Dreams of Destiny
Chapter 5
Ranma stared at the schoolyard with a dazed expression on his face. He'd never seen anything like what had happened today before. Sure, he'd been all over Japan and parts of China and seen many weird things. Cursed training grounds, temples full of evil kitsune, crazed monks who worshipped a sandal; those things Ranma could deal with, but a weird woman-shaped creature ripping a crystal out of his chest and causing him to feel as if his life was draining away, that was something new. When the daimon had been destroyed and the girls in the short skirts had run off, one of the teachers had come out to check on Ranma.
According to the teacher, these attacks had become common, and they'd never heard of someone being targeted by them more than once. While the teacher had meant this to reassure Ranma, it had the opposite effect. It made him angry. Angry with himself for getting caught so easily. Angry with himself for not being able to break free. Angry with himself at having needed to be saved by some girls in short skirts.
Some of the other students had taken the time to explain to him about the Sailor Senshi. How they usually fought the monsters that showed up in town on a semi-regular basis and managed to incur massive property damage at the same time. No one knew who they were or where they came from, but everyone agreed that they had saved numerous people, even if they didn't seem to have too good of control over their powers. Everyone was very grateful to them for all the people they'd saved and had even stopped trying to figure out who they are. They'd been accepted as a part of everyday life in Juuban.
But not Ranma. He couldn't believe it had taken some girl with magic powers to save him from that creature. He'd trained for years in martial arts to be the best and now he was slipping. He needed to train and train seriously, but where could he turn. Oyaji had been his trainer for most of his life, aside from the occasional dojo master and monk they had come across in their travels and Ranma doubted he was likely to find anyone as widely experienced as his father. So who was he going to train with?
* * *
Ami walked up to the Juuban High School anxiously. She had heard that there had been another daimon attack today and she didn't know if Ranma had been involved or not. She hoped he hadn't but Usagi and Rei said that the victim had a pigtail and dressed in Chinese clothes, so Ami suspected he had been the one. She wasn't sure how he would deal with it, though. Most residents of Juuban could take being attacked by a monster as a daily occurrence, especially Naru, but Ranma hadn't settled into Juuban yet. Ami had no idea how Ranma was going to react to what had happened.
Ranma was waiting for her at the gate with a severe expression. He didn't seem to notice her as she walked. "Ranma, are you okay," she asked, putting a hand on his arm. Ranma jumped a bit, startled and nodded to her.
"Yeah, I'm alright," Ranma replied. "Some monster decided to use me as a playtoy, but I'm fine."
"I'm glad you're okay," Ami replied sincerely. "We haven't had any fatalities or serious injuries from a monster attack in a long time. When I heard about the attack here, I was worried you were involved."
"It was going after the art teacher," Ranma said. "I couldn't let it get him. Mr. Egawa's a nice guy. He shouldn't be monster-bait, so I threw him out of the room and told him to run. I led the monster outside and it wrapped me up like a piece of sushi. It pulled some red crystal thingy outta me and then these two chicks showed up throwing these blasts around. I got free and got the crystal back and then this psycho chick fries the daimon and one with a really silly hairstyle threw a big pink heart at it and made it disappear. Not a big deal." Ami looked at him oddly, but didn't say anything. She could tell it bothered Ranma a lot that he had to be saved. He'd been studying martial arts his whole life and he was a very independent person, but Ami could tell that now wasn't the time to push the matter. Besides if she got him talking about the other Senshi, she'd start giggling. Ami wondered how Uranus and Neptune would take being referred to as chicks. Not to mention Mars. She'd probably throw a fit over Ranma's description of her, however accurate it seemed. Usagi would just start wailing over the insult to her hairstyle.
"Well," she said. "I was going to take you over to meet my friends, but a couple of them unexpectedly became busy, so you'll only get to meet two of them. Come on, let's go."
"Which friends are we gonna meet," Ranma asked as he started walking down the street, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders stiffly pushed back.
"I'm taking you over to the shrine Rei lives at," Ami replied. "She and Makoto said they'd be there. Usagi and Minako got detention again for being late. I thought you might like to see the temple since you mentioned staying at several on your training trip."
