Hellos! It's been some time, huh? Oh well. I had a review asking why my chapter started at 4. That's because this is the direct continuation of another story: Hell Hath No Fury by Bob Lobster who has given me permission to continue the story. Here's the URL (suggested by another reviewer): s/1036032/1/Hell-Hath-No-Fury
Chapter 6
"Whaa?" Usagi, sweating nervously, said, stretching out the word unconvincingly to show 'surprise.' "We're the Sailor Senshi?! What? Who said we were the Sailor Senshi? We're not the Sailor Senshi. No. Of course not!"
"I never said you were the Sailor Senshi." Ranma muttered as she kept her eyes trained on Minako Aino who was revealed to be his V-chan.
"..." Usagi you idiot. Ami, Rei, and Makoto all thought.
There was very audible crunch of paper as Minako balled up the paper in anger.
"Wait. Minako." Ami said diplomatically and logically. "There's no way she's him. It's sheer coincidence."
"Right!" Makoto quickly jumped in and offered her theory.. "Maybe they're just twins that have the same name because of some tragedy… And he's the evil twin of her."
Rei snorted, but stayed silent, understanding the graveness of the situation.
Makoto turned to Ranma in hasty fashion and asked hopefully. "Right? The male Ranma Saotome is your evil twin?"
Usagi nodded encouragingly either out of hope that he really was a twin or out of hope that he would lie about it. Ranma just remained staring at the girl in front of him, continuously racking his brain to see the similarities between her and V-chan.
"No." Minako spat firmly, blocking any chance of response from Ranma. "It's definitetly him."
Ranma sweated. He had cursed badly because of two things. Firstly, if the girl in front really was V-chan, then shit. It was not how he would have liked to have met. Secondly, the pure hatred emanating from the girl truly cemented that V-chan absolutely did not see him in any favorable light.
Minako chuckled darkly. "You were that girl from yesterday in the alley. When I asked yesterday where he, you, ran… you lied. You were just standing right there. I knew I recognized you when you were in the shop."
That confirmed it. The girl in front of him was truly Sailor V. Beautiful like the heroine herself. Ranma defended himself, stuttering as he spoke. "W-wait you don't understand. V-chan I-"
"Don't call me that." Minako spat. "What was that stuff yesterday? 'Just a stupid fight'" She mocked. "'Who cares? Everybody loses to Ranma.' What is that shit? Rubbing it in my face while I stood clueless. I bet you enjoyed watching me cry."
"I-" Ranma started.
"And then you have the gall to come strolling in today to rub it in my face and see my failure." Minako ranted blindly, referring to mere minutes ago. "'Seeing an acquaintance,' huh? You thought I was the problem?"
"Mina, calm down." Usagi pleaded, hoping the situation wouldn't escalate to violence. "She-He didn't know you were… He was just as surprised as you were."
"So what is this, huh?" Minako ignored Usagi and referred to Ranma's current female form. "Some youma disguise to hide in? Sick pervert."
"Youma?" Ranma questioned slowly. "No, I-"
Minako threw a suckerpunch. However, she wasn't powered up and with Ranma capable of going toe to toe against an enhanced Senshi, in addition with his girl's form tremendous speed, the punch was pitifully slow. Ranma dodged easily to the side, throwing Minako slightly off balance to which she quickly corrected herself.
"Stop! I just want to talk!" Ranma cried as he slowly backed up. Why does this happen to him so much? Why couldn't he keep a meaningful relationship?
Minako didn't listen and followed up with more predictable and relatively weak punches and kicks to which Ranma dodged all of them instinctively, ducking, weaving and jumping.
"P-please." Ranma's voice broke up slightly. He didn't stop moving and took note of the rage in her eyes.
The rest of group watched with stupor along with some other onlookers. Minako was relentless in her futile chase.
"Minako!" Usagi cried desperately, taking note of the gathering crowd. "Stop it, you're making a scene! He just wants to talk… He's not going to hurt you."
"What did I do?" Ranma honestly yet ignorantly asked.
"What did you do?" Minako growled through gritted teeth. "You made my life a living hell in London!"
"What do you mean?" He dejectedly asked.
