The Last Grandmaster Chapter 2, a Ranma + Evangelion Crossover fanfic

Okay here is chapter 2 of The Last Grandmaster a Ranma ½ Evangelion crossover fan fiction. Thanks to both James Axelrad and Nysk for their assistance with this fic.

Also I would like to thank those reviewers out there.

And for those waiting on updates on my other fics, Making a Difference will probably be updated after Christmas because the thumb drive with the reedited copies are 304.6 miles from my apartment at the moment. However other updates are coming soon I now just need to respruce up some of the chapters.

Sorry about no updates yesterday but I apparently got sidetracked with baking cookies at my sisters.

Anyway I think today you guys will get this and one other fic, not sure which one though.

I'm such a bastard…

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Nerv Infirmery

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Ranma slowly opened her eye's only to squeeze them shut in pain at the offensive bright lights beaming right into her skull. Had she not been suffering from a excruciating headache she might have muttered something rather unpleasant. As it was she was having problems just laying there with her whole body throbbing with pain.

After several agonizing moments where her body struggled to work through enough of the pain to allow her some sensory input the redhead began to once again slowly open her eyes the difference this time though was she could actually somewhat focus on her surroundings, unfortunately she realized that even with her eyes open she was limited to only being able to see within the sphere of her peripheral vision as her head seemed to be strapped in place along with one of her arms and both her legs. Realizing that she was in traction the locked girl almost let loose a amused sigh only to cut herself short as the action proved to be rather painful.

After several minutes though she was starting to get bored with just staring straight ahead, not to mention that the florescent light was starting to add to her already throbbing headache. Closing her eyes with a grimace the redhead just tried to put the light out of her eye by trying to reach out with her other senses in a attempt to keep herself occupied. After a few minutes she sighed audibly while holding back a grimace and called out, "Hey you on the other side of the room? I don't suppose you can turn that light off for me?"

After waiting a few minutes in silence Ranma held back another sigh and answered herself, "I suppose not… Damm that light is annoying. You'd think that if there was someone sleeping in the room they'd at least turn off the lights."

Still not hearing any sort of reply the bedridden redhead offered, "Don't suppose you're even awake… No, probably not… Wonder where I am, sort of new around here, just got here… Yesterday? Not sure really…"

Not hearing a response Ranma quieted down and sat their silently for a few minutes, slightly unnerved with the near complete silence until she got bored enough to start talking again, "So giant robots huh… Sort of neat… I suppose, seemed to have a bit of an issue staying on its feet though… Ohh that reminds me… Stupid robot getting in my way, I had that thing right where I wanted it I was gonna… you know here I am just talking away and it just occurred to me that I haven't introduced myself, Yoiko Soatome…" "That's not my name… My names Ranma… Okay let's try this again." "Yoiko Soatome at your service…"

Instantly Ranma knew that there was something wrong and would had thought that the inability to speak her own name out loud would have spooked her or at the least gotten some sort of physical reaction from her, but somehow after the initial realization that she was speaking the wrong name it just didn't seem to matter, like that was just her name. After running the past few minutes back through her head though she realized something else, she was being way too talkative, she wasn't a mute on a normal day but the way she was talking was sort of reminding her of some of those girls back in school who would just keep talking about random stuff.

"Rei Ayanami."

Ranma blinked at the soft spoken reply before her eyes lit up, apparently whomever she was sharing the room with was a bit quiet but at least now she had somebody to talk to. "Oh hey you are awake, nice to meet ya. Don't suppose you can tell me where I am?"

"You are inside NERV in their infirmary."

"Uhm thanks I guess… Err Rei, NERV?"

"That is classified information, Saotome-San. "

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earlier

Ritsuko had been working in her office going over all of the lab work she had done on their mystery girl staring at it in disbelief, the girl was human, technically superhuman but completely human none the less. Some how the girl had managed to unlock her own AT field and bring it into the visible spectrum while manipulating it into a energy blast.

Theoretically she supposed that it was possible, there was only a small less than two percent variance between the DNA of an Angel and that of a human but to think that there was a normal human running around capable of performing such feats had her mentally cycling through some of the possibilities. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts of potential guinea pigs the doctor once again returned back to her work as despite the girls obvious humanity there was a slight variance in her molecular make up that while it was breaking down on it's own the fact that it was there needed an explanation. At first glance she had thought it to be possible Angel contamination and it still could be that, the problem was is that they just didn't know enough about angels for her to get a definite answer.

