***********
The Replacement
Chapter 01- The Curse
By C. Rose
ertle2@msn.com
(c)2001
**********
Usagi giggled, she had never heard anyone introduce themselves in quite that way before. "Martial arts huh?"
"Yep, I'm on of the best too."
"I see confidence isn't a problem."
"Eh..hehehehe...pops always tells me to be the best no matter what. So
what happened to get you crying like that..." Ranma stopped as her smile
vanished and her eyes teared up again. 'Oh no not again.' She thought.
Usagi's bottom lip started to tremble, but this time she held her tears
back, the pain wasn't as bad this time. "My boyfriend dumped me again."
"Again? How many times has he done this before?"
"This will be the fourth time." Usagi said sadly.
"Sounds like quite a loser to have hurt you so many times."
"We were supposed to be together forever, by destiny."
"By destiny, huh? Sounds like Destiny may have changed his mind if you
ask me, no man should ever hurt his girlfriend like that." Ranma said,
her inner voice was trying to get her attention, but she ignored it.
"I don't know how many times I can take this happening, a little piece
of my soul dies every time he does it."
"Hey come on, lets go and do something to cheer you up."
"Like what?"
"Um...I have no idea, I don't even know where I am." Ranma said and
blushed a little. Even as a girl, Ranma had to admit to herself that
this Usagi was a total babe. Even with that weird hairstyle that just
seemed to fit the girl.
Usagi giggled again. "How about some ice cream!?"
"Sure! My favorite food, next to everything else."
Usagi jumped up, grabbed Ranma's hand and ignored the strange tingle
that rushed through her when they touched. She pulled the red headed
girl along though the park, Ranma noticed that they were in the Juuban
District by a nearby sign. She grinned at the hyper girl and wondered
why she felt so protective of her all of a sudden. Then again, it had taken all
of ten seconds for her to do the same thing with Akane. Eyeing her a little
more closely, Ranma gasped as she noticed Usagi's aura. It was enough to
make her trip over her feet and crash down to the ground, a high speed
face fault.
"Ranma! Are you alright!?" Usagi yelled, mortified that her new friend
had fallen down, if she had even noticed the crater that Ranma had made
earlier, she wouldn't have been as concerned.
"Usagi, are you a fighter?" Ranma moaned out.
"Huh?"
"You have a large fighter's aura, it's bigger than mine and I've been
training for over 15 years!"
"I've never been a martial artist, so I don't know what your talking
about." Usagi said nervously.
She's hiding something, Ranma thought, but then again so am I. Let's
just hope there are no strange hot water accidents today. "That's okay,
lets go and get that ice cream!" Ranma said and her stomach growled
loudly enough to make her blush.
Usagi giggled again, grabbed her hand and dragged her off down the
street. A few minutes later they were in front of the Crown Arcade and
Ranma found herself dragged inside, just in time to get dragged right
into a pretty waitress holding a tray with several glasses of tea. They
went up and came down on a shocked Ranma, she sighed when she stayed
female. She didn't need yet another girl out for her blood just yet.
"Hey Meatball Heat, I can't believe you just did that to this poor
girl!" Said a girl with long black hair as she walked up to a shocked
Usagi, who looked like she was about to cry again.
"But...but...but...Whaaaaaaaa!" Ranma and Rei winced at the high
pitched wail.
"N-no harm done Usagi, it's just tea." Ranma said as she tried to get
the blonde to quiet down.
"I didn't mean to do it, I'm sooooo so-sorry!"
"Keep the decibels down Usagi, your making a scene." Rei hissed.
Ranma walked over and pulled Usagi to her feet, Rei helped and they
headed over to a nearby booth. Rei pointed it out and said to her and
said they were all friends with Usagi. Ranma noted the girls, a tall
brunette and another girl that could have nearly passed as Akane's twin
in the right circumstances. "Usagi I'm going to go and get some of this
tea out of my shirt, I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?"
"I'm sorry." She squeaked out.
"Cheer up, it's not like this doesn't happen to me several times a
week." Ranma quipped and walked off.
"Huh!?" Usagi said a few seconds later, but noticed that Ranma was gone
already.
"Usagi, who is that?" Makoto asked.
"Her name is Ranma, she helped me out a little while ago."
"What happened?"
"Mamoru dumped me again..." Usagi said sadly.
"WHAT!!" They all yelled, it echoed outside the building.
"That...that...idiot dumped me again while we were in the park, I was
by the cliff crying when Ranma appeared out of nowhere to help me out
and give me a shoulder to cry on."
"Usagi, I don't think the Mamoru should be forgiven for this. I know
you like him, but how many time has he done this to you? I think you
need to find someone else..."
"But what about...you know..."
"We'll worry about that later, right now that idiot needs to be taught
a lesson, he seems to go out of his way to hurt you now a days." Rei
snarled, shocking Ami and Makoto.
"I agree with Rei on this Usagi." Ami said quietly.
"I'll break his arm and make sure he doesn't do this again." Makoto
said, an evil glint in her eyes.
Motoki came up to the girls and handed them the menus. "What's up
girls?"
"Hi Motoki." They all said, it was eerie.
"Something wrong?"
"Mamoru dumped Usagi again."
"Your kidding, why?"
"This time he said that he needed a break or something, then just left
the park as if I didn't exist."
