Chapter Four
The Date
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½ or Sailor Moon. It's that simple.
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Ranma Saotome sat with an annoyed expression on her face while her seat partner and sister only sighed, scribbling hearts and other nonsense on the cover of her notebook. The cause of poor Ranma's suffering was currently camped out on the Tendo property, feeling quite smug over his victory.
Ranma's Flashback Start
Raiden stood in the middle of the street, his goons blocking every conceivable way around the current object of Ranma's annoyance.
"What part of 'leave me alone' do you not understand? You're even more annoying than cape boy, if that's even possible." Raiden smiled a little, bowing low.
"Princess –"
"DON'T call me that! I told you, the names Ranma!" He nodded.
"Ranma, I come to you with a proposition." This threw the girl off, causing her guard to slip but it was back before Raiden even had time to act.
"I'm listening." He smirked and nodded again.
"We fight, here and now and if I win, you allow me a date." It was Ranma who smirked this time.
"And if I win?"
"I disappear." Ranma stared at him for a moment, pondering over this. She could easily win over him and at the moment it didn't occur to her that he wouldn't make such an outrageous deal on his part if he didn't have something to count on.
"You're on."
Ranma's Flashback End
Of course, he won. She really underestimated him and she paid the price for it and since a deal was a deal, Ranma-Chan had her first ever date with the Prince of the Andromeda Galaxy this coming Saturday so, in two days.
"So, what are you going to wear on your date, Ranma?" Nabiki Tendo asked with a smirk, leaning against the other girl's desk.
"Clothes." Ranma replied in an annoyed tone.
"Oh come on, Saotome, it's your first date so you have to wear something nice." Ranma glared at the girl.
"I don't care how I look, it's not like I want to go on this stupid thing." Nabiki smirked again, turning in her seat to completely face the girl. A shiver ran up Ranma's spine at the other girl's expression.
"What if I told Akane what really happened to her new alarm clock?" Ranma paled and Serena blinked, looking between the two, now fully interested in the conversation that she had mostly missed out on in her daydreaming haze.
"You wouldn't." Nabiki smiled like an evil Cheshire cat.
"Wouldn't I?" Serena looked at her sister.
"Ooh, you ruined Akane's new alarm clock?" Ranma sunk lower in her seat.
"It was an accident, okay?" Serena shook her head, 'tsk'ing lightly.
"Now, Saotome, do we have a deal?" Ranma glared at her again.
"You're blackmailing me so I'll let you dress me up for Saturday?" Nabiki smiled and sat back a little bit, looking at the blonde haired girl.
"Us, Saotome, us." Ranma blinked, looking at her blonde sister as she smiled and nodded. She leaned forward in her seat with an even larger smile.
"C'mon, Ranma, it'll be fun." Nabiki had to hold back a chuckle.
"And if that doesn't convince you, we both know about Akane's alarm clock." Ranma glared at both girls before sighing. In this situation, being dressed up was the lesser of the two evils since she knew exactly what would happen to her if Akane really knew about her alarm clock.
"Alright, fine, you win." Serena giggled and Nabiki smiled like a cat that swallowed a canary.
"How much money do you have, Saotome?" Ranma studied her for a moment. What was she up to? Why did she care how much money she had?
"Why?"
"Well, you don't expect us to work with your wardrobe, do you? So, naturally, a shopping trip is in order." Serena nodded in excitement.
"Yeah! Shopping!" Ranma groaned and let her head fall on her desk. Today was going to be one of those days where it just didn't pay to get out of bed.
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Friday morning and it was beautiful and sunny just as Nabiki had said it would be. Maybe she could save her sanity if she pretended to be sick or something … but … her honor refused to let her back out of this. A deal was a deal, whether or not she had rushed into it without thinking was her own fault.
With a heavy sigh, Ranma dragged herself out of bed and stretched, walking out of the room only to be greeted by her sister and Nabiki. Serena, she didn't mind seeing first thing in the morning but … Nabiki was another matter.
"We came to make sure that you weren't going to skip out on tomorrow. I've also got something like a favor to ask of you. Do this and I'll erase what you owe me." Ranma blinked, her day brightened by that small sentence.