Seeing a blinking light on her display the dyed blond blinked in shock, it seemed that the girl was already awake, "I suppose I should go check in on her, I do have my orders, though this is going to make running tests on her more difficult. Wasn't really counting on her to wake for a few more days.

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"What do you make of this old man?" Gendo motioned to several reports sitting on his desk

"I'm not sure. Is she even human?"

"Dr. Akagi reports that she is in fact fully human."

"And she is certain of this?"

"She assures me that she is."

Letting out an amused snort at the situation at hand Kozo Fuyutsuki replied, "To think all this time… I wonder how many more like her there are hiding out there."

"I do not know, nor do I care to speculate on the matter, what is troubling are her abilities and the two weapons that she had and the fact that they have vanished… There was something odd about those weapons and if there are more of those out there within reach it could prove to be troublesome."

"Do you think that they could be Angelic in nature?" Kozo asked.

"I'm not sure. If they aren't then we might have a more serious threat to our plans that just the angels and SEELE." turning his back to his old professor Gendo pushed a button on the wall that in turn revealed the inside of a hospital room that was currently occupied by both the unknown girl and Rei Ayanami.

"She's awake? Already? I thought Akagi mentioned that she wouldn't be conscious for several more days."

"It seems that she has regenerative capabilities similar to that of an angel." turning the screen off Gendo turned back to his old mentor and added, "Due to the less than stellar performance of the third child the UN as well as the Japanese government are concerned about our ability to fight the angels. They requested that I turn this girl over to the JSSDF once she has recovered enough from her injuries for debriefing and possible recruitment."

"Are you going to hand her over?"

"With the effectiveness of the Evangelions in question releasing this girl to a agency outside NERV could prove to be inconvenient. SEELE has already consulted with me on the matter and have ordered me to name her the fourth child," Gendo explained.

"Do we even know if she can sync with an eva? She just woke up and Akagi is still running tests on her."

"Whether or not she can sync with an EVA is not going to be an issue."

"I see, so this is just a stalling tactic to keep the girl here."

"Yes and if in the meantime she can prove to be useful to us then that is just an added benefit."

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2 days later

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Ranma tried to shuffle herself into a more comfortable position in the bed as she once again went over the events that had brought her into the hospital. The fight had been fairly strait-forward, though in looking back at it she was surprised at the readiness that she had employed her fathers forbidden techniques or even the fact that she had been able to pull them off so readily. Sure the old panda had told her anything and everything goes but she hadn't even hesitated in deploying them whereas when she fought Saffron the thought to use them had not even crossed her mind. "Then again the fight with Saffron was different… At least I think it was different… Saffron wasn't rampaging mindlessly through a city surviving nukes… Even if I had used them he would have just regenerated any damage a vacuum blade did to him." '

Not really satisfied with her own thoughts Ranma shifted mental gears over to what Mrs Ninomiya had told her during the fight about needing to be able to duplicate the teachers ki draining techniques. While she had a good idea of how the techniques were done Ranma didn't like the consequences of using them as she really didn't want to stay in the body of a young woman for the rest of her life. "Then again Hinako sensei's return shots were a lot more powerful than my Moko Takabisha's… Still unless I can figure out how to use those techniques without having to have my pressure points manipulated so I can absorb the energy… I guess I could always try to absorb the ki into some sort of object like a fire cracker or something… Hmm… That could work something sort of like one of the old letch's blasts."

"Saotome san?"

"It's Yoiko, Rie." Ranma replied with a inwardly annoyed grimace at the fact she still couldn't give out her real name and was instead stuck with the name she had used to fool Ryoga into thinking that she was his sister.

"I was wondering if you would like a book to read?"

Ranma's eyes widened in slight shock it had been two days since she had woken up and not once had the girl initiated a conversation let alone offer her something. "Sure, I guess…" not hearing anything else forthcoming Ranma lightheartedly added, "You know for a while there I almost thought that you didn't like me."

Rei blinked unsure as how to answer that, she received an order from the commander that she was to get close to her roommate and report any suspicious activities, however her orders also stated that she was not to disclose her orders either so with that in mind she offered, "I do not dislike you."

Turning her head away from her roommate with a sigh the pigtailed girl muttered to herself, "Well at least I don't have to worry about her love for me." Hearing the door open and noticing a familiar blonde doctor approaching her Ranma greeted, "Hiya doc."