"Are you going to be okay Usagi?"
"Yeah, this is becoming a little routine, I only cried for about a half
hour this time, the first time it took me weeks to recover."
"How about a free ice cream on the house, I'll charge it to Mamoru's
tab?"
Usagi smiled evilly, shocking her friends more than a little, usually
after being dumped she was totally useless for days. "Let's go one step
further, he deserves this, get us all dinner and deserts. We'll order
when my new friend gets back, and charge it all to Mamoru-baka."
All the girl's were agreeable to the idea and Motoki was more than
willing to go along with the idea, he and Mamoru may have been friends,
but Mamoru was a total idiot sometimes. He was about to say something when
he heard some people gasp behind him, turning around he gaped and had to
consciously stop himself from drooling. There was this red headed fox
walking across the arcade, she was wearing a gray t-shirt and sweat pants, no
bra and some of the largest tits he had ever seen close up. It was slightly
wet and her hard nipples were very noticeable, there was this graceful
sway of her hips that made his, and every guy in sight, blood boil. He
blushed and heard the girl's behind him giggle.
Long ago Ranma had learned to ignore most anything to do with his
female side, so didn't even the spreading blush and pounding hearts as
she swayed across the arcade using the Saotome Lazy Walk Technique went
totally unnoticed. Genma would have been mortified that his personalized
technique that made men move with grace and power, would make a any
female that used it more graceful than a runway model. It had been
drilled into her body through 10 years of hiking around the world. "Hi
Usagi, sorry that took so long." Ranma said as she stepped up beside the
blonde guy by the table.
All the girls giggled. "That's alright Ranma, we are going to get a little revenge on
my boyfriend, want to help?"
"Sure, what's the plan?" Ranma said as she sat down next to Usagi.
"It's all you can eat night, he's paying."
"Oh?" Ranma said carefully, visions of food dancing in her head, she
never turned down free food.
"Yep, get anything you want." Usagi giggled.
"Okay." Ranma looked the menu over and opened it up to show a still
blushing Motoki, who's eyes were glued to Ranma's large chest. "Give me
everything on this side of the menu."
"Y-you want all that!?" He gasped.
"Yep, I haven't had a decent meal in several days and I'm hungry."
Ranma said, failing to notice the girl's giving her strange looks, then
turning to Usagi. "I'll have the same!"
A fortune in food later, Ranma and Usagi were finishing off there 15th
plate of food, they were both looking over at the other girl's plates as
if thinking about eating them too. Ami, Rei, and Makoto were impressed,
no one had ever kept up with Usagi before. That and the fact that the
two girls had started this little game, stealing food from the others
plate while the other defended. Ranma had won, but Usagi had learned
really quick and they had been dueling over a couple of Rice balls for
several minutes before Ranma had tricked Usagi into letting her defenses
down.
"You know, I just thought of something Usagi." Ranma said.
"What's that?"
"You never introduced me to your friends."
Usagi face faulted. The others just giggled at their friend and
introduced themselves. "We were wondering when one of you was going to
remember." Makoto said. "I'm Kino Makoto, this is Hino Rei, and Mizuno
Ami
"Nice to meet'cha, say Ami, do you have any relatives named Tendo?"
"Tendo? Not that I can recall, why?" Asked the blue haired genius.
"I have a friend named Tendo Akane, you two could almost be twins if your hair
was more black and a little shorter." That and wielding a large mallet and flaring an
aura of pure rage over some imagined slight, Ranma muttered under her breath.
"I'll have to meet her sometime."
"Just ask Umino at school Ami, he can find out anything on anyone."
Usagi said.
For the next hour or so Ranma and the girls talked of useless stuff,
but Ranma found it fun to do and enjoyed herself the whole time. They
all giggled at what the look on Mamoru's face would be when he got the
bill for their little revenge dinner. It was getting late when Ranma
noticed the clock, it was nearly midnight! She pointed it out to the
others and they all gasped and ran off for home after making quick phone
calls to let their parents know they were on their way home.
Ranma and Usagi were left alone outside the as they left the Arcade,
Motoki had locked up right behind them. He had said that it wasn't a
problem, even he had forgotten to close up on time. He had been staring
at the red head all night, never in his life had he seen a girl quite
like her. She was drop dead gorgeous tomboy that was making him question
his resolve to stay with...what was her name again...Ri..Rita! He
watched as the girl's walked off and wondered if his hard on had been
noticeable to anyone.
"Can I ask you a question Ranma, you told us a lot about yourself
tonight, but I noticed that you were always holding something back. What
was it?"
"..." Ranma looked away and said nothing, she winced.
"Please?"
"Usagi, I...I made a friend nearly a year ago, but the instant she
figured out the truth about me she started to hate me like you wouldn't
believe. I don't want to go through that again."
"It can't be that bad can it?"
"I've been thinking about if for a year now and have come to the
conclusion that it depends on how one is able to accept the strange and
unusual. I told all of you a little about my life, but those were only
the edited highlights. My life is a living hell at times, duels,
attacks, fiancé's, an idiot father and an insane mother. To top off my
life is something the idiot did to me, he took me to this place in China
that was an actual Cursed Training Ground. Magic and the hole nine
yards. I have nightmares about that place every now an then, what it did
to me and what it took away."