There was a short hysterical laugh yet her moves didn't stop. "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Your taunts, your beatings, your little traps, your shiteating smile. You must be the worst, most evil person on this planet. I just want to forget you so you get out of my life!"
Ranma had full validation in her response and relatively strong validation in her fighting style, it was most definitely V-chan. He could go on forever. With anger fueled attack like these, he could probably still go on with his daily life and only instinctively dodge. However, he truly did want to talk about the situation and Sailor V or Minako wouldn't let him.
It was pretty much his life story: Fight first, questions never. However, this situation hurt him more than the other ones. Some intrinsic hope within was crushed, a potential future of crime fighting or monster bashing destroyed, and a friend completely, utterly lost.
The gravity of the situation finally crashed upon him. Finding injustice and outrage at his misfortune, a scathing fiery aura erupted from his body, shocking the viewers in the vicinity. Minako didn't seem to notice and kept up her flurry of punches and kicks. But, almost immediately after the violent red aura erupted, it collapsed and bewitchingly shifted to a small sickly green color. Ranma stopped with his eyes closed.
A thunderous smack rang through the abnormally muted streets causing spectators to wince in empathy.
Minako's lips widened in an euphoric smile as she panted through gritted teeth. She hit him. After years of his constant, irritating dodges she finally landed a solid hit on the damned boy. It was a ringer too, a right hook to his left cheek. Minako laughed internally, it was sure to knock anybody else. That was when Minako realized something was wrong. Her happiness was quickly squashed in favor of bewilderment.
She was still extended in her hook, her fist still planted on his cheek. That was the first problem, his head barely moved and it was impossibly solid. The second problem was that her hands were strangely wet and she knew it wasn't from sweat. The third and last problem was that she could literally feel a… sadness emanating in front of her. She finally traced her eyes along her arm and up to the face of her enemy. Her eyes widened and she immediately retracted her hand to her side. There was a ghastly color of a green surrounding him but what shocked the most was the expression of pain coupled with silent tears. She unconsciously rubbed the back of her hand on her shirt to dry it.
Minako blankly spoke. "Wha-"
Ranma finally moved. With a small drop of his head, causing his vibrant hair to drop, he turned around a leapt off to the rooftops. "I'm sorry."
Minako's brows furrowed as she watched a fluttering pigtail disappear in the distance. She felt no relief, no burden released.
"Don't let him get to you." A soft voice advised amusedly.
"Michiru, I know. But, just… stupid, narcissistic, vulgar... stupid men!" A voice responded angrily, evidently ignoring the given advice.
"You said 'stupid' twice, Haruka-papa." A younger third voice said.
The replied came back muddled. "I know… I was going to say a different word, but you're here, Hotaru."
The three of them were at their home, enjoying a homemade breakfast by Michiru. It after having their morning walk which consisted of a encounter with a pigtailed boy.
"Could we see him?" Hotaru said excitedly. "I want to see him do other cool stuff! He said to goto Nerima and to the Tendo dojo!"
Haruka replied snarkily. "What's so interesting about him when we can throw blasts of magical planetary power from your hands. We use magic from entire planets for god's sake and battle youma on a weekly basis."
"But he's human!" Hotaru begged. "It's so cool that a normal person can be so skillful."
"You don't know that." Haruka quipped. "What kind of human can jump off a five story building harmlessly? Or disappear into thin air? I bet he's a youma in disguise."
"You shouldn't underestimate human capabilities." Michiru chimed in serenely as she took a sip of her tea.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Haruka questioned roughly, tearing through the bread on her plate.
Before Michiru could answer, Hotaru appeared in front of Haruka, cuddling into her lap and facing her. "Pleaseeeee?" Hotaru begged while shining ridiculously wide, teary eyes.
"..." Haruka's displeasure quickly lost the battle to cuteness overload. "Fine…"
"Yay! I love you, Haruka-papa!"
"But only so you can see me whoop his ass."
"Haruka!" Michiru admonished.
"M'bad." Haruka mumbled.
"Can we go now?" Hotaru asked eagerly. "I already finished my homework!"
"Already?" Michiru asked motherly.
"Uh huh! We weren't given a lot, it's the weekend."
"Not now, but after lunch maybe." Haruka answered with a small smile. "Can't go butt kicking on an empty stomach after all."