"Yoiko, how are you doing this afternoon?"

"Okay doc, bored, a little hungry and ready to get out of here." Ranma replied with a shrug.

"Well, tell you what…" Ritsuko started, "Why don't I give a call down to the cafeteria and have them bring you up another lunch and then when I get back perhaps we can talk for a little while to help alleviate some of that boredom of yours."

"That's not really necessary doc, I know your pretty busy besides Rei over there already offered to loan me one of her books." Ranma said as she tried to avoid having to have another chat with the woman.

"Nonsense, a good doctor always makes time for her patients. It's no trouble just let me give a call down to the cafeteria and I'll be right back."

Ranma sighed, it's not that she didn't like the doctor or anything like that its just that every time she talked to the woman she would wind up being disturbed by her own answers to the doctors questions which were starting to drive her a little crazy.

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Flashback

"I'm Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, and if you don't mind I have a few questions to ask you."

Offering a roguish grin Ranma shrugged and replied, "Sure go ahead doc."

"What is your name?"

"Yoiko Saotome." Ranma stated quietly unnerved by the fact that she still seemed unable to tell anyone her real name.

"Well Yoiko do you know where you are?"

"The girl on the other side of the room told me NERV's infirmary."

"Well yes but I'm looking for a broader answer."

"Ah… Okay, err somewhere in Japan?"

Ritsuko sighed and replied, "Okay fair enough, Nerv is located with in Tokyo3." sliding a chair next to the redheads bed the blond woman sat down, crossed her legs and continued, "I suppose asking where you are when you don't know where you are can be a bit confusing, sorry about that I am just trying to make sure that you are not suffering from any mental trauma. Now do you remember what happened right before you got here?"

"Oh, you mean that giant b movie reject thing, I think it blew itself up, though I suppose it just got really embarrassed, I mean aside from the little explosions it tossed around it really wasn't that much of a challenge, heck I've seen bricks that hit harder."

"Okay…" The blond woman stated with a small bit of amusement that carried through to her voice at the way the redheaded girl had so casually spoke about fighting the angel. "Now this next question might be a little difficult to answer but was there anything else you remembered between the time Angel self destructed and where you woke up here?"

"Angel?" Ranma asked, "You mean those little guys with the diapers and arrows? Don't remember fighting any of those guys… Well a there were those one guys from awhile back but I think that was some sort of cosplay martial arts thing…"

"Uhm no Yoiko." Ritsuko paused while making a note to ask about cosplay martial arts later, "The creature you fought is called an angel."

"Oh," Ranma replied, "Then, no I guess, one minute I was about to jump down and finish the thing off, the next thing I know I'm waking up here." Pausing briefly as a thought occurred to her the redhead added, "Say Doc? What happened to the two staffs I was using?"

"Okay…" Ritsuko said holding back a frown as she made another note that the teen apparently had no memory of what happened before her rescue. "I'm not sure, the team we sent to retrieve you reported that one of the staffs was with your body but was taken by a third party before our team could secure the area. We are attempting to locate the weapon along with the other one but so far our attempts at locating them have been unsuccessful."

"Oh.." Ranma muttered to herself before asking, "Don't suppose you got a description of whomever took it?"

Shaking her head Ritsuko replied, "Not really, we have a sketch but it was dark so our agents didn't really get a lot of details. Do you have any idea on whom might have taken them?"

"No not really…" Ranma answered, "I just got into town and don't know anyone."

Seeing that she wasn't getting anywhere with that line of questioning the doctor moved on to ask, "Now you mentioned martial arts before can you tell me about it?"

"Pop's or someone had to have taken it, those two staffs are too valuable to be lost like that. Well if they got a sketch then pops doesn't have it because with what I gathered from him and Akane they are trying to hide from view and if there's one thing pop's is good at it's hiding from view. Then again she's not really telling me much so perhaps pops did take it and she just doesn't want to tell me that a panda took the weapons." Ranma thought to herself before snapping her attention back to her visitor and asking, "You mean in general?"

"No, I was thinking more along the line of who trained you, are there others out there like you and what brought you to Tokyo 3."

