Chapter 5: Fall of the Inners
Cherry Hill Temple
The Senshi were dumbstruck. Yeah. Dumbstruck. Even the genius among them.
Haruka was the first to speak.
"Woah, do y'think that Ranma would do that to us now that we've done him? I mean...woah."
The girls in the room were either blushing, and trying to get the images out of their heads, or drooling, or wishing they were somewhere else so they could relieve certain...pressures. Yeah. Seeing one's former queen drool substances that were not exactly native to a mouth did that to you. Especially if the mouth was not the only place drooling.
"Oh, dear. I think I've corrupted them." Setsuna calmly sipped her tea while viewing the reactions of the various Senshi. Inside, however, she was burning, and wanted nothing more than to find Ranma and take him where he stood, begging him to whi....
"Wow, that was like a porno. Only it was worse, 'cause we know the actors. Or is that better?" Minako had a thoughtful look on her face.
After seeing that all the girls had emerged from their porn induced stupor, Setsuna set down her tea, and continued the story.
Flash back
Next day
Audience Chamber
"My Lord? Do you agree?"
The long winded representative of Gantech Industries was introducing a new line of weaponry, and was planning on selling it to the Lunarian Guard. Normally, these negotiations were handled by the command staff of the Guard, but when Ranma caught word that there was a weapons deal going on, he immediately called for the negotiation to be brought in front of him.
The many aristocrats stood about the room, commenting about "advanced technology," and "cutting edge weapons."
The representative looked expectantly up at the throne, where Ranma sat, Serenity, her silver crown on her head, leaning against him in her white two piece. She nibbled on his ear while the Wild Horse thought. Initially, most of the citizens of the Moon Kingdom were chagrined at the sight of their beloved Queen stepping off the throne and giving it to this usurper, acting like the man's bed slave besides, but when they say how happy she was, they halted their attempts to kick him off the throne and nodded to each other thinking "It's about time she got herself a man, although she didn't need to go so far." Besides, he had shown himself a just ruler, if unorthodox, and a unwilling ruler at that. He refused to be called a "Majesty," and would settle for no more than a "my Lord" even if he had a circlet on his own head. It was more of a symbol than anything else, and he never wore it unless sitting on the Throne.
"Ranma, accept the offer. The Guard's equipment is becoming rapidly outdated." She whispered into his ear while she nipped his earlobe.
"Not without a test."
"I'm sure they know what they're doin-"
Ranma raised his hand up to his shoulder to touch her own, and stood up as she released him. He stepped down to examine the prototypes that were displayed on the table in front of him. He picked one up, and frowned, weighing the thing in his hands. He waved towards a minister, who walked over. Ranma whispered in his ear, and the minister nodded and walked off. Ranma returned his attention to the guns in front of him, as the court and the representative looked on.
He turned his head towards the throne, were Serenity was sitting, and gestured to her. She hopped of the throne and went down to him.
"Here Sere, pick one up."
She looked down on the gun, which had "Made on Ganymede" stamped on the handle. She reached down and picked it up, and almost fell over on her back. After recovering her balance, she found out why. She too frowned. The gun was light for its large size, almost too light, and she overexerted herself picking it up.
Ranma walked over to the doors leading out into the Gardens, while the many nobles and courtesans followed him. Serenity ran after him on her bare feet. Outside, he held up a hand, and the people stopped behind him. Serenity rushed to take her place by his side.
"Serenity, watch this."
Ranma raised the gun, and sighted down fifty meters ahead towards where eight metal packing crates sat with watermelons on top, placed there, no doubt, by the minister that had left. (MAIL CALL! MUAHAHAHAHA)
He squeezed off ten even shots, and ten beams of light lanced out, but only four of them hitting the watermelons, drilling holes though it. Serenity raised and eyebrow. Ranma was an expert marksman. He should have hit nine out of ten, or eight out of ten at the least, even with a new gun.
"Master, I must say, that was horrible shooting."
Ranma turned his head towards the representative, who shrank down nervously. Ranma turned back around, and raised the rifle again, switching to the rapid fire function.
This time, a barrage of brilliant red light lashed out towards the defenseless watermelons. The sheer number of the beams allowed him to hit and perforate them. Some hit the ground behind the crates, while more hit the crates themselves. A minimal amount hit the watermelons, but it was enough to blow them to pieces.
Ninety shots later, Ranma set down the gun as it ran out of power. He called a nearby guard to bring him one of the crates. As the guard ran off, Ranma examined the gun. He crooked a finger toward Serenity, who stepped closer to him.
"Did you notice how light the gun was?"
"Yes, Master."
"We had laser rifles like this about a hundred years ago. Some weapons manufacturers tried to cut costs by taking out certain things and using inferior parts. If buying a gun, the heft is usually a pretty good standard. This thing is a piece of crap."
By now, the guard had brought back a crate, and had set it down behind them.
Nodding his thanks, Ranma crouched down next to the crate, examining the front panel that was shot.
