Ranma ½

Love Note

Usual disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, any resemblance to Ranma ½ or Death Note is purely intentional, and the rest of that jazz.

For the purposes of this story, any text within single quotes like 'this' is considered a thought.

A few quick notes notes on Death note:

For those not familiar with it, don't worry. You're not really missing much as far as this story goes and any concept I need from Death note will be explained within this story. For those who are familiar with it, time is a bit of an issue here. Ranma takes place in late 80s, early 90s. Death Note takes place in 2000+. This makes for some rather serious differences in technology availability. Right now, I'm not committing to anything time wise just yet, but any which way I'm very likely to take liberties with the time line of one or both of the sources to mesh the two together. I'm not likely to involve the actual Death Note in the main of this story (being that Death Note is rather serious), but if I do, Death Note would be in the 'future' even if I take a liberty or two and make that later than was originally intended.

A few more notes for some of the reviews:

Apparently it wasn't perfectly clear, but the love note only makes a 1 way love at a time. So if someone were to write: Tatewaki Kuno Ukyo Kuonji, Kuno would fall for Ukyo, but Ukyo's feelings for him would be unchanged. To make it mutual you have the echo the names in reverse, so Takewaki Kuno Ukyo Kuonji, Ukyo Kuonji Tatewaki Kuno would result in a 2 way love (and no, so far neither Ukyo nor Kuno have not been afflicted yet).

Just to be clear on the writings so far as far as the Ranma cast goes, they were:

Shan Pu - Msu Tsu (making Shampoo fall for Mousse briefly)

Kodachi Kuno (making her fall for the first compatible person, who happened to be Ukyo, much to the latter's regret)

Ranma Saotome - Akane Tendo (which failed because Ranma already is in love with Akane, so he ended up falling for Kasumi, and since Akane's name was also written and the original command failed, she fell for Mousse, both just by chance of who they were near at the time).

A few quick question answers:

How would actors' supposed love interest changing receive any more interest than tabloids?

-By itself, it probably wouldn't attract much interest. But there was for one a huge surge in these, and very sudden (as chapter 3 showed happens when the power activates), and also as mentioned political figures and others were also affected. Even all that has the police dubious on the issue (as I've tried to shown), but it's enough of a nuisance that they want it stopped.

One would have to be an idiot to say this, since "L" doesn't know Kasumi's exact location and saying "we're pretty sure you're around here" is giving her the perfect chance to escape before they can isolate her. Yes, I know Kasumi's not going to flee across the world, but they don't.

-You know, that is exactly the same issue in death note (and in death note's case, he had a far greater risk hanging over him). I would suppose that L considers fleeing the equivalent of the state (as Kanto is the biggest population region in Japan) to be only a minor risk at the moment. Of course, it wouldn't be the first piece of questionable logic in death note's story, but hey.

BTW, thanks for the quick error checking there Ganheim.

Chapter 4


It had been a full week since L's broadcast, but the impact of such was not quite what was expected by the freelance detective. As expected, and risked by him, by confronting Cupid, he had also given credibility and a public presence to the person. It took only a quick scan through the television channels to see at least two separate programs discussing the topic. Public opinion was largely divided between praise, indifference, or condemnation of Cupid. That all didn't interest L though. It had been a calculated risk to prove Cupid's existence while hopefully pushing Cupid into a bad move.

That is where the unexpected happened. As L looked over his computer and the data coming in, he couldn't help but frown. Grabbing a nearby mic, he activated it and spoke. "Is this all of the recent events, Watari?"

"Yes L," came the response from the computer.

"Very well," he replied, shutting off the mic. "What are you up to, Cupid?" he asked no one but himself as he stood up and walked to a nearby window to look out onto the city below. "Not even the slightest change in pattern. Besides the public reaction it is almost as if I didn't make the broadcast at all. Are you trying to play it cool? Perhaps attempting to fool me into thinking it is all coincidence?" L thought on this for nearly a minute before Watari again spoke through the computer.

"The others are gathered L."

Nodding, L returned to his computer and turned on the mic, activating a one way video feed at the same time so he could see a meeting room with many Japanese detectives gathered. "Very well. What have you found?"

Inside the meeting room, one officer rose and cleared his throat before addressing the computer Watari was attending which for the police officers displayed only the scripted letter L. "As of this date we've received several thousand inquiries to the Cupid situation. Most have been simple questions regarding the case. However, we have had over 500 that claim to have been affected by Cupid. We're still looking into those though. We've also had 35 calls from people claiming to be Cupid. We've investigated each, and each seems to be a false claim, but we have noted the identities of all who did make this claim.