With a sigh Ranma replied, "My parents… Ranma and Ranko Soatome…" "There it is again… What is wrong with me… Pops trained me I meant to just say pops… why would I tell anyone I trained myself, well I guess it's partially true but still pops mostly trained me and I sure as hell ain't my own mother…" Clearing her throat she continued sadly, "Not that I know of… "No.. Why am I starting to feel like I am about to cry…" she thought to herself before sniffling, "I didn't know where else to go… My parents… they're gone…"

"Ah… It's okay Yoiko… we can continue this after you've had more of a chance to heal…" Ritsuko tried to comfort the teen before she awkwardly left the room, only to stop once she was outside the door and frown because while she hadn't been able to get all the questions in she had heard enough for the moment and felt guilty about overly stressing the girl. The only real consolidation to her conscience though was that with all the drugs running through the girls system there had been no way that she would have been able to lie.

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End flashback

"I'm back Yoiko, hope you don't mind Ramen, it's all the cafeteria had left over from lunch today."

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With Misato

Misato Katsuragi stood purposely outside the door to the commanders office as she tried to mentally review the requests she was about to make. While she recognized the importance of having a capable pilot at the helm of an eva, the constant drills and simulations were really taking their toll on Shinji and if things kept on with their current pace Shinji might very well burn out. And having a burnt out pilot with the only other currently still too injured from a failed sync test is something that could prove to be disastrous to Nerv, the city and the world. Of course she realized that the young girl whom had been combating the last angel could possibly defeat the next one as well, the problem with that though is that the young girl was only in marginally better condition than that of pilot Ayanami.

So after much consideration the night before where her beer supply dropped dangerously low the Nerv Captain had decided to approach the commander and make her case. Grimacing at what could possibly be the end of her career the purple haired woman reached out with her fist and knocked timidly on the door.

"Enter."

Flinching at how even the commander could turn a simple word and twist it into something intimidating the Captain opened the door and took a few hasty steps inside before coming to a abrupt stop and slipping into attention while sounding off, "Captain Misato Katsuragi requesting permission to speak sir."

"Speak."

"Commander I would like to speak about the third child…" Misato stated unnerved as the man behind the desk stared at her impassively from behind his steepled hands. "While I understand the necessity of having our pilots trained and able to operate the equipment, Shinji has been training constantly for 14 hours a day since the last battle and has shown marked improvement in his ability to pilot. I believe… think… request that he be allowed to have the training schedule adjusted to allow him with at least some interaction with children his own age or even attending school as per the mandate pertaining to all child pilots within Nerv." "There I said it… I can't believe it… why hasn't he said anything… Misato now you've done it… I'm going to get fired, this was crazy… Stupid stupid stupid stupid…"

"Very well."

Slouching her shoulders in defeat the purple haired women let out a defeated, "Yes sir…" then though the commanders words actually registered to her and she straightened herself out and snapped back a more confident, "I mean Yes Sir." Not wanting to risk her legs collapsing out from under her Misato started to turn around only to stop as the commander started speaking again.

"Captain, take in mind, Nerv will not tolerate further failings with our pilots."

"Yes sir, I know sir…"

Not even pausing to acknowledge the captains reply Gendo continued, "As the Chief tactical officer of this facility preventing situations like that fall under your responsibility. As well as the health and welfare of our pilots. So I will leave his training up to you as long as he can effectively pilot an Eva it is no consequence. I am also under the understanding that recently you spoke to the third child about his current living arrangements?"

"Yes sir…" Misato replied wondering where the commander had heard that as she had just broached the possibility with Shinji earlier during a break for lunch.

"I will allow that as well under the condition that you accept personal responsibility for all pilots under your charge."

"Sir?"

Breaking his fingers apart Gendo slowly slid two folders across his desk towards the captain and continued, "This will include the care and well being of the first and fourth children. You are dismissed."

After stepping forward to retrieve the two folders Misato briefly flipped them open to get a glimpse at her other two charges. She had known about Ayanami but she hadn't known anything about the fourth child arriving at Nerv. But upon seeing whom the fourth child was she had to visibly refrain herself from spinning around and leaving the room in a mad dash to the infirmary. However as the purple haired woman maintained her calm another thought occurred to her and that one had the Captain hesitantly state, "Sir… I'm not sure my current residence is large enough…"

"Arrangements will be taken care . Now dismissed Captain."

"Yes sir."