Shaking his head, he stood up. Taking one hand, and placing it on the crate, he took his other hand and ripped off another panel of the crate.
"Serenity, do you trust me?"
He looked her in the eyes, and she stared back at him, and smiled.
"Of course I do, Master."
"Stop calling me that, and gimme your gun. You might want to change into some armor."
She handed over the gun, and took the metal panel that was handed to her, holding it in front of herself. She looked at it curiously, while her suit morphed into a black plate armor with silver and black highlights. Some of the guards looked envious.
"Okay, now stay there, and don't move."
She looked up to see Ranma grin. She cocked her head to the side, and froze as he whipped the gun up.. He opened fire, and the court gasped. The guards were to stunned to draw their guns.
Thirty rounds later, he lowered the gun.
"You can put that down now, Sere." He smirked as he took in her shivering form. He walked over to take the panel from her, and whispered into her ear.
"That's for using your Crystal on me. Consider ourselves even."
He grabbed hold of the banel. She gave it to him shakily. The court let out a sigh when they saw she was unhurt, and glared at Ranma.
He glared back at the people in front of him.
"Look at this! You call this an advancement in weaponry? This thing is as powerful as a thrown rock, and about as accurate as one too! It couldn't even shoot through this crate." He waved the panel for emphasis. "A cheap alloy." He called out to the guard that had brought him the crate.
"Hey! You've fought in battle before, right? What's the principle enemy of the Moon Kingdom?"
"Negaverse troops and Youma, Sir! The Sailor Senshi and mages take care of Youma, while the Guard takes on the conventional enemies, Sir!"
"Do Negaverse soldiers wear armor?"
"Yes sir! They do. Strong scale mail is standard, just like ours, sir. Their powered armors also can stand up to light bombardment."
"If I bought you this gun, and sent you off to fight, what do you think would happen."
"I'd ditch it and go to close quarters, Sir!"
"Smart man. Thank you."
Ranma threw the gun towards the Gantech representative, who rushed to catch it. He turned back towards the remaining crates out in the courtyard, and pulled out his own assault rifle from subspace. The court was already used to the pockets do to Ranma's constant use of it.
Again, beams of light lanced towards the crates. This time, the effects were more.....satisfying this time around.
When the dust finally settled, there was nothing bigger than a hand left. The court was completely silent.
Ranma caused the weapon to disappear again. He strode pass the people, speaking as he walked. "If I had bought these guns of yours, can you imagine how many thousands of soldiers would have died? Until you can do half of what I just did, don't ever show your face around here again. This audience has ended." He opened the door into the Audience Chamber. and looked at Serenity expectantly.
"Hey! Sere!"
The silver haired woman, who was still standing in the exact same position as before, was startled out of her daze, and ran into the Chamber, with Ranma following and closing the door firmly behind him.
Ranma sighed as he walked up to sit on the throne.
"Those idiots are about as smar-hey." He glanced down at Serenity, who was standing in front of the stairs that led to the throne.
"You can change out of that armor now, you know."
He smirked as she blushed, and changed back to the white string two piece swim suit she had on before, and stepped up to kneel in front of him. Something then made itself apparent.
In some cases, strong women enjoy being dominated, and losing control. Many a masochist is revealed because of it. Her Majesty's case was no different. Strong woman dominated.
Liquid was dripping off of the former queen's inner thigh, and it didn't smell bad when Ranma sniffed at the air. He looked down at her, again smirking, as she blushed even harder, and placed her hands on his knees.
"Ma-master? Uh-h I think t-that I need..."
End Flashback
"MY MOTHER WAS A MASOCHIST!?" Meatballs quivering in rage.
"Well, not only that, but she became a very uninhibited one. Just like you." Calmly sipping tea.
"I AM NOT A MASOCHIST!" Meatballs shaking in rage.
"And I am not saying you are, just that you were one, and will become one." Finding tea interesting.
"NO I WON'T" Meatballs about to explode into a telekinetic weapon of pain.
"Yes you will, and you'll have some company when you do become one." Ooh! Look, a floating tea stalk!
Several other girls turned red at the thought.
Flashback
Forty minutes later.
Ranma stooped down and picked up Serenity's limp body off the throne. He headed into the hallways, miraculously not meeting anyone in the usually well traveled passages of the palace. It would have been awkward trying to explain why someone's queen smelled funny and was dripping odd substances from various orifices while in the nude. Making it into the Royal Chambers, he went to bath, and stripped himself and his unconscious burden of their cloths, and entered the huge marble pool that was the Royal Bath.
Within the steam shrouded baths, the blue headed Senshi of Mercury was swimming around in the marble pool. She always had an affinity with water, and tried to go swimming in the warm baths as often as possible. She would usually use one of the pools outside, but since she now as access to the Royal baths, she was spending as much time in here as possible.
She ducked her head underwater, and stayed there for half a minute before pushing herself back to the surface with her legs.