"W-what happened." Usagi hugged her friend, what could have happened to
make Ranma this afraid to talk about it.
"It depends on one's point of view, I have had that shoved down my
throat so many times that I want to scream sometimes."
"Please tell me."
"I don't know if I should..."
"I don't want to lose another friend Usagi...I don't have many."
"Please..." Usagi asks, her eyes growing big and sparkling.
"Alright, something tells me I can trust you." Ranma says. It is more
than that though, he can feel it in his soul and it confuses him more
than a little. This girl is absolutely beautiful, her innocence is
something he has never encountered before and her aura is the most
beautiful thing he had ever seen. The mere sight of her makes his heart
beat faster and her pleading face, just inches from her own is making
her blush.
"Your a lesbian aren't you?" Usagi whispers out.
Ranma face faults, giggling. "Not quite."
"Drat, I was sure that was it, you've been staring at me and the others
all night."
"Your all very cute Usagi." Where the hell did that come from, Ranma
thought, oh great she's blushing now. "Those springs I was talking about
cursed me and my father, they have brought me nothing but bad luck and
numerous problems."
"In what way were you cursed?"
"Sigh..." Ranma pointed to a small convenience store across the street.
"Lets go in there and let me get some hot water."
"Hot water?"
"You'll see in a moment." Ranma continued to explain the springs and
how they worked. Usagi was starting to think her new friend was making
things up when they left the store with a large cup of hot water. They
went to a nearby alley and Ranma held up the hot water, "Now this will
reverse the curse and change me back into the boy I was born as."
"...A boy?" Usagi's eye was twitching, as she said this. Then Ranma
poured the water, red hair turned black, he grew nearly a foot, and
filled out in some places and shrank in others. Usagi gaped at the
cutest boy she had ever seen, eeped, and fainted.
"That's a pretty typical reaction." Ranma commented as he picked the
girl up and carried her over to a nearby bench.
Usagi stirred and found herself in the boys arms, which were holding
her close. His chest was as solid as a rock and he didn't seem to be
straining very much to hold her as he carried her. Usagi's heart was
beating a mile a minute and she started to blush uncontrollably when she
felt just where Ranma had 'his' hands. Her new friend was a boy and a
girl and totally adorable in either form, experience with magic had
given her a pretty good idea on how it worked.
No one, not even Mamoru had made her feel like this and Usagi wanted
more of it. She memorized his face, his hair, and his...beautiful blue eyes.
Sigh. Then he grinned at her and if she had been standing her knees
would have given out, his smile lit up her soul. Ranma made it to the
bench and sat her down carefully, trying to hide his reactions. She must
hate him now...
"I'll be heading out now." Ranma said quietly.
"No!" Usagi yelled and grabbed his hand. "Don't go."
"Huh, but...you must be mad at me now, for lying to you."
"You didn't lie, your curse isn't so bad..."
"Usagi...my father raised me to be 'Man among Men, a pillar of
masculinity and pride. His testament to the Art. He spent all his life
telling me that I was a 'weak' girl, that girls were nothing compared to
men. It went on and on for years until it was a permanent part of my
soul, then he took me to that training ground and turned me to a girl.
He nearly disowned me when he first found out what he had done and
blamed it on me being as weak as a real girl. I was failure and a
disgrace to him, he beat me to within an inch of my life for daring to
destroy 'his' dream.
"Ranma..."
"Then he found out that the curses were reversible with hot or cold
water and decided that it 'wasn't so bad'. He took me to his friend and
had me engaged to his boy hating daughter and I have had to put up with
her abuse for the last year, and the daily beatings that I can't lift a
finger to defend myself against because I have to marry her. Then it got
worse, people I considered to be my friends started to show up and try and
kill me for things I hadn't done or they had misunderstood and blamed me
for. First was Ryoga and his grudge against me for not waiting long
enough at the prearranged place for our fight, it was behind his house
and I waited over 3 days for him to show up, during the 4th pops showed
up and beat me up in sparing match so that we could go to China.
Ryoga showed up a few hours later and went berserk, he followed me all
the way to China and those cursed training grounds. I was chasing after
pops after we were cursed, I was as mad as Ryoga was and I didn't
recognize him after all those months on the road. Pops ran by him and
backhanded him, I jumped up in an attempt to use him as a spring board
to catch pops. Instead I kneed him in the head and sent falling off a
nearby cliff, right into a cursed spring of a drowned piglet.
Usagi, if I had some kind of control over my curse I could live with
it, but it attracts cold water to me like a magnet does metal. I get
changed at the worst time possible and usually end up in the hospital
because of it because of Akane or the others I mentioned in the stories
I told you about."
Usagi was crying now, holding onto Ranma as tightly as she could. "So
all those other girls are actually your other fiancé's?"
"Unwanted fiancé's Usagi, I didn't pick any of them, my father did.
Usually to find a way to fill his stomach. He once engaged me to this
really rich family for a bowl of rice, a couple of pickles, and a
friggen fish. There are others out there to, I don't have a clue how
many, but new one pops up every few months and I have to trick them into
giving up on me. Then there is Ukyo, pops stole her dowry and abandoned
her while we were on the road. He told me he sent her home so we could
continue our training mission, I was six at the time so I still trusted
the idiot."