"You promise?" Bright, twinkling eyes locked with irritable ones, melting the latter to be softer.
"I promise." Haruka confirmed, rubbing Hotaru's hair affectionately.
"Yay!"
Michiru rolled her eyes. "You know, not many people rile you up this much. What's so special about this one?"
Haruka replied honestly. "I actually don't know, but there's something about him tha- Gah!" Haruka jumped in surprise.
The surprise caused Michiru to raise a brow in response and when noticing the direction of her lover's visión, she slowly turned around. "Oh! Hello Setsuna. Care to join us for breakfast?" She greeted pleasantly.
The aforementioned woman looked ragged. Dark bags drooped under her eyes and her skin seemed to sag tiredly, plaguing her usually flawless face. Her hair seemed hastily put up, but it was distinguishable to see that just before she came, she had been gripping her hair tightly. Her clothes were clean, consisting of a typical suit and tie, and there was a fresh soapy smell emanating from them. Contrasting her fatigued complexion, her eyes themselves remained the same as always, cold and calculative.
"Setsuna-mama!" Hotaru cheered and dashed towards the woman to engulf her in a hug, her arms reaching barely above the tall woman's waist. Setsuna's stoic expression cracked with a small smile and the return of the hug.
Haruka, who had glaring at the older woman irritably for scaring her, spoke snappily with mixture of genuine concern and annoyance. "Something wrong?"
Setsuna immediately lost her smile and gently removed herself from the hug much to Hotaru's disappointment. "Indeed there is."
"Well?" Prompted an impatient voice. "What is it? Do we need to do something? Did the inners screw up? ...Again?"
"Crystal Tokyo is no longer a future." Setsuna's eyes hardened as if subconsciously emphasizing the seriousness of the situation.
"What?" Came from dual voices of the lesbian couple.
Haruka, who stood up suddenly in shock, babbled. "How? Who? When? Why?"
"...I don't know." Setsuna painfully admitted. She stared absently at the walls of the house, silently appreciating Michiru's homely touches.
"What?" Haruka questioned angrily. "How can you not know? You have the time gates for god's sake!"
"Haruka, calm down!" Michiru chided behind her own worried expression.
"I'm as frustrated as you are." Setsuna responded in a tired yet leveled voice. "The time gates won't show me anything I want anymore. Every time I look into the gates, everything is fuzzy. Like static on a television. I only know that Crystal Tokyo is not a possible outcome."
"Static?" Haruka crossed her arms in a huff. The gates are fricken magic! Did you forget to pay the time bill or something?"
"This is not the time for jokes." Setsuna said tersely. Haruka let out a puff of irritation.
"What can we do?" Michiru asked.
"The best we can do is to look out for any suspicious characters and always be on guard. My foresight is no longer a tool. Understood?" Setsuna commanded to which all three Sailors nodded somberly. "Good. I'll be informing the inners."
Silence reigned the household as Setsuna left as quick as she came.
"What do you think is happening?" Michiru inquired, breaking the silence.
"Who knows?" Haruka answered. "Obviously, it's an enemy and a powerful one too if they could disable the timegates." The blond scrunched her face, brows furrowing and lips slightly puckered.
Michiru closed her eyes while wrapping her hands around a mug, enjoying the warmth emitted. "Why can't we enjoy our lives in peace without this constant worry?"
"It's our job." Haruka answered the rhetorical question. "It's impossible for anybody else to handle something even as simple as a youma."
Michiru nodded solemnly in agreement.
"Men don't cry." Ranma, still in female form, scowled and jerkily wiped his eyes. He sat on top of a tree, knees to the chest, in a forest nearby Juuban. He needed to think, he needed to destress, he really needed to hit something. Mimaki? Minako. Minako Aino was V-chan. V-chan was around a bunch of other girls, like Daisuke and Hiroshi said, that means they're likely also Sailor Senshi plus the odango girl blatantly said they were. V-chan is apart of their group. There are 5 girls there and there are 5 sailor senshi, so V-chan is Sailor Venus. He rubbed his forehead, wonderful, so he was wrong about another thing. She was furious, wasn't she? Did he really ruin her life during those two years? Yea, he did. No he didn't, it was another misunderstanding, another "Fuck you" in his life. It was his idea of 'fun.' Yet another screw up Pops created to his psyche. His thoughts heated up. Suddenly there were screams and cries for help.