Ranma was scrubbing Serenity off as the unconscious woman laid in the shallow platform that led half meter steps which in turn led into the pool. He groused.
'Isn't she supposed to scrub me!? I'm wondering who really is the master here.' His gaze softened as he took in the beautiful woman in front of himself. Serenity was smiling in unconscious happiness.
'Oh well. She has a good excuse. Not many people can stand up to me! Male or female!'
Satisfied with his ego boost, he continued to scrub. That's when he heard a small splash.
'Oh crap, someone else is using the baths!'
Ranma picked Serenity up, turned around and dunked her quickly in the hot water, getting the water soluble soapsuds off.
He was pulled her up onto the shallow steps when a goddess broke though the water right in front of him. Well, not really a goddess, he had seen better, but still, who was he to judge.
Ami gasped as she broke through the water, breathing heavily, and it was doing heavenly things for her chest, not like anyone was there to see her though, or so she thought.
She controlled her breathing, and looked up to see...someone...in the steam. The someone became Ranma as the some of the steam wafted away.
Ranma stared at Ami. Blink Blink
Ami stared at Ranma. Blink Blink
Her gaze traveled down south. .......BLINK.....
His gaze traveled down south. "Hey, shouldn't ya be wearin' somthin'?"
"...............EEK! PERVERT!!!!!"
Makoto, who often joined Ami in the bath, had been relaxing in the other end of the larger than Olympic-size bath, was startled out of her reverie when she heard her friend shriek "EEK!" followed by a "MERCURY BUBBLE BLAST!" She immediately leapt up and ran towards the noise, determined to beat the crap out of whoever was threatening her shy friend. When she finally made it to where the noise had come from, she screeched to a stop, not believing the scene in front of herself.
Ami was busy fusing her lips to Ranma's own as he was lying on the shallow platform on his back, arms limp. Serenity was also laying on the platform, unconscious.
"Ami! What are you doing!"
Mercury looked up to see Jupiter, who had come to the baths with her.
"Makoto! Help me! Ranma's not breathing!"
"Huh?"
"Come here and start resuscitation!"
Stumbling over to the pair, she dropped down on her knees to check Ranma's airflow while Ami prepared to push the water out of Ranma's stomach and lungs.
A minute later
hack cough cough
A blushing Ami and Makoto were standing off to the side while Ranma tried to cough all the water out from his innards.
Cough "Man! cough Ami, what were you thinking hack attacking me like that! I thought I was gonna die!"
"Sorry Master." The bluehead was licking her lips nervously, while Jupiter tried to defend her pretty friend.
"JUST WHAT WERE YOU DOING IN THE BATHS ANYWAY!"
The last of the water came out, and Ranma straightened up.
"If ya really want to know, I was cleaning Sere off."
"Huh?"
He turned and pointed, and the two girls swiveled their heads towards where their queen lay. She was still unconscious. Somehow.
Suddenly, Ranma realized something. When he turned, something had slapped him in the thigh. Looking down, he found himself...very free. He looked up to see the two conscious girls also realize this fact, and was taking advantage of said fact. Ranma quickly turned back around. They still stared. He sighed and turned around again, and stared back, wondering when they were gonna get the point.
Finally, the two girls realized that they themselves were not wearing much in the way of clothing.
Ranma turned around so fast he broke through the sound barrier, smiling as he did so.
"Didn'tseenothin!"
"Pervert!" "I saw you smile!"
The girls dropped themselves into the water.
"Hey! You two were starin' at me! Besides, you probably took advantage of my helpless body when I was out."
Both girls blushed.
"See, I knew it." He tilted his head up, lamenting to the ceiling "OH! Woe is me! My innocence has been lost to a pair of pervert girls!" Ranma took a glance down to judge their reactions.
Most tomatoes would be peeling themselves in envy by now.
He turned back to begin scrubbing again. "Well now. You got to ogle me in exchange for me looking at you. Now we're even. I normally wouldn't do such a thing, but the past few days have kinda desensitized me to these things." It was true. Normally, he would have to repress his "manly" urges to the point of stupidity, but currently, his hunger was satiated enough for him to calm down. A casual peek of a nude body didn't have as much effect now as it did five days ago, much to many of the girls' frustrations.
"It's OK if a girl sees a guy!" Makoto was furious. 'How dare he look at Ami like that!'
It seems that Makoto was very protective of her friend.
Ami, on the otherhand, had different thoughts. 'Wow. I didn't think it would be that big. At least it wasn't that big in those pictures.' She was off in lala land, daydreaming of the hunks in her Mercury Computer. She didn't quite notice when the hunks had turned into Ranmas with lean bodies and big...endowments, but she was happier anyway.
".....What kind of crazy logic is that?" Ranma sounded nonplused by Makoto's statement."
"ARGH!" Makoto raised her hand, finger pointing towards her target, electricity sparking off the end.
"NO! MAKOT-" Ami's warning came too late.
