Disclaimer: I own the story, not the characters. I don't profit from
writing this. In fact, it results in a net loss for me.
Warning: Shady's back.
Warning: Altaverse (Keichi ain't here, and the senshi timeline is
all messed up.)
"words"
'thoughts'
A Time for Wild Horses chapter 11
by Jose Argao
Rei Hino opened her locker and stepped backwards to avoid the
flood of love letters that came pouring out. She kicked the letters
aside and began rummaging through the contents of her locker for her
spare communicator.
She had broken her regular communicator when one of her many
female admirers decided to get touchy-feely with her during homeroom.
The vicious backhand she reflexively executed not only sent the poor
girl sprawling, but also damaged the communicator she was holding
beyond repair. It had taken all morning to convince the principal that
it was an accident and now lunch was almost over. She had to contact
Usagi and the others quickly and find out if they had come up with a
plan to free Ranma from his fiancees yet.
She moved her math book aside, tossed out a stray love note,
and smiled as the tiny communication device she had been searching for
came into her view. She picked it up, flipped it open, pressed a tiny
button on it, and waited for Usagi to pick up. A few seconds later,
the small screen in the middle of the communicator flickered to life
and Usagi's face came into view.
"Hello, Usagi. Have you guys come up with a plan yet?"
Usagi grinned at Rei before replying, "Of course we have! It's
sure to work, too! All we have to do is go to Nerima and...."
*****
Somewhere in Nerima, hidden in a dark portion of an empty lot,
a handsome young man lay tied up on a bed. He was shouting for help at
the top of his lungs, but no one seemed to hear his pleas.
"Somebody save me! These awful girls are all forcing me to
marry them!"
Ranma struggled valiantly against the ropes that bound him to
the bed, but was unable to get free. Tears flowed freely from his eyes
as he lamented the fact that he would be forced to marry a woman that
he did not love. Four hideously deformed young women danced around him
in circles, their faces contorted with expressions of pure evil. While
dancing, they chanted spells designed to ward off defenders of love and
justice. The ugliest among them, a muscular girl wearing a leotard and
twirling a length of ribbon, laughed at Ranma's discomfort.
"You will never be able to escape, Ranma! I shall marry you and
doom you to a loveless marriage!"
Ranma turned towards her and started pleading for his future.
An observant person would note that in turning, he managed to rip apart
his tattered shirt, revealing his washboard abs and rippling pectoral
muscles for all to see.
"Please stop what you're doing! Don't you see that I can never
be happy in such a situation? Why are you being so mean?"
At that, Ranma found himself being forcefully jerked around to
face the other way by another one of his tormentors. She was overweight
and very hairy all over her body. The only piece of clothing she wore
was an animal skin that she had draped around herself.
"Stop whining, Ranma. I shall bring you back to China with me
where I and the other Amazons will take turns ravishing you until you
are reduced to nothing but a shell of the man you once were!"
Ranma looked at her with pleading eyes, his face a mask of
pure anguish. "Why are you so intent upon forcing yourselves upon me?
Can't you see that I don't _love_ you?"
The third woman, covered in grime and smelling awful, stopped
chanting and walked towards Ranma. She was grossly obese, her body
threatening to burst out of the dirty okonomiyaki seller's outfit that
she wore. Her hair was cut short and hidden beneath a scarf that she
used to cover her head. The scarf was a very dark gray, although it
might conceivably have been white once. The rest of her clothing was
similarly unkempt.
"I don't care whether you love me or not, Ranma. You left me
by the side of the road all those years ago and now it's payback time!"
The fourth young girl, who was built like a gorilla and looked
about half as intelligent, chose this moment to air her own thoughts on
the subject. She had huge, bulging muscles that made her look more like
a man than a girl. She was easily one of the most uncute girls Sailor
Moon had ever met in her entire life.
"Ranma, you know you can't back out on our engagement without
bringing dishonor on your family. We've been engaged since before we
were born!"
The four of them started dancing and chanting around Ranma
again. Ranma, on the other hand, could only watch as he struggled
against the ropes around him.
Suddenly, from out of the blue, they all heard a beautiful,
melodious voice cry out.
"For love and justice, I am the beautiful sailor-suited soldier
Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!"
The four women stopped in their tracks and looked around for
the source of the shout. Fortunately for them, the surprise visitor
chose a well lit position on top of the fence surrounding the lot to
stand on. Unfortunately, however, that visitor was none other than
Sailor Moon herself, in all her glorious beauty and splendor!
Sailor Moon struck a heroic pose, then pointed at the group of
ugly, uncute girls surrounding Ranma.
"Marriage is the ultimate expression of love between two people
who love each other. You should never force anyone to marry you if he
doesn't want to. In the name of the moon, I shall punish you!"
The burly girl wearing a karate gi smirked at the beautiful
defender of love and justice. She glanced at her companions, then
turned back towards Sailor Moon.
"You may be strong, Sailor Moron, but there are four of us and
only one of you. You don't scare us!"
After speaking, she proceeded to laugh maniacally. Sailor Moon
noted that the action made her look even less cute than before. Her
laughter was cut short, however, when another voice called out, one
almost as melodic as Sailor Moon's own.
She turned to the direction where the sound had come from and
found four other beautiful women dressed similarly to Sailor Moon. She
had no trouble finding them, either, because they had also chosen a
well lit portion of the fence to stand on. She waited patiently while
the one in red recited her entrance speech.
"We are the Sailor Senshi! We have come to help our leader,
Sailor Moon, who is much cuter and more beautiful than any of us. We
shall punish you in the name of Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter,
respectively!"
Upon realizing that they were badly outnumbered, Ranma's four
captors immediately threw themselves at Sailor Moon's feet, almost
hitting their ugly little heads against the fence.
"Oh please don't hurt us, Sailor Moon! We're sorry for doing
all those bad things to Ranma! We promise to only do good from now on!"
Sailor Moon smiled. This was just the latest in a long line of
jobs well done for her. She looked down at Ranma's defeated fiancees
and spoke softly. "I will forgive you, but only if you promise to stop
bugging Ranma and leave him alone forever!"
The four women nodded their heads vigorously and almost fell
over each other in their haste to run to Ranma's bed and cut him loose.
After regaining his freedom Ranma jumped to the top of the fence and
landed beside Sailor Moon. She turned to him, and their eyes locked in
a moment of pure love. Ranma held Sailor Moon's shoulders and pulled
her against his well muscled, shirtless torso in a tight hug.
"Thank you for saving me, Sailor Moon. I love you. Let's get
married right away!"
Sailor Moon pulled away from Ranma's body, immediately missing
the feel of his rock hard... muscles... against her body. She looked up
at his handsome face, tears in her eyes.
"Yes, Ranma, I've known all along that you were the only one
for me and that we were destined to get married in a big church wedding
with flowers all over the place and the smell of perfume pervading the
atmosphere!"
Then, they kissed. It was a beautiful, awe-inspiring kiss the
likes of which had never been seen before. Lots of tongue, too.
On the other side of the fence, the rest of the senshi watched
with mixed feelings. While they recognized that Ranma and Sailor Moon
were destined for each other and that Sailor Moon was more deserving
than any of them of Ranma's love and rock hard... muscles... they still
felt mildly jealous of their leader's good fortune.
Sailor Mars stood still, her heart pounding against her chest.
It was such a shame to lose Ranma to Sailor Moon, but such was the way
of true love. She brushed away the tears in her eyes and looked once
again at the happy couple, who were now approaching their fifth minute
of torrid kissing.
"Never let your love die, Sailor Moon. It's the most important
part of you."
Behind her, the other Senshi nodded sagely.
*****
"Don't worry about it, Minako. It's not important."
"But... but...."
"Mako-chan is right. Physical traits may skip a few generations
before manifesting themselves. I'll lend you my book on genetics if you
want to learn more."
Usagi heard the voices of her friends and slowly opened her
eyes. She looked at her communicator and found that the screen was now
empty. The timer on it indicated that about three minutes had passed
since Rei's call.
'I must have dozed off for a while back there. I hope Rei isn't
too angry at me.'
She flipped her communicator closed and made her way out of the
bathroom stall. She was greeted by the sight of Makoto, Minako, and Ami
all staring into the mirror.
She walked towards them and spoke cheerily. "Hey, guys, what're
you looking at?"
Minako turned to her and spoke with an unnaturally serious tone
to her voice. "I was just thinking, Usagi. I'm not sure I look Japanese
at all."
Usagi smiled at Minako and patted her friend's right shoulder.
"Don't be silly, Mina-chan. _I'm_ Japanese and you look almost
exactly like me."
*****
"I can't believe she actually fell asleep!"