"Your entire life is like this?" Usagi asked.
"Pretty much, it just gets worse and worse."
"Now I understand why you don't want to go home."
"This curse is also one that turns one's life upside down, I usually
can't go a half hour with out sticking my foot in my mouth or making a
new enemy." Ranma looked depressed, still not to sure why he had decided
tell Usagi all this.
"What about your mother Ranma, can't she help you?"
"Mom...she made me and pops sign this suicide contract before we left
on my training trip. She's the one that wanted me to be a 'Man among
Men' in the first place. She comes over to the Tendo place where I live
and goes on and on about how manly I have to be, how I have to peak at
girls while they're in the bath to manly, or how bedding all my fiancé's
would be a great way to find out which one would be the best in bed.
Then there is my curse, every time she sees me as a girl she starts
fingering the family sword, she carries it around everywhere, and
glaring at me until I find some hot water and become her manly son
again."
"I think I understand now, your father and that curse have brought you
nothing but pain and loneliness haven't they."
"Yep, those are the worst problems I have to deal with, then I have to
put up with the constant fighting. Today is the first day in a long time
that I haven't had to fend off one challenger after another. Ryoga is my
rival, friend, and enemy, he attacks me on sight no matter where I am
and has traveled the world to find techniques to help him get revenge
for my knocking him into that cursed pool and turning him into a little
black pig. You ever hear about Ki attacks like in the movies?"
"Sure..." Usagi's eyes go wide when Ranma holds up his hand and
baseball sized ball of blue energy forms. "It's beautiful."
"All my fights have pushed me into learning technique after technique
to protect myself and those I care about. Ryoga found a technique that
let him learn how to harness Ki and use it as a weapon, he tried to kill
me with it and nearly succeeded in doing so. I had to learn how to
counter him in less than a week or I was a dead man." Ranma smirked. "I
did it in three days."
"Ranma, how much do you like being a girl?" Usagi asked suddenly.
"Huh...um...I've grown used to it on most levels, even accepted that I
will probably be like this for the rest of my life. Why?"
"You could probably stay with me or Makoto if you don't want to go home
to that mess."
"The idea is very tempting Usagi, I really like you, but for me to be a
man I have to keep my word. I can't run from my problems, I swore that I
wouldn't end up like my father. The honorless bastard."
"Then take a vacation from them, let things settle down and while you
are away you can make some decisions to fix this mess."
"I wouldn't even know where to begin Usagi."
"I think the first thing you have to do is take control of your life,
get away from your father and everyone trying to tell you what to do."
"That I do understand, but if I want to keep my honor I must do as the
old fart says and marry a girl that has caused me nothing but pain."
Usagi's communicator went off and she sighed in exasperation. "What
now!?"
"What's going on Usagi?"
"Let me answer this and I'll explain, be quiet and don't say anything."
Usagi popped the hood of her watch open and revealed a very impressive
communicator/phone. Ranma nodded that he would be quiet and let Usagi do
what she had to do.
"Usagi, we have a monster raiding homes near the school." Said Rei's
voice.
"Hurry Usagi, we need Sailor Moon here as soon as possible." Said Ami's
voice.
"I'm on my way guys, I'm near there now." She closed the watch and
noticed that Ranma was looking her over pretty closely, she blushed and
stood up. "I have to go and take care of this."
"Sailor Moon?"
"Yep?"
"You know, that explains your super strong aura."
"You believe me?"
"Sure, you took my word about my curse when you didn't have to. I do
want to see what you look like when transformed though." Ranma grinned.
Usagi smiled back and pulled the broach off her front bow, opened it,
and shouted "Moon Eternal, Make-Up!" Thirty seconds later Usagi stopped
spinning and smirked at Ranma, who was bent over holding his nose.
"Ranma, what's wrong!?"
Ranma took a deep breath and looked up at his friend, blushing
furiously. "Do you know that you are naked for a good portion of that
light show?"
Sailor Moon eeped and hopped back and turned bright red, she had
forgotten that little detail. "Heheheheheheheh..." Usagi laughed
nervously.
"Where is this monster again? Let's go and help out your friends Usagi."
Ranma said.
"Call me Eternal Sailor Moon when I'm in this get up Ranma, and this is
my fight let me and the others handle this."
"I'm a very strong fighter, I have beaten a lot of fighters that are a
lot stronger than me."
"I'm sure you have Ranma, but we have never met a regular human that
could stand up these things." Waving goodbye, Eternal Sailor Moon handed
Ranma a note with her name, address, and phone number on it before
jumping to a nearby roof and running off.
Ranma waited about thirty seconds before following her, if what he was
feeling was right, she was about a quarter mile away already and
accelerating. He gasped at the girls speed, even he couldn't move that
fast, but he knew she was heading into danger and would help her out no
matter what. He wouldn't let his guard down, his friends were hard to
come by. Blue light flared around Ranma and he launched off the building
and landed on the next running full tilt. Far off in the distance Ranma
could see Usagi's aura lighting up the night.
**********
To Be Continued...
Ending Note - Some of you are probably a little confused as to why Ranma
would so easily give so much of his life to Usagi. Well I do have a
reason for it and it is given in the next chapter, will you pick up on
it? It is such a small piece of information that one may miss it because
I don't come right out and say it. Evil laugh...