"SUPREME THUNDER!" ZRACK
Ten seconds later
Ranma, who was slightly smoking, picked up two rather crispy looking girls and one unharmed and still asleep woman. Serenity had been protected by a passive defensive Crystal, while the two girls in the water weren't. Ranma was just Ranma.
He dried them off, and went to the Royal Bedchambers. Tucking Serenity, who had started giggling in her sleep, in on one side of the huge bed, he then took the other two girls, still naked, and placed them in a more...compromising position on the other side. He then returned to the bathroom, but not before taking a marker and writing two things.
Ami's forehead now read "Pervert."
Makoto's forehead now read "Bufoon." (If you didn't know, Rama still couldn't spell buffoon right in the manga. 3000 thousand years from this time.)
Five days later
Ranma shook his head, standing in the nude on the shallow end of the bath with the nude Serenity over his shoulder, while the equally nude Ami and Makoto were neck deep in the water ten feet away, arms covering their chests with their hands. It seemed everyone was equal.
"Man, do you two live in here of somethin'? I swear, this is like the fourth time this happened."
"WELL IT'S YOUR FAULT THE QUEEN NEEDS TO BE WASHED OFF THREE TIMES A DAY!" Makoto, having learned her lesson two additional times after the first, was not making any moves to send bolts of lighting his way. Actually, she had gotten used to his presence, and when he didn't appear yesterday, she was slightly worried, though she was loath to admit it. Besides, she still wanted to get back at him when she woke up with her face in Ami's crotch last time. Not that it was all that unpleasant of course, but she wouldn't admit that either.
"Why is the Queen always unconscious when you bring her in?" Ami, although indignant, was getting used to the fact that Ranma also used the bath constantly, and thus should not be beat down on whenever something like this happens. More importantly, she was curious. Very curious. About something. Something big.
"Ask her yourself sometimes. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to clean her off before she gets too crusty."
The girls were silent for a moment, digesting what he had said, while said man was scrubbing off the woman he had placed down.
A few moments later, Ami decided to take the offensive. "Master?" She waded through the water too the shallow platform.
"WILL EVERYONE QUIT CALLING ME THAT!?" Ami smiled slightly at his back as he ranted at the unfairness of the gods. Makoto snickered. He still had a weak point after all. He probably still couldn't take outright flirting as well.
Ami called out again as she climbed onto the platform, unnoticed by Ranma, who was still cursing the gods.
"Master?"
"WHAT!"
"Wouldn't it be easier and more efficient of you showed us why Her Majesty is always unconscious whenever you bring her in?" Makoto stared at her incredulously. Ranma just froze where he stood, back turned. Ami was taking advantage of this by drooling ove-cough studying his posterior.
"....Uh...I think it would be better if you just, uh, figure it out yourself."
Ami closed in for the kill. "If I were to hypothesize on the reason, I believe that it would have something to do with your nightly "discussions." Were they too much for Her Majesty to handle? Perhaps she needs some help? You must have worn her out." Her mental image of herself had just sprouted red horns and a spiked tail. Oh, and it was carrying a trident too.
Ranma didn't quite know how to respond. He chose to go with a generic and chauvinistic answer, spurred on by his foot in mouth disease. .
"Yeah, somethin' like that. Nobody can handle me. Ranma Aquilus never loses! She needs more help than she can get!" He finished with a fist thrust towards the sky. A tsunami wave appeared behind him and smashed itself onto the outcrop of rocks Ranma was suddenly standing on.
Brave last words
Ami smiled to herself.
'He is so easy to manipulate.'
"Really? Perhaps I should attempt to lend a hand. She is my queen after all."
She moved her hand up towards her earring which glowed to add two white stripes surrounding the black band. As she did so, Ranma turned around with a
"Huh?"
His eyes grew wide as he saw the ring in the bluehead's hand, and his jaw dropped as the ring moved towards the collar which had appeared around her neck. He passed out when Ami hissed as the bond secured itself.
sploosh
As Ami came out of her trance, she blinked down at the unconscious man.
"Ami!" Ami turned around to confront her tall friend, who was struggling out of the water and onto the platform.
"Yes, Makoto?"
"What did you do that for!? Your giving yourself to this pervert?"
"Actually, when you look at it. He's not quite a pervert, or else he would have already slept with someone else other than the queen. Also, do you ever wonder what you were missing by becoming a Senshi? Men avoid us like a plague, and we never have the chance to find out. Now, we do." Her smile turned wry.
"I'll admit that he isn't what I was looking for, but if Her Majesty decided he was good enough for her, why would he not be for me?" She giggled. "Besides, he gets nervous when we get too "forward" with him. I think of it as a way to get back at him. He doesn't seem to react to blatant nudity anymore."
Throughout the speech, Jupiter had been staring at her friend, and absorbing her words. They had made sense, and even she had to admit the truth. Sighing, she came to a decision.
"Well...You won't be doing it alone." She raised her hand up toward her ear.....
"Oh don't bother with excuses, you wanted to as well."
"Hey! At least let me have some dignity left!"