"What do you want me to do?" She yelped a little when she was dragged to Nabiki's room, Serena shutting and locking the door. This couldn't be good …
"Transform." Ranma blinked, not fully understanding.
"Come again?" The middle Tendo rolled her eyes.
"Transform into Sailor Ni-Moon, duh." Ranma blinked again but shrugged, not even having a slight clue on the girl's motives but if she was going to erase her IOUs then it was the least she could do.
"Moon Prism Power!" The familiar feel of magic swirled around her and just as she was in the middle of the transformation, it felt like someone pulled the magic plug or something and her transformation stopped and she was wearing her regular pajamas again. Nabiki smiled, a little amazed that the blonde was able to do that.
Ranma blinked at the girls. "What was that for? You wanted me to transform." Nabiki picked up her mirror and held it to the red haired girl. Ranma could only stare at the red version of her sister's hair that was … her own.
"I'm not even going to bother to ask how you managed that one." Ranma said, putting the mirror down. The two girls smiled and shoved the red odangoed haired girl out the door to let her get ready for the day. With a sigh, Ranma went back into her own room, changing into her school uniform and then joining everyone except Kasumi for breakfast.
Sitting down, Ranma Saotome sighed inwardly as everyone except Serena, Nabiki and Kasumi stared at her new hairstyle. Kasumi walked in, nearly dropping breakfast before quickly setting it down on the table.
"Oh my, Ranma, you look positively adorable." The red head managed a polite smile but didn't speak.
"Ranma did your hair grow overnight or something?" Akane asked, feeling it to determine its realness. Nabiki smirked a little bit and Serena giggled, obviously pleased with herself.
"Yeah, Saotome." Ranma glared at the middle Tendo girl but didn't say anything. Suon Tendo cleared his throat, trying to direct his thoughts from the new odango haired girl. He'd always had a little … weakness for that sort of thing. Genma frowned and grabbed a batch and pulled.
"OW!!!" The startled man let go and his daughter turned on him, punishment being promised in her eyes.
"What'd you do that for?!" The man sweated a little, putting his hands out in front of him with a scared smile.
"Uh, now Ranma, I only thought it was a wig or something and … I demand that you change your hair back to the way it was." Suon nodded a little, agreeing with his friend.
"Yes, Ranma, it is not very becoming or very manly for that matter." With this encouragement, everyone put in their two cents or ten, depending on the person. Soon, the voices were beginning to overwhelm the girl and she couldn't take it anymore.
"Will everyone just get off my back?! Arg! That's it! I'm going to school now!" Slamming her bowl and chopsticks down, she grabbed her school bag and slammed the door on her way out.
"God, why does everyone have to make such a big deal out of everything?" Ranma muttered to herself angrily.
"My pig-tailed goddess!" Ranma froze and she groaned in exasperation. This was the last thing she wanted, to deal with Kuno. Though she was slightly relieved that Raiden seemed to have decided to skip out on his usual ritual of trying to win her over, which would never happen.
"Princess!" Ranma's remote relief vanished and she turned around to see Kuno and Raiden coming straight for her. She groaned again, wanting to scream and cry at the same time. Things just got worse from there.
"Who are you to address my pig-tailed goddess?" Kuno asked with suspicion. Raiden arched a brow with a smirk.
"I could ask the same of you." Ranma could barely contain herself.
"What do you two morons want?" Kuno turned to her, presenting her with a bouquet of flowers.
"I have chosen you, my pig-tailed goddess. Share the rest of your life with me." Raiden bristled a little, shoving Kuno aside.
"Now look here boy, she is already spoken for." Kuno glared at this new "challenger" and shoved him back.
"You have no right to even address my pig-tailed goddess, you fiend." Ranma's annoyance grew some more. Raiden narrowed his eyes at Kuno, shoving him back.
"Do not put your hands on me, peasant." Kuno glared back at him, shoving the other male again.
"Peasant? I, Tatewaki Kuno, am no peasant." The two males snarled at each other for a little while longer before Raiden grabbed Ranma, holding her against his chest. A blush came to her cheeks at the action and she tried to put a little distance between the two before she was pulled against Kuno.
