by Lerris Smith
Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon.
In the past, Setsuna once again pondered what they had done. There was no hope of resurrection for any of the Senshi. It was true that she could have lived a very long time on just the stabilizing presence of being linked to the remaining energy stored in the time gates. She had long ago sworn her loyalty to her queen and her people. Duty was at the core of her being, and she would not forsake it now just to extend her already overly long life. The silver crystal was gone, its energy used up and its matrix shattered in Sailor Moon's final strike. In hindsight it seemed very foolish to be so dependent on the crystal's stabilizing influence. Without that link her power was very limited as were her options. Her final trips through time used almost all that remained. The star seeds of the others were badly weakened by the battle and their subsequent deaths yet they gladly gave their remaining energy to create new star seeds for Ranma and Nabiki in the hopes of a better future. She prayed it would be enough. The loss of the moon kingdoms children left a void in the balance of good and evil. Two seemed such a small number to fill that void. Two to carry the last of their Legacy. She hoped they would understand or at least forgive them someday for what she had done.
The wedding came and went and nothing changed, and to Ranma that was perhaps the most depressing of all. Worse Akane seemed to get more distrustful as time passed, often malleting him simply because she suspected he might be doing something and not bothering to wait for a situation she could misinterpret. At times he wished he could understand, but more and more he wished that he just didn't have to deal with her anymore. She never learned. The few cute moments that he remembered fondly were few and far between. They just weren't enough to make up for the rest. He could not remember any fond memories of her anymore that were not tainted by his own imagination picturing her and her mallet. It had taken a long time but in the end she had killed what might have been.
When Nabiki offered to reduce his debt in return for helping with some business she had in Jubaan he jumped at the chance just to get out of the gorilla's aura of hate. The meeting went off without a hitch with Nabiki's obviously American associate. She gave him a few video tapes and he wrote her a check which she quickly pocketed. Given that she had been taping all of his fights recently he figured she found someone to buy them. That was fine with him, but it did have the tendancy to attract the crazy challengers.
"So do my fights sell well?"
"Yep and thanks to you being there in person the guy didn't try to offer me less for them."
He didn't ask what she was doing with the money. He had found out long ago that Nabiki spent very little on herself. It all went to pay bills and provide Kasumi money to buy groceries. They began their walk back to the train station when it began. Nabiki began to glow a soft green color and collapsed shrieking in pain. Sweat began to pour forth from her face and body as her screams began to gather the attentiion of those nearby as they turned to see what was going on. Ranma was beginning to panic. He had no idea what was going on. The glow definitely was not normal and whats worse he could not sense the glow which meant it wasn't ki. He reached down to pick her up and suddenly as his hand touched her shoulder a visible blue wave of energy passed between them and the glow dimmed and Nabiki's screaming stopped. Ranma was so surprised that he let go, only to have the glow intensify until Nabiki desperately grabbed him. Her grip reminded him of a certain Amazonian warrior's.
"Are you ok?"
"Ya just get me out of here and to Dr. Tofu or something."
Ranma reached over and lifted her up into his arms and jumped on the top of a building. He began roof hoping his way back to Nerima. He knew it would be tiring, but the trip should have been relatively easy for him, and somewhat faster than the train since he could manage a direct non stop route. He was surprised a few minutes later when he realized he could no longer keep up and jumped down to a small alley with a bench next to a telephone. He sat her down carefully on the chair and started to get up when Nabiki grabbed ahold of him.
"Oh no you don't. Last time you let go it hurt like crazy and I could feel it beginning this time as well."
"Oh. Sorry about that. I was going to call Dr. Tofu."
"What's wrong? Why did you stop?"
"Tired. I don't know why, but I couldn't continue."
"You, Saotome admitting you're tired? Just a sec I'll call him on my cell." Nabiki fumbled and pulled a cell phone out of her pocket.
"Doc Tofu"
"Hello Nabiki. You don't sound well. Is everything ok?"