Meanwhile
Gates of Time
Standing watch at the Time Gate in her maid costume, Setsuna smiled. Maybe now she could have Ami figure out why Ranma won't sleep with her. She'd finally be able to get laid. She'd have to share, but still, getting less that what you expected is still better than getting nothing.
Three days later
Rei was cautious, very cautious. Cautious to the extreme.
The evil menace had taken over her friends, and only the Princess and herself remained. Minako would still be with them, but she jumped onto the bandwagon when she found out Ami and Makoto had turned traitor.
Two days ago
Anteroom
"WHAT!" Minako was on the verge or crying when Ami and Makoto showed up with rings missing from their ears.
"We decided we wanted to join the Outers. It's not natural to be celibate for longer than twenty or thirty years, you know." My, Ami was being quite scientific in explaining her actions
There was a long pause.
"Traitors." Rei was glaring at the two Inners while trying to rationalize why they would do such a thing. It was a good thing Usagi wasn't here, or else she would have to deal with a weepy bunny.
"You can call us that now, but sooner or later, you'll do the same." Makoto was quite sure on that point.
Rei snorted.
"When that happens, I'll lick his feet and suck his toes."
There was a llllloooooonnnngggg silence as the other three girls present imagined the Martian licking Ranma's feet, while they themselves were cuddled in his arms. The image wasn't all that unappealing, especially to Minako, who always wanted to prove her superiority to the Martian, who always belittled her.
"STOP IMAGINING THAT!"
The three girls snickered at Rei's red face and made placating gestures.
"Well," Ami said "your lucky Ranma washes his feet a lot, so they do not smell so bad when yo-"
"SHUT UP! STUPID TRAITORS!"
"Well, I ain't gonna let you traitors hog all the fun!" With that declaration, Minako leapt up from her seat, her ring glowed white as she reached up for it, and removed it, then affixing it to her collar before Rei's horrified eyes."
Present
Minako joined the other Senshi, turning traitor to the Princess.
Now, she felt she was in danger of doing the same.
She couldn't stop thinking of him. Her divinations of the fire kept repeating the same thing over and over again. It was a well built man and a beautiful raven-haired woman in bed together, and the woman had a collar around her neck with a silver ring in it. The man had a black ring in his ear. She was licking his feet while he sat back against the headboard, reading a book titled "How to be a Bad Dominate." Laying on he bed near the woman was a book, "How to be a Good Submissive."
One guess who the pair in the fire were.
The fire sometimes had a sense of humor when revealing the future. It was not quite as funny to the diviner though.
Sigh.
It was only natural. Ranma was the only male she had spent a long period of time with.
Well, that, and his discussions at night with the queen were driving her to the edge.
She was walking a thin line. Well, a thin rope over a chasm filled with flesh eating creatures already spurred on by days of starvation. If she even stumbled slightly, she would fall down. She had begun taking measures to avoid this fate. She had begun taking measures to avoid him.
In the end, none of them worked. Rei was trapped, with nowhere to go. Not physically trapped, but mentally. Her thoughts now revolved around the man in their midst. And gods help her, the fire in her wanted him.
Meditating in the anteroom, she was attempting to convince herself not to love him.
'He's stupid pig.' She told herself.
'He's a brave and good looking pig.' Her inner self replied.
'He's a sexist.'
'It only adds to his charm. You wouldn't want him any other way.'
Rei winced.
'He doesn't respect us.'
'Of course he does, when you start respecting him. It is yourself who believes he doesn't.'
'He has taken the Senshi as his slaves, like some perverse Negaverse general.'
'They willingly walked into his arms. Or rather, latched themselves onto his legs when he tried to flee.'
Yes, Minako had done that. Literally.
'I'm going to have to lick his feet.'
'That is your own fault.'
'It doesn't make it any better.'
'There are worse fates.'
Rei contemplated that for a long moment.
Her inner self had one last thing to say to her.
'You know you want to.'
Opening her eyes, she gradually drew herself out of her meditations. She had one thing to say.
"Damn."
Her ring glowed as she reached up for it.
'But I would be leaving the princess all alone...'
Her hand paused in the air, then dropped to the ground as the ring stopped glowing and reverted.
"Damn."
Night Time, Royal Chambers
"Alright......ya'll can come u-"
Mad scramble from the floor to the bed.
"Umph!" "Haruka! get your foot outta my fa-urk." "Hey! watch it!" "HANDS OFF! SETSUNA!" "Hands off what, master?"
On the ground, Rei sweatdropped. Well, then, now that everybody was gone, she could take care of her little problem.
She scanned the floor around her, finding a bunch of empty futons.
"Princess?" she whispered, looking for her errant friend. Not getting an answer, she raised her voice.
"Usagi!" She stood up and scanned the remaining futons on the other side of the room.
"Yes, Rei?" The answer originated from the bed. Rei slowly turned around to see two pairs of meatballs, not one pair, but two, on the bed, a pair each on either side of the Man.
