over time, but he was still Ranma. She put on a smile, though, as she noticed someone exiting the building before them.
The figure that stepped towards them was easily noticed to be a girl not much younger than themselves. Her long raven colored hair that ran to her waist was tied back in a traditional manner which matched the Shinto shine maiden's cloths she wore. Wide eyed, she stopped a few feet away, "Ranma?" Her eyes blinked a few times before she continued, "Is that you?"
The black haired man turned to the yellow dressed woman beside him, while scratching the side of his head. "Didn't I just yell my name", he lightly asked, earning a quick light elbow to the ribs. "Err, I mean, yeah. Don't you remember me, Rei?"
The priestess before the married couple had to stifle a giggle and resorted to a smile instead. Putting her hands to her hips though, she shook her head slightly, "Sorry, Ranma. It's been a really long time." She moved her hands before her into a proper bow while saying, "Welcome to the Hikawa Shrine."
While Ranma bowed in turn, he responded with, "Thank you for the hospitality." As they all rose from their bows, Ranma smiled wildly as he indicated the woman beside him, "Rei, let me introduce you to Saotome Akane, my beautiful wife."
"Thank you and your grandfather for the hospitality", his wife repeated with a smile and a slight bow of her own.
The girl before them waved it off, "Oh, it's nothing." Looking between the two of them, she cocked her head to the side slightly, voice betraying her curiosity more than her body language, "So, how long have you two been married?"
"Yesterday"
Ranma's deadpan response caught Rei by surprise, causing her to blink a few times. "I'm sorry, what?"
"The wedding was yesterday, Rei-san", Akane explained while giving her husband a look.
Giving a slow nod, the priestess thought about how Usagi and Mamoru were pretty much married already, just barring the actual wedding. Mentally shrugging, seeing that Usagi was younger than the pair before her, she outwardly smiled. "Well, congratulations to you both. Also, don't worry about keigo. We're family, Akane." After both females shared a smile, the red and white clad shrine maiden waved towards the building behind her, "Come on in, I'll show you the shrine grounds."
"Do you mind if I tag along on the tour, Rei-chan?"
Three sets of eyes saw the pony-tailed girl in a green dress, which showed her ample features, climb the last few steps towards them. The brown high-tied pony-tail flipped in the air behind her as she smiled towards the couple and priestess. "Mako-chan! What are you doing here", Rei asked in surprise as Ranma and Akane took a good look at the visitor.
Shaking her head a bit, she introduced her friend, "Ranma, Akane, this is Kino Makoto. She's a very good friend of mine." Makoto bowed politely at the end of that and the two from Nerima returned it in suit. After waiting for the three to straighten, Rei turned her friend and asked once again, "What are you doing here, Mako-chan? I thought you would go to the train station with Usagi and the others to meet Mamoru."
"I just got back from grocery shopping", she replied, "and by the time I was done, it was too late to go down there." A grin twitched her lips as she continued, "Besides, I'm sure Usagi was more than capable to welcome her boyfriend back even if no one else showed up." Looking over at the couple before her, Makoto asked, "I hope you're trip was pleasant."
"The trip was fine", the pig-tailed martial artist replied, giving a shrug. "There was a fight at the station, but nothing really happened."
Rei looked a little surprised to hear that, "What kind of fight?"
Before Ranma could answer and show off the Saotome-foot-in-mouth technique, Akane jumped in, "Someone just stared a scuffle and got kicked out of the train station." For some reason, her feelings told her not to talk about the monster. She figured it might upset Rei and her friend to know about it. 'Besides, I'm not lying to them, I'm just not telling the whole story', she told herself as she subtly pinched Ranma's arm while holding onto it.
Giving his wife a questioning look out of the corner of his eye, he added on, "Yeah, nothing I couldn't have handled if it had come down to it." He flashed a confident grin at his cousin when he saw the look of worry on her face.
"So, you think you're that good of a martial artist?"