He clenched his fists, screw thinking.
"Minako! Could you stop?" Usagi cried after her friend who was several paces ahead of her and the rest of the group. After Ranma had fled, the pressure from the curious and shocked stares from onlookers got too heavy for Minako and she suddenly fled.
The other blond didn't respond and kept running through the streets. "Minako c'mon! We have to talk about this!" Usagi cried out with small tears welling up. Everything happened so fast and during every point of it, she was so helpless.
"That's enough Mina!" Makoto yelled and with her naturally built body, closed the distance between her and her friend, passed her, turned and sturdily planted herself in the way of the blonde, forcing the girl to stop. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Minako?"
She didn't reply, rather keeping her head down. With the long pause, the rest of their group finally caught up.
Frustrated with the lack of response, Makoto spoke. "We were supposed to talk things out! Not go hot-headedly into a fight with a stranger!"
Minako finally looked up. "Stranger? He-sh- it was Saotome! Don't you see the similarities? He responded to names that it should understand, the names you guys gave me."
Makoto frowned heavily. "It probably was just a coincidence. She lives with Ranma, probably as a twin sister or something."
"With the same name?" Minako countered. "It called me V-chan! The disgusting nickname that it would always call me. She never existed in London, he told me he was an only child."
"Stop calling her an it." Makoto snapped.
"Well it is a monster, a youma. What else disguises themselves to trick people?" Minako retorted.
"It's a water-based curse from Jusenkyo, China." Ami popped in, turning their attention to her. Looking at Minako, Ami continued, "I was wrong earlier about coincidence. I took out the Mercury computer and finished the scans from yesterday during that fight. He's originally a male but thanks to the springs, he was cursed to change to female whenever in contact with cold water and he returns back when in contact with hot water. The computer confirmed their identities to be the same and shows the curse. Pretty powerful magic there."
"How fitting." Minako quipped quickly.
Ami quickly added. "I can also confirm that he's 100% human.
Makoto picked up the conversation. "Okay so, she was him. That means you should stop calling him it. If you were paying attention, he didn't want to fight at all. He wanted to talk. But nooooo, yelling and brawling was the better idea."
Minako looked defiant and was about retort when her body language collapsed and sagged. "Why…" Minako mumbled, looking up to each of her four other friends with heavy eyes. "Why are you guys all against me?"
"Mina…" Usagi pleaded. "Don't be like this. You're opting for a solution for violence. It's not what the Sailor Senshi stand for. It's not what you stand for."
"I…" Minako faltered, closing her eyes. "I'm so confused."
"The first step in solving your problems is to talk." Usagi lectured solemnly.
"We've talked enough." Minako groused.
"Well it wasn't enough." Usagi declared. "We just learned a bunch of things about Ranma, so maybe we could sort things out from there."
"No." Minako said, looking up with clear eyes, surprising the group. "I'm done with him. I finally hit him in forever and he ran away, forfeiting. I won finally and that's it. I'm just going to forget him and that's it." Minako smiled shakily to which her friends scowled slightly in suspicion.
"Finally." Rei joined the conversation, irritably. "Though, I wouldn't really say you hit him… He let you hit him."
"Rei!" Makoto admonished the raven haired girl. "Whose side are you on?"
"What?" Rei asked surprised. "I'm on the side of logic. Minako didn't land a hit on her own. Besides you're defending that guy too."
Incensed, Makoto retorted, "That's not the point! The point is-"
"Guys." Minako interrupted. "It's fine. It's over now. Let's just forget about all this."
Usagi was uncertain, twiddling her fingers as she spoke. "Sure, Mina. But I really think it'll be better for you if you talk things out with him. Like what if he comes back for revenge or something. He knows your identity now."
"And ours." Ami added quietly.
Rei rolled her eyes, ending with a blank stare to their leader. "And whose fault was that?"
"Heh heh..." Usagi chuckled nervously.
"He can't handle the five us, can he?" Mina supplied, a little tiredly.
"But... He can throw tornadoes." Usagi said worriedly. She was ignored.
