This is purely a work of Fanfiction, I don't own Ranma ½, Sailor Moon or Magik Knight Rayearth, or any of the other anime or manga characters that may appear.
This story takes place before Herb and Saffron in the Ranma ½ universe, before the starlights for Sailor Moon though all of the senshi are present and after the first season of Magik Knight Rayearth.
If anyone is interested in becoming a prereader for this or any of my stories e-mail me at posting a rewrite to chapter one and I'm working on chapter two rewrite now and chapter 4. Also I plan to answer some reviews next chapter.
Old Life, New Beginnings
Chapter 3 Revised
Reunions
With a yawn Ranma sat up and stretched as several other people was waking up around her. Quietly she checked her pack which doubled as her pillow to make sure everything was in it. With that done she slipped it onto her back and left for the library.
The thought of going to the library would have used to make her laugh but now it was one of the places she went to in the mornings to wash up what little she could in the restroom. After making sure no one else was in there Ranma locked the door and went over to the sink and turned on the water. She noticed the gold bracelet on her left wrist and sighed realizing what happened was real and not some weird dream.
"This is just great." Ranma muttered trying to take the bracelet off but failed since it shrunk to fit around her wrist protectively. Ranma sighed in defeat and decided just to finish cleaning up before someone came, especially the older, gray haired woman who always ran her off.
As Ranma finished and opened the door a crack and jumped a little as it was shoved in roughly by the same older woman the red head wanted to avoid.
"What did I tell you about coming in here you little piece of trash?" the older woman demanded.
"I'm not a piece of trash." Ranma retorted quietly. Once she would have snapped at the woman refusing to back down but now a part of her mind believed she was what the woman called her. After all no one wanted her except for one thing which had been proven time after time on the streets since she left New Light House. One after another guys came and wanted to pay her for it though a few tried taking it by force. The ones who wanted to pay for it was refused or Yuri and Aiko would go with them. To the ones that tried never showed up again after a knee to the groin.
"No one wants a worthless ronin girl around." The woman sneered, "Only use your good for is whoring yourself out."
Ranma closed her eyes shut tightly, though she didn't know if it was to keep herself from attacking the woman or to keep the woman from seeing the tears from gathering. Turning away Ranma bolted away from the woman and ran from the building, running until she finally stopped a long ways from her starting point.
A vision of a strong and regal man screaming at the gray haired woman flashed in her mind, his wings twitching angrily as his kind yet strong eyes bore into the old woman's. What horrified Ranma was when the man formed a sword of flames in his hands and incinerated the woman with them. At first she smiled at the idea of her father doing that for her, protecting her but hated the idea of killing anyone, even the cruel woman.
"Damn it!" Ranma growled, depression as depression starting to build as she realized it was her dream father again and wasn't real. "Why are you doing this to me, that's not my father!"
Shaking her head as several people stared at her from the outburst, she drew in on herself and hurried away as she ducked into a nearby alley. A growl from her stomach reminded her that she didn't eat anything yet bringing another tired sigh. She didn't really want to do any dumpster diving but she didn't have any money to buy anything as usual and refused to resort to stealing.
Looking around the alley she noticed several trash cans and a large dumpster near the end and decided to check them out. The first trash can she came to really didn't have anything in it and neither did the second or third. However when she got to the dumpster she noticed it was from a restaurant and set to work looking through it hoping for any kind of food that wasn't to nasty. She found a box of doughnuts that was missing several but looked okay.
Carrying the box of doughnuts she started back out of the alley but was stopped by a cruel looking man in a dark business suit. He had oily blonde hair, slightly overweight and brown eyes that told easily what he wanted. He was holding a stun gun which he set off causing a crackling sound as electricity arced between the electrodes of it. Ranma recognized the guy as one of the guys who tried to force her before his groin met her forceful knee.
"Hey babe, nice seeing you again" the man sneered.
"Get away from me." Ranma demanded backing away a little clutching at the doughnuts as if they were a lifeline as she eyed the weapon.
"Really now, red, is that any way to treat a paying customer?" the man said. "Your going to be a nice little girl now and give me what I want, aren't you? After all, you wouldn't want me to hurt you would you? Besides if you do a nice job of pleasing me I might pay you or better yet I might give you a job with all kinds of positions."
"And what might those positions be now?" a new voice asked, a feminine voice laced with anger. Ranma noticed the katana pressed up to the man's throat and the growing wet spot in his pants. "My, my, looks like you messed yourself. Perhaps you should go home and clean yourself." When the woman lowered the blade a little the man scrambled back and out of the alley.
"Are you all right?" A girl with a fiery red braid asked. She was wearing a black skirt with white blouse while the older woman with the katana was wearing a business suit and also had red hair.
"Y-Yeah, thank you." Ranma said relieved that she didn't have to fight risking her doughnuts.
"Did you get those out of the trash?" the older woman asked, a tint of sadness lacing the tone of her voice.
Looking away ashamed Ranma refused to answer.
"Are you ronin?" the red haired girl asked.
"Yes." Ranma whispered as she waited for the explosion to come from the other two.
"A young girl like yourself doesn't belong on the streets." The woman said, "Come on, I'll buy you some real food then we can talk some."
"I'm Hikaru." The girl said, "Hikaru Shidou Saotome…well, I guess just Shidou now."
Ranma froze as she heard the name, was it possible that they were some kind of relation to her? Saotome was a common name though and even Ranma realized how much of a long shot it was.
"My names Nodoka, soon to be Shidou, and this is my daughter." The woman said.
"My name's Ranma…I guess I don't have a last name anymore." Ranma said. The look in the older woman's face scared Ranma a little then she noticed the start to fall.
"R-Ranma…?" Hikaru gasped in shock.
"Was Genma Saotome your father?" Nodoka asked anxiously.
"He's not my father anymore…" Ranma said but was engulfed in two glomps.
"My baby's still alive!" Nodoka cried happily.