Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all it's characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi, I am only borrowing them. The same goes for Ranma ½ and it's characters, which belong to Rumiko Takahashi.

This fic is set in an alternate universe, where things appear to be the same on the surface, but the reality is quite different.

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Chapter 3 - "Training and New Friends"

Usagi struggled to do the forms that had come to her in her dreams this past night. She could remember them, but slightly fuzzily, well enough to know that she wasn't doing them correctly, but not well enough to correct her mistakes. "Damnit! Why can't I get this right? I know this."

"Yer off balance, an' yer arm's overextended." Said a male voice, from fairly close by. "Ya need to put more of yer weight on yer rear leg, an' pull yer arm in about 3 cm."

Startled, Usagi opened her eyes and looked towards the voice. She saw a young man about her own age, dressed in a red, sleeveless Chinese shirt, loose black pants that were tied at the ankle, and soft slippers. He had his black hair pulled back into a braided pigtail that rested between his shoulder blades, and stormy blue eyes that looked old, almost jaded, peered out from under his bangs. He was standing on a tree branch about 3 meters off the ground, leaning against the trunk. She closed her eyes again, and tried what he had said. This time, the form flowed perfectly.

"Thank you." She said opening her eyes again, looking up at him. "How did you know what I was doing wrong?"

"I'm the best martial artist in the world. Martial arts is my life." He said cockily, almost arrogantly, yet Usagi caught a slightly bitter undertone in his voice.

"Really? Would you be willing to help me train then? I know that there's a lot I'm doing wrong, but I don't know how to fix it."

"Lemme see what yer doin' first, then I'll tell ya if I can help ya." He said, slightly hesitant.

"Alright." Usagi closed her eyes again, and started with the simplest of the forms she had remembered. She concentrated on doing it right, rather than speed, knowing that a slow, well-executed form would make a better impression than a quick, sloppily done one would.

The young man watched intently, as Usagi flowed from one form to the next. They were done well, but there were definite flaws in them. Unaware to either of them, the young man had begun to quietly murmur the names of the forms as she went from one to the next. "Cat's Play to Stalking Prey to Flowing Strike to Eagle's Flight, end it with Drawing Down the Moon." Usagi held the end pose for a moment, she was on one knee, her left arm behind her, her foot on what would be her opponent's chest, her right hand positioned to deliver a knife hand to her opponent's throat. She opened her eyes, and rose to her feet, looking towards the young man, who gracefully dropped from the tree branch to the ground and strode over to her.

"How much trainin' have ya had before?"

"This is going to sound odd, but, in this life, none."

"Whaddya mean 'in this life'?"

"I can't go into detail, but, in a past life I was a warrior, and recently, I've been having dreams of the training I did then. I've been trying to train on my own, but I don't know enough to correct my mistakes."

"Huh. Yeah, that does sound kinda odd. Not the oddest thing I've come across, but it's up there."

"Then what's the..." Usagi's voice trailed off as a sudden, brief rain shower happened, and the young man in front of her turned into a red haired, busty young woman.

"Aww, crap. Thought I'd left this crap behind me in Nermia." She groused. "Well, come on. Get it over with." She said as she closed her eyes and braced herself.

"Get what over with? Just what happened to you, anyway?"

"Ya mean yer not gonna hit me, or scream at me, or call me a freak or nothing?"

"No. Why would I? You haven't given me reason to."

"Even though I changed into a girl in front of you?"

"Seen weirder things."

"Oh."

"So why do you turn into a girl?"

"It's all my stupid Pop's fault. He dragged me to a training ground in China, without knowing Chinese, and got me cursed. Well, he got cursed too. It's a water based curse. Cold water turns you into your cursed form, an' hot water turns you back."

"I'm sorry. It must be awful to have a curse like that."

"Yeah, it sucks. How come yer bein' so nice to me, anyway?"

"Huh? What do you mean? All I've done is listen to you explain what happened. It's not your fault you got cursed, it doesn't make any sense to take it out on you."

"Which is more than anyone's done fer me, ever."

"What about your friends? Surely they listen."

"What friends? All I got is people chasing me, all of 'em wanting something from me, not caring what I want."

"It must be very lonely, living like that."

"It is."

"My name is Tuskino Usagi. Would you like to be friends?" Usagi said, extending a hand to the drenched red head in front of her.

"Ya mean you want to be my friend, even knowin' that I'm a freak?"

"Like I said, it's not your fault. There's no reason to hold it against you."

"OK Usagi." A small hand reached out and clasped hers. "I'm Saotome Ranma. It'd be real nice to have a friend."

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End Chapter 3

Well, Ranma's made his appearance. Reviews are always welcome, along with constructive suggestions on how to improve my writing. Flames will be laughed at, printed out, and used as a heat source when it gets cold.

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