Ranma turned his head towards the brunette while his wife just let out a sigh, "No, I don't think I am, I know I am." The attitude he gave of was one where if he told her the sky was green with purple clouds, Makoto would have had to look to make sure. His voice sounded that solid with confidence.
Seeing the look on Rei and her friend's faces, Akane sighed again, "Ranma is good, but he also has an ego problem as well." Ranma let out a snort at the last bit of his wife's rebuke.
Letting out a light nervous laugh, Rei waved back to the building behind her once again, "Well… shall we start that tour of the shrine?"
"Lead the way", the wedded pair chorused.
A giggle broke out as Makoto mused, "Replies in stereo? Wow, you two definitely were made for one another." Seeing the slight shade of pink that grew on the married couples' faces, she had to put a hand to her mouth to contain another bout that was about to escape. The Senshi of Jupiter had to let out a mental sigh though as she noticed them clasping hands a second later though. 'Akane sure is lucky…', she heard in her head as she observed.
When Akane and Ranma felt each other hands and clasped them in unconscious response to the Kino girl's statement, they looked to each other and shared a small nervous smile. They would have to get used to comments like that, eventually. Right now, though, the comment surprised them both, not only because it came from a relative stranger, but because said stranger was a younger girl, despite her physical appearance.
Seeing the interaction between her cousin and his wife caused by her friend's comment, Rei raised an eyebrow. "You'll have to excuse Makoto… She's an incurable romantic."
"Hey", her taller friend almost cried indignantly before drawing herself up, "I'm just searching for my soul mate, that's all."
A quick roll of the eyes followed from the priestess, "Yes… a soul mate who happens to look like your old sempai…" The comment received only a frown and a light glare from Rei's friend as she decided to remain silent. Seeing this, Rei's lips twitched upward at the very corner, but quickly mastered it before it showed. "Alright, let's give you that tour."
Picking up his bag, Ranma and Akane followed their cousin while Makoto followed along. The quartet went from here to there in the shrine grounds. Eventually, they all stopped in a small courtyard held between the building walls. Looking around at the open area, Ranma could just see the ghosts and images of himself performing moves and katas all over the area. "Hey, Rei", he started, gaining his cousin's attention, "What time you usually wake up?"
"Around six in the morning", she responded, "I have duties to perform around the shrine before I leave for school." Giving a questioning look, she asked back, "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I was wondering if there would be any problems if I used this area to practice my martial arts each morning." A grin flashed a moment later, "I got to keep in shape, even if I'm going to be going to the university."
Smiling, Rei's words entered his ears, "I don't think there would be a problem, Ranma. I'll have to ask Grandfather about it, but I don't think he'll mind."
Ranma matched her smile, but after a second, he returned to a more thoughtful pose, "Where is Grandpa anyways?" He quickly glanced around as if expecting him to appear from behind a rock or tree at that moment.
"Oh, he and Yuuichiro left yesterday to visit another shrine outside the city. An old friend of grandfather wanted him to bless their newborn granddaughter. They should be back tomorrow or the day after", Rei easily replied.
"Okay… so, who's Yuuichiro? He your younger brother or something", the red shirted male inquired.
Makoto had a laugh escape before she could bring a hand up in time. "Or something would be right."
Shooting a quick look at her brown haired friend, Rei calmly replied, "Yuuichiro is an apprentice who also lives here. He works with grandfather and helps out." With that, she led the group to a stop at a door inside the shrine compound. "Anyways, here's the final stop of the tour, the guest room." Scratching the side of her head sheepishly, she added, "I guess I should have brought you here first, so you could drop off your luggage… sorry."
"It's alright, Rei", Akane waved off the apology with a smile. Ranma nodded with a grin, "Yeah, it's no problem. I'll just go get them real quick. Be right back." With that, he gathered the bags from outside and was back to his wife's side. Seeing him carrying the two bags effortlessly, Rei blinked but opened the door to the guest room.