Rei Hino stomped off to class, muttering along the way. She
would never have thought Usagi was capable of falling asleep in the
middle of a conversation, but she had apparently underestimated her
blonde friend's ability to fall unconscious at the drop of a hat. Her
spare communicator wasn't configured properly to contact the other
girls so she would have to wait until after school before she could
ask them about what plan they had come up with to free Ranma from his
unwanted fiancees.
*****
"Here's your class list, Ranma."
Ranma nodded lazily and took the small piece of paper from Ms.
Urd. He glanced at the list, not really looking at what classes she had
picked for him, then stuck it into his pocket. He was very happy that
Ms. Urd had taken care of everything so all he had to do was sign a few
forms before he officially became a student of Juuban High.
"So what now?"
Urd smiled at Ranma, showing him a set of perfectly formed
teeth.
"You won't actually start class until tomorrow so we'll spend
the rest of the day together. I'll just give you a tour of the place
and then I'll show you where you're going to live, okay?"
Ranma quickly shook his head. "I've already been to Juuban a
couple of times, Ms. Urd, so I can find my way around here. How about
you just take me to wherever I'm going to stay and we can talk about
that trick you did with Ms. Hinako."
Urd paused for a moment, then nodded. "Well, if you're sure
you can find your way around then I guess we could just skip the tour.
We can spend the rest of the day talking if you want, but I have no
idea what trick you're talking about. Ms. Hinako overloaded herself
while draining me. I didn't do anything."
Ranma crossed his arms in front of himself. "Aw come on!
There's no way a normal human being can give off enough aura to do
that. I've seen Ms. Hinako drain the whole school once! You're only
one person. You've got to have used a martial arts technique to boost
your battle aura and overload her."
Urd shook her head and smiled at him. "I didn't use any
martial-arts techniques to beat Ms. Hinako, Ranma. Let's go."
Ranma allowed Urd to pull him away from the campus. He didn't
believe her, of course, but he would do as she said for now. She would
surely tell him what technique she had used once she got to know him a
little better. She was a woman, after all, and women did not refuse
Ranma Saotome anything.
*****
"Yes, Great-Grandmother. Shampoo sure it was Airen. Ranma go
inside school with older woman and not come out until much later."
Cologne listened with great interest to the news Shampoo had
brought her . Who was this older woman that Ranma had gone to Juuban
with? What were they doing there? Were the Sailor Senshi somehow
involved in this new development? Either way, they now had a much
greater chance of stealing Ranma from Shampoo.
She held onto her staff tightly as she considered her options.
She didn't want to reveal her hand this early in the game but Ranma was
far too important to let go. She would take drastic measures to ensure
his marriage to Shampoo if she had to, but she could still afford to
let her grand-daughter handle things for now.
"Do not make contact with son-in-law, child, but keep an eye
on him. If Ranma is in Juuban, then it will only be a matter of time
before the Senshi track him down. I want you to observe everything he
does. Do not let Ranma or the Senshi see you. Report back to me
tomorrow and I shall have further instructions for you."
"Yes, Great-Grandmother. Shampoo go watch Airen for now. Bye-
bye!"
Cologne uttered a short prayer for Shampoo's success as she put
the phone down. She then hopped towards her room, where she opened her
trunk and retrieved an ornate box that seemed to be sealed shut. She
ran her hands over the ancient wood and intricate carvings on it.
"Do not fail me this time, Shampoo. The consequences are far
too great."
*****
"Um... Michiru-mama... are you sure it's okay to leave school
early just for this?"
Michiru patted Hotaru on the head and gave her a reassuring
smile. "Of course it's okay. A couple of missed classes would hardly
be able to teach you half of what you'll learn this afternoon. So, are
you ready, Hotaru-chan?"
Hotaru took a deep breath. She wondered if Michiru could tell
how nervous she was about this whole thing. What if she couldn't use
her womanly charms at all? What if she didn't have any charm to begin
with? It would be so embarrassing to fail at being a woman.
"I'm ready, Mama."
Michiru took Hotaru's hand and led her to a nearby bench. She
had taken Hotaru to the park shortly after getting the girl excused
from afternoon classes. She looked around for a few seconds and spotted
a man selling ice cream from a stand. She opened her handbag and dug
around inside it for some spare change. A few moments later, she fished
out a couple of coins and handed them to Hotaru.
"Why don't you buy us some ice cream before we begin, Hotaru?
There's a stand right over there."
Hotaru quickly stood up from her seat.
"Okay, Mama. I'll be back right away."
Michiru's face broke into a grin as she watched Hotaru walk
towards the stall. The girl hadn't a clue that her lesson in the ways
of the world and how a woman survives in it had already begun. She
watched as Hotaru took the cones from the man, bowed her thanks, and
made her way back to the bench. There was a big smile on Hotaru's face,
just as she had planned. She reached out to take her ice cream from
Hotaru and listened to what she already knew the girl would say.
"That man was really nice, Mama. He gave me two extra scoops
for each of our cones!"
Michiru smiled at Hotaru, licked at her ice cream, and patted
the space beside her for Hotaru to sit down. After Hotaru was seated
comfortably she officially began the lesson.
"Why do you think the man gave you those extra scoops, Hotaru-
chan?"
Hotaru stopped licking her ice cream for a moment to give her
reply. "He said it was because I was such a nice little girl."
Michiru took another lick from her cone before asking another
question. "You don't know that man, do you?"
Hotaru answered quickly. "Of course not. I've never seen him
before."
Michiru grinned. "So how did he know that you were such a nice
little girl?"
Hotaru opened her mouth to speak, but found herself unable to
come up with a good answer. How _did_ that man know anything about her?
She was sure they had never met before.
"I... I'm not sure, Mama."
Michiru slid closer to Hotaru and spoke in a low voice. "Do you
think you're cute, Hotaru?"
Hotaru blushed bright red and almost dropped her ice cream as
she uttered a response. "Well... I guess... that is... I don't know,
Mama. I guess so."
Michiru smiled. "Hotaru, the first step towards using your
womanly charms to your advantage is recognizing that they exist. If
you don't, they might even work against you. Why do you think your
classmates tease you all the time?"
Hotaru shuddered. Although the teasing had stopped for the most
part lately, there were still plenty of students at her school who
would gang up on her and tease her to no end. It was the reason she had
been crying when she first met Ranma, in fact.
"It's because I can heal people, Mama."
Michiru shook her head. "People don't hate other people for
being able to heal, Hotaru. Your classmates may tease you about your
healing powers, but they do it because you're cute."
Hotaru's eyes opened wide. This was an entirely new idea that
had never occurred to her before. Still, it made no sense. Why would
her classmates dislike her for being cute?
"I don't understand, Mama."
Michiru took another lick of her ice cream. "Let me put it this
way, Hotaru-chan. The girls in your class are all jealous of you and
the boys are all frustrated with you."
Hotaru popped the last remaining bit of ice cream from her cone
into her mouth while Michiru spoke. She pondered her Mama's words as
the ice cream melted in her mouth. Could it be that her classmates were
just jealous of her all along?
Seeing that Hotaru still didn't fully understand, Michiru
continued with her explanation. "You're much prettier than any of the
other girls in your school, Hotaru. The other girls know this, even
though they might not necessarily be aware of it. They see you and feel
insecure about themselves because deep down they know that they would
never be able to become as pretty as you are now, and you'll only grow
more beautiful as you grow older. They tease you as a means to take you
down to their own level. The boys, on the other hand, look at you and
see a girl way out of their league. Like the girls, they instinctively
know that you're on a level far above their own, so they try to pull
you down from it."
Hotaru stared at Michiru. Why had her Mama never told her about
this before? Was she serious? It still didn't seem to make any sense.
"But I don't want to be on a higher level than they are, Mama.
I just want to fit in."
Michiru held her ice cream with her left hand and used her
right arm to hold Hotaru against her. "I know that, Hotaru-chan, but
your classmates don't. That's what makes it so sad. It's wrong to
judge someone because of their looks, but people do it anyway. The
good thing is that you can use this to your advantage."
Hotaru looked up at Michiru. "But how do I do _that_?"
Michiru frowned as she thought of the best way to put her ideas
into words. How had her mother explained this to her all those years
ago? After a moment, her face brightened and she again broke into a
smile as the words came to her.
"Would you participate in an eating contest with Usagi, or try
to play volleyball against Minako-chan?"
This time it was Hotaru's turn to frown. What was her Mama
getting at? She decided to just answer the question as best as she
could.
"I guess I could play, but I wouldn't win."
Michiru's smile grew broader as she got the expected answer.
"Why is that, Hotaru-chan? Why wouldn't you win?"
Hotaru shrugged. "Well, I'm not as good as they are at doing
those things."