Rei suddenly developed a twitchy eyebrow. "Usagi, what are you doing on the bed."
The blond smiled innocently, while wiggling a bit against her new teddy bear, well, one she had to borrow from her mother, but still they can share, right?
"I'm seeing of Ranma is good enough for my mother."
Mother and daughter shared a look over the body of the hunk coughpoor foolcough between them, and then narrowed their eyes, and started a tugging fight between them.
The twitch got worse.
"I thought you hated him."
"Only because he was sleeping with my mother. But I decided it was a foolish reason to hate him, and so, here I am." This was stated by a rather proud Usagi, as she continued to stare at her mother, to a rather ticked off Rei.
"ARGH!"
"WAHH! REI'S BEING MEAN TO ME!"
End Flashback
Rei's eye was twitching.
Minako said something very obvious.
"Wow. I guess that Rei was mean to you no matter what day and age it was. Well, you gotta take the bad with the worse!"
"That's "The good with the bad.""
"Same difference."
Flashback
Two days later.
"Alright. Now. Let's begin." Setsuna was sitting in her maid costume on a couch in the anteroom of the Royal Chambers. Arranged around her were the eight identically dressed members of the Sailor Senshi. Ranma and the Queen were taking care of Kingdom business in the throne room, while the Senshi were meeting in secret.
"We are here today to find out, to put this quite bluntly, why Ranma does not wish to sleep with any of us. Any suggestion or hypothesis as to why? Ami, I am counting on you."
Ami, ever the genius, started out by stating the obvious facts.
"First of all, we can agree that Ranma is, in fact, NOT GAY." (I don't have anything against you if you are, but Ranma is not gay. Period. Maybe a little brain damaged, but he is not gay. Even if he does turn into a girl. Sweatdrop Man, this argument sucks.)
Everyone nodded. They had seen and heard enough the past two weeks to confirm that fact.
"Second, we can also agree that Ranma seems to have an aversion to us, but not to the Queen. However, he did have the same aversion to Her Majesty BEFORE their nightly...and daily....hourly.....activities began."
Everyone nodded again, paying rapt attention to the studious girl. Even the ADD afflicted girls were hanging onto her every word.
"Lastly, we can confirm that he would not willingly engage in intercourse with anyone that he has already not done so before."
Final nods.
"Now, from these three facts, we can extract three hypothesis'. Firstly. He does not seem to be afraid of any diseases from sex, although as Senshi, we are immune to STDs. We can rule health as a barrier out."
"The second thing we can extract is as far as we know, and as far as he has revealed, Ranma has not slept with anyone unless he was forced to. In fewer words, Ranma has never made the first move. At the same time, if we did make the first move, he is very skittish, and is likely to run away. Unlike Her Majesty, we cannot simply tie him down, as we do not have a Class 1 magical artifact, or the equivalent technology at our disposal."
"Third, Ranma is a jerk. And he must make love his hand a lot."
It took a few moments for the words to permeate through to the minds of the audience around her, but finally...
"Huh?"
The normally shy and conserved Mercurian huffed and crossed her arms across her chest.
"Well, look! There are nine woman here, ten including the Queen, ready to please him, and he runs away from us! He's not homosexual, and he receives enough sexual teasing to turn him on even if he was!"
"........................................"
Suddenly, Artemis burst in from the kitty door, which were installed on all doors of the palace.
"Argh!!!!! She's right behind me! You gotta hide me!"
The white cat looked left and right frantically, before darting off toward the bedroom. Attempting to, anyway, as Luna just burst in after him, and pounced on him, in a very cattish manner.
"Artie dearest, come back to bed!" She bit down on her prisoner's tail and marched back though the kitty door, with Artemis screaming and crying all the way as he dug his claws into the ground, leaving long scratches on the carpet.
"NOOOOOO!!! NO MORE!! PLEASE!!! I Doo any thi....."
His voice trailed off as the pair proceed down the hall.
Hotaru commented.
"Luna's gone into heat again, hasn't she." Mass sweatdrop.
Setsuna suddenly got a lightbulb.
"All's we gotta do is pin him down."
"With what?" Rei following Setsuna's trail of though."
"He is obviously too strong to be held by anything short of a class three magical object." Ami was sorting through the data on her computer, obviously looking for ideas.
For the third time that hour, or rather, two minutes, something, or someone, burst though the kitty door.
"You gotta go to the throne room!" Dyn was almost bouncing off the walls in excitement.
Audience Chamber
"What seems to be the problem?"
As the Senshi and the cat arrived at the Audience Room, Ranma and Serenity were sitting on the throne, passing judgment on a mass murderer chained to the floor beneath them.
The nondescript prisoner in nondescript clothing was struggling against his shackles, while screaming obscenities at the throne.
The Senshi took their seats, while Dyn bounded up the stairs and under the expanded Throne. He bumped into a box.