"Besides he never came to me. I always came to him." She sighed. "Thanks for all the help guys. I think I'll go home, take a nap- or not..." At a sound of an explosion, Minako suddenly tilted up in the direction of the explosion, as did everybody else. Thick smoke was rising several blocks away and muted screams echoed through the streets.
Usagi gave everybody a fierce look. "Let's go."
"Ryoga… You IDIOT!" Ranma yelled exasperatedly.
Nope. It wasn't one of those fabled youmas that he had seen on TV. It was the one and only Ryoga Hibiki. Apparently, he had managed to find himself in Juuban and while yelling and accidentally crushing concrete, he obliviously scared some of the bystanders into screaming and yelling, mistaking him for a monster in disguise.
Ryoga blinked as he stretched himself out an exploded, smoking, crumpled car. "I'm the idiot? This is your fault!" He snarled and darted towards his rival.
"How was it my fault? Huh? I didn't tell you come here." Ranma shouted as he too darted towards him for close combat once more.
As blows flew, many more hit Ryoga than Ranma yet he shrugged them off, being much weaker in his female form. Ryoga spoke as his blows grew progressively stronger with each word. "How dare you insult Akane Tendo with your cheating ways?"
Ranma paused just slightly, letting a solid blow crush him in the chest, blasting him across the street into a concrete wall. The wall collapsed in. Ranma mumbled as he stood up slightly dizzy. "What the hell are you talking about, porky?"
"I know how happy you were to confirm your marriage with that Sailor Scout! Disgusting!" Ryoga roared, closing on to Ranma.
Ranma narrowed his eyes. "How does she know that!?"
"So, you don't deny it!" Ryoga boasted with his chest out proudly while standing over a dazed Ranma. "That's obviously why you ran off in the morning. Betraying Akane like always, I see."
"Buzz off, pig-breath. That's not what happened and you know it!" Ranma caught his second wind while talking and quickly dodged a concrete demolishing punch to the head. Another wall crumpled.
"Akane overheard your friends talking all about it and they explained everything. I was there too." Ryoga grinned cheekily baring his fangs tauntingly. "How dare you walk out on sweet Akane? Have you no honor, Ranma?
Hiroshi and Daisuke… Ranma decided to pound those guys once he got back. Ranma then was incensed by Ryoga at the implication that he was a pig in Akane's arms. He closed the distance between them. "I was hoping you were a youma ya know. But I'm glad you're dumber and uglier than one. I'll feel better beating you up. Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!"
As thousands of blows showered him, Ryoga roared in defiance and a green aura developed. "Ranma Saotome. Prepare to die!" Once wisps of green gathered and darkened, Ranma quickly jumped back and prepared his own counter, charging up his signature ki attack.
"For Love and Justice a sailor suited pretty soldier, Sailormoon! In the name of the Moon I'll- OH SHIT!" A familiar voice interrupted their battle.
The massive green aura winked out of existence from Ryoga and Ranma grew a tick in his eye as he turned around to meet the newcomers. Ryoga inched towards Ranma inconspicuously.
"So much for forgetting about him." A voice deadpanned from the group of five cheerleaders who had just appeared.
"That's a lot of damage…" Another voice said.
"Hey Ranma." Ryoga whispered over to him as he managed to get annoying close to him. "Do those skirts look shorter than on TV…?"
Ranma turned to him with a blank look only to sigh miserably at the bashful beet-red face his monster of a rival had. Ryoga turned back to face the scouts, regardless of Ranma's response, and once Ryoga started to twiddle his fingers pathetically, Ranma, himself, turned back to face them.
Scanning their faces, it was actually difficult to tell if they were really the girls he had spoke to earlier. He supposed he could match each one to the girl he saw. If he hadn't known they were the same he would have never guessed. Of course, he could immediately identify who Sailor Venus was. Now up close and not fighting, he could easily distinguish the features that matched Sailor V from years ago and the girl who just tried to beat him up. She was currently in the very back of the group, wearing a stony face of contempt.
"Guys!" The leader said obnoxiously loudly. "It's the person that Min- er Venus is- was after!"
"We know that, dummy." Retorted the scout in red with an equally obnoxiously loud voice. "We can see too."