Michiru nodded. She attempted to take another lick of her ice
cream but found that she had already consumed it all. She was really
getting into this.
"That's exactly right, Hotaru-chan. Minako is much better at
playing volleyball than you are, so you would never stand a chance
against her in that game. You are essentially confronting her in an
arena that is one of her strengths and, at the same time, is one of
your weaknesses. You must never allow this to happen. The trick lies
in finding other people's weaknesses and pitting your strengths against
them. If you can do that consistently you will always hold the upper
hand when interacting with other people."
Hotaru mulled this new information over in her mind. Could it
really be that simple? It sounded so easy!
"That's all, Mama?"
Michiru shook her head. "No, not really. While the core idea is
relatively simple to grasp, it is very difficult to apply. You must
remember that everyone has weaknesses, including you. Everyone you meet
will be trying to charm you just as you are trying to charm them."
Hotaru nodded thoughtfully. Michiru continued speaking.
"It is also possible to turn strengths into weaknesses and
weaknesses into strengths. Being bad at sports, for example, can pave
the way for your asking a man to teach you how to play better. This
shifts the focus away from the competitive aspect of sports, where he
excels, and puts emphasis on a more social setting, where you can use
your cuteness to full effect."
Michiru looked at Hotaru, who was paying attention to her every
word. It felt good to be doing this for the girl. It called out to her
maternal instincts, which she hadn't even known existed. She continued
talking.
"Sometimes, a person will come along to whom your principal
strengths are completely ineffective. In these cases, you must try to
find other strengths that can be used against them. Some of the more
attractive men have grown jaded to physical beauty, for example, but
are extremely vulnerable to the allure of an intelligent female."
Michiru decided that she had already said a lot at this point,
and that it would be good to give Hotaru some time to assimilate the
information.
"Why don't you think about what I've said for a while, Hotaru-
chan? You can ask questions, if there's anything you don't understand."
Hotaru wished that she had brought her notebook with her. Her
Mama's words really made sense. She now knew why Michiru never lost an
argument with Haruka. If she could only learn to be half as good as
Michiru was at using her own strengths, then she would be able to keep
Usagi and the others from stealing Ranma! A smile was starting to form
on her young face when an idea came to her. She turned to Michiru with
a troubled look on her pretty face.
"Michiru-Mama?"
Michiru turned to Hotaru. "Yes, Hotaru-chan?"
Hotaru frowned as she asked her question. "What if I meet
someone who isn't affected by any of my strengths, but can affect me?"
Michiru grinned. "When that happens, Hotaru-chan, you'll never
know what hit you."
*****
"So that is what happened. I sent Usagi and the others to try
and find a way to correct the timelines but I do not think that they
have what it takes to do so. I would have done something myself, but
the changes Urd made to the past have already begun to affect me. Even
now, I find it difficult to think of Athan's reincarnated form without
feeling as though I should just give in to Urd and run into his arms.
I find myself unable to even mention his name, lest I turn into some
giggly, love-struck young woman."
Haruka paused for a few moments, trying to take in all the
information that Setsuna had presented to her. This was something that
she had never even considered in her wildest dreams. She turned to
her companion, who seemed to be similarly lost in thought.
"What I don't understand is, how could this happen? How could
one man successfully win the love of all nine senshi? Tell me, Setsuna,
what happened after that ball you told me about?"
It took only a few seconds for Setsuna to remember what had
taken place after that fateful night when Queen Serenity assigned Athan
to be her official escort. It was almost scary, how her head was filled
with all these memories that she did not have a few days ago but could
now recall quite easily. They all seemed so real! As time passed, it
was becoming harder and harder to tell which memories were real, and
which ones were only a product of the changes Urd made to the past.
"Well, I had to obey Queen Serenity, of course. Athan kept
trying to get me into bed with him the whole time we were together. He
had this silly idea stuck in his head that if he could only get me to
sleep with him, I would forget all of his past misdeeds and fall madly
in love with him."
Haruka raised her eyebrows. "You make it seem as though Athan
was a sexist pig of a man. How was he able to get you to fall in love
with him? What could you possibly like in a man like that?"
Setsuna opened her mouth to answer Haruka's question, then
closed it again when she realized that she did not know the answer. How
_did_ she ever fall in love with Athan anyway? It seemed that all she
could remember was a brief period of intense rivalry between her and
the handsome guard from Earth; followed by the best six months of her
life right before Beryl attacked with the Negaverse Generals and ended
the Silver Millennium.
She was about to answer that she could not remember how Athan
managed to reel her in when the memories suddenly came back to her.
She turned to Haruka and grinned.
"Athan may not have been the most genteel man in the kingdom,
but he _was_ a superb dancer. I found it enjoyable to finally use all
the dance lessons I had to endure as a young girl, but was unable to
take advantage of later in life because everyone was too afraid that
they would accidentally step on my foot and bring the wrath of Sailor
Pluto down upon them.
"It didn't help much, either, that I was a horrible dancer and
kept tripping all over my partners. It would give me a small measure
of satisfaction whenever Athan would yelp in pain at one of my many
mistakes. Of course, I made sure to wear shoes with very sharp heels
whenever I danced with him. And you know what the best part of the
deal was?"
Haruka raised her eyebrows at Setsuna's question. "No, but I
have a feeling that you'll be telling me all about it shortly."
Setsuna's face broke into a grin.
"Everyone else was so _jealous_ of me! Everywhere I looked the
women were staring at me, wishing that I would leave Athan alone for a
few moments so that they could swoop down on him like the sad, pathetic
vultures that they were. I never did, of course. Even that slut, Venus,
with her blonde hair and disgustingly large chest, couldn't help but
stare at me with pure envy in her silly blue eyes. Sometimes, I'd give
Athan a little peck on the cheek just to annoy her. I loved it!"
Haruka watched with wide eyes as Setsuna started laughing
giddily and rubbing her hands together like a madwoman. The sight was
so disturbing that she even failed to notice that the action was
causing Setsuna's chest to jiggle around enticingly. She crept out of
Setsuna's room as silently as she could, then dashed over to her own
bedroom for a change of clothes. She needed to get out of here. Fast.
*****
"So how do you like it?"
Urd watched Ranma with amusement as he walked around his new
apartment. It was nothing special, really, but he acted like she had
just given him a fully furnished mansion. Actually, the apartment was
very sparsely furnished, but she could tell that he liked all the extra
space. She smiled warmly at him when he re-entered the kitchen after
looking through the rest of the place.
"Wow, look at this place. It's huge!"
Urd smiled as she watched Ranma. She had spent so much time
watching him that she felt she knew more about him than he did. This
meant, of course, that it was her moral obligation as a goddess to
guide him towards the path of true happiness. This in turn entailed
getting him hitched to a gorgeous woman who would dedicate her life to
making him as happy as he could possibly be. She followed him as he
looked around the apartment.
"I'm glad you like it, Ranma. The refrigerator and the kitchen
cabinets are all well-stocked with supplies and I've already paid the
rent so you won't have to worry about food or money anymore. I won't
be checking in that often, so this apartment is basically yours to do
with as you please. You'll be the only person living here, but I trust
that you'll... behave yourself."
Urd winked slyly at Ranma as she said the last sentence. Ranma,
for his part, missed the thinly veiled suggestion completely. He was
far more interested in finding out how Ms. Urd had managed to defeat
Ms. Hinako so easily. Seeing that Ms. Urd wasn't going to bring up the
topic of their scheduled talk, he decided to remind her about it.
"You don't need to worry about a thing, Ms. Urd. I understand
completely. Now, about that talk we were going to have-"
Ranma was interrupted mid-speech by the ringing of Ms. Urd's
cellular phone. She opened her bag, reached inside, and retrieved an
expensive-looking gadget from it. She flipped the device open, pressed
a button on it, then held it against her ear. She listened to the
person on the other end for a few minutes, giving simple yes or no
answers from time to time. Finally, she snapped the cell phone closed
and turned back towards Ranma.
"I'm very sorry, Ranma, but I need to go back to the office
right away. We'll just have our talk later, okay?"
Ranma's face fell. He was hoping to get Ms. Urd to tell him
about her secret technique before the day was over. Still, it wouldn't
do to get Ms. Urd upset with him so he had to make it look like he
didn't mind. He forced himself to smile as he answered.
"That's okay, Ms. Urd. We'll just talk later. I don't mind. You
should get back to your office or whatever."
Urd wrapped Ranma in a tight hug as she spoke. "I really am
sorry for the inconvenience, Ranma. I promise I'll make it up to you
later. For now, I want you to take this."
Urd let go of Ranma and pressed a something into his hands.