"What's this? Rope, a bridle, a whip, a leash, a ball with holes in it, and a rubber cylinder." sniffsniff 'Actually, now that I think about it, I don't want to know.' The black cat pawed his nose while turns round and looks out onto the events from under the Throne. 'Humans are so weird.'
Ranma stared intently at the man, studying his face and his movements, as the man continued to thrash about, chained to the floor as he was. He had a brass ring looped in his left ear.
"My Queen, my lord, this man appeared on Io two weeks ago, and attacked the Io spaceport, killing two hundred some people, and injuring over five hundred others. When we were finally able to knock him out and manacle him his compatriots appeared and attempted to free him, disabling or killing most of the Guard in the area with a huge magical attack, about three thousand strong. We were able to wear them down and knock them out in the end."
"He does not seem to be very powerful, how is it he and a few others can kill so many of the Guard?" Serenity was shocked, the plain man on the floor seemed about as powerful as a below average man.
"Magic, and advanced technology."
Everyone in the chamber turned their heads to look at Ranma, who had spoken. Even the man on the floor stopped his exertions too stare at him, and started examining him carefully.
Ranma stood up, and stared down into the man's eyes as he reached into his pocket.
"Remove his earrings." The closest guard rushed to do so as the court looked on, confused at his instructions.
Minako, sitting next to Ami, leaned over to the Mercurian.
"He, you don't think that-"
"It looks like a control ring to me."
The guard finally got the control ring off of the man, who had started struggling as soon as the guard approached him.
Ranma stepped down the stair, removing his control ring from his pocket as he did so. There was a gasp as the man's eyes widened noticeably.
Ranma crouched down before the man, and touched his arm.
Suddenly, the man's clothing glowed, and morphed into a blue modsuit with matching blue trousers, covered with a red vest. His face glowed, and then molded into a angled face, with flame red hair, and red eyes, a large change from the plain and undisruptive appearance he had before.
There was complete silence in the audience chamber.
Dyn spoke up from under the Throne.
"Wow. Now I want a ring."
Ranma stood up, and looked coldly down at the man.
"Well, Rubeus, what do you have to say for yourself, before you leave for Nemesis?"
Rubeus (of the Black Moon Family in the SM timeline) sneered up at Ranma above him.
"Well, well, my apologies, my Prince. I did not expect for the Black to be here, your mother was quite frantic when you had gone missing. She had thought you were off being "manly" and was trying to find her future daughter in laws for examination." He passed his eyes over the Senshi in their outfits. "Well, I must say, your serving wenches are quite beautiful, would you like someone to take them off your hands? I know some people that would pay quite a bit for these fine specimens." His eyes roved over the bristling girls.
Ranma looked down at the man for a few more seconds, then sighed, and turned back to sit on the Throne again, rubbing his forehead, eyes closed in consternation.
Eyes still shut, he waved toward the soldiers at the Entrance. "Bring in the other prisoners, I think I have a feeling who they are."
One of the guards stepped out of the door, and returned a moment later, with more guards and a group of shackled prisoners, consisting of two men and five women.
The women look stunned to see Rubeus uncloaked on the ground, but the two men immediately focus in on Ranma, whose head was bowed, with his black earring exposed as his face was hidden in his hand, propped against the armrest of the Throne. They each unconsciously fingered the golden and brass rings they had in their ears.
Ranma waved his hand toward the group on the floor, face still covered.
"Demando, Safir, I am ashamed of you. Uncloak and explain yourselves."
Five pairs of eyes shot up as the chained women took in the scene in front of them. Each one whispered Ranma's name, startled.
The two stepped forwards quickly, and knelt down before the dais. A flicker of confusion flashed on their faces.
The left one, with the gold ring, spoke. "My Prince, we seem to be unable to uncloak with these restraints active."
Ranma lifted his head up.
"Rei, go down and touch their cloths."
The black haired girl looked up, startled, then bounded down the stairs, and placed a hand on each of the men's shoulders.
"Now, imagine in your head, lifting a sheet of cloth off of the men."
She nodded, and closed her eyes.
The two men glowed, revealing a white haired man and a blue haired man, dressed in blue mod suits, covered with clothing of their respective hair color.
"Cooan, Beruche, Calaveras, Petz, and Esmeraude. Approach the Throne."
The five women rushed up behind Demando and Safir, kneeling behind them, stepping over Rubeus on the ground. Rei walked over and removed their disguises, then returned to sit on her own throne.
Ranma looked down at the group, and sighed.
"Well?"
Safir spoke.
"My apologize, my Prince. Rubeus was being reckless and Esmeraude was being hersel-"
He stopped when Demando touched his shoulder, turning his head to look confusedly at his brother.
"My Prince, if I may."
"Go ahead."
"When word of your disappearance reached the populace, Rubeus and Esmeraude realized that the Black Crystal was not guarded. They decided to make a power grab. They did not realize there were other automated defenses."
Ranma sighed "I shudda known. That explains a lot, but it doesn't explain why you and Safir and the sisters four are here, and in Silver space. Also, you cast the Rah Tilt, am I right?" A nod. "Why."