"Something weird is going on. I started glowing and then there was pain. The pain mostly went away when Ranma touched me, but then Ranma mysteriously couldn't manage to roof hop for more than a few minutes."
"That is odd. Where are you? I'll come get you in my car."
Nabiki gave him the address and hung up the phone. It was beginning to get chilly outside or at least that was the excuse Nabiki planned for why she snuggled closer to Ranma. For some reason it just felt right. Before long she had fallen asleep.
About fifteen minutes later a car's headlights could be seen and a person's footsteps could be heard. Ranma felt for the familiar ki signature he expected and did not find it. Instead he felt the signature of a woman older than Kho Lon. He frowned slightly and wondered if something was affecting his senses as a very old woman, perhaps in her nineties walked slowly towards them.
"Hello Ranma. I bet you are wondering what is going on?"
Ranma yawned and then cursed himself internally. He hadn't meant to show weakness, especially when he was. "Um ya."
A car door could be heard closing and soon enough Dr. Tofu ran up to Nabiki and started to pull her away so he could check her. Nabiki's sleeping form clung to him tenaciously.
"Doc, I'm not sure thats a good idea. She feels pain when she isn't touching me."
"Oh. Sorry. I forgot." Dr. Tofu reeched out and checked her pulse. He felt her head and then thumbed an eyelid open. "Hmm. Well she may have a slight fever. I can't explain the dim blueish green glow around you two since it isn't ki. She's also in a very deep sleep, and so far I can't explain any of it."
The old woman smirked slightly as she sat down beside Ranma and Nabiki on the last space available on the bench. "I can." She looked at Dr. Tofu. "but its a secret."
"You can trust the Doc."
The old woman titled her head slightly to the side as if in acknowledgement. "They should be ok with time. The explanation is not for here though. My place isn't far. There is room in my car if you wish."
"We will ride with the Doc." Ranma had to fight off a yawn as he carried Nabiki to Dr. Tofu's car. He fell asleep long before they arrived at the old woman's house.
The woman got out of her car and noticed the sleeping pair through the car window. She turned to face Dr. Tofu. "Can you carry them both at the same time? They need rest and will sleep more comfortably in a bed."
"I can, as long as it isn't too far."
The old woman unlocked the door and led them inside and down a hall into a large exquisitely decorated bedroom with a large four poster king size bed. She pulled the cover back and Dr. Tofu layed them gently down and recovered them.
"I wouldn't ordinarily let anyone use my bedroom, but they must be heavy and I wouldn't want you to have to carry them upstairs."
"Yes, they were getting a bit heavy. So would you mind telling me what is going on? If I thought it would do any good I would call an ambulance and have them in a hospital."
"Come, I will make tea. It is a long story."
They made their way into the kitchen where she ran water right out of small faucet a little ways away from the normal one into a small pitcher and dropped a few tea bags keeping hold of the strings. Much to Dr. Tofu's surprise the water was steaming. "I didn't think water from a faucet was supposed to be that hot."
"I had a separate instant hot water heater installed for that faucet. When your old you learn to make things as easy as possible." She removed the teabags and filled two small glasses setting them neatly on the table. She then sat down, followed quickly by Dr. Tofu. She drank a bit while hiding a small smile behind her glass.
"You were going to explain."
Her smile spread a little and then she quickly returned her face to neutral. "They say patience is a virtue. First things first though." Her voice rose a little in volume. "Luna, Artemis could you come here please?"
Soon enough a black and a white cat walked into the kitchen and seeing the stranger meowed and rubbed up against the old woman's leg.
"Oh come now you two. From what little I know about Dr. Ono Tofu, I doubt he will be too surprised by talking cats."
The black cat spoke, "What the heck is going on Setsuna? Was that them?" Dr. Tofu blinked but didn't say anything.
Setsuna smiled a small smile. "Yes it was. Now go and keep watch on them and make sure Ranma doesn't see you." The black cat walked off leaving Artemis to stare off at her retreating form.