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"I can't believe that I really did that…" Misato muttered to herself as she forced herself to not run down the hall towards the infirmary. She had stayed by the girls bedside for the first day and a half until she had to answer a summons by sub commander Fuyutsuki. And while it had not been an official reprimand for Shinji's failings in the Eva, the meeting had resulted with a ban on her from entering the infirmary until further notice.

Grinning as she once again looked down to the folder she said to herself, "It seems that I just got my further notice…"

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Having reached her destination Misato stopped short of just barging in and announcing herself as she was starting to have doubts on what she was dealing with, was she going to be meeting a powerful martial artist whom had battled an Angel to a near standstill without an Eva or was she going to be dealing with an potentially emotionally damaged young girl whom was recovering from a traumatic experience. "Well, it's not like we really know what happened in that office building. The body was staged, that much we know, though for what purpose we can't tell. We might have interrupted before things could progress further. I just wish Ritsuko would tell me what she found…"

Not for the first time in the past week she cursed her supposedly best friend for her tight-lipped need to know policy. So after straightening out her uniform and pasting on a nervous smile she hesitantly knocked on the door.

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"Uhm… Come in…" Ranma hesitantly called out while putting the book Rei had loaned out to her off to the side.

Misato blinked while simultaneously suppressing a sigh of relief before opening the door. The voice that had greeted her didn't really sound like a emotionally damaged young girl. "Or she's suppressing things, then again Ritsuko did say that the girl might have been unconscious after the explosion and just simply had no memories of anything that might have happened. Heck I don't even understand how she even survived that blast." And while she thought that ethically the girl had a right to know Misato wasn't really sure about what she could tell her as there just wasn't enough evidence backing any other theory than that of a random crook stealing a weapon.

Regardless of which scenario it was the purple haired woman resolved to show the girl that people were grateful for what she had done. So with that last thought in her head the woman confidently swung open the door and walked over to the girls bedside before announcing herself with, " I'm glad to finally see you awake."

"Yoiko Saotome… Nice to meet you…" Ranma replied awkwardly, "I'm sorry have we met before?"

"Sorry bout that, Captain Misato Katsuragi, Nerv chief of tactical operations. I was the on the team sent to recover you after the Angel fight. You were pretty banged up and it was very touch and go there at first. But you seem to be recovering nicely." Leaning in to hug the girl Misato continued, "I was really worried about you, you are doing better now? Right? They taking good care of you in here? Eating enough? Are they making sure you get all your vitamins? No bad dreams or anything?"

"Uhm… No… I'm doing okay I guess…" Ranma replied nervous from the close proximity to the other woman and her generous assets.

Sighing as she disengaged herself from the teen Misato replied, "That's great news… You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say that, Did I mention that I've been really worried about you." Pulling over a nearby chair so she could sit down Misato clasped her hand over the teens and continued cheerfully, "But no worries now, soon you'll be able to leave the infirmary, sooner if I can get Ritsuko to sign off on it. She does owe me, especially after the week I've had. Then I can bring you home with me so you can finish your recovery somewhere a bit more comfortable."

Not for the first time since waking up Ranma was confused by the events playing out around her. While having odd but attractive women inviting her back to their place was nothing new to the current girl, the fact that her mental eminent danger alert was not sending red flags and telling her to brace for impact unnerved and confused her.

Mistaking the confusion for something else Misato explained, "Well since you have been identified as the fourth child and the welfare and health of all pilots are my responsibility…"

"But Katsuragi-san i don't have any brothers or sisters." Ranma interrupted even more confused about what the woman was talking about as one she didn't have any siblings that she knew of, of course with how long she had been in that coma that could have changed but last time she checked she wasn't a pilot either.

"Huh…" Misato blinked, "Okay first off, it's Misato or Misa-chan if you want, Katsuragi-san is too stuffy for us, I'm sure we are going to be good friends and good friends don't run around being all formal and stuff. As for the fourth bit, it's not fourth child as in 3 other siblings but 4'th child as in… Well it's just a number that we use to designate those whom can fight the angels. I would had thought that they would have explained this to you when you agreed to join Nerv."

"Join Nerv?" Ranma parroted back

"Ohh… Don't tell me…" Misato muttered to herself while she palmed her face in embarrassment before flipping open Yoiko's folder for a more in depth look at the contents.