"Rubeus enlisted the sisters, who were looking for you, when he made his attack. Safir and I joined the group after running into them over Cancer. We then made our way to Libra, where it was decided the best way to through off pursuit was to leave the Black. Rubeus was angered and being the idiot that he is, he teleported down and began killing people, for fun, I believe. We came down to get him, and found him captured. We attempted to free him with the Rah Tilt, but we were overwhelmed and placed in these interesting restraints." The white haired man lifted his shackles for emphasis.
Ranma shook his head. "Rubeus is to be exiled to Nemesis for life, and the women are to be exiled for five thousand years. There are old abandoned colonies still powered on Nemesis, so it should still be quite comfortable. Will you be joining them?"
Safir looked at Demando, who thought quietly. Finally, Demando sighed.
"Rubeus may be an idiot, but he is family, and so are the girls. I'll go with them."
"I'll go with my brother."
Ranma smiled faintly "Alright. I'll see you in five thousand. Stay safe, Demando."
"Thank you, my Prince, and I am sorry, and I apologize for Rubeus' actions. I will keep better control on Rubeus while on Nemesis." Demando bowed his head down low.
"Rings." The prisoners each reached up to their ears, and removed the different colored earrings, placing them on the in front of themselves.
"Guards."
The group of soldiers snapped to attention.
Ranma wrote down something on a piece of paper that he pulled out.
"Take the prisoners to the following coordinates, relative to the sun. Leave them on the planet that materializes there."
The guards turned to leave, unhooking Rubeus, who was again screaming obscenities.
"Hey, Demando."
Demando stopped at the door, and turned his head. "Yes, Prince?"
"Two more things. First. Where's yer ship?"
"We left it in orbit over the planet Rubeus attacked. Io, I believe they call it."
"Alright. And two, what's goin' on since I disappeared?"
Demando smiled at Ranma, and turned fully around. "Your mother has been going on about you being "manly," and crying for being unable to meet the girls you were being "manly" with. She wanted to offer them pointers." His smile grew even broader. "I do believe she was correct in her assessment of the situation, and I must say you have very good taste, however unwilling you are." He nodded at the queen, sitting at Ranma's side, and the Senshi, on their thrones, his eyes flickering around, stopping at the princess, momentarily.
Ranma groaned. "She doesn't know where I am, right? I don't think I could survive with my mother helping these fiends." He passed the evil eye over the girls, who smiled at him winsomely, and in Serenity's case laid her head down in his lap, and rubbing slightly.
"Alright, thanks for the info."
"Anytime, my Prince." his voice turned introspective. "Who would have thought an entire branch of the Black would end like this?"
Ranma laughed and touched his forehead.
An invisible yet tangible ringing pulse of energy radiated through the room, and everyone flinched back.
A inverted black crescent appeared on Ranma's forehead, and the same also appeared Demando's forehead.
Ranma grinned at his cousin. "Your branch is not dead, just leaving for a while. Five thousand years, cousin."
"Five thousand years then."
His voice turned formal.
"I take my leave of you, Crown Prince Ranma of the Black." Demando smiled after he said this.
"Till next we meet, Prince Demando of the Black." Ranma intoned formally. Demando smiled one last time, and turned and stepped out the door, followed by two guards.
As the door shut, Ranma let out a sigh, sitting back into the Throne.
"Damn."
"Ranma? Who were they? Family? Cousin?"
The Senshi, along with the Queen, were puzzled at the events that had happened.
Ranma rubbed his head.
"I'll tell you guys in our quarters." Raising his voice,
"This audience has ended."
He stood and walked down the steps and out the doors leading to the hallway, followed by Serenity, the nine Senshi, and a black cat. Around them, the court broke into a roar of voices.
End Chapter Five
Author notes
I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I broke my wrist about two days after the last release, and typing with a cast ain't the easiest thing in the world. However, I do have the plans for my Suikoden crossover ready, and to those who emailed me against Chris/Ranma pairings, well, sucks for you, cause that's what it's gonna be. If it was a pure Suikoden fic, it would be a Chris/Hugo, but its a Ranma crossover, so its not.
Also, I got a few other ideas I'm toying with, but there won't be that many releases for a few weeks, cause I'm gonna be taking my finals in two weeks, then leaving for a trip over seas. Still, I'll see what I can get done.
Chapter Six Teaser
Catty grins broke out all around.
"Now let's go t......wait, what's with all the smiles?"
CLICK SNAP SNAP
"You do know I can just break these, right."
Still smiling, everyone nodded.
"Ergh! What the hell? What's this stuff made of?"
"Ranma, Master, you have more....pressing mattes to attend to." Squeeze.
"Well, there are nine of us, ten, so we better pace him." Ami pulled out a notepad and a pen.
"We have all of tonight, and tomorrow, and tomorrow night." Haruka's smile grew even wider. "I took the liberty of canceling all of tomorrow's audiences."
Whimper