"Shrines are nice," Ranma replied, the tension starting to ease out of his frame. "They're very peaceful. I remember one shrine I visited when I was young. It had a great priest. He taught me a bunch of meditation techniques to focus my mind. Too bad I had to leave so abruptly."
"What happened," Ami asked.
"Oyaji showed up in the middle of the night and dragged me off," Ranma replied, his shoulders tensing again. "Wouldn't be surprised if he stole stuff from 'em too."
"Uncle Genma wasn't with you," Ami asked, surprised. "I thought he rarely left you by yourself."
"Yeah, but this time was different," Ranma said, his face turning dark. "It was after one of his stupidest training ideas ever. The police took me away from him after that one. That's how I wound up at the temple. Oyaji just waited until the heat died down and then grabbed me and ran."
"What did he do," Ami asked, not sure that she wanted to know.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Ranma replied, shuddering. "It wasn't pleasant. Say, where is this temple, anyway?"
"It's about five miles east of here, at the edge of the district," Ami replied. "I thought we'd catch the bus down by the shopping center. It goes right by the temple."
"Wanna take a short-cut," Ranma asked, smiling roguishly.
* * *
Ami screamed as she hurtled through the air. Not that she hadn't survived worse falls as Sailor Mercury, it was just that she was just Ami right now. She didn't have the Senshi's magical resistance to damage and enhanced physical abilities right now, so she was understandably terrified at bouncing from rooftop to rooftop in Ranma's arms. When he finally stopped and set her down, Ami leaned against the wall trying to catch her breath. Ranma stood off to the side, rubbing his ear.
"Jeesh," he said, "you certainly can scream loud."
"What did you expect, Ranma," Ami replied exasperated. "You asked if I wanted to take a shortcut, picked me up and bounced off half the rooftops in the town and you're surprised that I screamed?"
"Well, yes," Ranma replied, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "I won't kill him," Ami muttered. "No matter how much I want to, I won't kill him. He's my cousin and he could probably stop me before I managed to throttle him. Just think happy thoughts. Happy thoughts."
Ranma eyed Ranma carefully. Girls are weird, he thought.
When Ami regained control, she grabbed Ranma by the hand and started dragging him down the street to the temple steps. Climbing up, they passed under the torii that signified the entrance to a shinto shrine, only this one seemed to be covered in crows. As they topped the steps, Ranma could make out a Dark-haired girl dressed as a miko sweeping the courtyard while she talked to a statuesque brunette who was sitting on the porch. As Ranma looked around, he was struck by a sense of familiarity, as if he'd been here before. Ami interrupted his musing as she called out to the other girls, "Rei-chan, Mako-chan!"
The other girls turned to look at them and waved. The brunette rose to her feet, a look of anger flashing across her face as Ami and Ranma drew close. She moved away from the raised porch and called out, "Ami-chan, who's this?"
"This is my cousin Ranma, Mako-chan," Ami replied nonplussed. "I told you that I'd be bringing him by today to meet you guys."
"Yo," Ranma grunted.
"It's nice to meet you, Ranma," Rei said, shooting the brunette a glare. "I'm Rei Hino and this is Makoto Kino. Ami-chan told us a little about you, but I didn't get much of the story since she had to swing by here before school."
"Don't you go to school with Ami," Ranma asked.
"No, I go to a private girls' school," Rei replied. "Mako-chan goes to school with Ami-chan, but we've all known each other for a long time now."
Ranma looked at them with a wistful expression. "Must be nice to have friends for so long," he said. "Oyaji never let us stay in one place for more than a few months, so I never made many friends. Most of 'em have probably forgotten all about me by now."
"Don't be so hard on them, Ranma," Makoto said, her attitude thawing. "if they were really your friends, they'll remember you. Maybe you'll meet them again someday."
"Maybe," Ranma replied with a shrug. "But not many people are gonna want to be friends with someone like me."
"Why do you say that, Ranma," Rei asked. "You seem like a nice enough guy."
"Didn't you tell 'em about the curse," Ranma asked, turning to Ami.
"It's not something that's easy to explain," Ami replied sheepishly. "I figured it would be better to just show them first."
"Yeah, I guess it is pretty weird," Ranma said with a sigh.
"What are you two talking about? What's this about a curse," Rei demanded testily.