The Replacement
Chapter 01- The Curse
By C. Rose
ertle2@msn.com
(c)2001
**********
Usagi giggled, she had never heard anyone introduce themselves in quite that way before. "Martial arts huh?"
"Yep, I'm on of the best too."
"I see confidence isn't a problem."
"Eh..hehehehe...pops always tells me to be the best no matter what. So
what happened to get you crying like that..." Ranma stopped as her smile
vanished and her eyes teared up again. 'Oh no not again.' She thought.
Usagi's bottom lip started to tremble, but this time she held her tears
back, the pain wasn't as bad this time. "My boyfriend dumped me again."
"Again? How many times has he done this before?"
"This will be the fourth time." Usagi said sadly.
"Sounds like quite a loser to have hurt you so many times."
"We were supposed to be together forever, by destiny."
"By destiny, huh? Sounds like Destiny may have changed his mind if you
ask me, no man should ever hurt his girlfriend like that." Ranma said,
her inner voice was trying to get her attention, but she ignored it.
"I don't know how many times I can take this happening, a little piece
of my soul dies every time he does it."
"Hey come on, lets go and do something to cheer you up."
"Like what?"
"Um...I have no idea, I don't even know where I am." Ranma said and
blushed a little. Even as a girl, Ranma had to admit to herself that
this Usagi was a total babe. Even with that weird hairstyle that just
seemed to fit the girl.
Usagi giggled again. "How about some ice cream!?"
"Sure! My favorite food, next to everything else."
Usagi jumped up, grabbed Ranma's hand and ignored the strange tingle
that rushed through her when they touched. She pulled the red headed
girl along though the park, Ranma noticed that they were in the Juuban
District by a nearby sign. She grinned at the hyper girl and wondered
why she felt so protective of her all of a sudden. Then again, it had taken all
of ten seconds for her to do the same thing with Akane. Eyeing her a little
more closely, Ranma gasped as she noticed Usagi's aura. It was enough to
make her trip over her feet and crash down to the ground, a high speed
face fault.
"Ranma! Are you alright!?" Usagi yelled, mortified that her new friend
had fallen down, if she had even noticed the crater that Ranma had made
earlier, she wouldn't have been as concerned.
"Usagi, are you a fighter?" Ranma moaned out.
"Huh?"
"You have a large fighter's aura, it's bigger than mine and I've been
training for over 15 years!"
"I've never been a martial artist, so I don't know what your talking
about." Usagi said nervously.
She's hiding something, Ranma thought, but then again so am I. Let's
just hope there are no strange hot water accidents today. "That's okay,
lets go and get that ice cream!" Ranma said and her stomach growled
loudly enough to make her blush.
Usagi giggled again, grabbed her hand and dragged her off down the
street. A few minutes later they were in front of the Crown Arcade and
Ranma found herself dragged inside, just in time to get dragged right
into a pretty waitress holding a tray with several glasses of tea. They
went up and came down on a shocked Ranma, she sighed when she stayed
female. She didn't need yet another girl out for her blood just yet.
"Hey Meatball Heat, I can't believe you just did that to this poor
girl!" Said a girl with long black hair as she walked up to a shocked
Usagi, who looked like she was about to cry again.
"But...but...but...Whaaaaaaaa!" Ranma and Rei winced at the high
pitched wail.
"N-no harm done Usagi, it's just tea." Ranma said as she tried to get
the blonde to quiet down.
"I didn't mean to do it, I'm sooooo so-sorry!"
"Keep the decibels down Usagi, your making a scene." Rei hissed.
Ranma walked over and pulled Usagi to her feet, Rei helped and they
headed over to a nearby booth. Rei pointed it out and said to her and
said they were all friends with Usagi. Ranma noted the girls, a tall
brunette and another girl that could have nearly passed as Akane's twin
in the right circumstances. "Usagi I'm going to go and get some of this
tea out of my shirt, I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?"
"I'm sorry." She squeaked out.
"Cheer up, it's not like this doesn't happen to me several times a
week." Ranma quipped and walked off.
"Huh!?" Usagi said a few seconds later, but noticed that Ranma was gone
already.
"Usagi, who is that?" Makoto asked.
"Her name is Ranma, she helped me out a little while ago."
"What happened?"
"Mamoru dumped me again..." Usagi said sadly.
"WHAT!!" They all yelled, it echoed outside the building.
"That...that...idiot dumped me again while we were in the park, I was
by the cliff crying when Ranma appeared out of nowhere to help me out
and give me a shoulder to cry on."
"Usagi, I don't think the Mamoru should be forgiven for this. I know
you like him, but how many time has he done this to you? I think you
need to find someone else..."
"But what about...you know..."
"We'll worry about that later, right now that idiot needs to be taught
a lesson, he seems to go out of his way to hurt you now a days." Rei
snarled, shocking Ami and Makoto.
"I agree with Rei on this Usagi." Ami said quietly.
"I'll break his arm and make sure he doesn't do this again." Makoto
said, an evil glint in her eyes.
Motoki came up to the girls and handed them the menus. "What's up
girls?"
"Hi Motoki." They all said, it was eerie.
"Something wrong?"
"Mamoru dumped Usagi again."
"Your kidding, why?"
"This time he said that he needed a break or something, then just left
the park as if I didn't exist."