As Ranma walked in, followed by Akane, they noticed a good sized room where two futons were set up recently. As Ranma placed the luggage down on the side of the room, he heard Makoto behind him, "You two sure don't seem to have a lot of luggage for two university students. Especially ones who want to live in an apartment."
"We only brought basic stuff for a few days", Akane answered with a grin, "Once we find an apartment, we'll have our families send the rest."
"Well, until you find an apartment, you both are more than welcome to stay here. Sorry to say, this is the only guest room, though. I hope you don't mind bunking together while you are here", the raven haired girl said in an apologetic tone.
Ranma and Akane just looked at each other and blinked a few times. While a grin grew on her husband's face, Akane turned towards the priestess with a confused expression, "Why would we mind, Rei? We're married, remember?"
Being reminded of this caused Rei's cheeks to flush over into a pink color as she nervously replied, "Oh yeah… Sorry, I kind of had forgotten that till you reminded me…"
Seeing the Senshi of Mars like this caused a wicked gleam to appear in Makoto's eyes. 'It's not every day that you get a golden chance to pay Rei back', her mind considered. Turning towards her target, she put a finger to her mouth, "You know, Rei, maybe you should have set up the futons closer together. After all, they are newlyweds…"
Rei's previously pink face suddenly flared bright beet red at the possible implications of her friend's statement. Jerking her head to the side, she saw said newlywed's faces also turning red. Seeing their response, she quickly panicked and jumped to conclusions, "No, please! Don't do that here!" Seeing all eyes jerk to her and her mind catching up to her mouth, she could have just died of the embarrassment, "I mean… ah…" It all died off in a stuttered mess.
To the side, the pony-tailed female couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing at her friend's predicament. "I'm sorry, Rei. I just couldn't help myself", she said through the laughter as she wiped at her eyes. Looking at Akane and her husband, she explained, "Seeing Rei squirm is a rare sight. I just couldn't pass the chance up, sorry." Silently, she added, 'Not to mention that this is payback for making fun of my sempai…'
After a moment, Akane coughed politely, "Yes, well, speaking of… that, maybe we should go out apartment hunting while it's still light out, ne Ranma?" She finished it up with a slight tap of her elbow into her husband's side.
It still took him a second to blink the glazed look out of his eyes and quick shake his head, "Uh? Oh, yeah, apartment hunting. Sounds good." Giving his head another quick shake, he placed an arm around his wife's shoulder as they walked out the room. "We'll try not to be too late getting back, okay", he said over his shoulder before they turned the corner and headed outside.
As soon as she was sure they were out of hearing range, the raven haired girl whirled on the brunette, hissing, "Makoto! What on Mars possessed you to do say something like that!?"
"Calm down", Makoto said, patting the air slightly, "It's like I told them; you need to relax, girl."
The Senshi of Jupiter was thrown off though as Rei's scowl quickly shifted to a smug grin, "Well, at least I'm not the one who's going to pass off as a sex craved maniac because of that little stunt."
Once Makoto's mind quickly processed that, she just dropped her head, placing a hand over her eyes. "Great…"
oOo
Not far away, just out of hearing range from the two females, Akane shook her head while she massaged her temple a bit. "Your cousin has some very weird friends, Ranma", she commented wryly.
"Yeah", her husband agreed, lowering his arm from her shoulder. "I'm just starting to see that", he said before letting out a quick laugh, "Maybe Nerima wasn't so bad after all…" Shrugging it off, he noted, "Whatever. We'll only be there for a couple days, right?"
"Yes, that's true", she agreed, with a slight nod.
The pair walked for a bit in silence before Ranma spoke up again, "Hey, Akane. Why'd you want me to keep quiet about that monster we took out at the train station?'
Looking up at her husband out of the corner of her eye while raising an eyebrow, she responded in an even voice, "Ranma, what do you think would happen? Rei is a Shinto priestess in training and we don't even know if she believes in monsters. Besides, she probably has enough problems of her own than having to worry about monsters going after her friends."
