Chapter 11
P-Chan
Luna sighed softly. She hated rainy nights. Sure, they weren't as bad now as they were under that bridge, but still, the fact that she had to sleep in her human form was annoying to say the least. Still, it was better than the alternative. Yet again she had to resist the urge to kill Genma in his sleep for putting Ranma through that training.
She and Usagi were sleeping in the main room of the Tendo home tonight, neither one really wanting to use one of the rooms on the third floor lest it be declared "theirs" and therefore unavailable for the use of someone who might actually need it.
The aforementioned blonde was having just as much trouble getting to sleep. Apparently the Captain of the Guard's loyalty was strong enough that even with her powers and memories struggling to return – no, even before they had begun to return – she found it difficult to rest cut off from her princess's symbol and kingdom. As such, she was watching the late night news, trying to see if anything was going on worth looking into.
Her ruminations were interrupted when the news report began talking about someone named "Sailor V." After a few minutes, Usagi hissed in a way that made the cat very proud. "Luna, she totally stole our shtick."
After a moment's consideration, Luna shook her head. "No, I don't think she did. I'm fairly certain she's one of ours. Think about it, what are the odds of the entirety of The Princess's Personal Guards winding up here in Japan? We're probably scattered all over the globe. Although…
"I don't actually remember a 'Sailor V.' Also… that cat they're talking about; it sounds like my counterpart, Artemis… Usa, there's a chance that Sailor V is actually the princess in disguise."
"…If that's the case, then shouldn't we go get her?"
"From the sounds of the report, she's needed where she is. At the moment we've only got the two of you active, so for now you'll each have to take a hemisphere. At some point though…"
"But the report said she hasn't been seen for a few months. What if…?"
"If she is who we think she is, she can't be dead or our enemies wouldn't still be playing in the shadows. If she's not, then she's either dead, in which case we can't help her, captured, in which case we'll rescue her as soon as we hear about it, or in hiding, in which case we can't risk leading our enemy to her."
"I guess… I just… If she's my sister-in-arms, I want to know she's doing alright."
"I'm sure she's just fine Usa. The enemy hasn't won yet, so what could possibly be going wrong?"
A few hours ago…
In a small village in the western part of England, Sailor V sunk to her knees as she watched the building before her burn. How could she have failed so utterly?
Her last battle with her actual enemy had been months ago. After that Artemis had insisted that she needed to train and improve her skills. That had actually been how she met the young couple who had owned the home that was now a bonfire.
They and their friends had helped her immensely, and she had done her best to help them in return. Her best had apparently not been good enough. Two more of their friends had shown up since she had, and both had torn off into the night with purpose, one seeking vengeance of some kind, the other taking hope to safety.
And her? She just sat there, watching her friends' home burn. She was broken inside, she knew she should be doing something, but… she just couldn't bring herself to move from what had become a funeral pyre.
"So what are you going to do now?"
Artemis had apparently finally caught up with her. She had been waiting in the next town over, standing vigil and watching just in case they needed her. When the alarms were tripped, she had taken off so fast she'd left her mentor behind.
"I… I don't know."
"This is one of those deciding moments. You did everything you could, but couldn't save them. Are you going to let that keep you from saving whoever the next one is?"
"…No. They would've saved the next one, but now they can't. So I'll do it in their place."
"In memoriam. I'm sure they would have appreciated the sentiment. Now let's go Minako, it's almost dawn, people will be waking up soon."
The resident panda threw Ranma and Ryoga out into the rain with a sign that read "QUIET!"
"It is a burglar!"
"Nah, it's just Ryoga again. Don't worry, Ranma's got this."
"Usagi! I'm a martial artist too, I can help!"
Usagi shrugged. "I guess if you want too. I'm gonna go sleep in the hall upstairs, something tells me it's about to get noisy down here."
"Here Akane, use this." Kasumi handed her sister a dumbbell.
"Ranma, the piglet's soaked through. Give him a bath while you're in there, will you?"
Ryoga laughed. "You won't tell her a thing Ranma. You made an oath on your honor as a martial artist, remember?"
Ranma shook his head. "One, letting you sneak into a girl's bed like that is way over the line to begin with. Two, sacrificing her honor for mine would only dishonor us both. Three, I have a prior bond to keep nothing secret from Akane."
Ryoga just laughed again. "That would require you to be noble Ranma. You're not that heroic." He turned on the faucet and sprayed them both with cold water."
Ranma grit her teeth and delivered a litany of silent curses. Ryoga had outmaneuvered her. There were too many people in the living room, she couldn't tell Akane who the pig in her arms really was.
She really only had one option.
Ranma locked eyes with Akane. "Akane," She spoke slowly and quietly, hoping the other girl would understand how serious she was, "Please, just trust me. There is a reason, I just can't tell you right now. Don't take the pig to bed with you."