"Holy… You said he was human? What in the world happened here?" The scout in green asked, mystified. "Is the boy next to him a youma?"
"Yes." The scout in blue answered, typing away at a highly advanced looking computer. "They're both human."
"Were they fighting a youma?"
"No… Our compacts would have detected that. I was wondering why it wasn't beeping"
"So… they were fighting each other?"
"That seems to be the case. That guy's Ryoga Hibiki from that website."
"Oh? Oh! So, do we reprimand them? Or…?"
"We need to take them to the police! Look at the property damage." The scout in red demanded.
"They're just civilians…" The leader said.
When the group minus V started to converse with Ranma sweatdropped. He couldn't tell if they were trying to loudly imply something in his face or they were simply boisterously clueless.
"They know my name!" Ryoga, still red-faced, gushed beside him.
"Yo, Ryoga." Ranma whispered to his rival. "Let's head back to Nerima, you can shout at me there and we can finish our fight."
Ranma turned around and started to walk in the opposite direction of the scouts. But before he could take more than a couple steps, Ryoga's hand shot out and grabbed the collar of his shirt, stopping him in his tracks.
"Watch the shirt!"
Ryoga pulled Ranma so that they were face to face, Ryoga above due to Ranma's current shorter stature. In a completely serious and accusing tone, Ryoga spoke, "How dare you walk out on the Senshi of love? Have you no honor, Ranma?"
"..." Ranma narrowed his eyes dangerously at his rival. "You have better be fucking joking, pig boy."
"First Akane, now Sailor Venus?" Ryoga growled. "Will you never stop breaking the hearts of young, innocent girls? Scarring their fragile hopes and dreams? To repent, you're going to relinquish yourself to the police."
"What? Are you Kuno now?" Ranma shot back with twitching eyes. "Whose side are you on? Akane or V-chan?"
"Both!" Ryoga declared, causing Ranma to groan loudly. "You don't deserve either one."
"So do you want me to marry them or leave them?" Ranma tiredly asked.
"Yes!" Ryoga answered without a single doubt or jest.
"..." Ranma had enough, with some careful and deliberate shifting, he squirmed out Ryoga's grip and started walking. "Look Ryoga. Just shout at me back at Nerima. I don't want to deal with this." He gestured to the group of still conversing girls.
"Ranma, come back here and face the consequences like a man!" Ryoga sneered indignantly to which Ranma ignored and briskly ran.
"Excuse me!" Before Ryoga could chase after Ranma, he was called by Sailor Moon.
His red face returned and his thoughts instantly pushed Ranma out of his mind. "Wow! Sailor Moon! I'm a huge fan!"
Sailor Moon chuckled nervously. "That's great! Could I talk to you and uh- where'd he-er she go?"
Ryoga crossed his arms and his face snarled with contempt. "That chicken ran off."
"Ugh. I told you guys we were talking too long." Complained Sailor Jupiter in annoyance.
"We all had to be in agreement." Sailor Mercury said.
Ryoga smiled excitedly, putting his hand behind his hair and rubbing it habitually, he asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Wow…" Sailor Mars muttered flatly, she was a little peeved that her ideas were constantly shot down. Everybody was too nice, rulebreakers should be punished! "Acting so innocent even though you destroyed everything here."
"Hey!" Ryoga defended himself, putting his hands up in a defensive gesture. "It's all that bastard, Ranma's fault!"
"Guys?" Sailor Mercury tried to get the groups attention to no avail as they were more interested in another person.
"Right." Sailor Moon played along with Ryoga. "Could you elaborate on that? What exactly happened?"
Ryoga opened his mouth to explain then quickly closed it and then chuckled shyly, his hands back rubbing his hair once again. "Well… I guess I did start it." Opting for truth seeing as his audience was the Sailor Senshi. "But I swear it was for a good cause!"
"We should probably move." Sailor Mercury said a little louder, deciding to get straight to the point this time.
"And what cause is that?" Asked Sailor Jupiter. She was mentally comparing him with Ranma. He was definitely a hunk but there was extremely childish mannerisms that off-put her.
"To protect the purity of Sailor Venus from the treacherous hands of Ranma!" Ryoga growled with immense conviction. Surely, the Sailor Senshi will understand his noble intentions.