"Hmm. What's the best way to explain it," Ranma mused. His train of thought was interrupted by a crack of thunder as rain began to pour down out of the previously clear sky, drenching the three girls and one boy before stopping abruptly, leaving four girls. Rei and Makoto stared in shock as Ranma's masculine frame melted away, leaving a very busty and depressed redhead standing in front of them. "Yeah, I think that about sums it up. Man, someone up there must really hate me."
"Ranma was cursed while he was in China," Ami explained while Ranma tried to wring the water out of his shirt. Strangely enough, while the other girls had gotten wet, the force of the rain seemed to have spent itself on Ranma. "He turns into a girl when he's splashed with cold water." Ami was slightly amused at the looks on her friends faces. It wasn't often that she was able to see them caught completely by surprise. If there was one thing she'd noticed about having Ranma around, he certainly made life a lot more interesting.
"Curse's also why most people won't hang around me either," Ranma said as he pulled his shirt off to wring it out, revealing a well-filled muscle T-shirt and an impressive pair of breasts.
"I guess I can see how it would freak people out," Makoto said slowly, trying not to stare at Ranma's breasts, which were barely covered by the muscle T-shirt. "But once people get to know you, they won't be bothered by it too much. Not around here anyway. What with all of the monster attacks and such."
"Yeah, well, I got attacked by one a them daimon things this morning," Ranma replied irritably. "It was kinda embarrassing to have to be saved by some weird chicks in short skirts."
"Are you saying that there's something wrong with a girl saving a guy," Rei asked in a dangerous tone.
"No, I'm saying that it's embarrassing as a martial artist to have to be saved by someone who doesn't have much skill," Ranma replied evenly, causing Rei to fume a bit. "They throw around fancy blasts, but I could tell they don't know a lot about fighting. At least the ones I saw didn't."
"I suppose you think you could do better," Rei asked sarcastically.
"Maybe," Ranma replied as he finished wringing out the shirt and started putting it back on. "Depends on how I trained and what kinda techniques I could come up with to fight monsters with. But right now all I wanna find is some hot water.
Chapter 5
Ranma stared at the schoolyard with a dazed expression on his face. He'd never seen anything like what had happened today before. Sure, he'd been all over Japan and parts of China and seen many weird things. Cursed training grounds, temples full of evil kitsune, crazed monks who worshipped a sandal; those things Ranma could deal with, but a weird woman-shaped creature ripping a crystal out of his chest and causing him to feel as if his life was draining away, that was something new. When the daimon had been destroyed and the girls in the short skirts had run off, one of the teachers had come out to check on Ranma.
According to the teacher, these attacks had become common, and they'd never heard of someone being targeted by them more than once. While the teacher had meant this to reassure Ranma, it had the opposite effect. It made him angry. Angry with himself for getting caught so easily. Angry with himself for not being able to break free. Angry with himself at having needed to be saved by some girls in short skirts.
Some of the other students had taken the time to explain to him about the Sailor Senshi. How they usually fought the monsters that showed up in town on a semi-regular basis and managed to incur massive property damage at the same time. No one knew who they were or where they came from, but everyone agreed that they had saved numerous people, even if they didn't seem to have too good of control over their powers. Everyone was very grateful to them for all the people they'd saved and had even stopped trying to figure out who they are. They'd been accepted as a part of everyday life in Juuban.
But not Ranma. He couldn't believe it had taken some girl with magic powers to save him from that creature. He'd trained for years in martial arts to be the best and now he was slipping. He needed to train and train seriously, but where could he turn. Oyaji had been his trainer for most of his life, aside from the occasional dojo master and monk they had come across in their travels and Ranma doubted he was likely to find anyone as widely experienced as his father. So who was he going to train with?
* * *
Ami walked up to the Juuban High School anxiously. She had heard that there had been another daimon attack today and she didn't know if Ranma had been involved or not. She hoped he hadn't but Usagi and Rei said that the victim had a pigtail and dressed in Chinese clothes, so Ami suspected he had been the one. She wasn't sure how he would deal with it, though. Most residents of Juuban could take being attacked by a monster as a daily occurrence, especially Naru, but Ranma hadn't settled into Juuban yet. Ami had no idea how Ranma was going to react to what had happened.