Ranma held it up to the light to examine it more closely and found that
it was a small vial containing a light blue liquid. It had a label with
a picture of Ms. Urd on it. There was some writing on the label, but
it was in a foreign language that he couldn't read. He turned the vial
over in his hands and found that it was a single piece of solid glass,
making it impossible to seal shut once opened. He turned to Ms. Urd
with a questioning gaze.
"Thanks, Ms. Urd. But... um... what is it?"
Urd giggled at his question. Her plan was working perfectly so
far. "It's just a little something to get rid of the jitters on your
first day. I'm sure you must be very nervous about going to a whole
new school."
Ranma laughed out loud and shook his head.
"Look I ain't afraid of nuthin'! I've been moving around all my
life so I'm used to this sort of thing already. You should just take it
back and give it to someone who really needs it"
Urd gave Ranma her cutest 'hurt puppy dog' look and whimpered
slightly. She allowed her eyes to water a bit with crocodile tears and
turned away so that they glistened in the light.
"I'm sorry, Ranma. I'm just so useless to you, aren't I? I'll
just take this back and-"
Ranma quickly interrupted Urd by waving his hands in front of
him. It simply wouldn't do to get her upset before she had a chance to
teach him her secret technique. "On second thought, maybe I should hang
onto this anyway. I usually don't get really nervous until I get to the
front door anyway, so it might still come in handy."
Urd wiped away her tears and smiled at Ranma again. "Well, in
that case, I'd better get going then. Do you still have the class list
and cell phone that I gave you?"
Ranma nodded an affirmative as he pulled the two items from his
pockets and showed them to her. She glanced at them quickly before
continuing.
"Just follow the instructions on your class list to get to
homeroom. Your class advisor should assign a student to help you out
on your first day after that. If you have any more questions, my
number is already programmed into the phone. I'll drop by tomorrow
afternoon so we can have that talk you wanted, okay? Bye!"
Ranma nodded after every reminder Urd gave him and watched
her leave with a touch of disappointment. He would have to wait a
whole day before he could learn about her secret technique. Now he
had the rest of the day off with nothing to do. He decided to take
an afternoon jog around Juuban.
*****
Morrigan chuckled to herself at the sight of her younger sister
pacing back and forth through the kitchen. Anxious and worried as she
was, however, Lilith still managed to look cute. The girl hadn't yet
learned to suppress her powers so she would look attractive no matter
what she was doing.
"Do not worry, Lilith. The time will come soon enough. Once
Ranma falls asleep again, he will be ours."
Lilith stopped pacing and turned to her older sister. "How do
you know he'll be ours? He's managed to resist us so far, hasn't he?"
Morrigan took Lilith into her arms and soothed the younger
succubus by stroking her back. She had to calm Lilith down somehow,
or the pheromones produced by her body in response to the stress
would start to attract males from outside the restaurant.
"Ranma has never resisted, Lilith. He has simply been lucky
for the past few days."
Lilith scowled at her older sister. She couldn't understand
how Morrigan could be so... relaxed about the whole thing.
"What if Ranma gets lucky again tonight, huh? What do we do
then?"
Morrigan smiled. "We wait until he falls asleep again, child.
Ranma has to get lucky every time he sleeps, whereas we only need to
get lucky once. Sooner or later, Ranma will be ours and we won't
ever need to feed on each other again."
Lilith pouted cutely and turned away from Morrigan. "Don't you
like me anymore, Onee-chan?"
Morrigan couldn't help but laugh at Lilith's childish display.
A few more years would have to pass before her sister would have what
it takes to become a true force to be reckoned with. For now, however,
her innocent looks and seductive powers would be enough to make up for
her lack of skill and self-confidence.
"Do not worry, Lilith, you know I love you. After tonight,
Ranma will love you as well."
Lilith closed her eyes and sighed as she allowed herself to
melt into the arms of her sister. Morrigan was right, of course. Ranma
may be one of the greatest martial artists the world has ever seen, but
he was still a man. He would never know what hit him.
*****
Makoto Kino walked slowly along the sidewalk on her way home
while carrying a large bag of groceries. She would have preferred to go
to the temple with Usagi and the others to fill Rei in on their new
plan, but she had food to buy.
She stopped walking and looked over the bag of groceries she
was carrying to get a better look at the handsome young lad jogging
across the street from her. Her face brightened into a smile when she
saw that he wore his hair in a pig-tail behind him. She knew only one
man who wore his hair that way and his name was Ranma Saotome.
"Ranma, over here! It's me, Makoto!"
Ranma stopped jogging and looked behind him to see who was
calling his name. He didn't recognize her at first, but he soon
placed the face of the girl as one of Hotaru's friends from a few
days ago. He quickly made his way over to her side.
"Hi there. Long time no see! What are you doing here? I
thought you worked as a shrine maiden. Here, let me carry that for
you."
Makoto frowned momentarily as Ranma took the grocery bag from
her. Less than a week had passed since their last meeting and he had
already gotten her confused with someone else.
It was sweet of him to carry her groceries for her, however,
and he _was_ staring rather intently at her face so at least he was
paying attention to her. Besides, she had him all to herself for the
time being. If she played her cards right, he would never forget about
her again. She flashed him her cutest smile and stood beside him,
making sure that their shoulders touched and that Ranma would be able
to get a good view of her cleavage if he tried hard enough.
"That would be Rei, Ranma. Rei is the shrine maiden. My name is
Makoto, remember?"
Ranma's face brightened considerably after Makoto replied,
which made her happy. He stopped staring at her, though, so she
wondered if she had said something that turned him off. Could it be
that he had a secret shrine maiden fetish and now that he knew she
wasn't Rei he wasn't interested anymore? She had to change the topic.
"You know, Ranma, I have very large breasts."
Ranma's jaw dropped and his eyes opened wide after his mind had
a chance to decipher Makoto's words. Did she really just make a casual
comment about the size of her breasts? He chanced a glance at her and
found that he had an all but unobstructed view of her cleavage which,
while not quite as impressive as his own or even Shampoo's, _did_ make
both Ukyo and Akane look flat chested in comparison. Then again, he had
never really taken a good look at Ukyo's chest so he _might_ have been
mistaken.
He made a mental note to check the next time he and his
favorite okonomiyaki chef met.
The important thing was that Makoto had given him her name so
he didn't have to keep staring at her to try and figure it out anymore.
It was bad enough that she knew he had mistaken her for the shrine
maiden. It would have been worse if she knew he had initially guessed
that her name was Ami. Maybe if he did something nice for her, he could
get back on her good side.
"Where do you live, Makoto? I'll walk you there and carry these
bags for ya."
Makoto turned to Ranma before answering. "Thanks, Ranma. That's
so sweet of you. My apartment isn't very far from here. I'll just give
you directions as we go along. Oh, and call me Mako-chan."
*****
Setsuna threw another evening gown out of Michiru's closet
and turned back towards it to continue her search. It was just her
luck, she mused, that she lived in a house containing mountains of
clothing and she couldn't find a single outfit to suit her needs. She
brought out a short mini-skirt and examined it. She held it against
her hips for a few seconds, then threw it onto the bed with the rest
of Michiru's clothes. Her own wardrobe was useless to her, as she
expected, but she had hoped that Michiru would have something
appropriate.
She was about to check Haruka's closet when she saw something
from out of the corner of her eye. Closer inspection revealed that it
was a small metallic ring embedded into the wood behind the closet. Her
curiosity piqued, she tugged a bit on it and found that the action
caused a whole section of the wood to swing open and reveal a hidden
section of the closet, this one with more... interesting... items in
it. She pulled one of the outfits out to get a better look and found
that it was a couple of sizes too small and would never cover her up
properly.
'Perfect.'
Setsuna grinned as she carefully set the outfit down on a
nearby chair and started putting Michiru's clothes back where she had
found them. Ranma would never know what hit him.
*****
Author's notes:
I would like to thank Vex, Micelkomphasouk, Seaver, Grum,
Kagato, Tony, Ruben Torcato, Dark Knight, Thermopyle, Chester, Alex
Raven, Farmer, Fred V., Helmut Steeg, DragonsID, RaeMowse, Groo, Bryan
Durnell, and Egan Mandreck for all of their help.
In an amazing turn of events that surprises no one, I have yet
again been unable to fit everything I wanted to in this chapter. My
workload has actually increased, and it's getting harder and harder to
come up with new chapters quickly. Fear not, however, for I stand firm
in my commitment to continue working on this until it's over and done
with (which, if the trend of chapters turning out to be longer than I
expected them to be continues throughout the whole series, would happen
about a billion chapters from this one)
Don't worry, everyone. We're getting closer and closer to the
really good parts.
Please send C&C to ukyo_rulz@edsamail.com.ph
Visit my homepage (www.geocities.com/ex_fuk) for new chapters.
writing this. In fact, it results in a net loss for me.