Soon, each male had one of her arms and they were snarling and growling at each other even worse than before and they began pulling on her arms. Ranma winced and decided she had about enough. Yanking her arms loose, she turned on Kuno with fire in her eyes.
"You are the stupidest moron I've ever met! Go to hell!" With that, she promptly booted him all the way to the school, a good five blocks away. Whirling around on a surprised Raiden, her glare only intensified as did her hatred for him.
Before she could stop herself, her hand came up and the sound of a slap bounced off the surfaces of the street. Raiden's eyes widened a little as he slowly realized what had just happened and the stinging sensation on his cheek. Anger slowly rose up in him and he turned to her, not noticing how her eyes still burned with anger and how attracted to her it made him feel.
"Now listen here, princess or not, I will not have you treating me like this. Our engagement – "
"Just SHUT UP!!!!" Raiden stopped in mid-sentence, staring at Ranma as she radiated power and anger, so in other words; she was really pissed off.
"That's all you ever think about is it? Your stupid titles and that stupid engagement and me being a princess. Get a clue! No one knows who or what you are and no one knows what I am either! It's always all about you and what you want and how you feel. Your wants, your needs, your feelings. Well, did you ever stop and think about how this all makes ME feel? I just found out like a week ago that I'm some super hero with super powers, that I have a sister – a TWIN sister to boot, that I'm a princess from the moon which everyone here has thought inhabitable since it's in outer space and, on top of all that, I find out that I'm suppose to marry some big talk guy who's so full of himself, he can't see the nose on his face!" Raiden bristled a little.
"Now, wait a minute –"
"No, you wait a minute! If you don't want to receive the cold shoulder for the rest of your life then you'll start to blend in, stop being so full of yourself and try to understand that here on Earth, you're a stranger." Before he even had time to give a response, she whirled around, her hair flying out behind her and giving him a good whiff of her shampoo before she took off.
Raiden stared in the direction she had left and sighed a little bit.
"You know, you could have stepped in or something." The green haired man from before stepped out of the shadows with a smirk.
"I could have but I rather enjoyed watching you have a pissing contest with that Earth boy. Of course, the part where Princess Ranma slapped you and then dished you a full meal of the truth was my favorite part." Raiden narrowed his eyes at the other man.
"Some friend you are." Nobu patted his friend's back.
"Well, let's get started on your current tasks." Raiden arched a brow at the other.
"What tasks?" Nobu chuckled.
"You heard her, loud and clear, I presume and I doubt you'd want her to constantly brush you off for the rest of your life. The big day is tomorrow so we've got a small amount of time to do a lot of work." Raiden glared at his friend, following him. After a minute, he just pouted a little, defeated.
"She didn't have to be that harsh." Nobu grinned.
"The world is a harsh place, my friend." Raiden just sighed, resigning himself to meeting her requirements. After all, if he wanted to make any progress, he'd have to abide by her rules. For now, at least.
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After Friday morning's happenings, the entire day went smooth as silk and soon, it was Saturday, the date of the date. It was a beautiful day, as Nabiki had predicted. Again the idea of faking sick played around in her mind and, as with yesterday, her honor wouldn't let her just skip out on a deal.
Sighing, Ranma dragged herself up and opened the door only to be greeted by three girls this time. She blinked in confusion.
"Can I help you?" The three girls looked at each other and two of them grabbed the red odango haired girl, dragging her into Akane's room while the other fished out the clothes that they had bought for today.
"What the - ?" Ranma was flung into the room and then the three girls pounced on her, shouting and chattering to each other, their excitement obvious. To Ranma, however, it felt like she was in a blender.
One girl was tugging at her pajamas while another was trying to apply make up and the other was trying to cram her feet into white sock stockings. This continued for a good twenty minutes before they all stepped back, giving the red head room to breathe.
"What … was … that for?" She gasped out before being spun around in the chair and pointed in the direction of the mirror that was attached to her dresser. Ranma gasped a little bit, staring at herself in the mirror … at least she thought it was herself.
