Private Bet #8: Warriors of Love
by Shade
To Disclaim or not to Disclaim, whether tis nobler to
disclaim first or to wait and disclaim after. Wherefore
art thou Disclaimer?
~~~~~~~
Part 1: Love and other dirty four letter words.
~~~~~~~
"What are you doing?"
A small grey kitten padded her way toward the pool,
most noticable on her forehead was a small shining
crescent moon.
"Huh?? Diana how'd you get here?" Rowan, Shadow, and
the Guardian looked like kids who's hands had been caught
in the cookie jar. They had good reason to be nervous too,
if their wives found out about this there would be a good deal
more then Hell to pay...
"Mom and Dad are busy and so is Chibi-Usa.
I got bored so I went looking for you."
Several of the rougher entities backed away,
unable to cope with the sucrose overload.
Shadow could already feel cavities forming.
"Um...now's not a good time."
"Oooh...what's that? Isn't that Endymion?!"
Busted. That particular Bet would have to be
the one being watched at the moment.
"Ah...well...you see..."
Not being able to lie really sucked sometimes
in Rowan's opinion. He shot a pointed look at
the others, this was all their fault. Picking
a timeline where Prince Endymion died a horrible
screaming death was bad enough, but deciding to
enlarge the scene with blow by blow playback had
just been plain stupid.
"You're being naughty again aren't you!"
They tried to look innocent and failed miserably.
"I'm going to tell..." Diana singsonged.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Who's turn is it this week? Hmm?"
A definitely mischievous expression
was on the Moonkitten's face.
"Alright!! You win!!!" They cried.
"What can be so bad about that?"
The Bard wondered what threat was so
horrible as to scare these three.
"Four words. Setsuna, Black Leather, Bullwhip."
The Guardian looked like he could use a drink,
or better yet a whole bottle.
The Bard's eyes widened.
"I...see."
"I wanna make a change here!"
"Wait a minute!"
Too late.
All they could do now was watch and groan.
~~~~~~
-Entering Ranma Timeline
[..."She's really a very sweet girl" Doctor Tofu had said.]
"Like hell she is." Ranma retorted weakly as
he remembered that conversation.
Right after his legs had locked up Akane had stopped
and LAUGHED at his predicament. But only AFTER
she had bashed him on the head with her schoolbag.
Of course his mouth had shot off, he'd been raised
to fight back against any kind of attack and with
Genma as a father you learned to act first and think later.
It usually worked.
Just not this time. After several agonizing minutes
had passed Akane had left his much battered and aching
body on the street as she went home.
"Find your own way back you Sexchanging Perverted Jerk!!"
Those had been her last words as she walked
away without looking back once. Her voice had
been as cold as finely tempered steel and cut
deepler then even the finest masamune blade.
At this point Ranma Saotome's life had for
all intents and purposes hit rock bottom.
In the last six months he'd picked up a
Jusenkyo curse that turned him into a girl
at the worst possible times, a bloodthirsty
amazon was after his head, he was engaged
without his consent to someone he'd thought
might have become a friend but had instead
only insulted him and attacked him once she
found out he was really a guy, and to add
insult to injury the local bully had developed
a fixation on him as girl while trying to kill
him when he was a guy.
When he'd arrived at the Tendo Dojo Ranma had
emotionally latched onto the first person to
show him any kindess there, Akane Tendo.
But after being constantly confronted with
open hostility the chances of any sort of
attachment forming between him and her had
been squashed like a particularly annoying bug.
Except that you usually stopped hitting the
bug after it was dead.
Things *couldn't* get any worse.
Then he turned around.
"Ca...ca..ca.cacacacacacacCAT!!!!!!"
If he'd been coherent at the time Ranma would
have sworn to never make such a foolish statement
ever again.
However he was too busy trying to stop his
fragile hold on sanity from snapping entirely.
Ranma started to panic even more as the white
feline approached him. So caught up was he in
his efforts to get away from it that he didn't
notice the cresent moon on its forehead.
Artemis smirked, if cats could be said to smirk.
This was going to be so much fun!
But just when it looked like all hope was lost...
"Shoo Artemis! Stop teasing him!"
As Ranma looked up into Minako Aino's big
blue eyes he could have sworn he heard a
little *twing* as if someone had just fired
a bow. But that was silly, there wasn't anyone
else here except him and this beautiful, caring,
wonderful girl...
~~~~~~~~~
Cupid started worrying, this was not going
according to plan. What had gone wrong?
All he had to do was to shoot Ranma as
soon as the girl helped him up. But this
wasn't the right girl!
{Damn it!!!}(1)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma just about lost faith in the
fairer sex and was going to say
to heck with it all and become a
monk when this angel suddenly came
to his rescue.
Now here she was trying to help him
and make him feel better.They were
sitting in a booth at a nearby burger
joint, waiting for Ranma's legs to recover.
It was the first truly nice deed anyone had
ever done for him without demanding something
in return.