Warning: Shady's back.
Warning: Altaverse (Keichi ain't here, and the senshi timeline is
all messed up.)
"words"
'thoughts'
A Time for Wild Horses chapter 11
by Jose Argao
Rei Hino opened her locker and stepped backwards to avoid the
flood of love letters that came pouring out. She kicked the letters
aside and began rummaging through the contents of her locker for her
spare communicator.
She had broken her regular communicator when one of her many
female admirers decided to get touchy-feely with her during homeroom.
The vicious backhand she reflexively executed not only sent the poor
girl sprawling, but also damaged the communicator she was holding
beyond repair. It had taken all morning to convince the principal that
it was an accident and now lunch was almost over. She had to contact
Usagi and the others quickly and find out if they had come up with a
plan to free Ranma from his fiancees yet.
She moved her math book aside, tossed out a stray love note,
and smiled as the tiny communication device she had been searching for
came into her view. She picked it up, flipped it open, pressed a tiny
button on it, and waited for Usagi to pick up. A few seconds later,
the small screen in the middle of the communicator flickered to life
and Usagi's face came into view.
"Hello, Usagi. Have you guys come up with a plan yet?"
Usagi grinned at Rei before replying, "Of course we have! It's
sure to work, too! All we have to do is go to Nerima and...."
*****
Somewhere in Nerima, hidden in a dark portion of an empty lot,
a handsome young man lay tied up on a bed. He was shouting for help at
the top of his lungs, but no one seemed to hear his pleas.
"Somebody save me! These awful girls are all forcing me to
marry them!"
Ranma struggled valiantly against the ropes that bound him to
the bed, but was unable to get free. Tears flowed freely from his eyes
as he lamented the fact that he would be forced to marry a woman that
he did not love. Four hideously deformed young women danced around him
in circles, their faces contorted with expressions of pure evil. While
dancing, they chanted spells designed to ward off defenders of love and
justice. The ugliest among them, a muscular girl wearing a leotard and
twirling a length of ribbon, laughed at Ranma's discomfort.
"You will never be able to escape, Ranma! I shall marry you and
doom you to a loveless marriage!"
Ranma turned towards her and started pleading for his future.
An observant person would note that in turning, he managed to rip apart
his tattered shirt, revealing his washboard abs and rippling pectoral
muscles for all to see.
"Please stop what you're doing! Don't you see that I can never
be happy in such a situation? Why are you being so mean?"
At that, Ranma found himself being forcefully jerked around to
face the other way by another one of his tormentors. She was overweight
and very hairy all over her body. The only piece of clothing she wore
was an animal skin that she had draped around herself.
"Stop whining, Ranma. I shall bring you back to China with me
where I and the other Amazons will take turns ravishing you until you
are reduced to nothing but a shell of the man you once were!"
Ranma looked at her with pleading eyes, his face a mask of
pure anguish. "Why are you so intent upon forcing yourselves upon me?
Can't you see that I don't _love_ you?"
The third woman, covered in grime and smelling awful, stopped
chanting and walked towards Ranma. She was grossly obese, her body
threatening to burst out of the dirty okonomiyaki seller's outfit that
she wore. Her hair was cut short and hidden beneath a scarf that she
used to cover her head. The scarf was a very dark gray, although it
might conceivably have been white once. The rest of her clothing was
similarly unkempt.
"I don't care whether you love me or not, Ranma. You left me
by the side of the road all those years ago and now it's payback time!"
The fourth young girl, who was built like a gorilla and looked
about half as intelligent, chose this moment to air her own thoughts on
the subject. She had huge, bulging muscles that made her look more like
a man than a girl. She was easily one of the most uncute girls Sailor
Moon had ever met in her entire life.
"Ranma, you know you can't back out on our engagement without
bringing dishonor on your family. We've been engaged since before we
were born!"
The four of them started dancing and chanting around Ranma
again. Ranma, on the other hand, could only watch as he struggled
against the ropes around him.
Suddenly, from out of the blue, they all heard a beautiful,
melodious voice cry out.
"For love and justice, I am the beautiful sailor-suited soldier
Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I shall punish you!"
The four women stopped in their tracks and looked around for
the source of the shout. Fortunately for them, the surprise visitor
chose a well lit position on top of the fence surrounding the lot to
stand on. Unfortunately, however, that visitor was none other than
Sailor Moon herself, in all her glorious beauty and splendor!
Sailor Moon struck a heroic pose, then pointed at the group of
ugly, uncute girls surrounding Ranma.
"Marriage is the ultimate expression of love between two people
who love each other. You should never force anyone to marry you if he
doesn't want to. In the name of the moon, I shall punish you!"
The burly girl wearing a karate gi smirked at the beautiful
defender of love and justice. She glanced at her companions, then
turned back towards Sailor Moon.
"You may be strong, Sailor Moron, but there are four of us and
only one of you. You don't scare us!"
After speaking, she proceeded to laugh maniacally. Sailor Moon
noted that the action made her look even less cute than before. Her
laughter was cut short, however, when another voice called out, one
almost as melodic as Sailor Moon's own.
She turned to the direction where the sound had come from and
found four other beautiful women dressed similarly to Sailor Moon. She
had no trouble finding them, either, because they had also chosen a
well lit portion of the fence to stand on. She waited patiently while
the one in red recited her entrance speech.
"We are the Sailor Senshi! We have come to help our leader,
Sailor Moon, who is much cuter and more beautiful than any of us. We
shall punish you in the name of Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter,
respectively!"
Upon realizing that they were badly outnumbered, Ranma's four
captors immediately threw themselves at Sailor Moon's feet, almost
hitting their ugly little heads against the fence.
"Oh please don't hurt us, Sailor Moon! We're sorry for doing
all those bad things to Ranma! We promise to only do good from now on!"
Sailor Moon smiled. This was just the latest in a long line of
jobs well done for her. She looked down at Ranma's defeated fiancees
and spoke softly. "I will forgive you, but only if you promise to stop
bugging Ranma and leave him alone forever!"
The four women nodded their heads vigorously and almost fell
over each other in their haste to run to Ranma's bed and cut him loose.
After regaining his freedom Ranma jumped to the top of the fence and
landed beside Sailor Moon. She turned to him, and their eyes locked in
a moment of pure love. Ranma held Sailor Moon's shoulders and pulled
her against his well muscled, shirtless torso in a tight hug.
"Thank you for saving me, Sailor Moon. I love you. Let's get
married right away!"
Sailor Moon pulled away from Ranma's body, immediately missing
the feel of his rock hard... muscles... against her body. She looked up
at his handsome face, tears in her eyes.
"Yes, Ranma, I've known all along that you were the only one
for me and that we were destined to get married in a big church wedding
with flowers all over the place and the smell of perfume pervading the
atmosphere!"
Then, they kissed. It was a beautiful, awe-inspiring kiss the
likes of which had never been seen before. Lots of tongue, too.
On the other side of the fence, the rest of the senshi watched
with mixed feelings. While they recognized that Ranma and Sailor Moon
were destined for each other and that Sailor Moon was more deserving
than any of them of Ranma's love and rock hard... muscles... they still
felt mildly jealous of their leader's good fortune.
Sailor Mars stood still, her heart pounding against her chest.
It was such a shame to lose Ranma to Sailor Moon, but such was the way
of true love. She brushed away the tears in her eyes and looked once
again at the happy couple, who were now approaching their fifth minute
of torrid kissing.
"Never let your love die, Sailor Moon. It's the most important
part of you."
Behind her, the other Senshi nodded sagely.
*****
"Don't worry about it, Minako. It's not important."
"But... but...."
"Mako-chan is right. Physical traits may skip a few generations
before manifesting themselves. I'll lend you my book on genetics if you
want to learn more."
Usagi heard the voices of her friends and slowly opened her
eyes. She looked at her communicator and found that the screen was now
empty. The timer on it indicated that about three minutes had passed
since Rei's call.
'I must have dozed off for a while back there. I hope Rei isn't
too angry at me.'
She flipped her communicator closed and made her way out of the
bathroom stall. She was greeted by the sight of Makoto, Minako, and Ami
all staring into the mirror.
She walked towards them and spoke cheerily. "Hey, guys, what're
you looking at?"
Minako turned to her and spoke with an unnaturally serious tone
to her voice. "I was just thinking, Usagi. I'm not sure I look Japanese
at all."
Usagi smiled at Minako and patted her friend's right shoulder.
"Don't be silly, Mina-chan. _I'm_ Japanese and you look almost
exactly like me."
*****
"I can't believe she actually fell asleep!"