She wore a white sundress that tied up around the neck, leaving the excess to flow like white ribbons with a low neckline. Little frills circled around just under the bust and a few inches above the bottom of the dress. To protect against the chill of the fall month they were currently in, she was wearing a soft blue half sweater that covered her bare arms but ended just above the first set of ruffles and stockings to match the dress. The outfit had been topped off with soft pink slightly dressy shoes.
To be honest, Ranma had never been this dressed up in her entire life and her make up looked so … natural and … were those … little ribbons tied around her odangoes? Yep and they matched her dress to top it all off.
The other girls smiled and gave each other high fives. Ranma looked at them and sighed a little.
"Aren't I a little overdressed? I mean, I don't even know where I'm going." Serena smiled at her sister, excitement bubbling inside her.
"Don't worry about that, we took care of it." Nabiki nodded.
"It'll be a nice, normal date." Ranma nodded a little, looking at herself in the mirror again, her hands clasped together in front of her. She turned to the girls and gave a bit of a smile.
"Well, I'd better go eat before I leave." They other girls followed closely behind her, grinning at the surprised sounds from the other household members. This was going to be an interesting breakfast.
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Ranma Saotome sat on a bench in a park, watching the kids play in the fallen and still falling leaves. A small smile came to her lips as her mind drifted and she sat back, feeling warm and comfortable sitting on the bench in the warm sun. She was spacing out so much she didn't notice a guy sit down beside her. What did bring her back to reality was that he dropped a red rose on her lap, contrasting beautifully with her dress and matching her hair. Ranma blinked and looked up at the man, not really recognizing him but … he did look a little familiar.
"Did you wait long?" Her eyes widened a little as she realized just who had started a conversation with her.
"Uh … no … not at all …" Raiden smiled and rose to his feet, offering her a hand up. Ranma took him in for a minute before picking up her rose and taking his hand. He smoothly placed it on the crook of his arm as they walked.
First of all … he'd cut his hair! It was short! Like really, really short! Then … his outfit … he looked completely normal! He had on a collared black jacket with a collared white shirt that was left open a little. Then just a normal black belt with a gold buckle and black pants and shoes. Normal and … awfully attractive. Ranma blushed and looked at the ground, suddenly very nervous.
Raiden arched a brow as he looked down at her. She looked adorable, especially in that dress …
"You're certainly quiet." Ranma looked at him but looked away quickly. She didn't know what to say and she certainly wasn't expecting this … this change.
"Um … sorry … I just … well … I wasn't … I mean …" Ranma blushed wildly. Why couldn't she just say that she wasn't expecting such a huge change? It wasn't that hard. Raiden smiled a little bit.
"Big change, huh?" Ranma looked up at him, at his soft smile and her heart pounded. She swallowed hard and nodded, forcing a smile.
"Don't like it or something?" She shook her head.
"No, it's not that. It's just … I … it was really unexpected. Especially your hair … it's all gone almost." Raiden laughed and nodded.
"Yeah but it had to be done. I haven't seen many other guys with long hair like mine was so I decided it was time to cut it." Ranma smiled a little more naturally now.
"Well, it looks good." She blushed when she realized what she'd said and looked away again. Raiden smiled a little, wanting to really make her smile.
"So, where are we going?" He grinned.
"You'll see." Ranma arched a brow and shrugged lightly. Sure enough, she did and what she did see made her stomach knot. The … ice rink? What a choice! She couldn't skate to save her life! This was probably Akane's idea of a joke or something 'romantic' since she knew very well of her skating abilities or rather lack of skating abilities.
They paused when they got inside the door, Raiden sensing his date's nervousness.
"Are you alright?" Ranma nodded a little.
"Yeah, it's just … I … can't skate … at all." He blinked a few times at her.
"Really? Your friends said that you were a pro." Ranma narrowed her eyes a little. Definitely Akane's doing.
"Well, don't worry. I won't let you fall." Soon, Ranma found herself in a pair of skates, standing at the edge of the ice, holding onto the wall, looking at the hard, cold surface nervously. Raiden was waiting a little ways away, watching her curiously, and figuring she was mostly being modest about her skating ability.