Much to his continued relief the white
cc..a...ca...feline had not made another
appearence. He was a bit stunned that Minako
had been able to carry him this far. There was
a hidden strength in that seemingly delicate
body he realized, not as strong as Akane's,
but somehow more appealing that way.
To pass the time they talked, and much
to Ranma's surprise once he started he
found himself spilling out practically
his entire life story to her sympathetic ear.
And he also found himself listening to parts
of her life too, it seemed that this girl had
also been looking for someone to unburden herself
to. Misery loved company.
Though he sensed that there was much she left unsaid
Ranma said nothing, after all he hadn't told her
everything either. She probably wouldn't have
believed the more fantastic parts without proof
and he didn't want her to think he was some kind
of freak.
Old wounds mend slowly.
Ranma was more cautious this time after
having been burned once already.
So far his experiences with girls had
been zero for two, and he wasn't exactly
anxious for a third strikeout.
But maybe...
~~~~~~
"So that explains why he always used to eat Akane's cooking..."
"Besides the fact she shoves it down his throat anyway?"
"Well, that too."
~~~~~~~
Minako Aino had just gone through a
very rough time in her life. She had
lost her first love to one of her best
friends back in England. Because of her
secret identity as Sailor V she had
become a loner, her duty coming first
over friendship and the normal things
girls her age usually did. Now here she
was, starting over in Japan, even more
alone then before...
Despite her outward attempt to keep
up a cheerful demeanor she was hurting
badly.
Running into someone with a situation
similar to hers was a surprise to say
the least. Looking at the handsome
pigtailed boy in front of her she had
trouble believing that this wasn't
just another one of her many romantic
daydreams. He wasn't an idol, a minus.
But on the other hand he was rather
cute and really nice, both major
pluses in her book. After all, she
wasn't exactly in a position to be
choosy.
Maybe...
~~~~~~~~
"Uh oh."
Rowan was getting a really bad feeling about this.
Perhaps Setsuna in her 'Oujo-sama to Oyobi' outfit
would have been a better choice after all.
(To be continued)
*$*$*$*$*
(1) This is not the cute cherub that you're thinking of.
While reading up on Rifts for Bet #10 I found an entry
for an EVIL Cupid. This demon only LOOKS cute and innocent.
He gets his thrills from ruining people's lives by causing them to
fall in love (or lust) with the worst possible person for them.
And if by some miracle the love starts to work out...
Cupid uses his arrows to create rivals and make other
obstacles leading toward broken hearts and shattered dreams.
Hmmm...Sound familar?
by Shade
To Disclaim or not to Disclaim, whether tis nobler to
disclaim first or to wait and disclaim after. Wherefore
art thou Disclaimer?
~~~~~~~
Part 1: Love and other dirty four letter words.
~~~~~~~
"What are you doing?"
A small grey kitten padded her way toward the pool,
most noticable on her forehead was a small shining
crescent moon.
"Huh?? Diana how'd you get here?" Rowan, Shadow, and
the Guardian looked like kids who's hands had been caught
in the cookie jar. They had good reason to be nervous too,
if their wives found out about this there would be a good deal
more then Hell to pay...
"Mom and Dad are busy and so is Chibi-Usa.
I got bored so I went looking for you."
Several of the rougher entities backed away,
unable to cope with the sucrose overload.
Shadow could already feel cavities forming.
"Um...now's not a good time."
"Oooh...what's that? Isn't that Endymion?!"
Busted. That particular Bet would have to be
the one being watched at the moment.
"Ah...well...you see..."
Not being able to lie really sucked sometimes
in Rowan's opinion. He shot a pointed look at
the others, this was all their fault. Picking
a timeline where Prince Endymion died a horrible
screaming death was bad enough, but deciding to
enlarge the scene with blow by blow playback had
just been plain stupid.
"You're being naughty again aren't you!"
They tried to look innocent and failed miserably.
"I'm going to tell..." Diana singsonged.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Who's turn is it this week? Hmm?"
A definitely mischievous expression
was on the Moonkitten's face.
"Alright!! You win!!!" They cried.
"What can be so bad about that?"
The Bard wondered what threat was so
horrible as to scare these three.
"Four words. Setsuna, Black Leather, Bullwhip."
The Guardian looked like he could use a drink,
or better yet a whole bottle.
The Bard's eyes widened.
"I...see."
"I wanna make a change here!"
"Wait a minute!"
Too late.
All they could do now was watch and groan.
~~~~~~
-Entering Ranma Timeline
[..."She's really a very sweet girl" Doctor Tofu had said.]
"Like hell she is." Ranma retorted weakly as
he remembered that conversation.
Right after his legs had locked up Akane had stopped
and LAUGHED at his predicament. But only AFTER
she had bashed him on the head with her schoolbag.
Of course his mouth had shot off, he'd been raised
to fight back against any kind of attack and with
Genma as a father you learned to act first and think later.
It usually worked.
Just not this time. After several agonizing minutes
had passed Akane had left his much battered and aching
body on the street as she went home.