"Don't tell you what… Katsu… " Ranma started to ask before seeing the woman frown slightly as if she was reminding her to use. "Misato-chan…"

"See that wasn't so bad now was it." Misato beamed happily before coming across the piece of paper she had been looking for and groaning, "Recruitment pending… I'm sorry I was under the impression that they had already spoken to you about possibly joining us to fight the angels."

"Uhm no one mentioned anything like that to me." Ranma replied warily, suddenly unsure of why everyone had been so friendly to her.

Not wanting to lie to the girl Misato started with a nervous chuckle and explained, "I need to be honest with you Yoiko, Nerv was created for the specific purpose to combat the angels as at the time we were unaware that there were people out there like you that could help us defend humanity from them. To put it simply your fight with the angel made a lot of waves, some good some bad. But most importantly it gives me hope that with people like you working with us to defend humanity then we might just win this war. I don't want to beg you but I will, relying on just one option that depends on so many things going right is no way to fight, we really need your help… So what do you say?"

She felt torn, on one hand she really did want to help them as it was part of a martial artists duty but on the other she had a lot of unanswered questions floating around her mind and she really needed to figure out what was happening to her before she could make any sort of commitment. So despite how much of a heel it made her feel like the redhead politely declined with, "Misato-chan… I'd like to help you guy's fight the Angels… I really would… But I've seem to have misplaced my clothes…"

At first she had thought that Yoiko was going to decline her offer but after hearing the last bit Misato grinned back at the girl and replied, "Well that's no problem at all, we'll just have to go shopping then."

"Oh god…" Ranma thought, "I've died and gone to hell… What's wrong with me? Why'd I even suggest that?"

Seeing the distressed look on the girls face Misato offered with a wink, "Don't worry about the money honey, Nerv will be picking up the tab on this one. So we'll just have to make sure that we get you every thing you need, I know a few stores where we can pull an all nighter if necessary."

"That's not really necessary." Ranma replied, pleased at the fact that she seemed to be able say no to that at the least, "But all I really need is a few things, I'm a growing girl, no sense in buying a lot of stuff that I might not wear…" Clamping a hand over her mouth upon the realization that the last part was no where even close to her intended statement of, I really don't need a lot of stuff because I will be taking off soon, Ranma realized that she might very well be stuck sticking around as her mouth just did not want to inform them otherwise.

Laughing lightly at the teens antics the purple haired woman stood up and said, "Well it might not be necessary, but Nerv is footing the bill so you might as well take advantage of it…" leaning in for another hug Misato then added, "As fun as this is though I need to get going to find Shinji and Rei and tell them the good news, then after that I can go see Ritsuko and see about springing you out of here asap."

"Rei Ayanami? Ranma asked nervously as she once again found herself being hugged by the attractive woman.

Blinking as she disengaged herself from the smaller girl Misato curiously replied, "Yes, have you met her?"

Jerking her thumb over to the dividing curtain next to her Ranma replied, "She's over there."

Palming her face at the realization that she had forgotten about Rei's injuries and now faced with the knowledge that she probably could have snuck in to visit Yoiko before if she had known that she was currently sharing a room with the other girl Misato offered, "Well I guess that will be saving me a little time in tracking her down a bit. And on the plus side you and her can continue to get to know each other before we all move in together."

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3 days later

"Now Shinji, since both Yoiko and Rei are still recovering from their injuries I expect you help them out as needed." Misato stated as she slid out of the car to pop the trunk.

Sighing because he knew what was coming next Shinji exited the car and after waiting for both girls to get out before politely closing it and heading for the trunk where he was once again to assume the role of pack mule.

Smiling at the teen for being such a trooper Misato stated, "The sooner we get this stuff upstairs the sooner we can start the party."

"Misato…chan… That's too much, you don't need to go through all that trouble."

"Nonsense Yoiko, we're all roommates now and there's no better way to get started out on the right foot than with a little celebration. Besides it's just going to be the four of us."

"Now come on girl's Shinji is a real gentleman and will take care of unloading the car."

"Uhm okay, just let me grab my fish… Ranma stated as she watched the Misato move towards the elevator with Rei following after her. Turning back to the boy whom was currently in the process of loading himself up Ranma offered an apologetic smile followed by, "Here let me give you a hand with some of that."

"Gomen…" Shinji muttered with a blush as he tried to look away from his new roommate. He still felt terrible about what had happened to her and his role in it. That combined with the fact that she was a very attractive girl whom was being nice to him only made him feel more uncomfortable.