"Additionally, as instructed, we have been monitoring broadcasts, and interviewing various likely victims in the media, with particular emphasis on the timing of the events. There are nearly no incidents reported to have occurred between the hours of 11pm and 6am, a large number occurring between 9am and 4pm, and a scatter in the rest of the hours. The exception to this seems to be on holidays where only a scatter is shown all day, with the same absence in the nighttime hours," the officer concluded, placing his folder on his desk.

As that officer sat, another, sitting at the front, spoke. "It should be noted, L, that we're having great difficulty discerning naturally occurring incidents, false reports, and Cupid's activity."

"Yes, director, I understand, but please, do your best," L responded in his usual computerized voice. "As to the timing, this suggests that our Cupid is likely a house-wife or other stay at home type. She might have a husband who works during the hours with most concentration, or perhaps children at school, or both. "

"But how do you know this, particularly that Cupid is a woman?" one of the detectives asked.

"I don't. I'm playing the odds. The scatter of events tells us that Cupid has access to television at nearly all hours and days, suggesting she is at home rather than at some place of work. The concentration in the morning and afternoon suggests naturally that this access is at its greatest during this period. If Cupid is at home, the only elements that would limit her access to television is the presence of others. Their absence would give her the greatest freedom to work. Statistically, a household is more likely to have a male working and the female at home at this time. Beyond that, my analysis of the television programs involved, and incidents in general also suggests that Cupid is female.

"Do understand, this is not yet certain, and if you find evidence to the contrary it is still valuable. But for now, we shall proceed on this assumption," L concluded to the officers' satisfaction. "Now, regarding the claims of affects from the public. Pay particular attention to these. I have no doubt that many will be false, but many are likely to be true as well. We are looking for likely individuals affected who did not appear in the media. It is quite possible, even probable that Cupid may have used her power first on those she knew in her everyday life. We may find a pattern in that."

"Of course," the director agreed.

"As well, I wish you to look back at the media figures affected, or rather look back at those not affected."

"Why?" another officer asked.

"Cupid was unable to affect me. I wish to discover why. The obvious answer is that she could not learn my identity and that is necessary, but what part of my identity is needed? In particular, concentrate on looking at those media personalities using stage names, heavy make up, or who simply don't actually show themselves on screen. See if any of these show an unusual absence of individuals affected. That is all." With that, the computer screen went blank, leaving the officers discussing this amongst themselves.


Oblivious to all the attention she was getting from the police, Kasumi was happily humming to herself as she prepared dinner in the kitchen, Trista, as usual, at her side. After giving Kasumi a persistent puppy dog expression for at least five minutes, Kasumi finally took a quick break to grab the love goddess a couple cookies.

"You sure do like those," she commented as Trista seemed to almost inhale the treats. The goddess only nodded in response. "Trista, I meant to ask for a while now, but how do you figure out if two people are compatible or not?" Kasumi asked as she returned to her preparations. "It has proven really troublesome for me."

"I can see it," Trista responded easily.

"See it?" Kasumi asked in confusion.

"Didn't I explain this?" Trista asked, but Kasumi looked back and shook her head. "Oh, well, it's part of the whole eye deal. Guess I should go over that too. You see, we Love Goddesses aren't like you humans. You just use the note to make people fall in love. We Love Goddesses get a bonus out of the deal. For every moment that a person stays in love under our influence, we get that same moment more youth. So, if a person stays in love for a year, I would get an extra year of youth. Pretty simple really, and unlike certain other gods I could mention we aren't stealing anything from the people we make fall in love. Nope... Oh, and we don't need to ask people their names and stuff, we just see it. Like right now, when I'm looking at you I can see your name plain as day. As well, if I envision someone else, I can see the thread of fate connecting you with that person so I get a decent idea of how much time I'd get out of the deal."

"Thread of fate?" Kasumi echoed.

"Yeah. You know about the red string of fate, right?"

"Oh yes," Kasumi said with a smile. "It's supposed to join people who are to be soul mates and get married... ah, I see now."

"Exactly, although for us there are more than just red ones. Red is the color of true love. The closer to red the line is, the stronger the compatibility. The further away, the worse the compatibility. Cyan is basically as bad as it gets. Blue and green are sorta in the middle, and we already talked about red. Black and white are special reserved colors."

"For?" Kasumi asked curiously.

"White is for someone who is already in love with the person you're envisioning. Black... I never seen a black honestly, so I don't really know what it means. Something bad I assume since I do remember that we're supposed to avoid it."

"I see."

"Oh yeah. I can offer to give you the love goddess eyes," Trista added, to which Kasumi looked horrified. "Not really, just wiggle my fingers and you can see like I can. No actually eyeballs involved," she quickly amended.