Setsuna sighed and turned back to the doctor. "Have you ever heard of the Sailor Senshi?"
"Yes, I have one of the Jubaan newspapers forwarded to me to keep track of the odd goings on around here. For awhile, I thought it was some scam until I talked to one of my colleagues."
"Your colleague, a Dr Mizuno recently lost a daughter did she not?"
"Yes just about a month ago. She was killed when some of those Youma Juuban is famous for attacked the city."
"That is true, but it isn't all the truth. The Sailor Senshi are dead. Almost no one knows of it because their transformations failed when they were killed. When their bodies were found they just assumed that it was just some unfortunate school girls who were in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Your kidding? Dead?"
The white cat jumped up on the table. "No, she is not. All save one are dead, and that one no longer a Senshi. I failed her. I failed Mina."
Dr. Tofu stared at the cat as if remembering his presence. It just didn't seem right to hear such sad words coming from the white cat's mouth.
"No you did not. If anyone failed it was I. Perhaps I should have insisted they train harder or get more help from the military or.. I don't know, but I do know that they did not die in vain. Had that last group of aliens managed to gain much more power the world would have been crushed."
Dr. Tofu blinked. This seemed to be an old conversation repeated almost as if wanting or fearing parts of it were true, or perhaps just because they couldn't accept the outcome so kept talking about it as if in doing so it could be changed. It was something he saw too often when people were really sick or they had other life changing problems. Dr. Tofu decided to try to get them back on topic. It couldn't hurt to change the subject after all.
"So how does this concern Ranma and Nabiki?"
Artemis spoke, "They carry with them the Senshi's last gift to our world. The Sailor Senshi are the reincarnated royalty from so very long ago that its existence has faded even from legend" He went on to explain the basic history of the Moon Kingdom. "... When the battle had ended all but one Senshi was dead including the reborn prince of Earth. Sailor Pluto alone had survived the battle, using her timesense to avoid what would have normally killed anyone."
Setsuna continued, "I took the power that remained in the time gates and traveled to the past infusing and hiding the Senshi's remaining energy from their star seeds and the energy from my own in the sleeping pair when they were but newly born. You must understand that when the Senshi were created at the height of the Moon Kingdom's power they had an army of engineers and mages involved in the design and creation of the crystal matrix that gives them power and long life. This is good in that their were no side effects. It gave them near immortality, strength, speed and easily controlled magical attacks. It is bad since because so much was predefined their actual use of power was pretty much limited to that which was provided by their respective matrixes. It also relied on a link to a now destroyed magical artifact to provide stability and control. This time was different. Only two things guide the formation of the magic within them now, well technically four in Ranma's case. The first is the slight residual traces of the Senshi's spirit that remained bound to that power. The second is their own life forces. As they have grown their life forces have shaped and molded that power, but until today it has remained hidden even from themselves. In Ranma's case two other magical signatures have probably interacted."
"His curse." added Dr. Tofu.
"and the Nekoken." Magic is called in that ritual. Old magic. The ritual magic invoked in the Nekoken is thousands of years old. I suppose that is still young by Moon Kingdom standards, but the bottom line is even after an additional seventeen years researching it I know little. Most subjects go insane and stay that way, yet in Ranma's case it seems somewhat beneficial. I have no idea how or if either of those two things will interact with their moon kingdom legacy.
"If you had no idea what would happen then why did you do it to them?" Dr. Tofu found this whole thing unbelievable. A doctor's first commandment was do no harm yet she had done who knows what to two of his closest friends.
"The Senshi provided a balance that was needed. While my view of the future was never what I wanted it to be, in most of the timelines where the Senshi were lost the future of Earth was also lost. Yes I took a risk. Yes I would do it again, because it was necessary."
"But why Ranma and Nabiki? Surely there were others.."
"Yes there were a few nearly as powerful as Ranma and even a few more powerful such as the dragon child Herb or Saffron. They were also easily corrupted and a poor foundation to pin the worlds hopes on. For that matter Ryoga was near Ranma's level yet can you imagine him with more power and a an eternal life?"