"The media…" Mercury gave up. "Too late."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Sailor Mars, with arms crossed and face dubious. From her perspective, he was another naive testosterone filled boy that needed to be reconciled.
"Don't you guys know?" Ryoga blinked, sincerely surprised. "Sailor Venus is engaged with that scoundrel Ranma Saotome."
"Eh!?" The surrounding area unexpectedly reverberated loudly with the monosyllable sound, shocking Ryoga and the Senshi, except for Sailor Mercury who sighed pitifully. The group, sans Mercury, looked up to find, with a startle, cameras and microphones surrounding them. A rather daring reporter moved up to the group, along with the news crew, next to an inanimate Sailor Moon whose face flooded red in major embarrassment.
"And there we have it folks!" The unnamed reported announced. "The cause of the destruction near Amishiro Park was not because of a youma, but rather a passionate battle for the beautiful Senshi of love, Sailor Venus!"
The reporter shoved a microphone into Sailor Moon's face. "We're sure fans everywhere are immensely disappointed by the loss of Venus' availability. Sailor Moon, we saw you how you reacted, but what do you have to say in light of this discovery? What will it mean for the team dynamic? Who is this Ranma Saotome? Is he truly a playboy scoundrel?"
"I-I uh er um." Moon stuttered and looked behind to her friends for any assistance. Ryoga was petrified in bashfulness. Jupiter was posing enthusiastically and smiling cheerily for the camera. Mars was brooding and mumbling to herself. Mercury was silent with a resigned face. And Venus was- "Where is Venus?"
"Somebody's following me." Ranma muttered as he sped across roof tops, red hair fluttering in the late morning sky. It definitely wasn't Ryoga as he would've definitely gotten lost by now. And he was damn sure that most of the Sailor chicks had no idea how to track somebody that wasn't a monster. With a sigh, he slid across a rooftop, slowing down his momentum then jumped into a flip as the roof disappeared beneath his feet, landing solidly on another building. He heard his stalker follow in his steps. He turned around to face them. "Hello Sailor Venus."
The mentioned scout had a stony mask a new face to Ranma as it was devoid of the usual anger he remembered.
"Ran-ma." She said monotonously as she scanned him up and down.
"Look," Ranma said without enthusiasm, getting in a fighting position, a rather serious one this time. "If you want to fight… again... then let's get this over with."
She had a blank look, her face hiding the turmoil within. It suddenly cracked.
"Woah, are you serious?" Ranma suddenly looked frightened and panicky, losing his earlier pessimistic composure. "Don't cry! I didn't do nothing… yet!"
Silent tears dripped down her face as Ranma slowly, nervously, and anxiously inched closer to her. He seriously hated crying woman, especially the cute ones. Simply the worst, he didn't know what to do, say, or think. He racked his head on what to do to make her stop, despite knowing that she hated him. Well, Ranma thought wryly, Akane hates me and that hasn't stopped me before.
At a foot away, Ranma leaned his petite face unpleasantly close to hers. He spoke in a taunting manner "Hey, hit me."
She blinked at the grinning redhead, matching features with the raven haired boy back then. Blue eyes, outdated hair fashion, and an infuriating grin. She savored the moment when Ranma's face quickly changed into regret when she cocked her fist.
"BAM!" With a magic powered punch, Ranma was decked across the roof and and crashed into a cement roof door.
"Worst. Fucking. Idea. Ever." Moaned Ranma from the cement rubble. He slowly got up and rubbed the area between his eyes. "God, this hurts more than pig boy."
Sailor Venus started to laugh, gracing Ranma with hearty chuckles. "Well, then." Ranma mumbled. "I'm glad somebody's enjoying themselves here."
"I'm so confused." Venus said strangely between laughs.
Ranma stopped rubbing his forehead. He prompted with questioning eyes. "Hm?"
Venus' laughter died down, leaving an awkward silence until it was broken by her next sentence. "I hate you."
Ranma sweatdropped. Wonderful. "Get in line then. It's a long one."
V voiced her thoughts, finding it comforting just to talk regardless if he was the issue. "I hate you. You tormented me and made my life a hell in London. I had fucking nightmares of you since then. You're a heinous, vile demon."