Listening to his wife, Ranma nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I can see that…" Then he let a slight frown twitch his lips as he continued, "Switching topics, why'd you have to tell her I have an ego problem? You know I'm good, Akane."
"But you do have an ego problem, my lovable baka-kun", she replied, giving him a smile.
The raven haired male smiled back down at his beautiful wife, "And you still can't cook, my Kawaiikunee-chan."
They chuckled at the inside joke of their old relationship as she leaned into his shoulder. A moment later, he tenderly entangled his fingers into hers and they clasped hands as they walked down the road. To the people they passed, there was no question what their relationship was… and that didn't bother the Saotome couple one bit.
oOo
Elsewhere in Juuban, a trio, plus a talking moon cat, had just finished walking towards Mamoru's apartment to drop off his luggage before they continued on to Rei's shrine. While they made their way there, Hotaru had broken off to accompany Minako to her own house to pick up Artemis. There was a quick brief over what happened at the train station, bringing the mooncat up to speed. Eventually, they all met up at the well known shrine the group used at times for a base of sorts.
Once they gathered at the gate, they entered at the same time and climbing the stairs towards the shrine itself. Reaching the top though, they were greeted with the sight of a smug looking priestess and a flustered looking green clad brunette. Raising an eyebrow, Ami asked, "What happened to you two?"
Thinking quickly, Rei decided that the less details the better in this situation, "Makoto wanted to embarrass me in front of my cousin, but she ended up embarrassing herself instead." She concluded her quick explanation with a slightly wider smug grin while crossing her arms under her breasts. This caused Matoko to throw a frown at the priestess, which she easily and pointedly ignored.
"Your cousin is here", the blue haired girl asked, looking around. After a moment, she continued in a lower voice, "Maybe we should gather elsewhere while they are staying here. We have… serious business to discuss."
"Don't worry", Makoto started up, using it as an excuse to get out of her funk, "he left to go apartment hunting with his wife."
"That's right! Ami-chan told us he was married at the station", Usagi squealed out. She then leaned into her boyfriend, "How romantic… Aren't you eager to get married, too, Mamo-chan?"
The tall male she was leaning into was lost in his own thoughts as she talked to him. Distracted as he was, Mamoru replied offhandedly, "Yeah, yeah, can't wait…" Fortunately for him, his younger girlfriend only heard the message and not the tone. While she looked dreamily into the future and heard wedding bells, he heard Minako ask, "Have they been married long?"
Rei shook her head in the negative to the question, "Actually, no. Turns out they just got married yesterday."
What the priestess just said knocked everyone back on their heels for a moment. "And it's registration tomorrow, too", Minako commented. She just shook her head, "What a way to spend your honeymoon…" Upon hearing this lamenting statement, Rei and Makoto found various interesting things to look at around the shrine entrance. Thankfully for them, before the girls could ask any of the really interesting questions, there was an interruption in the form of an impatient mooncat.
"Ahem!" All the girls and Mamoru suddenly took notice of Luna, who looked annoyed at the gathered humans. Seeing she had gathered their attention, she continued, "There are more important things at hand than the married life of Rei's cousin." The girls had the decency to look slightly sheepish at the chiding from Luna, but still held questions on that topic in their minds.
"She's right", Ami agreed, "We had a youma appear at the train station today while we were waiting with Usagi."
Hearing that, Rei and Makoto had strong reactions to that, though they were vastly differing by nature. While Rei looked shocked and widened her eyes, Makoto looked sullen and disappointed. "Damn…", she swore under her breath, "First youma attack in months an I miss it!"
A couple sets of nervous laughter were filtered over the air while a few others shook their heads at Makoto's exclamation. Ami, however, was unfazed by the brunette's outburst and continued on, "Well, it's not really the youma that's needs to be talked about. It was so weak that any one of us could have taken it out by ourselves." Looking around at the group, she let it loose, "What really is interesting was more the fact of who dispatched it…"
Makoto blinked a few times, broken from her sulking, "Wait a second… You mean you guys weren't the ones that killed it?"