Rei Hino stomped off to class, muttering along the way. She
would never have thought Usagi was capable of falling asleep in the
middle of a conversation, but she had apparently underestimated her
blonde friend's ability to fall unconscious at the drop of a hat. Her
spare communicator wasn't configured properly to contact the other
girls so she would have to wait until after school before she could
ask them about what plan they had come up with to free Ranma from his
unwanted fiancees.
*****
"Here's your class list, Ranma."
Ranma nodded lazily and took the small piece of paper from Ms.
Urd. He glanced at the list, not really looking at what classes she had
picked for him, then stuck it into his pocket. He was very happy that
Ms. Urd had taken care of everything so all he had to do was sign a few
forms before he officially became a student of Juuban High.
"So what now?"
Urd smiled at Ranma, showing him a set of perfectly formed
teeth.
"You won't actually start class until tomorrow so we'll spend
the rest of the day together. I'll just give you a tour of the place
and then I'll show you where you're going to live, okay?"
Ranma quickly shook his head. "I've already been to Juuban a
couple of times, Ms. Urd, so I can find my way around here. How about
you just take me to wherever I'm going to stay and we can talk about
that trick you did with Ms. Hinako."
Urd paused for a moment, then nodded. "Well, if you're sure
you can find your way around then I guess we could just skip the tour.
We can spend the rest of the day talking if you want, but I have no
idea what trick you're talking about. Ms. Hinako overloaded herself
while draining me. I didn't do anything."
Ranma crossed his arms in front of himself. "Aw come on!
There's no way a normal human being can give off enough aura to do
that. I've seen Ms. Hinako drain the whole school once! You're only
one person. You've got to have used a martial arts technique to boost
your battle aura and overload her."
Urd shook her head and smiled at him. "I didn't use any
martial-arts techniques to beat Ms. Hinako, Ranma. Let's go."
Ranma allowed Urd to pull him away from the campus. He didn't
believe her, of course, but he would do as she said for now. She would
surely tell him what technique she had used once she got to know him a
little better. She was a woman, after all, and women did not refuse
Ranma Saotome anything.
*****
"Yes, Great-Grandmother. Shampoo sure it was Airen. Ranma go
inside school with older woman and not come out until much later."
Cologne listened with great interest to the news Shampoo had
brought her . Who was this older woman that Ranma had gone to Juuban
with? What were they doing there? Were the Sailor Senshi somehow
involved in this new development? Either way, they now had a much
greater chance of stealing Ranma from Shampoo.
She held onto her staff tightly as she considered her options.
She didn't want to reveal her hand this early in the game but Ranma was
far too important to let go. She would take drastic measures to ensure
his marriage to Shampoo if she had to, but she could still afford to
let her grand-daughter handle things for now.
"Do not make contact with son-in-law, child, but keep an eye
on him. If Ranma is in Juuban, then it will only be a matter of time
before the Senshi track him down. I want you to observe everything he
does. Do not let Ranma or the Senshi see you. Report back to me
tomorrow and I shall have further instructions for you."
"Yes, Great-Grandmother. Shampoo go watch Airen for now. Bye-
bye!"
Cologne uttered a short prayer for Shampoo's success as she put
the phone down. She then hopped towards her room, where she opened her
trunk and retrieved an ornate box that seemed to be sealed shut. She
ran her hands over the ancient wood and intricate carvings on it.
"Do not fail me this time, Shampoo. The consequences are far
too great."
*****
"Um... Michiru-mama... are you sure it's okay to leave school
early just for this?"
Michiru patted Hotaru on the head and gave her a reassuring
smile. "Of course it's okay. A couple of missed classes would hardly
be able to teach you half of what you'll learn this afternoon. So, are
you ready, Hotaru-chan?"
Hotaru took a deep breath. She wondered if Michiru could tell
how nervous she was about this whole thing. What if she couldn't use
her womanly charms at all? What if she didn't have any charm to begin
with? It would be so embarrassing to fail at being a woman.
"I'm ready, Mama."
Michiru took Hotaru's hand and led her to a nearby bench. She
had taken Hotaru to the park shortly after getting the girl excused
from afternoon classes. She looked around for a few seconds and spotted
a man selling ice cream from a stand. She opened her handbag and dug
around inside it for some spare change. A few moments later, she fished
out a couple of coins and handed them to Hotaru.
"Why don't you buy us some ice cream before we begin, Hotaru?
There's a stand right over there."
Hotaru quickly stood up from her seat.
"Okay, Mama. I'll be back right away."
Michiru's face broke into a grin as she watched Hotaru walk
towards the stall. The girl hadn't a clue that her lesson in the ways
of the world and how a woman survives in it had already begun. She
watched as Hotaru took the cones from the man, bowed her thanks, and
made her way back to the bench. There was a big smile on Hotaru's face,
just as she had planned. She reached out to take her ice cream from
Hotaru and listened to what she already knew the girl would say.
"That man was really nice, Mama. He gave me two extra scoops
for each of our cones!"
Michiru smiled at Hotaru, licked at her ice cream, and patted
the space beside her for Hotaru to sit down. After Hotaru was seated
comfortably she officially began the lesson.
"Why do you think the man gave you those extra scoops, Hotaru-
chan?"
Hotaru stopped licking her ice cream for a moment to give her
reply. "He said it was because I was such a nice little girl."
Michiru took another lick from her cone before asking another
question. "You don't know that man, do you?"
Hotaru answered quickly. "Of course not. I've never seen him
before."
Michiru grinned. "So how did he know that you were such a nice
little girl?"
Hotaru opened her mouth to speak, but found herself unable to
come up with a good answer. How _did_ that man know anything about her?
She was sure they had never met before.
"I... I'm not sure, Mama."
Michiru slid closer to Hotaru and spoke in a low voice. "Do you
think you're cute, Hotaru?"
Hotaru blushed bright red and almost dropped her ice cream as
she uttered a response. "Well... I guess... that is... I don't know,
Mama. I guess so."
Michiru smiled. "Hotaru, the first step towards using your
womanly charms to your advantage is recognizing that they exist. If
you don't, they might even work against you. Why do you think your
classmates tease you all the time?"
Hotaru shuddered. Although the teasing had stopped for the most
part lately, there were still plenty of students at her school who
would gang up on her and tease her to no end. It was the reason she had
been crying when she first met Ranma, in fact.
"It's because I can heal people, Mama."
Michiru shook her head. "People don't hate other people for
being able to heal, Hotaru. Your classmates may tease you about your
healing powers, but they do it because you're cute."
Hotaru's eyes opened wide. This was an entirely new idea that
had never occurred to her before. Still, it made no sense. Why would
her classmates dislike her for being cute?
"I don't understand, Mama."
Michiru took another lick of her ice cream. "Let me put it this
way, Hotaru-chan. The girls in your class are all jealous of you and
the boys are all frustrated with you."
Hotaru popped the last remaining bit of ice cream from her cone
into her mouth while Michiru spoke. She pondered her Mama's words as
the ice cream melted in her mouth. Could it be that her classmates were
just jealous of her all along?
Seeing that Hotaru still didn't fully understand, Michiru
continued with her explanation. "You're much prettier than any of the
other girls in your school, Hotaru. The other girls know this, even
though they might not necessarily be aware of it. They see you and feel
insecure about themselves because deep down they know that they would
never be able to become as pretty as you are now, and you'll only grow
more beautiful as you grow older. They tease you as a means to take you
down to their own level. The boys, on the other hand, look at you and
see a girl way out of their league. Like the girls, they instinctively
know that you're on a level far above their own, so they try to pull
you down from it."
Hotaru stared at Michiru. Why had her Mama never told her about
this before? Was she serious? It still didn't seem to make any sense.
"But I don't want to be on a higher level than they are, Mama.
I just want to fit in."
Michiru held her ice cream with her left hand and used her
right arm to hold Hotaru against her. "I know that, Hotaru-chan, but
your classmates don't. That's what makes it so sad. It's wrong to
judge someone because of their looks, but people do it anyway. The
good thing is that you can use this to your advantage."
Hotaru looked up at Michiru. "But how do I do _that_?"
Michiru frowned as she thought of the best way to put her ideas
into words. How had her mother explained this to her all those years
ago? After a moment, her face brightened and she again broke into a
smile as the words came to her.
"Would you participate in an eating contest with Usagi, or try
to play volleyball against Minako-chan?"
This time it was Hotaru's turn to frown. What was her Mama
getting at? She decided to just answer the question as best as she
could.
"I guess I could play, but I wouldn't win."
Michiru's smile grew broader as she got the expected answer.
"Why is that, Hotaru-chan? Why wouldn't you win?"
Hotaru shrugged. "Well, I'm not as good as they are at doing
those things."