"He would just use it to fight Ranma and what ever other idiocy he blames for his failures. Ok, I'll buy that, but then why Nabiki?"
"That was a harder choice, but in the final analysis Ranma deserved a chance at happiness as did whoever else was chosen. Can you actually ever see Ranma and Akane getting along? Or Shampoo? Or Ukyo? "
"Well maybe Ukyo, but she only dreams of the perfect Okonomiyaki restaurant."
"Exactly. Nabiki was not exactly a perfect choice, but she was intelligent, quick witted, surprisingly selfless, and agile, and I thought they at least had a chance. Since they are effectively immortal, or at least I hope they are, Nabiki will hopefully have time to gain whatever skills she lacks in battle."
"I wonder why Nabiki was the first one affected."
"She is older and I suspect Ranma's other exposures to magic may have acclimated him some already. Regardless from what little I can still sense they are both affected now. Each is providing the other balance. The strongest and most enduring of magics have always been created by the joining of the talents and power of both men and women. When the magic of the Senshi was first created it was planned to eventually give similar power to their chosen lifemates, so together they could better defend and protect their respective peoples, but Beryl's attack destroyed that plan."
"So what do we do now?"
"Something I have a great deal of practice with. We wait. You might need to feed them with a feeding tube or intravenously if it takes too long, but in time they should recover and find balance of a rough sort. It is essentially a life giving magic after all, so everything should" Luna ran back in the room interrupting Setsuna, "Something happened. You should come see this. Ranma turned into a woman." Dr. Tofu, Setsuna, and Artemis got up to follow frenzied black cat.
Dr Tofu said, "I wonder how Ranma managed to get wet this time."
"Thats just it, he didn't. He just glowed brighter for a moment and then changed."
They glanced over the sleeping pair that were even now unconsciously embracing each other. Had the youngest Tendo saw the picture, the conclusion would have been foreordained. Setsuna snapped a picture with a digital camera that was sitting on her dresser. Dr. Tofu looked at her as if in question. She said, "I keep a scrapbook."
Dr. Tofu nodded and began examining the pair, "Nabiki seems relatively unchanged, at least on the outside, while Ranma's female form has aged, to somewhere around his real age or perhaps a touch older. Its interesting that she is almost as tall as Nabiki now. I wouldn't have expected that."
Setsuna was amazed that Dr. Tofu was calmly cataloging the changes and apparently missing the point altogether. She sighed. She was definitely getting too old. "They seem fine. Artemis can watch them for awhile, and I for one am getting a bit tired of standing so I think I'll go back to my tea."
Dr. Tofu looked at them for a bit more and finding everything well if not normal at least normal by Ranma standards. He sighed. He was definitely not looking forward to when Ranma woke up. He went to rejoin Setsuna. After he sat down and had another drink of tea she said, "It may be best that we consider carefully what we are going to tell them."
Dr. Tofu nodded. He remembered hearing all about the battle with Herb the last time he was locked as a woman. The fact that Ranma managed to destroy a mountain plus the likelihood that Ranma would be stronger now was unpleasant to contemplate. "I'll go back to my office and get some tranquilizers just in case."
Author's Notes: While I haven't written more yet, if you believe that I'm trapping Ranma as a woman forever and ever well don't give up just yet. Things are seldom that simple. If anyones curious this is about the third rewrite of this chapter. I just didn't like the ideas I first had. Another chapter on Kitten's Hope or possibly Gravity will likely be next. I might finish this in one chapter, although its really hard to say where the end is until one writes it or at least plots it out in detail. Please review and let me know what you think. If there is interest I may post and update the pdf of this on the geocities web site. Creating the pdf now only requires hitting alt-f1, but unless someone officially wants that form I see no reason to go through the trouble of uploading to the web site every chapter as well. By the way if you really want to know what I'm planning for our pig tailed hero you'll have to guess or wait till chapter three. ;)
2005-02-23