"Really…" Ranma drawled, trying his best not to respond.
"But then all my friends say otherwise." She paused in thought. "Except Rei. They threw so much evidence in my face that I ignored. I guess Ami's always right after all. You're not a sadistic psychopathic criminal I thought you were."
"'Kay…" Ranma said insecurely. He stood awkwardly in front of another potential hateful rival. He didn't know what to feel. Scared because a girl was expressing her inner feelings to him? Happy because V-chan wasn't hating him? Or frustrated because she was directly insulting him and he knew talking back was a tremendously horrible idea.
V-chan continued talking. "I really don't know what would be best to do. I mean on one hand, you're a narcissistic, pitiful savage that should be beaten then thrown in jail for life. But on the other hand, I'm a better person than you so I won't resort to such levels. So let's talk." She ended resolutely.
"Wonderful." Ranma groused, hands and eyes twitching.
"Yo! Daisuke!" Hiroshi called excitedly. "You gotta see what's on the news!"
Daisuke walked in the living room where they were 'studying.' "What's up?"
Hiroshi smiled triumphantly. "Looks like owe me money."
Daisuke frowned, listening to the newscast.
"Hey pay up." Hiroshi requested, stretching his arm out in Daisuke's direction.
"Uhhh no." He denied. "We said Ranma was going to confirm so I'll pay you once Ranma comes back and tells us himself."
"C'mon man. Does it matter that much? The news confirmed it. The news is never wrong."
"I hope you're kidding." Daisuke scoffed and rolled his eyes. He pointed at the TV. "You see Ryoga there?"
"Uh huh." Hiroshi nodded, miffed that he wasn't getting money. No matter, he'll get it once Ranma comes back. "He was the one who revealed it. So what?"
"Remember our little chat with Akane?"
"Just get on with it, man." Hiroshi ushered.
"Well she was holding her little 'P-chan.'"
"Oh. Yeah." Hiroshi knew P-chan was Ryoga. In fact, literally everybody but Akane knew the two were the one and the same.
"So he heard about our bet. And he heard about Akane instantly twisting our words."
"Oh." Hiroshi grimaced. Akane had immediately assumed that Ranma was engaged with Sailor Venus rather than he was trying to find out the truth. She had exploded in jealousy quickly and stormed off. "She didn't quite hear about the 'bet' part did she?"
"Yea… impulsive." Daisuke continued. "So from what I can tell, Ryoga managed to find his way to Juuban, looking to 'avenge' Akane for being engaged to another woman."
"Goddamnit!" Hiroshi groaned, nervously fiddling with his wallet inside his pocket. "What the hell Daisuke? You weren't this smart in canon…"
"What?"
"Nothing." Hiroshi continued watching the news, his eyes glued to the long, flawless, exposed legs of the Senshi. The living room was filled with Sailor Moon's stumbling through questions.
"Does Ranma know about this?" Daisuke asked curiously.
"Who knows. But he wasn't there when Ryoga blabbed about it."
"You think he'll be mad?"
"You mean at us? Why would he be mad at us?"
"There's no way he won't find out that the world knows about this 'engagement.'" He put finger quotes up, further expressing his doubt to the engagement.
"It wasn't our fault." Hiroshi mumbled. "Akane twisted our words and Ryoga's an idiot."
"Yea that's the problem. Ranma probably knows that, so he's gonna blame us for mentioning it in the first place."
"Huh…" Hiroshi nodded blankly. That logic was sound and matched with his profile of Ranma.
"You think it'll hurt?" Daisuke sighed.
The question hung in the air as the newscast finally came to an end with the green haired outer senshi suddenly teleporting in, speaking a few words and ushering the group, sans Ryoga, out. In the end, nothing special came out of the newscast especially when the senshi had neither Ranma or Sailor Venus there.
Hiroshi finally registered the question.
"Fuck."
I have mixed feelings about this chapter so I may do some tweaks later on. I had several options regarding how I wanted to play it out. I was originally going with the youma option but I thought it was too predictable so I scrapped that and put Ryoga in. I was also planning to cut the chapter at the introduction of the reporter but decided against it. I hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you think!
Reviews are appreciated. Criticisms or compliments, it matters not.