Ranma was waiting for her at the gate with a severe expression. He didn't seem to notice her as she walked. "Ranma, are you okay," she asked, putting a hand on his arm. Ranma jumped a bit, startled and nodded to her.
"Yeah, I'm alright," Ranma replied. "Some monster decided to use me as a playtoy, but I'm fine."
"I'm glad you're okay," Ami replied sincerely. "We haven't had any fatalities or serious injuries from a monster attack in a long time. When I heard about the attack here, I was worried you were involved."
"It was going after the art teacher," Ranma said. "I couldn't let it get him. Mr. Egawa's a nice guy. He shouldn't be monster-bait, so I threw him out of the room and told him to run. I led the monster outside and it wrapped me up like a piece of sushi. It pulled some red crystal thingy outta me and then these two chicks showed up throwing these blasts around. I got free and got the crystal back and then this psycho chick fries the daimon and one with a really silly hairstyle threw a big pink heart at it and made it disappear. Not a big deal." Ami looked at him oddly, but didn't say anything. She could tell it bothered Ranma a lot that he had to be saved. He'd been studying martial arts his whole life and he was a very independent person, but Ami could tell that now wasn't the time to push the matter. Besides if she got him talking about the other Senshi, she'd start giggling. Ami wondered how Uranus and Neptune would take being referred to as chicks. Not to mention Mars. She'd probably throw a fit over Ranma's description of her, however accurate it seemed. Usagi would just start wailing over the insult to her hairstyle.
"Well," she said. "I was going to take you over to meet my friends, but a couple of them unexpectedly became busy, so you'll only get to meet two of them. Come on, let's go."
"Which friends are we gonna meet," Ranma asked as he started walking down the street, his hands in his pockets, his shoulders stiffly pushed back.
"I'm taking you over to the shrine Rei lives at," Ami replied. "She and Makoto said they'd be there. Usagi and Minako got detention again for being late. I thought you might like to see the temple since you mentioned staying at several on your training trip."
"Shrines are nice," Ranma replied, the tension starting to ease out of his frame. "They're very peaceful. I remember one shrine I visited when I was young. It had a great priest. He taught me a bunch of meditation techniques to focus my mind. Too bad I had to leave so abruptly."
"What happened," Ami asked.
"Oyaji showed up in the middle of the night and dragged me off," Ranma replied, his shoulders tensing again. "Wouldn't be surprised if he stole stuff from 'em too."
"Uncle Genma wasn't with you," Ami asked, surprised. "I thought he rarely left you by yourself."
"Yeah, but this time was different," Ranma said, his face turning dark. "It was after one of his stupidest training ideas ever. The police took me away from him after that one. That's how I wound up at the temple. Oyaji just waited until the heat died down and then grabbed me and ran."
"What did he do," Ami asked, not sure that she wanted to know.
"I'd rather not talk about it," Ranma replied, shuddering. "It wasn't pleasant. Say, where is this temple, anyway?"
"It's about five miles east of here, at the edge of the district," Ami replied. "I thought we'd catch the bus down by the shopping center. It goes right by the temple."
"Wanna take a short-cut," Ranma asked, smiling roguishly.
* * *
Ami screamed as she hurtled through the air. Not that she hadn't survived worse falls as Sailor Mercury, it was just that she was just Ami right now. She didn't have the Senshi's magical resistance to damage and enhanced physical abilities right now, so she was understandably terrified at bouncing from rooftop to rooftop in Ranma's arms. When he finally stopped and set her down, Ami leaned against the wall trying to catch her breath. Ranma stood off to the side, rubbing his ear.
"Jeesh," he said, "you certainly can scream loud."
"What did you expect, Ranma," Ami replied exasperated. "You asked if I wanted to take a shortcut, picked me up and bounced off half the rooftops in the town and you're surprised that I screamed?"
"Well, yes," Ranma replied, sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "I won't kill him," Ami muttered. "No matter how much I want to, I won't kill him. He's my cousin and he could probably stop me before I managed to throttle him. Just think happy thoughts. Happy thoughts."
Ranma eyed Ranma carefully. Girls are weird, he thought.