"Are you going to be okay Usagi?"
"Yeah, this is becoming a little routine, I only cried for about a half
hour this time, the first time it took me weeks to recover."
"How about a free ice cream on the house, I'll charge it to Mamoru's
tab?"
Usagi smiled evilly, shocking her friends more than a little, usually
after being dumped she was totally useless for days. "Let's go one step
further, he deserves this, get us all dinner and deserts. We'll order
when my new friend gets back, and charge it all to Mamoru-baka."
All the girl's were agreeable to the idea and Motoki was more than
willing to go along with the idea, he and Mamoru may have been friends,
but Mamoru was a total idiot sometimes. He was about to say something when
he heard some people gasp behind him, turning around he gaped and had to
consciously stop himself from drooling. There was this red headed fox
walking across the arcade, she was wearing a gray t-shirt and sweat pants, no
bra and some of the largest tits he had ever seen close up. It was slightly
wet and her hard nipples were very noticeable, there was this graceful
sway of her hips that made his, and every guy in sight, blood boil. He
blushed and heard the girl's behind him giggle.
Long ago Ranma had learned to ignore most anything to do with his
female side, so didn't even the spreading blush and pounding hearts as
she swayed across the arcade using the Saotome Lazy Walk Technique went
totally unnoticed. Genma would have been mortified that his personalized
technique that made men move with grace and power, would make a any
female that used it more graceful than a runway model. It had been
drilled into her body through 10 years of hiking around the world. "Hi
Usagi, sorry that took so long." Ranma said as she stepped up beside the
blonde guy by the table.
All the girls giggled. "That's alright Ranma, we are going to get a little revenge on
my boyfriend, want to help?"
"Sure, what's the plan?" Ranma said as she sat down next to Usagi.
"It's all you can eat night, he's paying."
"Oh?" Ranma said carefully, visions of food dancing in her head, she
never turned down free food.
"Yep, get anything you want." Usagi giggled.
"Okay." Ranma looked the menu over and opened it up to show a still
blushing Motoki, who's eyes were glued to Ranma's large chest. "Give me
everything on this side of the menu."
"Y-you want all that!?" He gasped.
"Yep, I haven't had a decent meal in several days and I'm hungry."
Ranma said, failing to notice the girl's giving her strange looks, then
turning to Usagi. "I'll have the same!"
A fortune in food later, Ranma and Usagi were finishing off there 15th
plate of food, they were both looking over at the other girl's plates as
if thinking about eating them too. Ami, Rei, and Makoto were impressed,
no one had ever kept up with Usagi before. That and the fact that the
two girls had started this little game, stealing food from the others
plate while the other defended. Ranma had won, but Usagi had learned
really quick and they had been dueling over a couple of Rice balls for
several minutes before Ranma had tricked Usagi into letting her defenses
down.
"You know, I just thought of something Usagi." Ranma said.
"What's that?"
"You never introduced me to your friends."
Usagi face faulted. The others just giggled at their friend and
introduced themselves. "We were wondering when one of you was going to
remember." Makoto said. "I'm Kino Makoto, this is Hino Rei, and Mizuno
Ami
"Nice to meet'cha, say Ami, do you have any relatives named Tendo?"
"Tendo? Not that I can recall, why?" Asked the blue haired genius.
"I have a friend named Tendo Akane, you two could almost be twins if your hair
was more black and a little shorter." That and wielding a large mallet and flaring an
aura of pure rage over some imagined slight, Ranma muttered under her breath.
"I'll have to meet her sometime."
"Just ask Umino at school Ami, he can find out anything on anyone."
Usagi said.
For the next hour or so Ranma and the girls talked of useless stuff,
but Ranma found it fun to do and enjoyed herself the whole time. They
all giggled at what the look on Mamoru's face would be when he got the
bill for their little revenge dinner. It was getting late when Ranma
noticed the clock, it was nearly midnight! She pointed it out to the
others and they all gasped and ran off for home after making quick phone
calls to let their parents know they were on their way home.
Ranma and Usagi were left alone outside the as they left the Arcade,
Motoki had locked up right behind them. He had said that it wasn't a
problem, even he had forgotten to close up on time. He had been staring
at the red head all night, never in his life had he seen a girl quite
like her. She was drop dead gorgeous tomboy that was making him question
his resolve to stay with...what was her name again...Ri..Rita! He
watched as the girl's walked off and wondered if his hard on had been
noticeable to anyone.
"Can I ask you a question Ranma, you told us a lot about yourself
tonight, but I noticed that you were always holding something back. What
was it?"
"..." Ranma looked away and said nothing, she winced.
"Please?"
"Usagi, I...I made a friend nearly a year ago, but the instant she
figured out the truth about me she started to hate me like you wouldn't
believe. I don't want to go through that again."
"It can't be that bad can it?"
"I've been thinking about if for a year now and have come to the
conclusion that it depends on how one is able to accept the strange and
unusual. I told all of you a little about my life, but those were only
the edited highlights. My life is a living hell at times, duels,
attacks, fiancé's, an idiot father and an insane mother. To top off my
life is something the idiot did to me, he took me to this place in China
that was an actual Cursed Training Ground. Magic and the hole nine
yards. I have nightmares about that place every now an then, what it did
to me and what it took away."