"Not very talkative are you?" Ranma asked as she began to help the poor kid, "You're probably going to get along with Rei real well then, she doesn't say much either." Having finished clearing out the trunk Ranma added. "Well got any idea on which apartment is ours?"

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Later that night

Ranma sighed as she closed the door to her room, the party as Misato had put it was dieing down, though to be fair it had never really gotten started as both Rei and Shinji seemed to be very quiet people. Misato on the other hand had started the party by slamming a beer and kept putting them away at a pace that would have shamed her own father and Mr Tendo combined.

However despite Misato's apparently lush status Ranma did like the older woman as she seemed so cheerful and happy and had actually made a real effort to draw both Rei and Shinji out of their shells some. Unfortunately both of the other teens seemed reluctant to open up. With Shinji it seemed that he was just embarrassed and nervous all of the time while Rei seemed to just be there aware of everything going on but not really participating.

"Well I'd love to stick around and help them out some but with the way my mouth has been working against me, I don't know if that would be a good idea." Shuddering at the stray thought of her mouth confessing undying love towards Shinji while at the same time sparking a feud with Rei over stealing her Shinji-kun when all she had actually meant to say was pass the wasabi Ranma turned her attention to the mirror over her dresser and frowned. At first she hadn't even realized it, the fight with the angel, the stay in the hospital, there had been signs but she had just put them out of her mind thinking it was a side effect to what ever caused her coma. But looking in the mirror she could not deny the fact that somehow she had become younger. A handful of years or so at the most, leaving her looking like she had around the time when she was first cursed or possibly younger.

Not wanting to think anymore about questions she didn't have the answers too the redhead then turned her attention to the small fishbowl containing two Siamese fighting fish. She had convinced Misato to stop at the pet store on a whim but knew if she was going to try to emulate Hinako-sensei's technique she needed a test subject and she was very reluctant to try it out on another human until she had enough of it worked out to ensure she could use it right.

Moving across the room so that she was several feet away from the bowl Ranma slipped a small coin into her fingers and after glancing over to the bowl through the coin began to concentrate on what she was trying to do.

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/BOOOOMMM/

Misato jerked her head up with a start and sprung into action, her heart fluttering with worry over the possibility of something bad happening to one of her charges. Spotting a small amount of smoke billowing out from underneath a door she pushed it open and nearly fell over in shock at the sight of a very singed looking Yoiko standing there with puffs of smoke wafting off of herself. Seeing that the redhead was in shock and didn't seem to be moving the older woman called out, "Rei could you come out here please?"

"I am here." Rei announced as she stepped into view wearing nothing but a towel, which of course would have been fine except said towel was just acting as a drape for the blue haired girls arm. Looking frantically around for the sole male in their household Misato tried to warn the girl with a whispered, "Rei…"

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH….. Misato… Misato… Misato… There's a…"

Palming her face as the bathroom door behind her slammed open to reveal a very panicking and naked Shinji Misato tried to reign some sort of control on the situation only for Yoiko's clothes to choose that exact moment to fall apart and onto to the ground.

Shinji stopped in his tracks upon noticing that his guardian was just standing there in front of him, worried that there might be something wrong he went to move around her only to stop dead in his tracks as the slight shift in perspective allowed him to see what she was staring at. Instantly he tried to politely avert his eyes only for them to stumble across the nude form of his other roommate.

Upon hearing the loud thud behind her Misato shook her head and muttered to herself, "I'm going to need more beer. I can't believe this… I'm living with a bunch of nudists…"

Omake

Upon hearing the loud thud behind her Misato shook her head and muttered to herself, "I think I'm going to need more beer. I can't believe this I'm living with a bunch of nudists…" Looking around herself at all the naked flesh on display the purple haired vixen was filled with another thought, one that showed to her just how brilliant these kids thought they were. "Well two can play that game."

Shrugging out of her shorts that were soon followed by her panties tank top and bra Misato announced, "There's no way I'm about to let myself get stuck with everyones laundry just because I happen to wear the most clothes. You guy's hear that… It's every man for themselves."

Having just snapped back to her senses in time to be confronted with a very nude Misato Ranma did the only thing she could think of.

/THUD/

Rei shrugged as she made her way into the bathroom, Misato's words made a lot of sense. After all she only had a few school uniforms and a box of dirty bandages for her own closet because of her own dislike of doing laundry.