When Ami regained control, she grabbed Ranma by the hand and started dragging him down the street to the temple steps. Climbing up, they passed under the torii that signified the entrance to a shinto shrine, only this one seemed to be covered in crows. As they topped the steps, Ranma could make out a Dark-haired girl dressed as a miko sweeping the courtyard while she talked to a statuesque brunette who was sitting on the porch. As Ranma looked around, he was struck by a sense of familiarity, as if he'd been here before. Ami interrupted his musing as she called out to the other girls, "Rei-chan, Mako-chan!"
The other girls turned to look at them and waved. The brunette rose to her feet, a look of anger flashing across her face as Ami and Ranma drew close. She moved away from the raised porch and called out, "Ami-chan, who's this?"
"This is my cousin Ranma, Mako-chan," Ami replied nonplussed. "I told you that I'd be bringing him by today to meet you guys."
"Yo," Ranma grunted.
"It's nice to meet you, Ranma," Rei said, shooting the brunette a glare. "I'm Rei Hino and this is Makoto Kino. Ami-chan told us a little about you, but I didn't get much of the story since she had to swing by here before school."
"Don't you go to school with Ami," Ranma asked.
"No, I go to a private girls' school," Rei replied. "Mako-chan goes to school with Ami-chan, but we've all known each other for a long time now."
Ranma looked at them with a wistful expression. "Must be nice to have friends for so long," he said. "Oyaji never let us stay in one place for more than a few months, so I never made many friends. Most of 'em have probably forgotten all about me by now."
"Don't be so hard on them, Ranma," Makoto said, her attitude thawing. "if they were really your friends, they'll remember you. Maybe you'll meet them again someday."
"Maybe," Ranma replied with a shrug. "But not many people are gonna want to be friends with someone like me."
"Why do you say that, Ranma," Rei asked. "You seem like a nice enough guy."
"Didn't you tell 'em about the curse," Ranma asked, turning to Ami.
"It's not something that's easy to explain," Ami replied sheepishly. "I figured it would be better to just show them first."
"Yeah, I guess it is pretty weird," Ranma said with a sigh.
"What are you two talking about? What's this about a curse," Rei demanded testily.
"Hmm. What's the best way to explain it," Ranma mused. His train of thought was interrupted by a crack of thunder as rain began to pour down out of the previously clear sky, drenching the three girls and one boy before stopping abruptly, leaving four girls. Rei and Makoto stared in shock as Ranma's masculine frame melted away, leaving a very busty and depressed redhead standing in front of them. "Yeah, I think that about sums it up. Man, someone up there must really hate me."
"Ranma was cursed while he was in China," Ami explained while Ranma tried to wring the water out of his shirt. Strangely enough, while the other girls had gotten wet, the force of the rain seemed to have spent itself on Ranma. "He turns into a girl when he's splashed with cold water." Ami was slightly amused at the looks on her friends faces. It wasn't often that she was able to see them caught completely by surprise. If there was one thing she'd noticed about having Ranma around, he certainly made life a lot more interesting.
"Curse's also why most people won't hang around me either," Ranma said as he pulled his shirt off to wring it out, revealing a well-filled muscle T-shirt and an impressive pair of breasts.
"I guess I can see how it would freak people out," Makoto said slowly, trying not to stare at Ranma's breasts, which were barely covered by the muscle T-shirt. "But once people get to know you, they won't be bothered by it too much. Not around here anyway. What with all of the monster attacks and such."
"Yeah, well, I got attacked by one a them daimon things this morning," Ranma replied irritably. "It was kinda embarrassing to have to be saved by some weird chicks in short skirts."
"Are you saying that there's something wrong with a girl saving a guy," Rei asked in a dangerous tone.
"No, I'm saying that it's embarrassing as a martial artist to have to be saved by someone who doesn't have much skill," Ranma replied evenly, causing Rei to fume a bit. "They throw around fancy blasts, but I could tell they don't know a lot about fighting. At least the ones I saw didn't."
"I suppose you think you could do better," Rei asked sarcastically.
"Maybe," Ranma replied as he finished wringing out the shirt and started putting it back on. "Depends on how I trained and what kinda techniques I could come up with to fight monsters with. But right now all I wanna find is some hot water.