Taking a deep breath, Ranma stepped out onto the ice and stood on her shaking legs, on the verge of falling. Someone bumped into her, muttered an apology and didn't stick around to see Ranma take a nose dive towards the ice. Bracing herself for impact, she slowly opened her eyes when she didn't feel any.
Looking up, she saw Raiden's concerned look and blushed a little when she realized that his arms were around her.
"I warned you." She muttered, straightening with her date's help. He smiled a little, taking her hands and beginning to move. Ranma's eyes went wide with panic.
"H-hey! What are you doing?"
"Skating." Raiden replied, unable to keep the amused smirk off his face. Ranma's legs shook and her grip tightened on him as she wobbled even at their slow pace.
"I can see that! Stop! We're going too fast!" He chuckled a little, bringing her closer, feeling her hands hang onto his arms for what felt like dear life.
"Ranma, we're hardly moving." Ranma blushed, looking at the ground.
"Well, it was still too fast …" With another kid ramming into her, she quickly lost her balance. Ranma braced herself for impact but, again, it never came. Opening her eyes, she looked up at Raiden who had a grin on his face. She blushed again, standing with his help.
"I told you I wouldn't let you fall." He said his face extremely close to hers.
"So you said." His grin grew and he slid an arm around her waist.
"C'mon, I'll teach you how to skate." A slightly embarrassed Ranma glared at him.
"I can skate just fine. The ice is just slippery." Raiden chuckled again.
"My dear, that is generally what makes it ice."
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A woman wearing a black and red hat and crown mixture with what looked like bat wings attached sat in a high-backed chair; her eyes stared into a floating mirror in front of her. With a delicate frown, she lifted a hand, summoning three boys a few feet in front of her, she smirked a little.
"Puplan, Bananu, Oranjiya." The boys bowed each in turn.
"My queen." They said together, still bowing. The woman smirked evilly and chuckled lightly.
"Go to Earth and bring me back children." The boys nodded and vanished just as quickly as they had come. The woman's laughter grew and she stroked her mirror.
"No one can stop me, no one dares."
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A/N: Well, I have officially introduced the main enemy in my story and I can't believe that it took me four chapters just to figure out who I was going to pin as the bad guy xD As always, I hope I didn't disappoint with this extra long chapter (seven pages!). I also hoped that you all were surprised in Raiden's dramatic change and were touched (or something) at their little date scene.
I found something that both Ranma and Serena have in common: they can't skate worth pennies! (Me too! x3) I have also added a little bit of Kuno in here and I realize that this chapter almost entirely focuses on Ranma and Raiden (sorry!) I'll try to incorporate more Serena/Darien (Mamoru for you who like his Japanese name better – me too x3)
Once again, I apologize for the messed up time-line and I do really hope that at least some of you can figure out who this villain is. The boy's names were a pretty big hint but it's alright if you don't know. I had to do like mad research to get everything post ready.
Oh and I do hope that you all like my mid-transform hair idea and … it was crazy hard to figure out Ranma's outfit for her date. Didn't want to put her into anything TOO girly and I apologize, once again, for the lack of curse usage in here. I promise that there will be MUCH, MUCH more to come.
I'll give you guys a little spoiler hint for a future chapter (chapter five or six, seven at the latest). I figure that since Serena has a future daughter (Rini or Chibi-Usa) then Ranma should have one as well but I wanted to have it a little … unusual since Ranma in herself is unusual (what girl-cursed-guy wouldn't be?) so … in order to incorporate my darling Ranma's curse (which I know you all have been wanting more of) and the whole future child thing (well, not so future in this case) well … SOMETHING is bound to happen ;) –wink wink-
If anyone has any ideas then PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE either put them in your review/message me. I'm beginning to run dry and desperation ideas are just too sucky to put in here.
Thank You To:
Dumbledork
AshK
rEpLiEs
Dumbledork: I hope you're able to understand the hint of who the main enemy will be. You seem like a hard-core Sailor Moon fan (I could be wrong x3)