"W-what happened." Usagi hugged her friend, what could have happened to
make Ranma this afraid to talk about it.
"It depends on one's point of view, I have had that shoved down my
throat so many times that I want to scream sometimes."
"Please tell me."
"I don't know if I should..."
"I don't want to lose another friend Usagi...I don't have many."
"Please..." Usagi asks, her eyes growing big and sparkling.
"Alright, something tells me I can trust you." Ranma says. It is more
than that though, he can feel it in his soul and it confuses him more
than a little. This girl is absolutely beautiful, her innocence is
something he has never encountered before and her aura is the most
beautiful thing he had ever seen. The mere sight of her makes his heart
beat faster and her pleading face, just inches from her own is making
her blush.
"Your a lesbian aren't you?" Usagi whispers out.
Ranma face faults, giggling. "Not quite."
"Drat, I was sure that was it, you've been staring at me and the others
all night."
"Your all very cute Usagi." Where the hell did that come from, Ranma
thought, oh great she's blushing now. "Those springs I was talking about
cursed me and my father, they have brought me nothing but bad luck and
numerous problems."
"In what way were you cursed?"
"Sigh..." Ranma pointed to a small convenience store across the street.
"Lets go in there and let me get some hot water."
"Hot water?"
"You'll see in a moment." Ranma continued to explain the springs and
how they worked. Usagi was starting to think her new friend was making
things up when they left the store with a large cup of hot water. They
went to a nearby alley and Ranma held up the hot water, "Now this will
reverse the curse and change me back into the boy I was born as."
"...A boy?" Usagi's eye was twitching, as she said this. Then Ranma
poured the water, red hair turned black, he grew nearly a foot, and
filled out in some places and shrank in others. Usagi gaped at the
cutest boy she had ever seen, eeped, and fainted.
"That's a pretty typical reaction." Ranma commented as he picked the
girl up and carried her over to a nearby bench.
Usagi stirred and found herself in the boys arms, which were holding
her close. His chest was as solid as a rock and he didn't seem to be
straining very much to hold her as he carried her. Usagi's heart was
beating a mile a minute and she started to blush uncontrollably when she
felt just where Ranma had 'his' hands. Her new friend was a boy and a
girl and totally adorable in either form, experience with magic had
given her a pretty good idea on how it worked.
No one, not even Mamoru had made her feel like this and Usagi wanted
more of it. She memorized his face, his hair, and his...beautiful blue eyes.
Sigh. Then he grinned at her and if she had been standing her knees
would have given out, his smile lit up her soul. Ranma made it to the
bench and sat her down carefully, trying to hide his reactions. She must
hate him now...
"I'll be heading out now." Ranma said quietly.
"No!" Usagi yelled and grabbed his hand. "Don't go."
"Huh, but...you must be mad at me now, for lying to you."
"You didn't lie, your curse isn't so bad..."
"Usagi...my father raised me to be 'Man among Men, a pillar of
masculinity and pride. His testament to the Art. He spent all his life
telling me that I was a 'weak' girl, that girls were nothing compared to
men. It went on and on for years until it was a permanent part of my
soul, then he took me to that training ground and turned me to a girl.
He nearly disowned me when he first found out what he had done and
blamed it on me being as weak as a real girl. I was failure and a
disgrace to him, he beat me to within an inch of my life for daring to
destroy 'his' dream.
"Ranma..."
"Then he found out that the curses were reversible with hot or cold
water and decided that it 'wasn't so bad'. He took me to his friend and
had me engaged to his boy hating daughter and I have had to put up with
her abuse for the last year, and the daily beatings that I can't lift a
finger to defend myself against because I have to marry her. Then it got
worse, people I considered to be my friends started to show up and try and
kill me for things I hadn't done or they had misunderstood and blamed me
for. First was Ryoga and his grudge against me for not waiting long
enough at the prearranged place for our fight, it was behind his house
and I waited over 3 days for him to show up, during the 4th pops showed
up and beat me up in sparing match so that we could go to China.
Ryoga showed up a few hours later and went berserk, he followed me all
the way to China and those cursed training grounds. I was chasing after
pops after we were cursed, I was as mad as Ryoga was and I didn't
recognize him after all those months on the road. Pops ran by him and
backhanded him, I jumped up in an attempt to use him as a spring board
to catch pops. Instead I kneed him in the head and sent falling off a
nearby cliff, right into a cursed spring of a drowned piglet.
Usagi, if I had some kind of control over my curse I could live with
it, but it attracts cold water to me like a magnet does metal. I get
changed at the worst time possible and usually end up in the hospital
because of it because of Akane or the others I mentioned in the stories
I told you about."
Usagi was crying now, holding onto Ranma as tightly as she could. "So
all those other girls are actually your other fiancé's?"
"Unwanted fiancé's Usagi, I didn't pick any of them, my father did.
Usually to find a way to fill his stomach. He once engaged me to this
really rich family for a bowl of rice, a couple of pickles, and a
friggen fish. There are others out there to, I don't have a clue how
many, but new one pops up every few months and I have to trick them into
giving up on me. Then there is Ukyo, pops stole her dowry and abandoned
her while we were on the road. He told me he sent her home so we could
continue our training mission, I was six at the time so I still trusted
the idiot."