"Oh, thank goodness," Kasumi replied with a sigh of relief. "That sounds very useful."

"Yeah, but there is a catch. You see I have to, sorta, take half of your self control, or taken another way, double your... sex drive," Trista explained a bit hesitantly.

"Double my sex drive..." Kasumi repeated. "That doesn't sound so good."

"It can be fun," Trista suggested to which Kasumi looked skeptical. "Yeah, you're right, it kinda sucks. But, the offer remains at any time. It only takes me like a second to do it, so don't be afraid to ask. Oh, I should also warn you if you give up the note, you lose the eyes too, but you don't get back your control."

"Too?" Kasumi echoed in confusion. "What else do I lose?"

"Didn't I..." Trista started to say, but noticing Kasumi confused expression knew the answer. "Guess not, well, if you give up the note you lose all your memories of it. Kinda like selective amnesia. If you regain possession your memories return, or if you simply touch the note again, but if it's not yours, you only regain the memories while touching it. In any case, your memories may come back, but not the eyes and you don't get your self control back either. You give up the note, you give up the eyes and will have to trade for them again, and believe me, you don't want to make that bargain twice."

Kasumi smiled, but with a slightly strained look. "Yes. I don't think I'll be doing that. It sounds a bit... extreme. But, I suppose that means Ranma isn't my true love then since you would have used your note to make me-"

"Actually, it doesn't," Trista interrupted to say. "Compatibility is not fixed. That is to say, it changes over time until the moment you fall in love. Today Ranma may not be your true love, but tomorrow, given a change in circumstances he may well be. However, that time can also pass. It only becomes committed, if you will, when you fall in love. Up till then it is all just a matter of the variables."

"I see," Kasumi said with a nod of understanding. "I wonder... how much does compatibility fluctuate? I mean, could perhaps someone who was very incompatible become compatible?"

"You're thinking about that Chinese girl again, aren't you?" Trista asked suspiciously, to which Kasumi only smiled innocently. Sighing, Trista thought aloud. "I really haven't seen big swings in compatibility. It can happen in theory, I suppose, but usually it is only smaller changes. Besides, I should warn you, after you use the note once on a couple, once they fall out of love, their compatibility typically goes right into the gutter no matter how strong it was before. You'd be lucky to get a few minutes out of them now."

"Oh well, it was a thought," Kasumi remarked with a bit of disappointment that was quickly forgotten. Brightening, Kasumi smiled at Trista. "I don't suppose you-"

"No!" Trista quickly answered. "I told you before, I'm not supposed to help you. It's against the rules and I've been bending those rules enough as is. You want the benefits of the eyes, you got to trade for them. No getting around that."

Kasumi sadly nodded just as the door to the front of the house could be heard opening followed by someone walking up the hall. Kasumi decided it was time to end the conversation, although as usually, Trista little cared about that.

"Speaking of loves and compatibilities, you know I'm suppose to find you a true love. How am I suppose to do that if you stay cooped up here most the time. You got to get out more so I can get some more potentials to work with," Trista complained as Nabiki entered the kitchen.

"Hello Nabiki," Kasumi greeted, ignoring Trista.

"Hey Kasumi," Nabiki replied as she opened the fridge to retrieve a drink.

"How was school today?"

"Oh the usual. Kuno still is convinced that Ranma is Cupid and giving him a ton of grief over it."

"Oh?" Kasumi remarked. "Why would he think that?"

Nabiki shrugged as she drank back a can of pop. "Who knows how Kuno-baby's mind works. All I can guess is he sees Ranma has multiple girlfriends and that's all the excuse he needs. Mousse seems to be thinking that too. Of course, neither of them seem to realize that Ranma doesn't want those girlfriends..."

"Yes," Kasumi agreed.

"And Ukyo, she has her bets on Shampoo."

"Shampoo? Why her?"

Nabiki looked at Kasumi skeptically, but then explained. "You know, she does kind of have a history with love magics. Beyond that, it seems awfully convenient that all her chief rivals suddenly find themselves with new love interests, not to mention she seems to be the only one to overcome a sudden love interest of her own."

"Well, it is suspicious, I agree, but I'm sure Shampoo isn't involved," Kasumi replied.

Nabiki nodded. "Oh, probably not. It's not her style, and why not go directly after Ranma? Of course, Shampoo seems to be convinced it is Mousse, which is about as logical as all the other possibilities. It's just a big mess."

"Oh dear," Kasumi said with a slightly worried look. "I hope no one gets in trouble over this."

Nabiki waved this off. "It's just everybody doing their usual things, just with a new excuse. If it wasn't Cupid, it would be something else. Still, seems everybody is out to find out who Cupid is."