Akane looked into Ranma's eyes a moment longer before slowly nodding as she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. She then turned on her heel and walked up the stairs, intent on getting an explanation later.
Akane's spoon missed her ice cream tub completely, bouncing off the edge of the table and clattering to the floor as she dropped it in shock.
Kasumi blinked in mild confusion, whatever secret Ranma had just whispered in Akane's ear, it was apparently big. She watched her younger sister close her eyes and fists before taking a calming breath.
"One moment." Akane rose from her seat, walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs, entered her room and opened her closet. She then reached down and picked up the sleeping pig inside by his handkerchief. While she was on her way back down, the pig woke up and started struggling, sensing something very wrong.
As she tried to drop the pig into the pot of water Ranma had started heating on the stove before their conversation began, his struggles actually grew to the point that the pot was sent flying over to splash Ranma, triggering her change into a him.
Kasumi frowned ever so slightly as she began to catch on. While Akane was trying to figure out what to do next, the eldest Tendo sister went to the other side of the kitchen and picked up the kettle she kept constantly warm for Ranma. She carried it over so that her sister could use it…
Akane stood staring at the Ryoga-shaped hole in the wall. Ranma hesitantly walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.
"You know, I don't think he meant to hurt you."
The girl turned on him. "What!? Now you're defending that pervert!?"
Ranma shook his head. "What he tried to do was absolutely wrong. I'm pretty pissed about it too, probably as pissed as I'd be if he tried to do it to Usa. But Ryoga's convinced that I'm evil. I think he was actually trying to help protect you from me."
"So you're saying I shouldn't have hit him!?"
"No! Now will you stop looking for a reason to get mad at me!? All I'm saying is that he screwed up big time here, but you shouldn't hate him. Not just yet at least."
Akane deflated, more at the realization that Ranma was right about her looking for a way to be mad at him than anything else he'd said. And as her guard slipped, so did several other emotions. She turned and gazed out into the rain again. "…Ranma …why is every boy I know desperate to get in bed with me? …Is …is 'conquering' me the only thing that will ever matter to anyone?"
Ranma seized up, completely unsure of what to do as he watched Akane break down in tears. He was so preoccupied with trying to figure things out that he never even noticed the gentle pressure on the small of his back push him forward. What he did notice was that he lost his balance and instinctively grabbed Akane to prevent his falling.
Akane froze in shock as she felt Ranma wrap his arms around her from behind.
Ranma thought as fast as he could, feeling Akane stiffen under his touch. While she was crying over her boy troubles was exactly the wrong time to come across as getting grabby. Between 'It's not my fault,' 'I'm not making a move on you,' 'I'm sorry,' and 'I don't know why they only want to get in bed with you,' what Ranma actually managed to stammer out was:
"I don't want to conquer you."
Responding almost unconsciously to the warm embrace and comforting words, Akane turned in her fiancé's arms and just cried into his shoulder.
In the hallway behind Ranma, Kasumi breathed a sigh of relief as she put her weight on the stick of the broom she had grabbed from the closet. "Disaster averted."
The next morning, Akane came to a startling realization about what Ranma had said. He was right; he wasn't trying to conquer her. Their parents had forced them into an engagement, but Ranma was fighting it just as hard as she was. He could have done just about anything he wanted to by this point, but he hadn't taken advantage of her in any way.
In fact, he frequently went out of his way to insult her, to drive her away from him. She still remembered the conversation she'd overheard his first night here. He was determined to let her choose, but he was making sure she was familiar with his worst side before she did. More than that, he was actively avoiding everything that the perverts at school had ever tried.
He was running in the exact opposite direction of romance as fast as he could. He wasn't just the only boy she knew who wasn't trying to get her in bed, he was the only boy she knew who was actively trying to stay out of her bed. All of his insults, all his teasing, it was all code, signals that he refused to be the kind of boy that she hated. She smiled to herself as she realized that the only way to show him that she truly understood was to respond in kind.
She never even realized the infinitely important conclusion she had come to, though it would shape so many of her future decisions. Deep in her mind though, Ranma Saotome stepped into a position that nobody else ever completely had before, though many had come close.
Ranma Saotome was safe.
BREAK
Gosunkugi and Kogane were sitting on a park bench, a gentle breeze ruffling their hair.
Gosunkugi shook his head. "Kogane, I can't run from this fight."
Kogane nodded. "Then I can't stay away."
"Kogane, trust me, I've got this."
"I do trust you Hikaru, that's why I have to be there. Now will you stop worrying? You and the rest of the crew will be there, so I won't be in any danger."
Various members of said crew nodded in their equally varied hiding places.