"Your entire life is like this?" Usagi asked.
"Pretty much, it just gets worse and worse."
"Now I understand why you don't want to go home."
"This curse is also one that turns one's life upside down, I usually
can't go a half hour with out sticking my foot in my mouth or making a
new enemy." Ranma looked depressed, still not to sure why he had decided
tell Usagi all this.
"What about your mother Ranma, can't she help you?"
"Mom...she made me and pops sign this suicide contract before we left
on my training trip. She's the one that wanted me to be a 'Man among
Men' in the first place. She comes over to the Tendo place where I live
and goes on and on about how manly I have to be, how I have to peak at
girls while they're in the bath to manly, or how bedding all my fiancé's
would be a great way to find out which one would be the best in bed.
Then there is my curse, every time she sees me as a girl she starts
fingering the family sword, she carries it around everywhere, and
glaring at me until I find some hot water and become her manly son
again."
"I think I understand now, your father and that curse have brought you
nothing but pain and loneliness haven't they."
"Yep, those are the worst problems I have to deal with, then I have to
put up with the constant fighting. Today is the first day in a long time
that I haven't had to fend off one challenger after another. Ryoga is my
rival, friend, and enemy, he attacks me on sight no matter where I am
and has traveled the world to find techniques to help him get revenge
for my knocking him into that cursed pool and turning him into a little
black pig. You ever hear about Ki attacks like in the movies?"
"Sure..." Usagi's eyes go wide when Ranma holds up his hand and
baseball sized ball of blue energy forms. "It's beautiful."
"All my fights have pushed me into learning technique after technique
to protect myself and those I care about. Ryoga found a technique that
let him learn how to harness Ki and use it as a weapon, he tried to kill
me with it and nearly succeeded in doing so. I had to learn how to
counter him in less than a week or I was a dead man." Ranma smirked. "I
did it in three days."
"Ranma, how much do you like being a girl?" Usagi asked suddenly.
"Huh...um...I've grown used to it on most levels, even accepted that I
will probably be like this for the rest of my life. Why?"
"You could probably stay with me or Makoto if you don't want to go home
to that mess."
"The idea is very tempting Usagi, I really like you, but for me to be a
man I have to keep my word. I can't run from my problems, I swore that I
wouldn't end up like my father. The honorless bastard."
"Then take a vacation from them, let things settle down and while you
are away you can make some decisions to fix this mess."
"I wouldn't even know where to begin Usagi."
"I think the first thing you have to do is take control of your life,
get away from your father and everyone trying to tell you what to do."
"That I do understand, but if I want to keep my honor I must do as the
old fart says and marry a girl that has caused me nothing but pain."
Usagi's communicator went off and she sighed in exasperation. "What
now!?"
"What's going on Usagi?"
"Let me answer this and I'll explain, be quiet and don't say anything."
Usagi popped the hood of her watch open and revealed a very impressive
communicator/phone. Ranma nodded that he would be quiet and let Usagi do
what she had to do.
"Usagi, we have a monster raiding homes near the school." Said Rei's
voice.
"Hurry Usagi, we need Sailor Moon here as soon as possible." Said Ami's
voice.
"I'm on my way guys, I'm near there now." She closed the watch and
noticed that Ranma was looking her over pretty closely, she blushed and
stood up. "I have to go and take care of this."
"Sailor Moon?"
"Yep?"
"You know, that explains your super strong aura."
"You believe me?"
"Sure, you took my word about my curse when you didn't have to. I do
want to see what you look like when transformed though." Ranma grinned.
Usagi smiled back and pulled the broach off her front bow, opened it,
and shouted "Moon Eternal, Make-Up!" Thirty seconds later Usagi stopped
spinning and smirked at Ranma, who was bent over holding his nose.
"Ranma, what's wrong!?"
Ranma took a deep breath and looked up at his friend, blushing
furiously. "Do you know that you are naked for a good portion of that
light show?"
Sailor Moon eeped and hopped back and turned bright red, she had
forgotten that little detail. "Heheheheheheheh..." Usagi laughed
nervously.
"Where is this monster again? Let's go and help out your friends Usagi."
Ranma said.
"Call me Eternal Sailor Moon when I'm in this get up Ranma, and this is
my fight let me and the others handle this."
"I'm a very strong fighter, I have beaten a lot of fighters that are a
lot stronger than me."
"I'm sure you have Ranma, but we have never met a regular human that
could stand up these things." Waving goodbye, Eternal Sailor Moon handed
Ranma a note with her name, address, and phone number on it before
jumping to a nearby roof and running off.
Ranma waited about thirty seconds before following her, if what he was
feeling was right, she was about a quarter mile away already and
accelerating. He gasped at the girls speed, even he couldn't move that
fast, but he knew she was heading into danger and would help her out no
matter what. He wouldn't let his guard down, his friends were hard to
come by. Blue light flared around Ranma and he launched off the building
and landed on the next running full tilt. Far off in the distance Ranma
could see Usagi's aura lighting up the night.
**********
To Be Continued...
Ending Note - Some of you are probably a little confused as to why Ranma
would so easily give so much of his life to Usagi. Well I do have a
reason for it and it is given in the next chapter, will you pick up on
it? It is such a small piece of information that one may miss it because
I don't come right out and say it. Evil laugh...