"Oh? I suppose it is only natural that everyone would be curious," Kasumi replied as she finished up with dinner preparations.

"Yeah..." Nabiki replied as she finished her drink and headed to the door, but then stopped. "I don't see you going out much lately, sis. You usually at least go see Tofu once a week or so."

Kasumi nodded. "I did go to see him the other day, but he had a sudden emergency out of town apparently. And the time before that he was ill. Just bad luck I suppose," Kasumi explained with a slightly sad tone but quickly cheered up. "Why?"

"Oh, no particular reason. Just thinking you've been spending an awfully lot of time at home lately. You should get out more," Nabiki commented.

"See, even she thinks so," Trista added.

"I don't really have a lot of time-"

"Oh yes you do," Nabiki replied quickly. "You know, if you don't want to go out alone, I'm sure Ranma would go along." Kasumi started at the suggestion, causing Nabiki to grin. "Come on Kasumi, Akane knows, I know and you know he got hit by Cupid."

"How did...?" Kasumi started to asked, but quickly realized it was probably obvious. "I'm sure that wasn't Cupid's intention. Besides, it would be very inappropriate for me and him to go out together. He's engaged to Akane."

"Technically he's engaged to a Tendo. Nothing says we can't change the arrangement. It's not exactly like he and Akane get along as is and I'm sure you're just as aware as I am about her new interest," Nabiki argued.

"Listen to this girl, she knows her stuff," Trista agreed, but only gained a quick frown from Kasumi in response.

With a sudden shrug of indifference, Nabiki turned once more to leave. "Just a suggestion. I mean, you stick around here so much and people might start thinking it's odd. With all the suspicion in the air, some fool might get the idea you're Cupid."

"Me?!" Kasumi said with a start. "That's silly," she said, trying to cover of her nervousness, but Nabiki had already left. Instead Trista took her place and gave her a disapproving look. "Maybe... maybe I should go out a bit more often," she conceded at last.


Cologne frowned in frustration and deep thought as she closed the last of her ancient tomes. 'Blast, it's not here,' she thought. 'I know I've seen a reference to this kind of phenomena before...' she pondered as she looked out into the Nekohanten's dining room in consideration where Shampoo was closing up for the night.

Since kicking Mousse to the street, Shampoo had been in a rather mixed mood. Her anger with the boy was all too obvious. Merely mention his name and something would be broken in mere seconds by the young Amazon. However, at the same time, she also seemed to be very introspective of late. Some might speculate that this was due to not having Mousse about anymore, but Cologne did not think that was the case. Oh, Shampoo was likely missing the company. Even as annoying as the male Amazon could be to her, he was someone from home in a foreign land. Without him abouts, the sting of loneliness probably was that much greater. However, Shampoo's usual way of compensating for Mousse not being abouts pestering her was to thrust more attention onto Ranma. Such was not the case this time. In fact, she seemed to have done almost the opposite.

'Perhaps being on the other side of emotional magic has left a bad taste in her mouth for it,' Cologne thought with a slight smile. If that was the case, it probably would do her some good. Cologne never discouraged Shampoo from using such methods herself on her desired husband, but not for lack of disapproval. No, it simply wasn't Cologne place to dictate Shampoo's methods. Ultimately, it was still Shampoo's responsibility to get Ranma to agree to this marriage. Cologne could do little more than assist now and then after realizing her would be son-in-law was very resistant to coercion.

'Still, current events are troubling. The Cupid has already tried his power once on Shampoo. He may try again, and I'm not liking the odds that the next chosen male will be son-in-law. I have to figure out what is going on before this gets out of hand,' the elder thought. 'I don't think I have any choice in the matter...' "Shampoo!"

"Yes, great grand mother?" Shampoo asked, looking over.

"We're closing up the restaurant for a while. I have to go back to China to investigate some things."

"Now?!" Shampoo responded in shock.

"Yes, now," Cologne replied with a scolding look. "This is serious and can't be left any longer. You'll have to stay here though," she explained, but Shampoo seemed only to slump at hearing this. "I should be back in week or so."

"...Okay," Shampoo replied, obviously not pleased about being left alone.

"One piece of caution. Whatever this Cupid is using, it at least seems to leave you in control. Keep that in mind, and don't trust any sudden feeling you may have," Cologne said and gained a nod from Shampoo. "Good, I have to make some arrangements."


End Chapter 4

As I noted in chapter one, all input is welcome here. My ideas on this story are pretty sketchy right now meaning most my time is actually spent figuring out what to write rather than actually writing it, which is not the usual hold up for me.