Michiru nodded. She attempted to take another lick of her ice
cream but found that she had already consumed it all. She was really
getting into this.
"That's exactly right, Hotaru-chan. Minako is much better at
playing volleyball than you are, so you would never stand a chance
against her in that game. You are essentially confronting her in an
arena that is one of her strengths and, at the same time, is one of
your weaknesses. You must never allow this to happen. The trick lies
in finding other people's weaknesses and pitting your strengths against
them. If you can do that consistently you will always hold the upper
hand when interacting with other people."
Hotaru mulled this new information over in her mind. Could it
really be that simple? It sounded so easy!
"That's all, Mama?"
Michiru shook her head. "No, not really. While the core idea is
relatively simple to grasp, it is very difficult to apply. You must
remember that everyone has weaknesses, including you. Everyone you meet
will be trying to charm you just as you are trying to charm them."
Hotaru nodded thoughtfully. Michiru continued speaking.
"It is also possible to turn strengths into weaknesses and
weaknesses into strengths. Being bad at sports, for example, can pave
the way for your asking a man to teach you how to play better. This
shifts the focus away from the competitive aspect of sports, where he
excels, and puts emphasis on a more social setting, where you can use
your cuteness to full effect."
Michiru looked at Hotaru, who was paying attention to her every
word. It felt good to be doing this for the girl. It called out to her
maternal instincts, which she hadn't even known existed. She continued
talking.
"Sometimes, a person will come along to whom your principal
strengths are completely ineffective. In these cases, you must try to
find other strengths that can be used against them. Some of the more
attractive men have grown jaded to physical beauty, for example, but
are extremely vulnerable to the allure of an intelligent female."
Michiru decided that she had already said a lot at this point,
and that it would be good to give Hotaru some time to assimilate the
information.
"Why don't you think about what I've said for a while, Hotaru-
chan? You can ask questions, if there's anything you don't understand."
Hotaru wished that she had brought her notebook with her. Her
Mama's words really made sense. She now knew why Michiru never lost an
argument with Haruka. If she could only learn to be half as good as
Michiru was at using her own strengths, then she would be able to keep
Usagi and the others from stealing Ranma! A smile was starting to form
on her young face when an idea came to her. She turned to Michiru with
a troubled look on her pretty face.
"Michiru-Mama?"
Michiru turned to Hotaru. "Yes, Hotaru-chan?"
Hotaru frowned as she asked her question. "What if I meet
someone who isn't affected by any of my strengths, but can affect me?"
Michiru grinned. "When that happens, Hotaru-chan, you'll never
know what hit you."
*****
"So that is what happened. I sent Usagi and the others to try
and find a way to correct the timelines but I do not think that they
have what it takes to do so. I would have done something myself, but
the changes Urd made to the past have already begun to affect me. Even
now, I find it difficult to think of Athan's reincarnated form without
feeling as though I should just give in to Urd and run into his arms.
I find myself unable to even mention his name, lest I turn into some
giggly, love-struck young woman."
Haruka paused for a few moments, trying to take in all the
information that Setsuna had presented to her. This was something that
she had never even considered in her wildest dreams. She turned to
her companion, who seemed to be similarly lost in thought.
"What I don't understand is, how could this happen? How could
one man successfully win the love of all nine senshi? Tell me, Setsuna,
what happened after that ball you told me about?"
It took only a few seconds for Setsuna to remember what had
taken place after that fateful night when Queen Serenity assigned Athan
to be her official escort. It was almost scary, how her head was filled
with all these memories that she did not have a few days ago but could
now recall quite easily. They all seemed so real! As time passed, it
was becoming harder and harder to tell which memories were real, and
which ones were only a product of the changes Urd made to the past.
"Well, I had to obey Queen Serenity, of course. Athan kept
trying to get me into bed with him the whole time we were together. He
had this silly idea stuck in his head that if he could only get me to
sleep with him, I would forget all of his past misdeeds and fall madly
in love with him."
Haruka raised her eyebrows. "You make it seem as though Athan
was a sexist pig of a man. How was he able to get you to fall in love
with him? What could you possibly like in a man like that?"
Setsuna opened her mouth to answer Haruka's question, then
closed it again when she realized that she did not know the answer. How
_did_ she ever fall in love with Athan anyway? It seemed that all she
could remember was a brief period of intense rivalry between her and
the handsome guard from Earth; followed by the best six months of her
life right before Beryl attacked with the Negaverse Generals and ended
the Silver Millennium.
She was about to answer that she could not remember how Athan
managed to reel her in when the memories suddenly came back to her.
She turned to Haruka and grinned.
"Athan may not have been the most genteel man in the kingdom,
but he _was_ a superb dancer. I found it enjoyable to finally use all
the dance lessons I had to endure as a young girl, but was unable to
take advantage of later in life because everyone was too afraid that
they would accidentally step on my foot and bring the wrath of Sailor
Pluto down upon them.
"It didn't help much, either, that I was a horrible dancer and
kept tripping all over my partners. It would give me a small measure
of satisfaction whenever Athan would yelp in pain at one of my many
mistakes. Of course, I made sure to wear shoes with very sharp heels
whenever I danced with him. And you know what the best part of the
deal was?"
Haruka raised her eyebrows at Setsuna's question. "No, but I
have a feeling that you'll be telling me all about it shortly."
Setsuna's face broke into a grin.
"Everyone else was so _jealous_ of me! Everywhere I looked the
women were staring at me, wishing that I would leave Athan alone for a
few moments so that they could swoop down on him like the sad, pathetic
vultures that they were. I never did, of course. Even that slut, Venus,
with her blonde hair and disgustingly large chest, couldn't help but
stare at me with pure envy in her silly blue eyes. Sometimes, I'd give
Athan a little peck on the cheek just to annoy her. I loved it!"
Haruka watched with wide eyes as Setsuna started laughing
giddily and rubbing her hands together like a madwoman. The sight was
so disturbing that she even failed to notice that the action was
causing Setsuna's chest to jiggle around enticingly. She crept out of
Setsuna's room as silently as she could, then dashed over to her own
bedroom for a change of clothes. She needed to get out of here. Fast.
*****
"So how do you like it?"
Urd watched Ranma with amusement as he walked around his new
apartment. It was nothing special, really, but he acted like she had
just given him a fully furnished mansion. Actually, the apartment was
very sparsely furnished, but she could tell that he liked all the extra
space. She smiled warmly at him when he re-entered the kitchen after
looking through the rest of the place.
"Wow, look at this place. It's huge!"
Urd smiled as she watched Ranma. She had spent so much time
watching him that she felt she knew more about him than he did. This
meant, of course, that it was her moral obligation as a goddess to
guide him towards the path of true happiness. This in turn entailed
getting him hitched to a gorgeous woman who would dedicate her life to
making him as happy as he could possibly be. She followed him as he
looked around the apartment.
"I'm glad you like it, Ranma. The refrigerator and the kitchen
cabinets are all well-stocked with supplies and I've already paid the
rent so you won't have to worry about food or money anymore. I won't
be checking in that often, so this apartment is basically yours to do
with as you please. You'll be the only person living here, but I trust
that you'll... behave yourself."
Urd winked slyly at Ranma as she said the last sentence. Ranma,
for his part, missed the thinly veiled suggestion completely. He was
far more interested in finding out how Ms. Urd had managed to defeat
Ms. Hinako so easily. Seeing that Ms. Urd wasn't going to bring up the
topic of their scheduled talk, he decided to remind her about it.
"You don't need to worry about a thing, Ms. Urd. I understand
completely. Now, about that talk we were going to have-"
Ranma was interrupted mid-speech by the ringing of Ms. Urd's
cellular phone. She opened her bag, reached inside, and retrieved an
expensive-looking gadget from it. She flipped the device open, pressed
a button on it, then held it against her ear. She listened to the
person on the other end for a few minutes, giving simple yes or no
answers from time to time. Finally, she snapped the cell phone closed
and turned back towards Ranma.
"I'm very sorry, Ranma, but I need to go back to the office
right away. We'll just have our talk later, okay?"
Ranma's face fell. He was hoping to get Ms. Urd to tell him
about her secret technique before the day was over. Still, it wouldn't
do to get Ms. Urd upset with him so he had to make it look like he
didn't mind. He forced himself to smile as he answered.
"That's okay, Ms. Urd. We'll just talk later. I don't mind. You
should get back to your office or whatever."
Urd wrapped Ranma in a tight hug as she spoke. "I really am
sorry for the inconvenience, Ranma. I promise I'll make it up to you
later. For now, I want you to take this."
Urd let go of Ranma and pressed a something into his hands.
