Disclaimer: once again, I own nothing of these characters,

only the situations that they find themselves in.

This is a Ranma ½ / Tenchi Muyo crossover (maybe Sailor Moon, I'm undecided)

Graceful Falling

Chapter 2

Version 2.0

Prelude to Violence

"Where is that baka?"

Nabiki glanced at her sister Akane. She had been repeating that same phrase for the past half hour. She knew that if she didn't do something soon, she was either going to wear a hole into the floor, or drive them all insane.

"He's probably at Ucchan's"

"That baka! Doesn't he know that I spent all day cooking for him? How dare he go out to flirt with Ukyo?"

That made Nabiki grin. He probably left because he knew you were cooking. She was about to comment on this, and quite possibly worsen the situation, when she was interrupted.

"Maybe he's just decided to spend some time with Ukyo because she's his friend," commented Kasumi, who had just walked in.

"Humph! All Ranma ever does is flirt! Ooohhh! I'm gonna kill him when he shows up!"

"Look on the bright side, Ranma might not be at Ukyo's place." Said Nabiki, with a slight smile on her face that would have made the most trusting person weary.

"Really, you think so?" asked Akane

"Sure, he could just as well be at the Nekohanten." She replied, smirking.

"Arghh! That's it! I'm gonna go get that hentai and pound him flat!"

Almost on cue, Akane's trusty mallet appeared in her hands as she marched outside, prepared to do serious harm to her fiancé.

"Oh my! I believe that you may have made the situation worse, Nabiki." Stated Kasumi, just the slightest hint of disapproval evident in her voice.

"Oh Akane, would have found some excuse to go after Ranma. I was just sparing myself the trouble of having to wait for her to decide to go. Besides this happens all the time, Akane'll knock Ranma back home, and they'll start the ritual all over again."

"I hope so, Nabiki, I hope so."

"Hey, what could go wrong?"

At that moment, curiously enough, a bolt of lightning touched down on the koi pond behind them. Unfortunately, living in Nerima had desensitized them to such occurrences. This was too bad, because if they had investigated the cause of the lightning, they would have noticed the cyan haired woman floating above the pond for a couple of seconds, before quickly fading from view.

Tenchi Masaki was worried. Kiyone had arrived at his house two hours ago, without Mihoshi.

Although Tenchi was first and foremostely worried about the elfin-eared girls' safety, he was also worried about the damage that she could cause while lost. That was why he had decided to ask Ryouko if she could try to find her. That was an hour ago, and still no sign of either girl.

"Tenchi, calm down, nothing could harm Mihoshi. She's a regular land mine, you should worry about the damage she's gonna cause to some unlucky persons property." This was spoken by Kiyone, Mihoshi's partner and part-time baby-sitter.

"Kiyone, that's not funny! Who knows what could have happened to Mihoshi! How could you have left her behind?" this time little Sasami was the one who spoke up, long turquoise pigtails bobbing in frustration.

"Yes, Kiyone, why did you leave her behind?" –Aeka, regal, with just a tad stuffiness.

"Hey, we just went to the market! How was I supposed to know that she'd get lost on the way back?"

"Well, be that as it may, you still should……"

Aeka's lecture was cut short, as usual, by the sudden appearance of a certain golden-eyed demoness.

"Ryoko! Did you find her?" asked Tenchi, running up to Ryoko.

"No, I didn't." she replied sullenly, not looking at Tenchi.

"R..Ryoko, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, nothing upsets me for long anyway." And with that, she walked outside.

Everyone in the room exchanged looks at that one, Ryoko never walked.

Tenchi was about to go see what was wrong with Ryoko, but Sasami had already ran after her.

I wonder what that was about?

OUTSIDE:

Sasami caught up to Ryoko sitting among the carrot fields. Coming to a halt, she looked over at her

Friend. With her knees lifted to her chin, Ryoko looked like a child who was just told that she couldn't

go out to play, and was trying hard not to be upset.

"Ryoko, what's wrong?"

Ryoko looked up at Sasami, and her eyes were wet.

"Do you think I'm wasting my time with Tenchi?"

"Wh…What? Why are you asking?"

Ryoko turned to look through the field,"While looking for Mihoshi, I came across these three girls talking,

One of them had just been stood up by their fiancée for another woman. The strange thing was, instead of

being angry with the jilted girl, the other girls acted as if it wasn't a big deal, as if it HAPPENED ALL THE

TIME!"

"Well that's very sad, but what does that have to do with Tenchi?"

"Don't you see? While looking at their exchange, I realized that if you truly care about someone, then you don't

lead them on, and you don't ignore their feelings. Tenchi has to know how I feel by now, but he does nothing to

dissuade or encourage my hopes. He acts as if my feelings don't exist."

"But, he does the same thing for all of us."

"Yeah, but that's not good enough anymore, I want to know how he feels about….did you just say US?"

"He He He….So what are you going to do about Tenchi."

"I don't know, but I do know I have to do something." Ryoko responded, still eyeing the cheerful Juraian carefully.

OUTSIDE, A LITTLE TO THE LEFT

Tenchi was shocked to say the least.

He had walked over to the carrot fields, because he knew that she sometimes goes there to think, with the intention of finding out what had upset her, in the hope of making her fell better. Instead, what does he hear?

"Do you I'm wasting my time with Tenchi?"

Now Tenchi is not blind or stupid. He knew that Ryoko cared for him, and even considered herself in love with him. However, Tenchi did not take into account that those feelings might be real and powerful. Unbidden, another voice pops into his head. " Why Jurai prince? Why do you make her wait?" Said by a man who truly cared for Ryoko, but stepped aside because she had chosen him. At the time he had been troubled by the man's words, he had been a Jurai defender, after all, someone who valued honor above all else.

Why do I pretend as if I don't know how she feels?

Of course, he could say that he did it to keep the peace, because if he ever did acknowledge anyone's feelings towards him, all hell would break loose in his own backyard. But that wasn't the whole truth.

The truth was, he didn't want to do it because he didn't want anything to change. Tenchi Masaki, a 16-year-old high school student, was being adamantly chased by a houseful of beautiful girls. Who wouldn't love that on some level? But here was the harsh reality of his ego boosting. His indecision was hearting those very same girls that he came to regard loosely as his 'family'.

At that moment, as Tenchi was walking back to the house, leaving Ryoko and Sasami behind, he decided that he was going to be more mature and responsible about how he treated the girls' emotions, especially Ryoko's. He only hoped that he survived the inevitable explosion.

Author's notes:

Whew! Well that's chapter 2 out of the way!

For all of you that have asked, yes this is a

Ranma Mihoshi fic. However, since life doesn't

Happen in a vacuum, I'm going to be pairing up a

Few others in unconventional ways. Also a heads up:

This fic WILL turn DARK, you have been warned.

Once again, Akane lovers, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!

Anyhoo, write me and let me know what you think. Page! pics and fics