Jumping on the chance to talk about the event, and the hunk she saw, Minako stole the spotlight from the blue haired genius, "We never had the chance to! All of a sudden, this superpowered hunk came out of nowhere and fought off the youma. He and some girl that helped him even stepped off the same train as Mamoru." She just about exploded at that point, "You should have seen him go! He used this crazy energy blade thing and cut off a couple of arms before getting thrown into a wall. The hurt youma tried to escape but the girl pulled out this hammer from nowhere and bashed it towards the super-hunk."
At this point, she sighed dreamily as she saw what happened next through rose colored glasses while speaking it out, "He looked so godly as he stepped out of the wall and then actually shot a… energy ball which finally killed the youma. You should have seen him move, Makoto! He practically disappeared whenever he attacked! It was unbelievable…" The hyperactive blond rattled off the rest of the event with the speed not unlike that of a auctioneer calling off bids.
As she finished, calling Makoto and Rei just interested would be like calling the Pacific a swimming pool. Raising an eyebrow, Makoto cautiously asked, "What did they look like?"
"The hunk had long black hair, tied back in a braid to his shoulders. The red shirt and black pants didn't look bad, but definitely had an exotic look… Chinese, maybe? The girl that was with him had short dark hair, a yellow dress and a blue blouse", Minako rattled off almost as fast, but slowed down when she saw the concentrated look Rei had.
Makoto had her head cocked to the side a bit, with a finger on her chin, "Hey, Rei… Doesn't that sound like…"
She never got farther as Rei burst out at a Minako, "Did you talk to them!? Did they say their names?!"
Seeing the shocked look on the blond girl's face, the other blond jumped in, "We didn't have a chance. As soon as they were through they just… disappeared. We tried to find them but…"
The position of Makoto's hand and head changed at hearing that, to be more on the line of introspection. "Actually, I think Rei and I have a pretty good idea of who your 'Superpowered Hunk' is… We cant be sure until later though", she admitted to the group.
Jumping in front of Luna, Artemis took his turn at questioning the youths, "Who do you think it is?" He ignored the glare he received from the female moon cat behind him.
"My cousin and his wife", Rei flatly responded, still thinking, "Ranma and Akane Saotome."
The response nearly knocked her off her feet as everyone, minus Makoto, practically yelled, "Your cousin!?" Once the gathered Senshi and Mamoru calmed down, the priestess continued, "Ranma and Akane look exactly as you described… They had mentioned there was a fight at the station, but why didn't they say anything about a youma?"
"I don't know", Minako said with a shrug. "But wait, it gets weirder… We found out that Mamoru had a sister in his past life! Guess what, she was even a senshi like us! Who would have guessed there was a Sailor Terra… Then there's Hotaru's brother…"
Rei and Makoto's minds were reeling from the rapid fire blows of information and revelations. "Whoa! Hold on, Minako!", Rei yelled out, throwing her hands up. "Wait a minute! There was a Sailor Terra? That's the first I've ever heard of it…", she admitted as she scrunched up her eyebrows, "Why haven't we heard about this before?"
The two moon cats looked noticeably uncomfortable at that question. Luna had conferred with Artemis earlier and they found it disconcerting that they both suddenly 'remembered' these long lost memories concerning Endymion's family. They really hadn't had time to explore the situation, but both moon cats knew it wasn't going to be a fun adventure.
Seeing the gazes of her human charges gradually looking down towards her and Artemis, Luna had a stroke of genius. Looking over to Hotaru, she asked, "Why don't you tell everyone what you told us earlier?" Hearing that, Hotaru and Mamoru each raised an eyebrow at the blatant attempt to shift attention away from herself and Artemis. Even knowing that fact, having the everyone else's eyes on the youngest Senshi left her to only let out a sigh and then start her tale… The rest of the girls listened with rapt attention.
End of Chapter 4