Ranma held it up to the light to examine it more closely and found that
it was a small vial containing a light blue liquid. It had a label with
a picture of Ms. Urd on it. There was some writing on the label, but
it was in a foreign language that he couldn't read. He turned the vial
over in his hands and found that it was a single piece of solid glass,
making it impossible to seal shut once opened. He turned to Ms. Urd
with a questioning gaze.
"Thanks, Ms. Urd. But... um... what is it?"
Urd giggled at his question. Her plan was working perfectly so
far. "It's just a little something to get rid of the jitters on your
first day. I'm sure you must be very nervous about going to a whole
new school."
Ranma laughed out loud and shook his head.
"Look I ain't afraid of nuthin'! I've been moving around all my
life so I'm used to this sort of thing already. You should just take it
back and give it to someone who really needs it"
Urd gave Ranma her cutest 'hurt puppy dog' look and whimpered
slightly. She allowed her eyes to water a bit with crocodile tears and
turned away so that they glistened in the light.
"I'm sorry, Ranma. I'm just so useless to you, aren't I? I'll
just take this back and-"
Ranma quickly interrupted Urd by waving his hands in front of
him. It simply wouldn't do to get her upset before she had a chance to
teach him her secret technique. "On second thought, maybe I should hang
onto this anyway. I usually don't get really nervous until I get to the
front door anyway, so it might still come in handy."
Urd wiped away her tears and smiled at Ranma again. "Well, in
that case, I'd better get going then. Do you still have the class list
and cell phone that I gave you?"
Ranma nodded an affirmative as he pulled the two items from his
pockets and showed them to her. She glanced at them quickly before
continuing.
"Just follow the instructions on your class list to get to
homeroom. Your class advisor should assign a student to help you out
on your first day after that. If you have any more questions, my
number is already programmed into the phone. I'll drop by tomorrow
afternoon so we can have that talk you wanted, okay? Bye!"
Ranma nodded after every reminder Urd gave him and watched
her leave with a touch of disappointment. He would have to wait a
whole day before he could learn about her secret technique. Now he
had the rest of the day off with nothing to do. He decided to take
an afternoon jog around Juuban.
*****
Morrigan chuckled to herself at the sight of her younger sister
pacing back and forth through the kitchen. Anxious and worried as she
was, however, Lilith still managed to look cute. The girl hadn't yet
learned to suppress her powers so she would look attractive no matter
what she was doing.
"Do not worry, Lilith. The time will come soon enough. Once
Ranma falls asleep again, he will be ours."
Lilith stopped pacing and turned to her older sister. "How do
you know he'll be ours? He's managed to resist us so far, hasn't he?"
Morrigan took Lilith into her arms and soothed the younger
succubus by stroking her back. She had to calm Lilith down somehow,
or the pheromones produced by her body in response to the stress
would start to attract males from outside the restaurant.
"Ranma has never resisted, Lilith. He has simply been lucky
for the past few days."
Lilith scowled at her older sister. She couldn't understand
how Morrigan could be so... relaxed about the whole thing.
"What if Ranma gets lucky again tonight, huh? What do we do
then?"
Morrigan smiled. "We wait until he falls asleep again, child.
Ranma has to get lucky every time he sleeps, whereas we only need to
get lucky once. Sooner or later, Ranma will be ours and we won't
ever need to feed on each other again."
Lilith pouted cutely and turned away from Morrigan. "Don't you
like me anymore, Onee-chan?"
Morrigan couldn't help but laugh at Lilith's childish display.
A few more years would have to pass before her sister would have what
it takes to become a true force to be reckoned with. For now, however,
her innocent looks and seductive powers would be enough to make up for
her lack of skill and self-confidence.
"Do not worry, Lilith, you know I love you. After tonight,
Ranma will love you as well."
Lilith closed her eyes and sighed as she allowed herself to
melt into the arms of her sister. Morrigan was right, of course. Ranma
may be one of the greatest martial artists the world has ever seen, but
he was still a man. He would never know what hit him.
*****
Makoto Kino walked slowly along the sidewalk on her way home
while carrying a large bag of groceries. She would have preferred to go
to the temple with Usagi and the others to fill Rei in on their new
plan, but she had food to buy.
She stopped walking and looked over the bag of groceries she
was carrying to get a better look at the handsome young lad jogging
across the street from her. Her face brightened into a smile when she
saw that he wore his hair in a pig-tail behind him. She knew only one
man who wore his hair that way and his name was Ranma Saotome.
"Ranma, over here! It's me, Makoto!"
Ranma stopped jogging and looked behind him to see who was
calling his name. He didn't recognize her at first, but he soon
placed the face of the girl as one of Hotaru's friends from a few
days ago. He quickly made his way over to her side.
"Hi there. Long time no see! What are you doing here? I
thought you worked as a shrine maiden. Here, let me carry that for
you."
Makoto frowned momentarily as Ranma took the grocery bag from
her. Less than a week had passed since their last meeting and he had
already gotten her confused with someone else.
It was sweet of him to carry her groceries for her, however,
and he _was_ staring rather intently at her face so at least he was
paying attention to her. Besides, she had him all to herself for the
time being. If she played her cards right, he would never forget about
her again. She flashed him her cutest smile and stood beside him,
making sure that their shoulders touched and that Ranma would be able
to get a good view of her cleavage if he tried hard enough.
"That would be Rei, Ranma. Rei is the shrine maiden. My name is
Makoto, remember?"
Ranma's face brightened considerably after Makoto replied,
which made her happy. He stopped staring at her, though, so she
wondered if she had said something that turned him off. Could it be
that he had a secret shrine maiden fetish and now that he knew she
wasn't Rei he wasn't interested anymore? She had to change the topic.
"You know, Ranma, I have very large breasts."
Ranma's jaw dropped and his eyes opened wide after his mind had
a chance to decipher Makoto's words. Did she really just make a casual
comment about the size of her breasts? He chanced a glance at her and
found that he had an all but unobstructed view of her cleavage which,
while not quite as impressive as his own or even Shampoo's, _did_ make
both Ukyo and Akane look flat chested in comparison. Then again, he had
never really taken a good look at Ukyo's chest so he _might_ have been
mistaken.
He made a mental note to check the next time he and his
favorite okonomiyaki chef met.
The important thing was that Makoto had given him her name so
he didn't have to keep staring at her to try and figure it out anymore.
It was bad enough that she knew he had mistaken her for the shrine
maiden. It would have been worse if she knew he had initially guessed
that her name was Ami. Maybe if he did something nice for her, he could
get back on her good side.
"Where do you live, Makoto? I'll walk you there and carry these
bags for ya."
Makoto turned to Ranma before answering. "Thanks, Ranma. That's
so sweet of you. My apartment isn't very far from here. I'll just give
you directions as we go along. Oh, and call me Mako-chan."
*****
Setsuna threw another evening gown out of Michiru's closet
and turned back towards it to continue her search. It was just her
luck, she mused, that she lived in a house containing mountains of
clothing and she couldn't find a single outfit to suit her needs. She
brought out a short mini-skirt and examined it. She held it against
her hips for a few seconds, then threw it onto the bed with the rest
of Michiru's clothes. Her own wardrobe was useless to her, as she
expected, but she had hoped that Michiru would have something
appropriate.
She was about to check Haruka's closet when she saw something
from out of the corner of her eye. Closer inspection revealed that it
was a small metallic ring embedded into the wood behind the closet. Her
curiosity piqued, she tugged a bit on it and found that the action
caused a whole section of the wood to swing open and reveal a hidden
section of the closet, this one with more... interesting... items in
it. She pulled one of the outfits out to get a better look and found
that it was a couple of sizes too small and would never cover her up
properly.
'Perfect.'
Setsuna grinned as she carefully set the outfit down on a
nearby chair and started putting Michiru's clothes back where she had
found them. Ranma would never know what hit him.
*****
Author's notes:
I would like to thank Vex, Micelkomphasouk, Seaver, Grum,
Kagato, Tony, Ruben Torcato, Dark Knight, Thermopyle, Chester, Alex
Raven, Farmer, Fred V., Helmut Steeg, DragonsID, RaeMowse, Groo, Bryan
Durnell, and Egan Mandreck for all of their help.
In an amazing turn of events that surprises no one, I have yet
again been unable to fit everything I wanted to in this chapter. My
workload has actually increased, and it's getting harder and harder to
come up with new chapters quickly. Fear not, however, for I stand firm
in my commitment to continue working on this until it's over and done
with (which, if the trend of chapters turning out to be longer than I
expected them to be continues throughout the whole series, would happen
about a billion chapters from this one)
Don't worry, everyone. We're getting closer and closer to the
really good parts.
Please send C&C to ukyo_rulz@edsamail.com.ph
Visit my homepage (www.geocities.com/ex_fuk) for new chapters.