"Find your own way back you Sexchanging Perverted Jerk!!"
Those had been her last words as she walked
away without looking back once. Her voice had
been as cold as finely tempered steel and cut
deepler then even the finest masamune blade.
At this point Ranma Saotome's life had for
all intents and purposes hit rock bottom.
In the last six months he'd picked up a
Jusenkyo curse that turned him into a girl
at the worst possible times, a bloodthirsty
amazon was after his head, he was engaged
without his consent to someone he'd thought
might have become a friend but had instead
only insulted him and attacked him once she
found out he was really a guy, and to add
insult to injury the local bully had developed
a fixation on him as girl while trying to kill
him when he was a guy.
When he'd arrived at the Tendo Dojo Ranma had
emotionally latched onto the first person to
show him any kindess there, Akane Tendo.
But after being constantly confronted with
open hostility the chances of any sort of
attachment forming between him and her had
been squashed like a particularly annoying bug.
Except that you usually stopped hitting the
bug after it was dead.
Things *couldn't* get any worse.
Then he turned around.
"Ca...ca..ca.cacacacacacacCAT!!!!!!"
If he'd been coherent at the time Ranma would
have sworn to never make such a foolish statement
ever again.
However he was too busy trying to stop his
fragile hold on sanity from snapping entirely.
Ranma started to panic even more as the white
feline approached him. So caught up was he in
his efforts to get away from it that he didn't
notice the cresent moon on its forehead.
Artemis smirked, if cats could be said to smirk.
This was going to be so much fun!
But just when it looked like all hope was lost...
"Shoo Artemis! Stop teasing him!"
As Ranma looked up into Minako Aino's big
blue eyes he could have sworn he heard a
little *twing* as if someone had just fired
a bow. But that was silly, there wasn't anyone
else here except him and this beautiful, caring,
wonderful girl...
~~~~~~~~~
Cupid started worrying, this was not going
according to plan. What had gone wrong?
All he had to do was to shoot Ranma as
soon as the girl helped him up. But this
wasn't the right girl!
{Damn it!!!}(1)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ranma just about lost faith in the
fairer sex and was going to say
to heck with it all and become a
monk when this angel suddenly came
to his rescue.
Now here she was trying to help him
and make him feel better.They were
sitting in a booth at a nearby burger
joint, waiting for Ranma's legs to recover.
It was the first truly nice deed anyone had
ever done for him without demanding something
in return.
Much to his continued relief the white
cc..a...ca...feline had not made another
appearence. He was a bit stunned that Minako
had been able to carry him this far. There was
a hidden strength in that seemingly delicate
body he realized, not as strong as Akane's,
but somehow more appealing that way.
To pass the time they talked, and much
to Ranma's surprise once he started he
found himself spilling out practically
his entire life story to her sympathetic ear.
And he also found himself listening to parts
of her life too, it seemed that this girl had
also been looking for someone to unburden herself
to. Misery loved company.
Though he sensed that there was much she left unsaid
Ranma said nothing, after all he hadn't told her
everything either. She probably wouldn't have
believed the more fantastic parts without proof
and he didn't want her to think he was some kind
of freak.
Old wounds mend slowly.
Ranma was more cautious this time after
having been burned once already.
So far his experiences with girls had
been zero for two, and he wasn't exactly
anxious for a third strikeout.
But maybe...
~~~~~~
"So that explains why he always used to eat Akane's cooking..."
"Besides the fact she shoves it down his throat anyway?"
"Well, that too."
~~~~~~~
Minako Aino had just gone through a
very rough time in her life. She had
lost her first love to one of her best
friends back in England. Because of her
secret identity as Sailor V she had
become a loner, her duty coming first
over friendship and the normal things
girls her age usually did. Now here she
was, starting over in Japan, even more
alone then before...
Despite her outward attempt to keep
up a cheerful demeanor she was hurting
badly.
Running into someone with a situation
similar to hers was a surprise to say
the least. Looking at the handsome
pigtailed boy in front of her she had
trouble believing that this wasn't
just another one of her many romantic
daydreams. He wasn't an idol, a minus.
But on the other hand he was rather
cute and really nice, both major
pluses in her book. After all, she
wasn't exactly in a position to be
choosy.
Maybe...
~~~~~~~~
"Uh oh."
Rowan was getting a really bad feeling about this.
Perhaps Setsuna in her 'Oujo-sama to Oyobi' outfit
would have been a better choice after all.
(To be continued)
*$*$*$*$*
(1) This is not the cute cherub that you're thinking of.
While reading up on Rifts for Bet #10 I found an entry
for an EVIL Cupid. This demon only LOOKS cute and innocent.
He gets his thrills from ruining people's lives by causing them to
fall in love (or lust) with the worst possible person for them.
And if by some miracle the love starts to work out...
Cupid uses his arrows to create rivals and make other
obstacles leading toward broken hearts and shattered dreams.
Hmmm...Sound familar?